THE ARABIC LIFE OF ANBA SAMAWfL OF QALAMUN 335 ISI IjJj-aj 3>l (^-TL l j i Jl9 IjJli} -u—^ *4* jirf (J ^ ^JL 4pUI OjJjJSj (\o) .ill*. ojSl ui j^yj-i v-^i jupI «jl^j v aJ jiij .^uij Lr oJUJs jlo di— u-^i itou <>> l J^ 1 -^ '^ ^Unr^ J~r u* Lil/^.VI JJSl oJUM U^ jjlUJl^ Let us now turn to a recital of events also in the life of our father Anba Samawll and illustrate his virtue and confession, which made him visible to Christ 53 . The soldiers, having escorted him from the mountain of Shihat, brought him to the desert. His disciples began to guide him along the way, until they reached a cave in the mountain and they took Abuna SamawH into it; they (p. 15) were expecting him to die, because he was unconscious. They were trembling and weeping, saying, "If he dies, where shall we find for him a prayer with which to dig until we bury his body ? " At midnight an Angel of the Lord descended from heaven like. a burning flame. He stood with them in the cave. His disciples were afraid and became like corpses, when the Angel of the Lord took him by the hand and raised up the saint. He said to him, "Do not be afraid, true servant of the Lord. I am with you". He touched his whole body and he was healed and imme- diately he regained his strength. The Angel of the Lord said to him, "Rise and go to the Fayyiim and live in Deir el Qalamun. Just as you have earned a crown of confession in the mountain of Shihat, so also you will earn another crown in the Fayyiim, and a third crown in a far stands. In my edition (p. 122 n. 57) I suggested that it might be a corruption of G2,yMXCioc, "admirable" used ironically. The Arabic is also an attempt to make sense of it, apparently with reference to Theodosius the Monophysite Patriarch of Alexandria who was banished from the city in 536 and took refuge in Constantinople, where he ob- tained the support of the Empress Theodora and was elected Patriarch of Constantinople. The Ethiopic version omits the term, which seems to argue against the modem Arabic version being a translation of the Ethiopic. 53 This "editorial" comment is absent from the Ethiopic version. I /" 336 A. ALCOCK LJl Ol^} llL* Lj^-J OjliJb ui^JLI pJll ^jt ^--j^jW ^y.^ lS^ ^iJi JrT JaIj -jJUI iijJL. Jjhl \y\f AlSljaj j& f-Li LJLi .i^JI „ pjj iJJ( j| ^LJl>; H jj^ ui ^aaij ,c_j| ^Ul y a>.| il^ jjj .^ O^lj J->*j*J>AJl ^ 3J^ ^ .4*15 c^ J~L-i ^ of Fayyum and the people of the bishopric assembled and brought to him the blind and he prayed over some oil and he anointed them. They saw because of their faith in him. The Lord revealed his miracles in his saints, glorifying them 60 . (p. 17) He said with his mouth, "My people, you are the light of world. A city is not hidden and disappears when it is placed on a moun- tain, nor does one ignite a lamp and leave it under a bushel, but on a lamp stand that it may shine upon everyone in the house" 61 . The holy Anba Samawtl, when he saw the people bothering him and not leaving him to fulfil his asceticism, made for himself a cave east of the mountain under a summit 62 , about a mile away from the monastery, and went off alone. But he let nobody know about it. He withdrew there for the week. When Saturday and Sunday came, he went to the monastery to partake of the holy sacraments. He found sick people assembled in his cell, ask- ing him to heal them. The saint prayed over some oil and anointed them in the name of the Holy Trinity, and they were healed. After a year, while the saint was doing this, the Muqauqis came to the Fayyum re- gion, because he had been to the south to oppress the faithful and espe- 60 Ethiopic has quotation from Jo. 3,21, which is not in Coptic or Arabic. 61 Matt. 5,14. Coptic and Ethiopic read: "built on a mountain". For the variant read- ing cf. K.H. Kuhn, "Some observations in the Coptic Gospel according to Thomas" Le Musion 73 (1960), 319. 62 Recent excavations at Naqlun have uncovered these caves approximately a mile away from the monastery; cf. J. Dobrowolski, "Naqlun" Nubica 1-2 (1990): 161-70. Distance not recorded in Coptic. 