# Abuna Takla Source: https://coptic-lore-forge.lovable.app/wiki/abuna-takla — Coptic Orthodox Wiki (updated 2026-10-01) Abuna Takla was a nineteenth-century Coptic deacon, teacher, collector of chants, and composer supported by Pope Cyril IV. He compiled The Services of the Deacon, first published in 1859, and trained pupils whose musical tradition passed to Mikhail Girgis al-Batanouny, a central performer in later efforts to record Coptic liturgical music. ## Life and musical work Abuna Takla (Abūnā Taklā) was a Coptic deacon and teacher who lived in the second half of the nineteenth century. The musicologist Ragheb Moftah described him as a teacher “with a good voice and keen ear.”[^1] He was blind and taught in the school adjacent to the patriarchal Church of Saint Mark before Pope Cyril IV appointed him teacher of melodies; his ordination as a deacon followed this appointment.[^5] The appointment reflected the pope’s conviction that training cantors was a matter of prime importance and that a highly skilled specialist in singing the rituals could improve church music by teaching others.[^15] He sang Coptic songs of his own composition in the homes of prominent families and received the title of Bey after composing and presenting a patriotic song to the Khedive.[^6] ## Collection of chants Encouraged by Pope Cyril IV (1854–1861), Abuna Takla undertook a search for old Coptic chants. He traveled throughout Egypt, from north to south, visiting isolated villages and small towns to find old melodies. His principal aim was to locate the earliest records of church chants, although he also collected old folk songs.[^2] Kuhn places this interest in both sacred and secular repertoire within the broader interaction of folk and church music, noting that religious texts can be sung to folk melodies and that the reverse exchange can also occur.[^16] ## Liturgical contribution His collecting work enabled him to compose liturgical melodies of his own. According to Moftah, these melodies remained a basis of contemporary traditional Coptic liturgical music.[^3] Magdalena Kuhn’s account identifies Abuna Takla as the collector and creator of melodies represented in the recorded repertoire she discusses, which was performed predominantly by the cantor Mikhail Girgis al-Batanouny.[^4] As part of his work in Coptic chant, Abuna Takla corrected pronunciation and insisted on proper enunciation and delivery of hymns.[^7] ## The Services of the Deacon At Pope Cyril IV’s order, Abuna Takla published the first edition of *The Services of the Deacon* (Arabic: *Khidmat al-Shammas*) in 1859, with the assistance of Deacon Iryan Jirjis Muftah, a teacher of Coptic in the Patriarchal College.[^8] He compiled the work from existing books and hymn collections to assist deacons, who shared with cantors responsibility for selecting and ordering the hymns and responses for each liturgy and office.[^9] The book outlines hymns and responses in Coptic and Arabic for the liturgies and canonical offices throughout the year.[^10] At the pope’s direction, he also included four Greek hymns that he translated into Coptic.[^11] These hymns retained their Greek melodies, were designated *Yunani* (Greek), and continued to be sung for the feasts of the Nativity and Resurrection at the time of the source’s account.[^12] ## Students and transmission Abuna Takla transmitted his knowledge and skills to seven students, including the cantors Abuna Murqus of Matay and Mu‘allim Armanyus.[^13] In the following generation, Mikhail Girgis al-Batanouny was a student of these pupils.[^14] Al-Batanouny (1873–1957) was himself blind and was remembered for an exceptionally clear voice and a prodigious memory.[^17] As a young man, he was sent to churches in numerous Egyptian towns to learn and collect hymns, and he later taught at the Institute of Saint Didymus.[^18] Ragheb Moftah selected him to sing for the English musicologist Ernest Newlandsmith, who between 1928 and 1936 notated the complete Liturgy of Saint Basil and many hymns reserved for Advent and Lent.[^19] ## Oral tradition and musical context Kuhn situates Abuna Takla’s work against the absence of Coptic musical notation in the early Christian period, which leaves the structure of early Coptic melodies little known.[^20] She also notes that an exclusively oral musical tradition undergoes small changes over time, an important qualification when considering the later transmission of the repertoire associated with him.[^21] In her account of this musical tradition, biblical texts are generally delivered in melodic recitative rather than ordinary reading, with numerous microtones and a free rhythm adapted to the text.[^22] The syllabic style used for psalms, hymns, and liturgical chants assigns a single note to each syllable, with a short ornament on the final note and a melodic rhythm governed by the words.