As the curtain falls on 2009, Watani would like to shed light on a significant Coptic event which took place this year in Los Angeles
In December 1979, the St Shenouda the Archimandrite Coptic Society was conceived in Los Angeles to serve the Coptic community outside Egypt. One goal has been to strengthen the community roots by the systematic study of its Christian heritage.
Because this year marks the Society’s thirtieth anniversary, its eleventh annual Coptic Studies Conference, cosponsored by the University of California Los Angeles, (UCLA) was dedicated to the life, contributions and environment of St Shenouda the Archimandrite. The conference, held 17-18 July 2009, demonstrated the increasing scholarly interest in the works of St Shenouda and the capacity of the Society to organize such a high quality conference with diversified participation. The Conference commenced with opening remarks made by Dr Jacco Dieleman, Assistant Professor of Egyptology at UCLA.
The first paper was prepared by Dr Youhanna Nessim Youssef (Melbourne, Australia) and titled A Miraculous Icon of Saint Shenoute in Old Cairo. This paper put in context two differing opinions that were recorded with regard to two different images of the saint.
Next, Mr Julien Auber de Lapierre (Paris, France) presented a paper on The Icon of St Shenouda by Youhanna al-Armani. He discussed the icon of St Shenouda preserved in the monastery of Abu Mina in Fum al-Khalig, as it is an ideal opportunity to discuss the stylistic characteristics of the 19th century Youhanna al-Armani whose art is present everywhere in Egypt.
Dr Janet Timbie (Washington DC) presented a paper titled St Shenoute 2004-2009: Trends in Research. In it, she cited several important articles and books that have been published in this period, and shed new light on the life of St Shenoute, on the operation of the White Monastery, and on pagan religion in the area of the monastery.
Professor James M. Robinson (Claremont, California) presented a slide show titled The Nag Hammadi Story in Pictures. In 60 rare photographs, it recounted the details of the very interesting story of the discovery of the Nag Hammadi Codices in 1945 by Muhammad Ali, a camel driver digging for sebakh at the foot of Jabal al-Tarif just north of Nag Hammadi. These unique Coptic texts are the main reason that Coptic studies have made so much progress at the academic level within the past half century.
Dr Anne Moore (Calgary, Canada) spoke about The Sapiential Kingdom of God Within the Writings of Clement of Alexandria. She discussed Clement of Alexandria’s employment of the theological metaphor ‘Kingdom of God’ and how it was overwhelmingly focused on its present manifestation both in terms of the individual Christian’s behaviour and the Christian community’s lifestyle.
Next, Dr Monica Bontty (Monroe, Louisiana) presented a paper about the influence of the Copts called, The Long Arm of the Copts: The Far Reaching Influence of Shenouda’s White Monastery. Candida Casa, also known as Whithorn is the site of the first Christian community in Scotland. It means “White House,” and scholars have suggested Greek, Gallic, or Coptic correspondences. This paper notes similarities between the White House and the White Monastery in order to determine the extent and nature of influence between the two sites. Her findings did not endorse such influence.
Next, Dr Caroline Schroeder (Stockton, California) presented a paper titled Children in Early Egyptian Monasticism. Earlier than Medieval and Byzantine Europe, Egyptian monasteries and convents provided shelter to orphans deposited on their doorsteps, pupils studying, and sick children seeking care and healing. Monastic leaders had to integrate these children into the ways of the religious community, and they had to accommodate their communities to the challenges posed by the presence of such children.
Day 1 concluded with a paper by Dr Jacco Dieleman (Los Angeles, California) on Cryptography at the Monastery of Deir el-Bachit. This paper dealt with the contents of an ostracon found at the site of a monastery near Luxor. It provides an interesting cryptographic use of Coptic characters.
On Day 2, following the State of the Society Address by Mr Hany N. Takla, he presented a paper titled “The Surviving Remains of the Book of Jeremiah from the St Shenouda Monastery.” In it he surveyed how much of this favourite biblical book of St Shenouda survived in the remains of the famous monastic library.
The next presentation was by Dr Diliana Atanassova (Salzburg, Austria) titled On the Typica of the White Monastery. She presented some preliminary results of the ongoing research project on “the Typika of the White Monastery” carried out at the Department of Biblical Studies and Ecclesiastical History of the Salzburg University.
Then Professor David Johnson (Berkeley, California) titled, “As I sat on a Mountain”: Shenoute’s Theology of the Church. After St Shenoute presents sharp contrasts between true Christians and those groups whose members are outside the Church, he then goes on to give his vision of the Church based on a reading of the Song of Songs. The paper concentrated on the abbot##s exegetical technique and his use of the New Testament to interpret the Song of Songs.
Later, Professor Stephen J. Davis (New Haven, Connecticut) gave a lecture about Archaeology at the White Monastery, 2005-2009. This lecture summarized findings from the first five seasons of archaeological investigation and oriented us, the listeners, with the site and its remains. He provided us with very vivid details and illustrations which took us through the archaeological site of the Monastery.
The last lecture of the conference was by Professor Mark Swanson (Chicago, Illinois) called Searching for Shenoute. This paper continues a search for Shenoutian material among Arabic manuscripts. The topic was a sermon entitled “A maymar pronounced by the great saint Abu Shinudah, archimandrite of the entire world, in which he alerts the human to return and repent of his sins and his evil way of life.” While the sermon has certainly not gone unnoticed, this paper asks whether the neglect it has received is deserved.
The final word of the day was from Dr Saad Michael Saad regarding the impressive progress of Coptic Studies at Claremont Graduate University.
As usual, this year’s conference was a success, with the scholarly community growing every year more than the year before. There has recently been a revival among the Coptic youth who seem more and more excited to attend conferences and lectures, and to learn more about their Coptic heritage.
We thank the Lord for the presence of the St Shenouda Society, which has significantly contributed to the advancement in Coptic Studies.
___
Julie Mossad is with the Los Angeles County Department of Human Resources and serves at St Maurice Coptic Orthodox Church in Pomona, California.