The Coptic Encyclopaedia

The Coptic Encyclopedia . OJ , Editors and Consultants Editor In Chief Am. S. Adya University oll/I(I), EditOR William Y. Adams U"i"cl'Sily of Kentucky Basilios IV Archbishop of JuuSIl/cm Picrn du Bourguel. SJ. Lo.."n Mwcum, Paris Rene.Georges Coquin Colle~ 4e Frl:lnu:, Porn W. H. C. F~d Gltugow Unil:cnity Mimi Bouuos Gbli Society of Copti.c Arch,u'oIOO. Coiro Bishop Grqorio$ Hilher I,utitwc of Coptic Swdw. Cairo Peter Gl'O$Iirnann Gillmuin JI1SliIUIC of Art:hllcolou. C"iro Amoin.. Guillaumonl CotltlC de Fu.ncc, Paris Rodolphe " - r Unillm" 0/ Gent"" MllI1in KnoUSoe Wc$lf'tJ/ischc Wi/hclnu-U..ivusilw. Miinstl!f Subhi Y. LaMb Kit! University Tito Orlandi Uoti"usl/)' of R~ Marian R~nson UUIII 5/"lc Uni"crsity Khalil Samir -fpnli/icllf Orlen/a! Institute. Rome Co'mullanu Lablb Habachi Egypt/an DepartmcrJ( 0/ Antiquities, Cairo J. M. Robinson /nSI;twte of Antiquity and Christianity, Claremont, California Magdi Wahba Cairo VOlivers//)' Edllorlal Ma_glng Committee S. Kent Brown BrigJtam YOllng University, Provo Fu.ad Megally Polyw:Jtl1ic of Central London The Coptic Encyclopedia Aziz S. Atiya EDITOR IN CHIEF Volume 4 . "' Macmillan Publishing Company NEW'lORK Collier Macmillan Canada WRONTO Maxwell Macmillan International NEW YORK· OXFORD· SINGAPORE· SYDNEY Copyright @ 1991 by Macmillan Publishing Company A Divuion of Macmillan, Inc. All rights reserved. No part of this book rna)' be reproduced or lranmlit~d in any form or by any meaM, electronic or mechankaJ, including pholocopying. recording. OC" by an)' infonnalioo slOrage and relrie~-al $}'$tem, wilhoul permiwon in wriling from the Publisher. Macmillan Publishing Company 866 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10022 Collier Macmillan Canada, Inc. 1200 Eglinton Avenue East, $line 200, Don Mills, Ontario M3C )NI library of Congress Catalog Card No.: 9().23448 Printed in the United Stales of America prinling number 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Library of Congre55 Cataloglng-in-Publieation Data The Coptic encydopeofuo I Azil. S. Atiya, editor-in-ehief. p. em. Includes bibliographical references and indCll. ISBN. 0-o2·897025·X (sel) I, COffic Church-DIctionaries, 2. Copts-Dictionaries. I. Atiya,:Azi1. S" 1898BXlJO.5.C66 1991 281'.1'03-dc20 90-23448 elP The prrparation of this volume W'e monk sought safety on the island of Dahlak Kebr (Gff the coast of Mass,3wa), but was arrested there by al·MuM...k (first of the archipelago sui. tans), who stripped him 01 all hi. good. and sent him to Cairo, where the vizier ordered hi. execu· tion in H'. 80l/A.D. 1085-1086. SAwiros, h>'ing been pan of his unde's entou· rage, knew Ethiopia well and enjo}ed considerable prestige. Thus, he was able to undertake a number of rdonn., distinguishing himself aboye all hy his fight against polygamy. Even the king (unnamed in the Hi.lOry of In" Patriarchs) renounced all his women, s,3ye hi. wife and one concubine who had borne him children. In October 1088, &iwiros, via hi. brother, RijAl, .ent a present to Badr al·Jamal!. But the yj~ier ""orned the gift and complained to Rijal-before the patriarch and many Coplic bishops, who had been urgently summoned-that &\",'il"05 had not fulfilled his earl} promises, in panicular, his prom· ise to build four mosque. for the Muslims of Ethio· pia. But Rijal replied that, on Ihe conlrary, hi' brolher had even been imprisoned by the king of Ethiopia precl~ly because he had agreed to Ihe construction of seven mosques-mosques lhat had been rapidly demolished by the Elhiopians. Thereupon, the vi~ier commanded Patria~ch Cyril It to wrile to the Ethiopian sovereign, urging him to respect the Muslims. A delegation, led by two Copti