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Pearls of Coptic Theology

ϩⲁⲛⲁⲛⲁⲙⲏⲓ ⲛ̀ⲧⲉ ϯⲑⲉⲟⲗⲟⲅⲓⲁ ⲛ̀ⲣⲉⲙⲛ̀ⲭⲏⲙⲓ
To present sayings of the fathers of the Coptic Orthodox Church who wrote in Coptic and Arabic translated into English.

30/06/2026

«إن كان الجسد الذي أخذه من العذراء ليس جسدًا حقيقيًّا، فإن الخبز أيضًا الذي نكسره والكأس التي نباركها ليسا جسده الحقيقي ودمه. أما إن كان حقًّا أنه قد اتخذ جسدًا، فحقٌّ أيضًا أن هذا هو جسده وهذا هو دمه».

الأنبا شنودة رئيس المتوحدين، ضد الأوريجانيين، تحقيق: هانز يواكيم كريستيا (موهر سيبك، 2011)، ص 144–155.

30/06/2026

“If the body which He took from the Virgin is not true, then the bread which we break is not His body and the cup is not His blood; but if He has taken flesh, then this is His body and this is His blood.”
Shenoute of Atripe, Contra Origenistas, ed. H.-J. Cristea (Mohr Siebeck, 2011), pp. 144–155.

26/06/2026

ثم ان سيدنا المخلص اتبع القول بتعليمه الصالح لرسله الاطهار قولوا خبزنا الغد اعطنا اليوم [متى ٦: ١١]. فاعلم يا حبيب ان هذا الخبز الذي علينا ان نطلبه ليس هو خبزا جسمانيا بل خبزا جوهريا روحانيا فلو كان خبزا جسمانيا كما تعتقد طوايف من الناس فكان يبطل تعليمه الصالح الناطق به على لسان متى البشير باقواله لا تهتموا بالغد الغد يهتم بشانه ويكفي كل يوم شره [متى ٦: ٣٤]

فان كان هو خبزا جسدانيا فتبق هذه اقوال متناقضة وانما الخبز الذي اشار اليه المخلص وامرنا ان نطلبه هو جسده الطاهر بالحقيقة لانه يقول على لسان يوحنا البشير بانجيله انا هو الخبز الذي نزل من السماء من اكل من هذا الخبز يعيش الى الابد من ياكلني يحي من اجلي انا هو الخبز الحق الذي نزل من السماء ومن اكل منه يثبت في وانا اثبت فيه [يوحنا ٦: ٥١، ٥٦-٥٧].

(المصدر: يوحنا بن أبي زكريا بن سباع، الجوهرة النفيسة في علوم الكنيسة [تألف في القرن الرابع عشر الميلادي]، مطبعة القاهرة الجديدة، ١٩٦٦، ص. ١٠٢-١٠٣).

26/06/2026

Then our Savior Lord followed the saying with His righteous teaching to His pure apostles: "Say: Give us today our bread of tomorrow." [Matthew 6:11]. Know, my beloved, that this bread which we must ask for is not a physical bread, but rather an essential, spiritual bread. For if it were a physical bread, as some groups of people believe, it would invalidate His righteous teaching spoken by the tongue of Matthew the Evangelist in his sayings: "Do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about its own things, and sufficient for each day is its own trouble." [Matthew 6:34]. For if it were physical bread, these statements would remain contradictory.

Rather, the bread to which the Savior referred and commanded us to ask for is truly His pure body, because He says by the tongue of John the Evangelist in his Gospel: "I am the bread that came down from heaven; whoever eats of this bread will live forever; whoever eats Me will live because of Me; I am the true bread that came down from heaven, and whoever eats of it abides in Me, and I abide in him." [cf. John 6:51, 6:56-57].

Yuhanna ibn Abi Zakariya ibn Siba‘, Al-Jawharah al-Nafisah fi ‘Ulum al-Kanisah (Written in the 14th century AD; Cairo: Matba'at al-Qahirah al-Jadidah, 1966), 102–103.