338 A. ALCOCK Oi ^ a ^S^jSS S—^'j O^J^ 1 ls* 'jC— > ^ 5 j/ cr^ ^ J '^ ^ ^-J^iil >5 Uli .oJ^-j o^yj W> r J 1 (^ ^J J^ tT~ f*^- 01 ^ orJ -^ 11 cially the monasteries. He was looking for Anba Banlamm the Arch- bishop. When he found monks in the monastery, he beat them until they came to communicate with him (p. 18) in the sacraments and to be blessed by him. When he reached the Fayytim, he was met by Anba Buqtur 63 the bishop of the Fayyum in great pomp, who celebrated his arrival and received him in the city. He published the lying Tome on the orders of TItlanus 64 , the Byzantine King. He ordered the whole country of Egypt to accept the teaching of the Tome. The orthodox, when they saw that the Muqauqis wanted to oppress them, each one went away to his place and left him alone. When the Muqauqis saw the exit of the people of the city of Fayyum, he be- came angry and said, "I shall arise and go to the monasteries in the desert of the Fayyum". Now there were almost 170 monasteries 65 at- tached to the bishopric of the Fayyum. "I shall make them subscribe to this Tome and I shall meet them 66 , because after them the whole popula- tion will sign, without exception". He went straightaway to the monas- teries. He entered to reply to them 67 that they should communicate with him and that the episcopal sees should be blessed by him. When the holy 63 In Coptic, but not Ethiopic. 64 The emperor of the time was Heraclius, but the Coptic text refers anachromstically to Justinian. The Arabic is presumably to be understood as a miscopying of the latter. 65 No figure in Coptic or Ethiopic. 66 Coptic: "I shall make the monasteries submit and the monks first subscribe... . 67 The verb as it stands means "prevent", which is the exact opposite of what one would expect. The translation proposed assumes a reading yuraddu 'alaihurri. THE ARABIC LIFE OF ANBA SAMAW'IL OF QALAMUN 339 (>• ij>/l tf*ty b Su'li JI ^^Lp j^JUtf dUi JLIp .Ojil Jl dl*J^ b\ J4 jl^m jy« *, .*w dJJ ^ *>** ^ W r^ JLij •^-^ ^1 3j ^ jj «-u ji ^ -^ .^Ujj ouojjjJtj ^ai u«J ** cr ^ ,ii/jilJ ' Jj^ ^1p . ^ -^ "^ J > d»i dbu ^ .iU. j^ii o^. «au o^jj ^ ^»»'w -Vf J JUi their departure". He said, "I do not know". And he ordered him to be beaten (p. 20) until his blood flowed. When they had given him a sound beating, he said, "I shall tell you". And the custodian began to tell him, "Samawll of Shihat 71 said that you were not a holy man, but the Devil sent you to this region to deceive the saints. He also said to them that you were a godless Jew, with whom nobody should communicate as Pa- triarch". When he heard this, the Muqauqis cursed the custodian, the monastery, its church and its monks. He went back and has not been here again since. The monks returned to their cells, and the Muqauqis became angry in his heart against Samawll, so that he wanted to know where he was hiding, and he sent out his servants. They brought Samawll to him, his hands bound in chains and also on his neck an iron collar. When the deceitful one saw this, he ordered them to beat him un- til his blood flowed. Afterwards he said to him, "Are you Samawll the antagonist 72 . Who consecrated you hegumen of this monastery, you tell- ing the monks to turn away from my faith". He said to the Muqauqis, "It is good that I obey God and the Archbishop Baniamui is preferable to you and your vile 71 The Coptic reads "the ascete", and one wonders if tt2.ckithc has been under- stood as something to do with Scetis. The Ethiopic has no corresponding phrase. 72 Coptic: "iniquitous ascete"; Ethiopic: "adversary". TEE ARABIC LIFE OF ANBA SAMAW'IL OF QALAMUN 341 Ulj LS ^ ~jl~J J dJul J^l ^ IJL^ plSo" ^ dXJlpI Ulj dA^ UjJji (^1 liJUJI lihjlj tj> d Jlij ,b3l*l Jij «uti .bw tSjiiu V 11a JUj .JJLi j* Uj i-r .l *Jij .41- lilj .U Jlij .