Arabic MS 687 (The John Rylands Research Institute and Library, The University of Manchester)
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Arabic Manuscripts
Contents
Calendar of the Coptic Church with tables of festivals and of fasts. Probably copied in the 13th century.
Language(s): Arabic
Title: Calendar of the Coptic ChurchLanguage(s): Arabic and CopticThe manuscript was formerly part of a Coptic-Arabic Liturgy. The first page begins abruptly with a list of Scripture passages to be recited or read in the ceremony of special festivals. Incomplete in the beginning.
The second page contains a set of numerical symbols, mostly in Coptic. At the head of each column is an Arabic word denoting the object of these symbols: وسايل, اصحاحات, قبطي, شهادات.
Folios 2a-12b: calendar. Each of the months is given in two complete sections, the first being the regular calendar with the Saints' names, the second an almanac of weeks and days, with references to the tables of numerical symbols, in which each day is assigned to its special ecclesiastical class. The days counted are the Saturdays and Sundays of the month, the other days being omitted.
The work has certain Monophysite savour. Folio 2b contains the commemoration of the arrival of Severus into Egypt (دخول ساورس مصر).
On folio 10a there is mentioned also, in imitation of the Syrian Church, the three days of Rogations called days of the fasting of Niniveh.
The end deals with the lessons and bible passages recited at Lent.
The last page (folio 13b) contains a coarse sketch with an inscription by an owner.
The vowels and all the diacritical points are generally wanting.
Physical Description
Form: codexSupport: PaperExtent: 13 folios (xi+13+xi)Dimensions (leaf): 256 × 155 mm.Foliation: Traces of foliation in ink in Coptic numerals on folios 3a, 4a, 5a, and 6a.Collation
Difficult to establish; it was rebound.Condition
.Usage stains, text runs up to the margins, historic repairs.Decoration
Crude drawings in ink on folio 13b.
History
Origin: It was produced in the 13th century CE?Provenance and Acquisition
Folio 13b: ownership inscription: ياشاري هذا الكتاب اشتري هذا الكتاب بنعر طيب اشكرك ءيارب من كل قلبي و... الاخ العزيز المكرم ...المعلم يولص اشكرك يارب
Formerly in the collection of Alexander Lindsay, 25th Earl of Crawford (1812–1880) Crawford, Alexander Crawford Lindsay, 1812-1880.
Purchased by Enriqueta Rylands (1843–1908) Rylands, Enriqueta, 1843–1908 in 1901 from James Ludovic Lindsay, 26th Earl of Crawford (1847–1913) Crawford, James Ludovic Lindsay, Earl of, 1847–1913 .
Bequeathed by Enriqueta Rylands (1843–1908) in 1908 to John Rylands Library.
Record Sources
Description based on A. Mingana, Catalogue of the Arabic Manuscripts in the John Rylands Library Manchester (Manchester: Manchester University Press, 1934), no. 4 [687], revised and expanded by Zsófia Buda.Availability
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Bibliography
Funding of Cataloguing
The John Rylands Research Institute and Library
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