19/03/2026

الرشم بالاصبع مثال الصليب من فوق الى اسفل ومن الشمال الى اليمين . اما كون الرشم بالاصبع فلطرد الشياطين لقول ربنا : ان كنت اخرج الشياطين باصبع الله . واما انه من فوق الى اسفل ومن الشمال الى اليمين فاشارة الى نزول المخلص من السماء الى الارض ونقله لنا من جهة الشمال الى جهة اليمين . واما كون الرسم مثال لصليب فلأن الصليب آلة بها تم الخلاص . ولنذكر بهذا المثال انعام الذي صلب عنا .

والرسل امروا (رسطب ٤٧) ان نرشم على جباهنا مثال الصليب في كل حين بامانة قلبية ليهرب الشيطان منا . وجعلوا هذه علامة ننجو بها من افساده كما جعل الله دم خروف الفصح علامة على بيوت بني اسرائيل مانعة للمفسد من ان يقتل ابكارهم كما فعل بابكار المصريين .

واوقات الرسم هي اول الصلوة وعند ما يرد ذكر الصليب .

(الصفي ابن العسال، المجموع الصفوي، الباب الثالث عشر (سنة ١٢٣٨ م))

19/03/2026

Making the sign with the finger in the likeness of the Cross, from top to bottom and from left to right. As for making the sign with the finger, it is to drive away demons, according to the saying of our Lord: "If I cast out demons by the finger of God." As for it being from top to bottom and from left to right, it is an indication of the Savior’s descent from heaven to earth and His transferring us from the left side to the right side. As for the sign being in the likeness of a Cross, it is because the Cross is the instrument through which salvation was completed; and by this sign, we remember the grace of Him who was crucified for us.

The Apostles commanded (Apostles' Canon 47) that we should make the sign of the Cross on our foreheads at all times with a faithful heart so that the Devil may flee from us. They made this a sign by which we are saved from his corruption, just as God made the blood of the Passover lamb a sign on the houses of the children of Israel, preventing the destroyer from killing their firstborn as he did with the firstborn of the Egyptians.

The times for making the sign are at the beginning of the prayer and whenever the Cross is mentioned.

(Safi al-Dawla ibn al-Assal, Al-Majmu' al-Safawi [Nomocanon of Ibn al-Assal], chap. 13. [1238 AD])

12/03/2026

Chapter on the Cross with One Finger
Regarding the [Sign of] the Cross with one finger: It has been mentioned in the Torah that God the Exalted commanded His servant and prophet Moses to sprinkle with his finger the blood of the sacrifices—which the people offered as an oblation—upon the Tabernacle (the Tent of Meeting), the vessels of service, and the people for their purification. He did not say to sprinkle it with his fingers.

Furthermore, our Lord—to Him be the glory—said when addressing the Jews, as witnessed by the Gospel of Saint Luke: "But if I cast out demons by the finger of God, then the kingdom of God has come upon you." He did not say "by the two fingers of God." This [the single finger] points to the Oneness of the Creator’s Essence, the Trinity of His Persons (Hypostases), and the One Nature that came to be by Union—contrary to the opinion of those who claim two natures.

Our starting [the motion] from the left to the right signifies that, through our reliance on the Holy and Unified Trinity, we have transitioned from the "party of the left" to the "party of the right." This was similarly mentioned by Saint Cyril I, the twenty-fourth Patriarch of the See of Alexandria and the Teacher of the Church, when he said in his Liturgy: "From the rising of the sun to its setting, and from the North to the Right [South]." He did not say from the right to the left.

In summary: the Copts of Egypt, the people of the Five Cities (Pentapolis), the Nubians, and the Abyssinians (Ethiopians)—ever since they were discipled by Mark the Apostle and accepted the faith in the Lord Christ and His life-giving Cross—have never signed the cross or blessed themselves except with one finger. We follow this custom, and upon this principle, we continue.
(Abū al-Barakāt ibn Kabar, The Lamp of The Darkness and The Elucidation of The Service, 23 [c.1320A.D.])

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