Two Epithets of Mark the Evangelist: Coptic <i>theorimos</i> and Byzantine Greek θεόπτης

Two Epithets of Mark the Evangelist: Coptic ye;wrimoc and Byzantine Greek θεόπτης Sameh Farouk Soliman T of Greek words appearing in Coptic texts has been discussed by many scholars and from different perspectives.1 Some of these Greek loanwords provide evidence for the difficulties that readers as well as scholars find in tracing their specific origin. In what follows, I discuss how the treatment of Greek loanwords in Coptic gives us some indications of these difficulties. Greek loanwords in Coptic are divided into two types: (1) Words which entered the target language, Coptic, without change either in form or in meaning, so that the speaker used them as a part of his vocabulary in Coptic—such as εὐαγγέλιον, ἐκκλησία, συναξάριον, ὁµοούσιος, etc. (2) Words which entered Coptic after suffering some corruption and paramorphism—such as ποδήρης (‘reaching to the feet’) which entered Bohairic Coptic as pot/ri2 (which in Modern Greek means ‘glass’ or ‘cup’!). The present research addresses the HE HIGH PROPORTION 1 See W. A. Girgis, “Greek Loan Words in Coptic,” Bulletin de la Société d’Archéologie Copte 17 (1964) 63–73; 18 (1966) 71–96; 19 (1970) 57–88; 20 (1971) 53–68; 21 (1975) 33–53; 23 (1976–1978) 199–222; 30 (1991) 77–92.; 40 (2001) 61–88; Matthew Almond, A Comparative Study of Loanword Integration in Fourth-Century Coptic Literature (diss. Macquarie Univ. 2011); Sofia Torallas Tovar, “What is Greek and What is Coptic? School Texts as a Window into the Perception of Greek Loanwords in Coptic,” in Frank Feder and Angelika Lohwasser (eds.), Ägypten und sein Umfeld in der Spätantike (Wiesbaden 2013) 109–119. 2 Girgis, Bulletin de la Société d'Archéologie Copte 21 (1975) 35. ————— Greek, Roman, and Byzantine Studies 54 (2014) 494–506 2014 Sameh Farouk Soliman SAMEH FAROUK SOLIMAN 495 second type of Greek loanwords in Coptic, which will require investigation of both languages. Saint Mark, whose epithet is the subject of this research, was according to the tradition of the Church a disciple from among the Seventy, the author of the second canonical Gospel, and identical with the John Mark mentioned in Acts (12:12, 25, 15:37). He was the son of a certain Mary who dwelt at Jerusalem (Acts 12:5, 11 ff.); he was perhaps converted to Christianity by Peter and for this reason called Peter’s son (1 Pet 5:13). He was the cousin of Barnabas of Cyprus (Col 4:10) and the companion of Paul in some of his apostolic travels (Acts 12:25, 13:1–5, 15:39). Other traditions add that Mark was a Levite and after becoming a Christian he amputated a finger to disqualify himself for that service, hence his Greek nickname κολοβοδάκτυλος.3 He is represented as having remained in Cyprus until after the death of Barnabas (1 Cor 9:5–6) and then to have gone to Alexandria, where he founded the church,4 became its first bishop, and there died (or was martyred) in A.D. 63. The Coptic Church alone gives Saint Mark the epithet ye;wrimoc or sometimes ye;orimoc (see PLATE 1). This unparalleled term from its form and its ending would seem to be of Greek origin and mean “Beholder of God.” It was believed that Mark knew/saw Christ as an eye-witness and was present at the wedding of Cana in Galilee—he was the man who was carrying the jar when the two disciples went to prepare a place for the celebration of the Passover (Mk 14:13–14, Lk 22:11). Mark was also the man who fled naked before the crucifixion (Mk 14:51–52). Because of these passages, the Coptic Church calls Saint Mark the ye;wrimoc, and in his Coptic Doxology and on many occasions and places5 as well he is addressed with 3 Hippol. Haer. 7.30.1 (p.311 Marcovich). Eus. HE 2.15–16. 