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Coptic Synaxarion

The Coptic Synaxarion collects saints’ lives and commemorations for the liturgical year, preserving traditions of the Coptic Church in distinct regional recensions. [^1][^2]

Also known as: Copto-Arabic Synaxarion · Synaxarion, Copto-Arabic · Synaxarium Alexandrinum

Published 10/2/2026Updated 2 revisionsPage history

Overview

The Coptic Synaxarion is a collection of abbreviated saints’ lives and histories arranged for each day of the liturgical year. 1 The Copto-Arabic Synaxarion serves as a liturgical book of the Coptic Church and is an important source for its history. 2

Its commemorations extend beyond individual saints: the entry for 12 Bashans celebrates the appearance of the shining cross over Golgotha, while that for 8 Hatur commemorates the Four Bodiless Beasts that bear the throne of God. 34

Compilation and authorship

Butrus Sawirus al-Jamil, bishop of Malij, was the probable first compiler, arranger, and editor of the Synaxarion, based on an attribution of the work to him. 1 His lifetime is uncertain, but he probably lived in the late twelfth and early thirteenth centuries. 5 Some subsequent elaboration is attributed to his successor, Mikha’il, bishop of Atrib and Malij, although the extent of that contribution is unknown. 1

The identities of the initiator, compilers, and final reviser cannot be established with certainty. 6 The collection may have been inspired by the Greek calendar of saints, and several entries were taken from the Constantinopolitan collection. 6

Regional recensions

The Copto-Arabic Synaxarion survives in two principal forms: the Lower Egyptian recension, described as the quasi-official book used from Alexandria to Aswan, and the Upper Egyptian recension. 2 The latter is also designated the Sahidic recension in the discussion of Forget’s edition. 7

Regional witnesses preserve material otherwise poorly attested: the life of Hamai of Kahyor, for example, survives only in a substantial notice in a single manuscript of the Upper Egyptian recension. 8

Editions and translations

F. Wüstenfeld published a German translation of the first half of the year in two volumes in 1879, without the Arabic text; his prepared translation of the second half remained in manuscript. 9 His translation depended on a single Lower Egyptian manuscript dated 1826. 10

R. Basset’s edition with French translation appeared in Patrologia Orientalis and was completed in 1929. 10 Forget’s Synaxarium Alexandrinum, published in the Corpus Scriptorum Christianorum Orientalium, included a Latin translation. 10

Textual difficulties exist in both editions: one combined manuscripts representing different recensions, while the other printed the distinct recension separately but mingled the recensions in translation. 7

An Egyptian edition prepared by ‘Abd al-Masih Mikha’il and Armaniyus Habashi Shata al-Birmawi in 1935–1937 is described as having become semiofficial. 11 Its editors used an Arabic version of the Ethiopic Synaxarion to supplement the older Coptic collection. 11

Historical value and interpretation

The Synaxarion sometimes preserves the only complete surviving account of a saint’s life, as in the case of Pidjimi, whose fuller Coptic Life survives only in fragments. 12 Its narratives can also differ from other hagiographic witnesses: the account of Abraham of Scetis identifies his mother’s captors as Persians, whereas the Arabic Life describes them as “barbarians.” 13

Individual historical notices require attention to corroboration: Nestorius’s death is placed at Akhmim in 440, but this information is not corroborated elsewhere. 14

