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ON A DIRECTORY FRAGMENT RECENTLY DISCOVERED IN THE WADI N-NATRUN.1

IN 1920-192 I the Egyptian Expedition of the New York Metropolitan Museum of Art was engaged in the detailed survey of the monasteries in the Wadi n-Natrun, the Shihet or Scetis of ecclesiastical history. An account of these monasteries, with several views, will be found in the Bulletin of the Metropolitan Museum for July 1920 (pp. 34sqq.) and November 1921 (pp. S4sqq.). In one, the Det Abft Makar, there was an important find of manuscripts (cf. Bulletin, Nov. 1921, pp. 60-62), and among them a fragment of a liturgical Directory. The fragment consists of two consecutive leaves, and the passage ends on the verso of the second. The commencement is missing. The subject-matter deals mainly with the use of the Theotokia. The Theotokia of the Coptic Church is a metrical composition intended for singing and occupies so important a place in Coptic Church music that the name Theotokia is commonly given to the choir-book which contains, besides the Theotokia proper, the various Psali or metrical hymns, the Canticles, and even the choral portions of the Liturgy, whilst the two leading modes, O^OJUL and &.TOC, get their names from the opening words of the Theotokia for Monday and Wednesdaynames which are used also, still in Coptic, by the Abyssinians. The Theotokia itself takes the form of seven metrical compositions, one for each day of the week. The word 'Theotokia' is used in Coptic for each of these, or for all, the form serving as singular or plural. As the execution of this choral office needs a body of singers, a thing not easy to secure every day in a parish church, it is customary to sing the whole service on Saturday night, though of course the necessity behind this usage does not exist in the monasteries where the monks can be assembled on any day. Manuscripts of the Theotokia present it as available for any season, with accompanying Psali which are varied during the month of Choiahk (December); but modern (non-monastic) custom confines the Theotokia to that month when they are made to serve as a devotional exercise preparatory to Christmas. The use of the Coptic Daily Office is confined to the monastic communities; it has never been introduced into the parish churches. It contains seven hours, the Morning Office, Terce, Sext, None, Vespers, Compline, and the Night Office. If we regard the Morning Office as corresponding to Prime there is nothing equivalent to the Latin
1 I thank the authorities of the Metropolitan Museum Expedition for permission to make use of the fragment, and Mr H. G. Evelyn White for communicating it to me.

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429

Laudes. The recitation of the Psalter is begun at the Morning Office just as, in the Monastic Breviary, it begins at Prime on Monday. In the monasteries of the Wadi n-Natrun the offices of Morning and Vespers are recited in common, usually in the open, and the other offices are said privately by each monk. The Theotokia is used after Vespers and with it are associated various Psali and ' Odes' or canticles. The present Directory fragment begins with the close of Vespers and gives the order of the Psali, Odes, and Theotokia which follow. To understand its directions it must be remembered that the D6r Abu Makir formerly contained two communities, the ' Sons of Abba Makari (Macarius)', who represent the original community, and the ' Sons of Abba John', i. e. of St John the Dwarf, who at an unknown date migrated from their own monastery, some seven or eight miles distant, to that of Abu Makar bearing with them the body of the saint which is still preserved in the Church there. Maqrizi (c. 1420) says that in his day there remained only three monks in the monastery of Abba John (cf. Evetts Churches and Monasteries of Egypt p. 321, where the whole passage is translated); whilst Thevenot, who visited Egypt in 1657^ but did not himself-go out to the Wadi n-Natrun, reports that it was then in ruins, with only one dome remaining. Originally, it is said, there were a hundred monasteries in the Wadi; but Maqrizi found only seven left. Formerly they were the centre of Egyptian Church life, and the Patriarch went out there in Holy Week to consecrate the Chrism. The last occasion on which this took place was in 1346, and the rapid decline of the monasteries began soon after, so that only a few houses with a handful of inmates were left at the end of the century. The Directory fragment appears to be of the thirteenth-fourteenth century, and it may either be that the migration had already taken place, or that it refers to some occasion when the monks of the two monasteries joined in some of their religious exercises. The Directory represents the two communities as taking alternate parts in the service, so that a Psali in honour of St John is recited by the ' Sons of Abba Makari', and one in honour of St Makari by the ' Sons of Abba John'. The order of the Directory begins with the recital of a Psali to the Virgin, probably by the ' Sons of Abba John'. Then the ' Sons of Abba Makari' say a Psali of Abba John, and the Gospel is read until the Doxology of Vespers. The Doxology implies a series of short Psali in honour of the B. Virgin, the Archangels, certain leading saints, and one or more in honour of the saint of the day.1 This apparently brings us to the end of Vespers, after which the ' Sons of Abba John'
1

Cf. T h e hymn 8<OTO* HapBivt . . . piirt] tbXoyrjiUvi) of the Greek TJ<rpabv.