5 Such as the Coptic Synaxarium (30 Paramuda), the Diptych of the Coptic Church (al-Majma῾), Psali Adam and Psali Watos of 30 Paramuda, the Troparia of the Cymbal, and the Hitennis. 4 ————— Greek, Roman, and Byzantine Studies 54 (2014) 494–506 496 TWO EPITHETS OF MARK THE EVANGELIST this epithet:6 <ere nak ;w pimarturoc: ,ere pi;eu;aggelict/c: ,ere pi;apoctloc: abba Markoc piyewrimoc. Hail to you, o martyr, hail to the Evangelist, hail to the Apostle, Mark the beholder of God. Twbh m ; ;P|o|c ;e;hr/i ;ejwn: w piyewrimoc ;n;eu;aggelict/c: abba Markoc pi;apoctoloc: ;ntef ,a nennobi nan ;ebol. Pray to the Lord on our behalf, o beholder of God and Evangelist, Saint Mark the Apostle, that He may forgive us our sins. Given the obscurity of this epithet, one has doubts concerning its genesis—its meaning in the Greek language and its Coptic origin—hence these questions: Is ye;wrimoc actually a correct Greek word? Does it in fact mean “Beholder of God”? Is it a general and recognized ancient epithet of Saint Mark the Evangelist? Is it found in any other ancient Church? Does the Liturgy of Saint Mark contain such an epithet? How do the ancient ecclesiastical writers, either Greek or Coptic, call Mark the Evangelist? Why is Mark the Apostle considered the only “beholder of God”? From the linguistic perspective, the word ye;wrimoc, supposedly Greek in origin and meaning “Beholder of God,” in fact does not occur in any Greek text, either ancient or modern. A simple TLG search shows that a word θεώριµος is not found in extant Greek, whether Classical or Patristic, nor is it in any Greek dictionary. ye;wrimoc is used only in the Coptic Church and has no Greek attestation. Accordingly, the epithet does not appear in Greek where we might have expected it. So the title of the Alexandrian Liturgy attributed to Saint Mark:7 Ἡ Θεία Λειτουργία τοῦ Ἀποστόλου καὶ Εὐαγγελιστοῦ Μάρκου, µαθητοῦ τοῦ ἁγίου Πέτρου, “The Divine Liturgy of the Apostle and Evangelist Mark, Disciple of Saint Peter.” 6 7 Holy Annual Psalmody of the Coptic Orthodox Church (Beni Suef 1908) 357. F. E. Brightman, Liturgies Eastern and Western 1 (Oxford 1896) lxiii, 113. ————— Greek, Roman, and Byzantine Studies 54 (2014) 494–506 SAMEH FAROUK SOLIMAN 497 None of the Greek ecclesiastical historians applies this epithet to Mark. Eusebius speaks about him thus (HE 2.16.1): τοῦτον δὲ Μάρκον πρῶτόν φασιν ἐπὶ τῆς Αἰγύπτου στειλάµενον, τὸ Εὐαγγέλιον ὃ δὴ καὶ συνεγράψατο, κηρῦξαι, ἐκκλησίαις τε πρῶτον ἐπ’ αὐτῆς Ἀλεξανδρείας συστήσασθαι. And they say that this Mark was the first that was sent to Egypt, and that he proclaimed the Gospel which he had written, and first established churches in Alexandria itself. Theodoret of Cyrrhus once calls him τρισµακάριος,8 “thriceblessed,” and once µακάριος,9 “blessed,” and elsewhere ὁ θειότατος Μάρκος,10 “the most divine Mark.” Thus the epithet ye;wrimoc has no precedent in the Church historians; if it were originally Greek we would expect it first in Eusebius and then in the