^J^ L5^ lH~ .5^1 ^JU ^JUl 4111 L$Jl VI 4UI (p. 21) diabolical faith". He then ordered the soldiers to beat him on his mouth. He said to him, "Samaw^il, where is the virtue of asceticism which they tell about you? I shall punish you until you speak well, be- cause you have no shame before me, though I am Patriarch". Samawll answered him and said, "The Devil was the leader of the heavenly troops 73 . When he disobeyed, he fell under our feet, (and so will) you, accursed Chalcedonian, accompanied by the Devil and his soldiers". When the Muqauqis heard this from him, he signalled to the soldiers to beat him to death. He wanted to kill the saint, but the magistrates 74 of the city of Fayyum rescued him from the Muqauqis. He ordered them to ex- pel him from the mountain. He said, "This one will not take communion with us, for he has rejected our faith". He said to him, "If I see you on this mountain, you will die". The saint was in much pain from the pun- ishment which had been inflicted on him, when the Angel of the Lord appeared to him and said to him, "Arise and go to the district of Daghinas. Dwell there, you and your disciples". And so he arose and left the mountain of Naqlun. He and his disciples went. He recited, (p. 22) saying, "Divine One, You are the wall. Most holy is the Lord. Who is Divine God? He is the Lord. Who is God, except our God, God who has made me strong with strength and made my way to be without TxrMX 3lPXCDN. 342 A. ALCOCK .sM^Jlj p^Jlj VI c >- V ^1 II* ol u^ll JjiTc^L^i l»j o-^ 1 l^^ y;i JUb^ i*XJ\ 3 pJb c^Yi <> ^Jij lli j^ s^UJij p^li (yd ^1 ^> 3 Jj-^JI ^-V u^^- S^Uilj p^JL . ijUl S^-VI t\j\ AiP a!!1 ^j shame" 75 . He said to his disciples, "It is good what is said in the Gospel, 'If one city oppresses you, move to another'. Right I say to you, that you will not be complete, cities of Israel, until the son of man comes" 76 . He also said, "Good is the trouble in this matter 77 . from place to place is better than communicating with these defiled ones who have turned aside from belief in Him" 78 . When they had settled on the moun- tain of Daghinas, they gave themselves to much asceticism and physical labour. Anba Samawll would say, "My children, fasting and prayer are the wealth of monks 79 . Fasting and prayer are a weapon which helps in the face of the Angels 80 . Fasting and prayer are purifiers of the soul, which repel the Devil, as the Lord says, "This kind (the Devil) does not go except through fasting and prayers" 81 . Through fasting and prayer Musa spoke with God. Through (p. 23) fasting and prayer Ilia and Isha c walked on the Jordan 82 . In fasting and prayer Daniel interpreted the vision and God averted from him the jaws of the voracious lions 83 . With fasting and prayer Paul the 75 A free adaptation of Psalm 18,29 and 32. 76 Mat. 10,23. In Ethiopia, but not in Coptic. 77 Not in Coptic. Not particularly close to the Ethiopia, which reads: "Para mim e melhor perder a minha vida com dores neste mundo". 78 Not in Coptic. 79 The Arabic version of this litany is closer to the Ethiopia than the Coptic. 80 Coptic: ... the perfume of the angels". The Arabic seems to bear some resemblance to the Ethiopia: "... os ustensilios de campo d'aquelle que caminha deante dos anjos". 81 Mat. 12,24. In Ethiopic, but not in Coptic. 82 E Kgs 2,8. 83 Not in Coptic or Ethiopic. THE ARABIC LIFE OF ANBA SAMAWTL OF QALAMUN 343 aLjI rt-^j-p i *3ij .j^jwP L5 -^-*i ui (i-fJ JLij ©J— *^ t^-jjj ij&i ajIj * g>>-j *-$*" u^ '-^j -^ *b' ^ f^ -u^^J-l Si^r c-.lj ^j .q^I lV 0^ OUVi ^ ^ J~H ^ J^j>j f Ji" dJU-jj ^J^lij . L ^-uaJ C~*ij dlJtf .lfSX^.1 j^ll JjJaJl ^y^ ^Jil Jjij Jjy. JlS) Apostle was saved and went to the Romans 84 . Without fasting and prayer the monk does not conquer all the things that kill". As God ap- peared to our father Ibrahim when he was living in between the two riv- ers in Syria and said to him, "Go forth from your land and your family", it was the Lord who appeared to Anba Samaw^il on the mountain of Daghinas and said to him, "Go forth from this place and leave your dis- ciples here and go up to the place which I shall show you on the upper- most mountain". Anba Samaw^ hastened to obey the word of the Most Holy Lord. He started to prepare his disciples and said to them, "I am leaving you and going away from you for a few days. You are to remain on this mountain and serve God in fear. Expect me at Easter, God willing". Thus he prayed with them and went forth from among them 85 . The saint, when he went forth, did not know where he was going, like Ibrahim. (p. 24) But he knew that God was compliant in all things. The saint did not see anything from the beginning, but went forth and entered the mountain. He put on the armour of faith and in his hand the sword of the spirit and on his head the helmet of purity 86 He recited, saying, "O God, 84 Acts 27. 