The Creation of the Seven Archangels and Their Hosts in a Coptic-Arabic Hexaemeron Attributed to Epiphanius of Cyprus
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Journal of Coptic Studies 14 (2012) 63–84 doi: 10.2143/JCS.14.0.2184688 THE CREATION OF THE SEVEN ARCHANGELS AND THEIR HOSTS IN A COPTIC-ARABIC HEXAEMERON ATTRIBUTED TO EPIPHANIUS OF CYPRUS BY JUAN PEDRO MONFERRER-SALA Among the Arabic versions collected by Graf with links to the Palestine- born Father of the Church Epiphanius of Cyprus († 403), there is a Hexaemeron (¨Ezaßmerov, i.e ‘six days’). It is, of course, an elaborate expansion of the biblical account of the six days of creation (Gn 1:1-31). Graf, who assembled a whole compendium of existing manuscript Arabic versions,1 suggested that this particular text was one of several non-authen- tic writings (unechte Schriften)2 attributed to Epiphanius, who eventually became Bishop of Salamis, on Cyprus.3 The misattribution is probably due to the fact that Epiphanius’ treatise De mensuris et ponderibus contains a brief Hexaemeron that was also transmitted separately. However, this mistaken attribution worked admirably amongst the Coptic and Ethiopic communities, as is evident in the number of existing copies of the text, some dating from a relatively recent period. One of these (Mingana Chr. Arab. 19A, previously Mingana Chr. Arab. 1) forms part of an undated Egyptian codex measuring 218 ≈ 155 mm, which Mingana dated to the mid-seventeenth century (indeed, to 1650). The copyist wrote in the nasÌi script, using black ink for the body of the text and red for the headings, and included marginal notes on the recto pages. This man- uscript forms part of a codex containing two further apocryphal texts: Gregory’s ‘Apocalypse’ (ru’yah) on the creation, and a ‘History of Adam and Eve’ and their descendants.4 The Hexaemeron attributed to Epiphanius of Cyprus enjoyed remarkable popularity amongst Egypt’s Christians, and numerous Arabic-Coptic copies from the fifteenth-sixteenth, seventeenth and nineteenth centuries are to 1 Graf, Geschichte, I, 202-203, cf. 358. 2 Graf, Geschichte, V, 46. 3 On his life and works, see Williams, The Panarion, pp. XI-XVI. 4 Mingana, Catalogue, II, 23-24 (n° 19). 995694_JOCS_14_2012_05_Sala.indd5694_JOCS_14_2012_05_Sala.indd 6363 119/12/129/12/12 111:451:45 64 JUAN PEDRO MONFERRER-SALA be found in various libraries.5 As with the karsuni compilations,6 it is interesting to note that in all except the third of the five Cairo manuscripts (i.e. Nos. 59.III, 468 B1, 4894.1 and 86.3), the Hexaemeron is accompa- nied by a ‘History of Adam and Eve’, an evident indication that both apocryphal texts circulated together, forming part of the same ‘canon’ of apocryphal texts for which there was clearly considerable demand in the Arabic-Coptic milieu. The growth in demand is also attested by the fact that the Ethiopic version of the Hexaemeron (አክሲማሮለ, Aksimaros)7 drew on an Arabic-Coptic text, which Trumpp identified and edited in the late nineteenth century;8 both the edition, based on a single manuscript (Brit Mus. nº 320,ii [Orient. 