later historians. Further, the History of the Patriarchs of the Coptic Church of Alexandria never gives Saint Mark this epithet. It begins: “The first biography of the history of the Holy Church. The history of Saint Mark, the Disciple and Evangelist, Archbishop of the great city of Alexandria, and first of its Bishops.”11 And in an encomium in a Coptic codex from the White Monastery, Mark is nowhere given the epithet.12 Abū al-Barakāt ibn Kabar (†1324), in his Mişbāh al-żulmah wā idāh al-khidma (The Lamp of Darkness and the Explanation of the Service), on the names of the seventy Apostles, calls him simply “Mark the Evangelist.”13 And as for the liturgies used in the 8 Eranistes, ed. G. H. Ettlinger (Oxford 1975) p.212.31. Eranistes, p.263.31. 10 Comm. in Isaiam 12.34; ed. J.-N. Guinot, SC 295 (1982) II p.396. 11 Ed. B. Evetts, PO 1.2 (1904) p.135; see also Johannes Den Heijer, Mawhüb ibn Manṣǖr ibn Mufarriğ et l’historiographie copto-arabe: Etude sur la composition de l’Histoire des Patriarches d’Alexandrie (Louvain 1989). 12 Tito Orlandi, “Un codice copto del ‘Monastero Bianco’, Encomii di Severo di Antiochia, Marco Evangelista, Atanasio di Alessandria,” Le Muséon 81 (1968) 351–405. 13 Anba Samuel Bishop of Ŝibīn al-Qanāţir (ed.), Mişbāh al-żulmah wā idāh al-khidma (Cairo 1998) 87–89, 101. 9 ————— Greek, Roman, and Byzantine Studies 54 (2014) 494–506 498 TWO EPITHETS OF MARK THE EVANGELIST Coptic Church, ibn Kabar mentions the one of Saint Mark as “The Liturgy of Saint Mark, Martyr, Apostle, Evangelist and the Preacher of the Country of Egypt.”14 Thus the epithet ye;wrimoc is also not found in the ecclesiastical historians of the Coptic Church. In the liturgical books of the Greek Church there is no trace of the epithet. Moreover, in the Μηναῖα the Byzantine hymnographers call Mark by many other epithets, but not this one. Thus in the Ἀπολυτίκιον: Ἦχος δ΄. ταχὺ προκατάλαβε: τοῦ Πέτρου συνέκδηµος, καὶ κοινωνὸς ἱερός, τοῦ Λόγου διάκονος, καὶ ὑποφήτης σοφός, ἐδείχθης Ἀπόστολε, ὅθεν τὸ τοῦ Σωτῆρος, Εὐαγγέλιον θεῖον, Μάρκε διαχαράττεις, ὡς οὐράνιος µύστης, διὸ Εὐαγγελιστὰ σέ, πόθῳ γεραίροµεν,15 “The fellow-traveler of Peter, the holy participant, the servant of the Word, the wise interpreter, you received, o Apostle, from the Savior the Holy Gospel, and wrote it down, o Mark, as a heavenly confidant, so with love we honor you, the Evangelist.” In another place on the same day Mark is addressed thus: Ἦχος γ΄. Ἀπόστολε ἅγιε καὶ Εὐαγγελιστὰ Μάρκε, πρέσβευε τῷ ἐλεήµονι Θεῷ,16 “O Holy Apostle and Evangelist Mark, intercede on our behalf before the merciful God.” In the Byzantine Synaxarion Mark is known as Ἅγιος Ἀπόστολος καὶ Εὐαγγελιστὴς Μάρκος,17 “the Holy Apostle and Evangelist Mark.” The hagiographer Symeon Metaphrastes (ca. 960) calls him ἁγιώτατον Μάρκον … ὅθεν καὶ εὐαγγελιστὴν αὐτὸν ἐθέσπισαν οἱ µακάριοι κανόνες τῆς ἁγίας καὶ ἀποστολικῆς Ἐκκλησίας, “The most holy Mark … so the blessed canons of the Holy and Apostolic Church call him Evangelist,” and ἐκοιµήθη ὁ µακάριος 14 Mişbāh 123, 124. Μηναῖα τῆς Ἀποστολικῆς Δ∆ιακονίας τῆς Ἐκκλησίας τῆς Ἑλλάδος (Athens 1959–1973) Ἀπριλίου 25, p.97. 16 Μικρὸν Ὡρολόγιον, ἔκδοσις Παπαδηµητρίου (Athens 2001) 364. 17 Μηναῖα, Ἀπριλίου 25, p.97; Σ. Αγουρίδης, “Μᾶρκος,” Θρησκευτικὴ καὶ Ἠθικὴ Ἐγκυκλοπαίδεια 8 (1966) 748–755, and Σ. Εὐστρατιάδου, Τὸ Ἁγιολόγιον τῆς Ὀρθοδόξου Ἐκκλησίας, Ἀποστολική Δ∆ιακονία τῆς Ἐκκλησίας τῆς Ἑλλάδος (Athens 1995) 303, 304. 