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say 'the Psali' and 'a Psali' though perhaps these refer to the commemorations included in the Doxology. Then follow the Odes which in the Coptic Church are four, viz. (i) the Song of Moses, Exod. xv 1-19; (ii) Psalm cxxxv (cxxxvi); (iii) the Song of the Three Children; (iv) Psalms cxlviii-cl recited as one. The ' Sons of Abba John' say the first and third, the ' Sons of Abba Makari' the second and fourth. After each of the first two Odes a ' Psali of the Lord Jesus' is said by the same group which recited the Ode. Following Tuki's edition of 1764 these Psali are (i) after Ode I *5en OIT^WT . . . (Tkki p. 27) or in the month of Choiahk *.nSc epovpo (ii. p. 264), and (ii) after Ode II jm&pencmong . . . (ii. p. 32), or in Choiahk jn&gu>c . . . (ii. p. 274). The Cairo edition of 1908 gives in each case only the former of these two (pp. 47, 55). Then a Psali of the Virgin is recited by those who did not say the Ode preceding, after which those who did recite it say a Psali in honour of St John or of St Makari. Thus : Sons of Abia John. Ode I Psali Psali of Abba Makari Ode II. Psali. Psali of the Virgin Psali of Abba John. The first two Odes being completed, each followed by three Psali, the ' Sons of Abba John' begin the Theotokia and a Psali of the Virgin, after which the ' Sons of Abba Makari' follow and also say a Psali of the Virgin. Apparently the Theotokia for the day is said by both, reciting alternately. But the Theotokia for the day, both in the printed editions and in the MSS, has only one Psali of the Virgin ; that is, one for each day of the week; and this is always given as preceding the Theotokia, whilst the Directory apparently, gives two and places them after the Theotokia. The Theotokia is finished by the ' Sons of Abba Makari', and then the ' Sons of Abba John' say a Psali of Abba Makari and proceed to recite the third Ode. No Psali is given as following this Ode, although every text of the Theotokia has one inserted here, very commonly followed by the ' Intercessions', a kind of litany of the Saints. After the third Ode the 'Sons of Abba Makari' begin the fourth Ode which never has a Psali attached. Possibly the Psali after the third Ode was omitted in the DSr Abu Makar in order to equalize the portions of the two groups. The concluding rubric represents the Sons of Aiia Makari.

Psali of the Virgin.

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'Sons of Abba Makari' as saying the Psalm and the Psali of the Gospel ' in Abba John and in Abba Makar', which means that it was said both in the sanctuary of Abba John and in that of Abba Makari, sanctuaries which are still standing > and are covered by the two domes visible in the top right-hand comer of the view of the Der Abu Makir which is figured in Bulletin, Nov. 1921,fig.2, p. 55. Such an expression occurs in the Marty'Hum S. Theodori (Ada MM. in Corp. Script. Christ. Or. Script. Copt. I l l i p. 6, Paris, 1908) where we read J6eit s i i s , neno^ep meaning ' in (the sanctuary of) Abba B ' . For this explanation of 'in Abba John' &c I am indebted to Mr H. G. Evelyn White. folio 1. Text.
recto epgKTC 4- eoT\\/*Xi
pe nenujHpi IIAMA. JUtA.KA.pi 4" riA.nenituT ICJAnnHC 4* IT& A.T ujA-iitouj juuueT&r *- nTg4.n> , i- ujA.pH rtenujH ITA, U]&p nCITUJHpi UAAAA. ib>&nnHC } neniWT

verso
uj.pe

{- n e i i

iRc -5ITA. nen ujHpi

folio a.
recto &A IW*JIHHC 4* TOT verso n.frA& JUL&R&PI fr
ITA. ncnujHpi IIA.IAA.

JU.AJlA.pi {

nor \^A.X 46-b.OKIA. 4-

He nenujHpi ti 5-

The northern sanctuary, originally dedicated to St Mark, now bears the name of St John the Baptist. That it was for a while the sanctuary of St John the Dwarf i Df is a conjecture jt

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pi ktJi&\ iwa.nrLHC < >
RC ^ / A \ I fc^n&p *

I T * neiiujHpi hub
A*. Ju&K&p

llenenctooT nenujH
pi AJAIJ, jueji&pi }

ju.nn^r*^\juoc >
^ ^ A \ I fiTe

I l e n e n c i o o T nenujH pi n ^ M ^ icoa.nnHC

iiiWwnriHC > n e u &&&& juta.K6.pi <-

[fo. i, recto] . . . a Pja/i' of the Virgin. The Sons of Abba Makari say a Psali of our father Abba John. Then they read the Gospel, down to the Doxology of Evening. The Sons of Abba John say the Psali and a Psali. Then the Sons of Abba John say the beginning of the first Ode [fo. i, verso~] and the Psali of the Lord Jesus. After that the Sons of Abba Makari say a Psali of the Virgin. Then the Sons of Abba John say a Psali of our father Abba Makari. The second Ode which the Sons of Abba Makari (say), and the Psali of the Lord Jesus. Then the Sons of Ab[/<?. 2, rerto]ba. John say a Psali of the Virgin, and the Sons of Abba Makari say a Psali of Abba John. Then the beginning of the Theotokia which the Sons of Abba John (say), and the Psali of the Virgin. After them the Sons of Abba Makari, and a Psali of the Virgin. After them the Sons of Abba John say a Psali [fo. 2, verso] of Abba Makari. Then the Sons of Abba John say the beginning of the third Ode. And the Sons of Abba Makari say the beginning of the fourth (Ode). Then the Sons of Abba Makari say a Psalm, and the Psali of the Gospel in Abba John and in Abba Makari.
D. L. O'LEARY.