Lent in Alexandria

[andrewcriddle]

I've been reading a book The Legacy of Demetrius and an article The Evolution of Lent in Alexandria by Maged S. A. Mikhail.

One general lesson is how little we know about the historical Demetrius, the bishop of Alexandria in the early 3rd century CE who quarrelled with Origen. He may have been less significant in the history of Egyptian Christianity than most scholars have thought.

One specific issue is that Maged Mikhail discusses the tradition that Lent in Alexandria originally came immediately after Epiphany but was changed by Demetrius to come immediately before Easter. He presents a strong case that this tradition arises from disputes between Coptic Christians, Chalcedonian Christians and Muslims in Islamic Egypt and is not primitive. If he is right, (and I think he is), this makes it most unlikely that early Alexandrian Christians ever practiced a Lent separate from Easter. An idea popular among many liturgiologists. This idea of a primitive Lent in Egypt separate from Easter has played an important part in attempts to link the Mar Saba letter and Secret Mark to the early Alexandrian liturgy. (Although as Scott Brown and others have argued correctly, there is nothing whatever in the Mar Saba letter that refers explicitly to the liturgy of Lent, whether linked to Easter or independent of it.)

I hope that Maged Mikhail's arguments will become widely known, although his work is liable to be seen as about the specialist area of Coptic Church history and may not be read by students of Early Christianity who would find it valuable.

Andrew Criddle

[Secret Alias]

It may be difficult to quantify or qualify 'more' or 'less' significant given that we simply don't know much about early Alexandrian Christianity. The History of the Coptic Patriarchs say he was from outside the Church (in Alexandria). What else do we know about Demetrius? What else do we know about early Alexandrian or Egyptian Christianity? Even Epiphanius calls Clement an Athenian I think.

[andrewcriddle]

It may be difficult to quantify or qualify 'more' or 'less' significant given that we simply don't know much about early Alexandrian Christianity. The History of the Coptic Patriarchs say he was from outside the Church (in Alexandria). What else do we know about Demetrius? What else do we know about early Alexandrian or Egyptian Christianity? Even Epiphanius calls Clement an Athenian I think.

Maged Mikhail argues that the presentation of Demetrius as a pious peasant living in celibacy with his wife is itself late and probably post-Islamic.

Andrew Criddle

[Secret Alias]

I love that married couple story. "Let me prove to you my wife and I don't have sex ... set her on fire!" Sounds like a sexually frustrated husband

[StephenGoranson]

SA: "Even Epiphanius calls Clement an Athenian I think."

Yes, Epiphanius Scholasticus, who lived later than another Epiphanius, author of Panarion.

[Secret Alias]

I think it's in the Panarion. My memory is pretty infallible. I used it all my life to mask my lack of intelligence

[StephenGoranson]

Yes, it is in both.