15 ————— Greek, Roman, and Byzantine Studies 54 (2014) 494–506 SAMEH FAROUK SOLIMAN 499 Μάρκος ὁ εὐαγγελιστὴς καὶ πρωτοµάρτυς τοῦ Κυρίου ἡµῶν, “The Blessed Mark, the Evangelist and the first martyr rested in our Lord” (PG 115.164A, 169C). As we see, the Greek Church gives Saint Mark many epithets, but ye;wrimoc is not among them. Greek loan-words in the Coptic language have been well studied.18 Various sorts of dictionaries have been compiled of terms of Greek origin to be found in Coptic documentary sources, with full references to the original sources and valuable, with some limitations, also for literary Coptic.19 And a reasonably complete list of names in Coptic documentary texts includes Greek, Egyptian, Biblical, and Arabic names.20 None of these mentions the term ye;wrimoc or claims for it a Greek origin.21 Arietta Papaconstatinou in her study of the cult of saints in Egypt cites for Μάρκος Εὐαγγελιστής many epithets, including ἅγιος, απα, ἀπόστολος, and peneiwt (“our father”): again,   ye;wrimoc is absent.22 In what follows I endeavor to investigate the possible interpretation of the origin of the epithet ye;wrimoc. It can be proposed that Coptic ye;wrimoc may be a corruption for the Greek θεορρήµων/θεορήµων (deriving from θεός + ῥῆµα),23 which in effect means ‘theologian’ as does θεολόγος. It is applied for example to Gregory of Nazianzus24 and John 18 M. Paryski, A Study of Greek Loan-Words in the Sahidic and Bohairic Dialects of the Coptic Language (diss. Univ. Michigan 1941). 19 Hans Forster, Wörterbuch der griechischen Wörter in den koptischen dokumentarischen Texten (Berlin/New York 2002). 20 Monika Hasitzka, Namen in koptischen dokumentarischen Texten (2007: http://www.onb.ac.at/files/kopt_namen.pdf). 21 It is absent too from J. Cerny, Coptic Etymological Dictionary (Cambridge 1976) 43–44. 22 Le culte des Saints en Egypte des Byzantins aux Abbassides (Paris 2001) 141– 143. 23 Cf. Sophocles, Lexicon 577. 24 John of Damascus Orationes de imaginibus tres 1.11; ed. B. Kotter (Berlin ————— Greek, Roman, and Byzantine Studies 54 (2014) 494–506 500 TWO EPITHETS OF MARK THE EVANGELIST Chrysostom.25 This term occurs in the Life of Saint John Khame, describing Saint Macarius:26 ouoh afseptotc af;i ebol hitotc qenouir/n/ ouoh aft/if epimwit mmosi ef] ntotf njenpihmot nte V] santef;i epitopoc eyouab nte penyeor/monoc ama nyeoceb/ctatoc peniwt eyouab abba makari And he saluted her and departed from her in peace and betook him to the high-road, the grace of God assisting him, until he came to the holy topos of our divinely-speaking (?: θεορρήµων) and most pious, holy father, Abba Macarius. And so of Mark himself: in the Athos MS. Actes inédits de Saint Marc 9 our Saint is referred to as ὁ ἀξιάγαστος καὶ θεορρήµων Μάρκος, “the marvelous and divinely-speaking Mark.”27 In the Rite of Consecration of the Patriarch of Alexandria (dated 1364),28 we have four times yeorimoc (pp.12.15, 30.17, 33.9, 46.13) and one time yeorimenoc (41.18), normalized in R. Tuki’s edition as yeorr/menoc.29 Tuki’s Arabic translation is al-mutakallim bi’l-ilahiyāt and one time (p.151.2) al-nāṭiq bi’l-ilahiyāt. This interpretation of the word may be valid, and the change of form can reflect the fact that the ancient Copts commonly changed the unusual Greek endings of nouns, especially those that do not end in -ος. For example, Greek µάρτυς entered Coptic as marturoc. As the ancient Copts, it appears, were not accustomed to such endings, we can suppose that something like that happened to θεορρήµων: final -ων became -ος, η rendered as ι is familiar, so the epithet θεορρήµων became ye;wrimoc. Thus the origin of the epithet of Saint Mark may ___ 1975) III 85. 