[^23] Kuhn also places Coptic performance within the wider Near and Middle Eastern practice of allowing improvisation through extended ornaments, often using established musical formulas or clusters of notes.[^24] ## Recordings and later preservation According to Kuhn’s 2020 account, approximately 600 traditional Coptic liturgical melodies had survived through oral transmission from the middle of the nineteenth century and had been recorded on audio tapes.[^25] She identifies the earliest audio recordings as eleven wax cylinders made in 1931 by Alfred Berner, a German specialist in Arabic music, with al-Batanouny as the performer; these cylinders are deposited in the Phonogramm-Archiv in Berlin.[^26] Between 1935 and 1957, Ragheb Moftah (1898–2001) devoted substantial effort to assembling a collection of known traditional Coptic chants.[^27] This later collection was preserved on audio tapes and subsequently in digital form, making it available for study and use.[^28] The entire Moftah collection is housed in the Music Division of the Library of Congress in Washington, D.C., and digital files have also been preserved at the German Center of Music in Hannover.[^29] Kuhn cautions that the concentration of the surviving recorded repertoire around a single collector and creator and predominantly one performer limits the evidence available for studying the structure and significance of the broader liturgical tradition.[^30] ## Frequently asked questions **Who was Abuna Takla?** He was a blind nineteenth-century Coptic teacher and deacon who collected chants, composed melodies, and taught hymn pronunciation and delivery. **What was The Services of the Deacon?** It was a compilation first published in 1859 that organized Coptic and Arabic hymns and responses for liturgies and canonical offices throughout the year. **How did Pope Cyril IV support his work?** The pope appointed him teacher of melodies, encouraged his collection of old chants, and ordered the publication of his service book, including four Greek hymns translated into Coptic. **How was his musical knowledge transmitted?** He taught seven students, including Abuna Murqus of Matay and Mu‘allim Armanyus. Their pupil Mikhail Girgis al-Batanouny later performed chants for transcription and recording. **Where are later recordings of the tradition preserved?** Al-Batanouny’s 1931 wax-cylinder recordings are in Berlin’s Phonogramm-Archiv. The Moftah collection is held at the Library of Congress, with digital files also preserved in Hannover. ## Sources [^1]: Coptic Melodies: Structure and Significance, Magdalena Kuhn (p. 1) [^2]: Coptic Melodies: Structure and Significance, Magdalena Kuhn (p. 1) [^3]: Coptic Melodies: Structure and Significance, Magdalena Kuhn (p. 1) [^4]: Coptic Melodies: Structure and Significance, Magdalena Kuhn (p. 1) [^5]: The Coptic Encyclopedia, Volume 6, Aziz S. Atiya (Editor in Chief) (p. 104) [^6]: The Coptic Encyclopedia, Volume 6, Aziz S. Atiya (Editor in Chief) (p. 104) [^7]: The Coptic Encyclopedia, Volume 6, Aziz S. Atiya (Editor in Chief) (p. 104) [^8]: The Coptic Encyclopedia, Volume 6, Aziz S. Atiya (Editor in Chief) (p. 104) [^9]: The Coptic Encyclopedia, Volume 6, Aziz S. Atiya (Editor in Chief) (p. 85) [^10]: The Coptic Encyclopedia, Volume 6, Aziz S. Atiya (Editor in Chief) (p. 85) [^11]: The Coptic Encyclopedia, Volume 6, Aziz S. Atiya (Editor in Chief) (p. 104) [^12]: The Coptic Encyclopedia, Volume 6, Aziz S. Atiya (Editor in Chief) (p. 104) [^13]: The Coptic Encyclopedia, Volume 6, Aziz S. Atiya (Editor in Chief) (p. 104) [^14]: The Coptic Encyclopedia, Volume 6, Aziz S. Atiya (Editor in Chief) (p. 104) [^15]: The Coptic Encyclopedia, Volume 6, Aziz S. Atiya (Editor in Chief) (p. 104) [^16]: Coptic Melodies: Structure and Significance, Magdalena Kuhn (p. 1) [^17]: The Coptic Encyclopedia, Volume 6, Aziz S. Atiya (Editor in Chief) (p. 104) [^17]: Coptic Melodies: Structure and Significance, Magdalena Kuhn (p. 1) [^18]: The Coptic Encyclopedia, Volume 6, Aziz S. Atiya (Editor in Chief) (p. 104) [^19]: The Coptic Encyclopedia, Volume 6, Aziz S. Atiya (Editor in Chief) (p. 104) [^20]: Coptic Melodies: Structure and Significance, Magdalena Kuhn (p. 1) [^21]: Coptic Melodies: Structure and Significance, Magdalena Kuhn (p. 1) [^22]: Coptic Melodies: Structure and Significance, Magdalena Kuhn (p. 1) [^23]: Coptic Melodies: Structure and Significance, Magdalena Kuhn (p. 1) [^24]: Coptic Melodies: Structure and Significance, Magdalena Kuhn (p. 1) [^25]: Coptic Melodies: Structure and Significance, Magdalena Kuhn (p. 1) [^26]: Coptic Melodies: Structure and Significance, Magdalena Kuhn (p. 1) [^27]: Coptic Melodies: Structure and Significance, Magdalena Kuhn (p. 1) [^27]: Coptic Melodies: Structure and Significance, Magdalena Kuhn (p. 1) [^28]: Coptic Melodies: Structure and Significance, Magdalena Kuhn (p. 1) [^29]: Coptic Melodies: Structure and Significance, Magdalena Kuhn (p. 1) [^30]: Coptic Melodies: Structure and Significance, Magdalena Kuhn (p. 1)