85 Coptic specifies the date: 16th Mesore, the Assumption of the BVM. 86 Ephesians 6,16. Also used in the rite of monastic investiture cf, B. Evetts, "Rite de la prise d'habit monacale" Revue de V Orient ChretienW (1906): 60-93. 344 A. ALCOCK .SJbC !AjL5 IJLSLa ^^JU^j Jftiji ,4jLk! 4^ j_ r iTj>J aJ ^Ijj^ajli tJjiH ij\ £&£\ IJXftj t^JLli J>c-m»L* *jj£j) ^jlJl 5>>^ <^y>j «V.^I °^ tpJ* £-*' -(J^ 9 ^^ CJjJl IJLft ^y P-JLJ V -l LoJli j-&j j^-Jl L5 - v ji ^^-^ U^j^j -<^~^ U-Jj .^iir^ ^ ty-^jb lP^ ^ ^ ^ tT^ ,h#SAA IgJ LJ15 CJl ^1 ^j^l teach me the road which I shall follow. To you I have raised my soul. Let your holy spirit guide me to uprightness. Your light and your right- eousness will guide me to your holy mountain and to your dwelling places which are prepared" 87 . And so he went up to the west and saw a valley with many date palms and a small church 88 . He stood and prayed thus, saying, "Lord God, Who commands all those who live in the light, Whom we cannot approach. Listen to my prayer and let it enter before you 89 . You are the one who appeared to Ibrahim, when he was under the oak tree 90 and told him about Ishaq whom you granted. And also our fa- ther Ya'qub, when he went to the central island and you said to him, "You will no longer be called Yaqub, but Israll" 91 . The pious one re- joiced in this word and he said, "Truly I have seen God face to face. You have purified my soul. Also you appeared to Musa the Prophet, when he was (p. 25) on Mount Hurtb. and spoke with him in the Burning Bush, saying, 'Remove the shoes from your feet, for the earth on which you are standing is sacred'. God, just hear my prayer. Guide me as you will". While he was speaking, a voice said, to him, "Samawll, I have heard your prayer. Be strong and do not be afraid. I am with you. I will give 87 Free adaption of Ps. 24,1 and 42,3. In Ethiopia, but not in Coptic. 88 In Ethiopia, but not in Coptic. 89 In Ethiopic, but not in Coptic. Ps. 140,3. 90 Gen. 18,1. 91 Gen. 32,29. THE ARABIC LIFE OF ANBA SAMAW'IL OF QALAMUN 345 SJUj .dJ^-* jj& u-»jll aDI JLp I JW Vj pi a] JUj iftU A^UU .4^-j Jp JaS^j iLj^ v _;u .ouiju^i ^yjvij ^ ^? ^ -^ J 1 ^ Woji ^ u^ 1 ibUl aUo! r cJJj a_J ^JLSI ju^i! ^ J^m\j dKU Jl J^l J^Sjj J^j a*J1 ^y ^ Olf L^UJU J Jj^U j>-l JlL- CJlf I4JN JiijlL Cj^ JLi a*JI J^-j aJIj .4*u2i1 ilUJi ■Jb-1 you this earth as an inheritance for you and your seed after you who bless my name". And thus the voice left him. His heart was encouraged and he went singing. "You have taken my right hand and with your counsel you have guided me. By God, my heart is yours. It is glorious". As he was saying this, an Angel of the Lord appeared to him in great glory. When the saint saw him, he was afraid and fell on his face. The Angel raised him up and said to him, "Arise and do not be afraid, serv- ant of God. The Lord is with you. The Lord has made this land over to you and your heirs, for you have renounced marriage and children of the body 92 . The Lord has given you instead spiritual children. The Lord has blessed you with faithful elders and orthodox bishops on this mountain". The Angel then took him (p. 26) into the church and said to him, "In the Lord be victorious and strong. The Lord is with you". And he disappeared from him. The old man knelt down in the church and prayed, saying, "I enter into your dwelling place and I kneel down in the place in which Your Holy feet have stood" 93 . He found the church already covered in sand, because for a long time nobody had entered it. 92 Corresponds to OTi c^ps. 93 Coptic: "I shall go into Your House and worship Your Holy Temple". Ethiopia: "Mas eu pela grandeza da tua misericordia entrarei na tua casa; e prostrar-me-hei na sala do too santuario, temendo-te".