25 Georgius Cedrenus I 94.3 Bonn. 26 M. H. Davis, The Life of Abba John Khamé (PO 14.2 [1919]) 335. 27 F. Halkin, AnBoll 87 (1969) 343–371, at 353. 28 Ed. O. H. E. Khs-Burmester (Cairo 1960). 29 R. Tuki, PiJwm eferapantoktin eJennieu,/ eyouab I (Rome 1761). ————— Greek, Roman, and Byzantine Studies 54 (2014) 494–506 SAMEH FAROUK SOLIMAN 501 be θεορρήµων, “speaking from God” (Lampe 632), i.e. Theologian—although Mark was far from being a theologian in the same meaning and level of John the Evangelist, for example, or Gregory of Nazianzus, and he has never been classified as a theologian. But how in fact did the Greek Church call Saint Mark? In the Canon of the Feast of Saint Mark on 25 April,30 attributed to a hymnographer named Theophanes (maybe the Confessor, VIII–IX cent.), Mark is called Μάρκος ὁ θεόπτης, “Mark the Beholder of God,” or “One who sees God” (Lampe 632). In an encomium for Mark written by Procopius Diaconus (†815) the evangelist is referred to again by the correct Greek epithet θεόπτης (PG 100.1196C). The epithet is associated specifically with those few who have seen God, like Moses and Elijah.31 The question then is: Why was Saint Mark specially called in these two ancient churches θεόπτης and ye;wrimoc? For every one of the Twelve Disciples and all of the Seventy Apostles saw Jesus Christ and could be called θεόπτης and ye;wrimoc. In a text attributed to Papias of Hierapolis, who wrote before the middle of the second century, we find that he had some doubts about Saint Mark and his canonical apostolicity:32 Μάρκος µὲν ἑρµηνευτὴς Πέτρου γενόµενος, ὅσα ἐµνηµόνευσεν ἀκριβῶς ἔγραψεν, οὐ µέντοι τάξει, τὰ ὑπὸ τοῦ Κυρίου ἢ λεχθέντα ἢ πραχθέντα. οὔτε γὰρ ἤκουσεν τοῦ Κυρίου οὔτε παρηκολούθησεν αὐτῷ, ὕστερον δέ, ὡς ἔφην, Πέτρῳ, ὃς πρὸς τὰς χρείας ἐποιεῖτο τὰς διδασκαλίας, ἀλλ’ οὐχ ὥσπερ σύνταξιν τῶν κυριακῶν ποιούµενος λογίων, ὥστε οὐδὲν ἥµαρτεν Μάρκος, οὕτως ἔνια γράψας ὡς ἀπεµνηµόνευσεν. ἑνὸς γὰρ ἐποιήσατο Μηναῖα 25 Απριλίου, p.96. Sophocles, Lexicon 577; Rhetorica anonyma 27.5 (III p.175.20 Spengel); Manetho FGrHist 609 F 2 (p.12); Theodore Stud. Epist. 51.69, 465.11, 557.30 (ed. Fatouros); John Damasc. Hom. in sabbatum sanctum 25 (PG 96.624D); George Monach. Chron. p.135.12, 492.4 de Boor; George Syncell. p.2.4 Mosshammer. 32 Eus. HE 3.39.15 = K. Bihlmeyer and W. Schneemelcher, Die apostolischen Väter3 (Tübingen 1970) 134–139. 30 31 ————— Greek, Roman, and Byzantine Studies 54 (2014) 494–506 502 TWO EPITHETS OF MARK THE EVANGELIST πρόνοιαν, τοῦ µηδὲν ὧν ἤκουσεν παραλιπεῖν ἢ ψεύσασθαι τι ἐν αὐτοῖς. Mark, having become the interpreter of Peter, wrote down accurately whatsoever he remembered. It was not, however, in exact order that he related the sayings or deeds of the Lord. For he neither heard the Lord nor accompanied Him. But afterwards, as I said, he accompanied Peter, who accommodated his instructions to the necessities [of his hearers], but with no intention of giving a regular narrative of the Lord’s sayings. Wherefore