751]), and the textual approach used were criticized years later by Haffner.9 The text examined here (Mingana Chr. Arab. 19A) is clearly linked to the Egyptian copies mentioned earlier, and belongs to the same tex- tual tradition; even so, it contains a number of distinctive features, not least of which is the title. While the Cairo copy No. 59.III gives Kitab al-Iksimarus and 358 offers Kitab al-Iksimarus, the copy in the Mingana Collection is entitled Kitab al-Iksamiyurun, which is clearly a lectio mendosa for the correct Kitab al-Iksamirun, to which the copyist has added — at the end of the incipit — the title by which the work was known in the Coptic setting, al-Aksimarus. Evidently, aksimarus/aksima- rus points to a transcription of the Greek nominative form ëzaßmerov,10 echoed in the karsuni versions, which transcribe the title as ˈˆ ˓ˎ ˆ, i.e. Kitab al-Iksiyamarus,11 whereas iksamirun suggests a transcription of the genitive plural ëzaßmer¬n. The text of the Hexaemeron comprises a total of twenty folios (fols. 1r-20r); the specific section addressed here is to be found between folios 3r and 5r. The incipit, placed immediately below a typically-Coptic decorative plaitwork motif surmounted by a rough cross, reads as follows بسم الاب والابن والروح القدس الاه واحد نبتدي بعون اللـه تعالي وحسن توفيقه نكتب كتاب الاكساميورن اي الستة ايام 5 Graf, Catalogue, 24 (n° 59.3), 134 (nº 358), 178 (n° 468 B1); Troupeau, Catalogue, II, 66 (n° 4894.1); Macomber, Catalogue, 19 (n° 86.3). 6 Mingana, Catalogue, I, 308b (n° 133A). 7 On the Ethiopic text, see Weninger, “Aksimaros”, I, 173. 8 Trumpp, Das Hexaëmeron des Pseudo-Epiphanius. 9 Haffner, “Das Hexaëmeron des Pseudo-Epiphanius”, 91-145. 10 Graf, Verzeichnis, 12. 11 Mingana, Catalogue, I, 308b (n° 133A). 995694_JOCS_14_2012_05_Sala.indd5694_JOCS_14_2012_05_Sala.indd 6464 119/12/129/12/12 111:451:45 THE CREATION OF THE SEVEN ARCHANGELS 65 الخليقة من قول الاب القديس ابيفانيوس اسقف قبرص وما كان من تدبير الخالق ومعجزات قدره ويسما الاكسيمارس “In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, One God. We begin, with the help of God Most High and the goodness of his success, to set down in writing the book of the Hexaemeron, that is the six days of creation, from the mouth of the Holy Father Epiphanius, Bishop of Cyprus, of how the Creator arranged it and the portents He performed, called al- Aksimarus”. Edition and translation (Mingana Chr. Arab. 19A, fols. 3r-5r) The many deviations from the rules of classical Arabic to be found in this text are due to interference from the dialectal environment;12 the register used, known as ‘Middle Arabic’, is characteristic of a large pro- portion of the texts produced by Christian Arab authors.13 Phonological and syntagmatic deviations are compounded by paleographical variations prompted by the scripts used by Christian Arab copyists.14 [Scriptio continua in codice] /3r/ ومن بعد هدا اللـه اخد من النار الكامل وخلق منه ملايكه ارواح متوقده واخدهم اللـه ودخل بهم في السماوات ليرتبهم ويجعلهم طقوس طقوس صفت ملاك الحسن15 اول رتبه ضعها رتبة َملاك /3v/ الحسن وفيها عشرت طغمات والرتبة الثانيه الكاروبيم وفيها عشرت طغمات واللـه خص منهم كاروبيم يحملوا اسماء العرش والرتبة الثالثه رتبة السارافيم وفيها عشرت طغمات واختص اللـه منهم سارافيم يحملوا اسماء16 العرش والرتبة17 الرابعه روسا القوات فيها عشرت طغمات وريس الملايكه ميخاييل هو ريس عليهم صفت رتبة الملاك ميخاييل18 ومن بعد سقوط الشيطان19 12 For a summary of the most frequent phenomena, see Versteegh, “Breaking the Rules”, 3-18. 