Mark made no mistake in thus writing some things as he remembered them. For of one thing he took especial care, not to omit anything he had heard, and not to put anything fictitious into the statements. From this passage of Papias33 we can perceive an accusation that St. Mark never heard or followed Jesus in the flesh; and so a trend emerged in the Greek and the Coptic Churches to give Saint Mark a special epithet confirming that he was a real and canonical apostle and a contemporary of Jesus. Its function was to defend Mark against the denials of Papias and others that he knew/saw Christ. This epithet includes at the same time a defense by these two churches of their canonical and apostolic position. So the epithet (Beholder of God) exists in a correct form θεόπτης in the Greek Church, but by some error was introduced into the Coptic Church as ye;wrimoc. How early does the epithet ye;wrimoc occur in the Coptic Church? All that can be said is that we see it first in the Sullam34 of Anba Yuhannā al-Samannūdī which dates from the middle of the 13th century (see PLATES 2–3).35 It appears also in many 33 See A. Farrer, A Study in St. Mark (Westminster 1951) 20. The Arabic term for a Coptic-Arabic dictionary is sullam (“ladder”), as the words are arranged to the left (Coptic) and the right (Arabic) in a way that gives the impression of a ladder (Latin scala). 35 Bishop of Samannūd in the western Delta in the mid 13th century, author of the first Coptic grammar, who also wrote the first known Coptic dictionary. Of his Al-Sullam al-Kana’isi (or Scala Ecclesiastica) two versions survive, Sahidic (cf. H. Munier, La Scala copte 44 [Cairo 1930] 1–43) and 34 ————— Greek, Roman, and Byzantine Studies 54 (2014) 494–506 SAMEH FAROUK SOLIMAN 503 manuscripts of the 14th–15th century, for example Vat.Copto 24, P. Copte 26, Vat. Copto 18, P. Copte 73, and P. Copte 30. All these include liturgies of the three Saints Basil, Gregory, and Cyril. We can conclude that the Coptic word ye;wrimoc as an epithet of Saint Mark the Evangelist does not have a simple or obvious derivation from Greek. I propose the following possibility: The Coptic tradition knew the Greek θεορρήµων, “divinely-speaking” (as in the Greek texts for Mark and the Coptic for Macarius: 500 above), but at some stage it was misspelled to become ye;wrimoc, and there was also a misunderstanding of the meaning, and so ye;wrimoc was translated into Arabic by al-Samannūdī as nazir al-ilah, “beholder of God” (PLATE 1). June, 2014 Assistant Professor of Byzantine Literature Department of Classical Studies Faculty of Arts, Cairo University P.O. Box 12613 Urman-Giza Cairo, Egypt samehfarouk2002@hotmail.com ___ Bohairic, both found in many manuscripts: G. Graf, Geschichte der christlichen arabischen Literatur II (Vatican City 1947) 372–374). ————— Greek, Roman, and Byzantine Studies 54 (2014) 494–506 504 TWO EPITHETS OF MARK THE EVANGELIST PLATE 1: MS. Mingana Arabic 61, 14th cent. ————— Greek, Roman, and Byzantine Studies 54 (2014) 494–506 SAMEH FAROUK SOLIMAN PLATE 2: Al-Sullam of al-Samannūdī MS. Huntington 365 (Bodleian Library, Oxford) ————— Greek, Roman, and Byzantine Studies 54 (2014) 494–506 505 506 TWO EPITHETS OF MARK THE EVANGELIST PLATE 3: Al-Sullam of al-Samannūdī MS. Huntington 384 (Bodleian Library, Oxford) ————— Greek, Roman, and Byzantine Studies 54 (2014) 494–506