13 On this linguistic register, see Blau, A Grammar of Christian Arabic. 14 Levin, Die griechisch-arabische Evangelien-Übersetzung, 12-16, and Lewis and Gibson, Forty-One Facsimiles. .in red صفت ملاك لعين 15 يحملواسماء .Ms 16 17 After the ra’ there is an inkblot due to a mistake of the scribe, who has written the word after it. in red. On the right, in the margin, there is a Coptic ypsilon صفت رتبة الملاك ميخاييل 18 (Õ) which has been written in red. 19 The nun of the term al-Say†an, as is usual in the Christian Arabic mss has been reversed over the rest of the Word. 995694_JOCS_14_2012_05_Sala.indd5694_JOCS_14_2012_05_Sala.indd 6565 119/12/129/12/12 111:451:45 66 JUAN PEDRO MONFERRER-SALA الدي20 الدعا ملاك الحسن َرفع اللـه ميخاييل واختصه لهده الخدمة الكريمه الدين هو كاين فيها الان وكملوا اربعة رتب في السما الاوله صفت رتبت جبراييل21 السما الثانيه الرتبة الاوله التي فيها الارباب اول رتبة لريس الملايكه جبراييل فيها عشرت طغمات وجبرييل22 ريس عليهم ورفعه اللـه واخصاه اللـه لهده الخدمه الذي لم يبقا /4r/ له خدمه صفت رتبة رفاييل23 الرتبت الثانيه التي فيها السما الثانيه ورتبت الكراسي فيها عشرت طغمات فريس الملايكه رافاييل24 المتروس عليهم واختار اللـه منهم اربعه وعشرين وجعلهم في الخدمه الدي اختصهم بها رفعهم اللـه هكدي من بعد سقوط الشيطان وهم القسا وفي اياديهم مباخر َوكاسات وعلي روسهم الاكاليل صفت رتبت سوريال25 الرتبة الثالثه في السما الثانيه رتبه السلاطين والريس عليهم سوريال صاحب البوق26 وفيها عند27 طغمات وهم جميعهم اختصهم اللـه يضربوا بالابواق28 جميع الاوقات كما هو مكتوب في رويا يوحنا الابوكالبسيس صفت رتبة سداكيال29 السما الثالثة اول مرتبه فيها عشرت طغمات والريس عليهم سداكيال /4v/ الدي اللـه ْير َسله وملايكته الي الناس عند خروج انفسهم ويقال عنهم انهم ملايكة الصلاح صفة رتبة صلاتيال30 الرتبت الثانيه الدي في السما الثالثه الملايكه فيها عشرت طغمات31 والدين عليهم صلاتيال واللـه اختارهم لجميع اجسام الصديقين وانفسهم في اليوم الاخير وهو اليوم الفرح والتهليل الي وليمة اللـه فيه الدي هو يوم القيامه الاولي يوم وليمة الالف سنه الدي دكرها يوحنا الابوعالبسيس32 في روياه قال ان الابرار يملكوا مع المسيح الف سنه وبقيت الموتي لم يحيوا حتي يكمل اليوم الدي للالف سنه هده هي القيامه الاوله علي هدا لم يجد عليهم شي من سلطان الموت الثاني صفت رتبة انانيال33 الرتبة الثالثه الدي في السما الثالثه فيها عشرت طغمات /5r/ والريش عليهم انانيال الدي اختاره اللـه هو وطغمات علي جميع اشجار الارض ونباتها والامطار والندا والحر والسموم والريح وما يكون في الصيف والشتا هولاء العشر رتب الدين في الثلاث سموات فيهم ماية طغمه كطغمه اللـه الوف الوف فربوات ربوات /3r/ After this God took from the fire what was perfect and from it created the angels, spirits of fire whom God took and placed in the heavens, ordering them and placing them [there] class by class. Group of the good angels. The first group he placed was that of the good /3v/ angels, of which there are ten orders; the second rank, the cherubim, of which there are ten orders, amongst whom God appointed some cherubim that 20 The relative pronoun has been written over the writing line due to scribe’s oversight.