References

Sources

  1. 1.The Coptic Encyclopedia, Volume 2 — Aziz S. Atiya (Editor in Chief) (p. 297)
    According to Ibn Kabar, Butrus composed the Synaxarion also. This is an abstract of the lives of the saints and their histories arranged as a chronicle for each day of the liturgical year. He probably was the first compiler, arranger, and editor of the work, and laid the foundation for the Vulgate version completed later. In fact, some of its elaboration belongs to his successor, MIKHA’IL, bishop of Atrib and Malij, but how much is not known.
  2. 2.The Coptic Encyclopedia, Volume 7 — Aziz S. Atiya (Editor in Chief) (p. 351)
    This book, which has become a liturgical book, is very important for the history of the Coptic church. It appears in two forms: the recension from Lower Egypt, which is the quasi-official book of the Coptic church from Alexandria to Aswan, and the recension from Upper Egypt.
  3. 3.The Coptic Encyclopedia, Volume 3 — Aziz S. Atiya (Editor in Chief) (p. 47)
    In Coptic history, the episode involving the appearance of the shining cross upon Golgotha has become especially well known. This story appears in Greek in a letter attributed to Cyril (PG 33, cols. 1165-76), and in various ecclesiastical histories (Socrates 2.28; Sozomen 4.5; Philostorgius 3.26). In Coptic we find this event recorded in the HISTORIA ECCLESIASTICA, with a mention of the letter cited above, and in a homily, De cruce, likewise attributed to Cyril (ed. Compagnano, 1980, par. 106). Further, on 12 Bashans, the Copto-Arabic SYNAXARION celebrates this appearance of the cross (ed. For
  4. 4.The Coptic Encyclopedia, Volume 2 — Aziz S. Atiya (Editor in Chief) (p. 511)
    On 8 Hatur the Coptic SYNAXARION commemorates the Four Bodiless Beasts that bear the throne of God.
  5. 5.The Coptic Encyclopedia, Volume 2 — Aziz S. Atiya (Editor in Chief) (p. 297)
    BUTRUS SAWIRUS AL-JAMIL, thirteenth-century bishop of Malij and first compiler of the Coptic SYNAXARION. It is not known exactly when he lived, and no details of his life are known for certain. He lived probably at the end of the twelfth century and the beginning of the thirteenth, since he comes between MIKHA’IL, BISHOP OF DAMIETTA (d. after 1208) and CYRIL III ibn Laqlaq (1235-1243) in the author index of Abu al-Barakat IBN KABAR.
  6. 6.The Coptic Encyclopedia, Volume 7 — Aziz S. Atiya (Editor in Chief) (p. 351)
    It poses several questions that we cannot answer with any certainty: Who compiled the Synaxarion, and who was the first to take the initiative? Who made the final revision, and where was it done? It seems evident that the intention was to compile this book for the Coptic church in imitation of the Greek list of saints, and that the author or authors drew their inspiration from that work, for several notices are obviously taken from the Synaxarion called that of Constantinople.
  7. 7.The Coptic Encyclopedia, Volume 7 — Aziz S. Atiya (Editor in Chief) (p. 352)
    The latter published two manuscripts—especially for the first half-year—amalgamating them without taking account of the fact that they represented two different recensions—so much so that the finished product is a Synaxarion that never existed! In the Corpus Scriptorum Christianorum Orientalium Forget was more fortunate, for when he began his edition, he noted that the text of Paris Bibliothèque nationale 4869 gave a different recension. He therefore published it separately (vols. 47-48, pp. 291ff). Unfortunately his translation mingled the two recensions; and it, too, fabricated a hybrid Syna
  8. 8.The Coptic Encyclopedia, Volume 4 — Aziz S. Atiya (Editor in Chief) (p. 496)
    His cult is attested by some Coptic documents, in particular some typika (books containing rules and rubrics for divine service), from DAYR ANBA SHINUDAH, but his life has been preserved only by a fairly long notice in a single manuscript of the recension from Upper Egypt of the Copto-Arabic SYNAXARION.
  9. 9.The Coptic Encyclopedia, Volume 7 — Aziz S. Atiya (Editor in Chief) (p. 351)
    He also translated the Synaxarion (without including the Arabic text), but only the first half-year appeared, under the title Synaxarium, that is, Calendar of Saints of the Coptic Christians [Synaxarium, das ist Heiligen-Kalender der coptischen Christen] (2 vols., Gotha, 1879). He had prepared the second part of the year, but the manuscript remained in the library in Göttingen.
  10. 10.The Coptic Encyclopedia, Volume 7 — Aziz S. Atiya (Editor in Chief) (p. 352)
    translated only a single Arabic manuscript in Gotha, dating from 1826 and representing only the recension from Lower Egypt. R. Graffin's Patrologia Orientalis published the Synaxarion in several fascicles with a French translation, under the title The Arabic-Jacobite Synaxarion (Coptic recension) [Le Synaxaire arabe-jacobite (rédaction copte)]. Begun in 1904, it was completed in 1929, after the death of its author, R. Basset.
  11. 11.The Coptic Encyclopedia, Volume 7 — Aziz S. Atiya (Editor in Chief) (p. 376)
    the Egyptian edition of the Coptic SYNAXARION by the qummus ‘Abd al-Masih Mikha’il and Armaniyus Habashi Shata al-Birmawi (1935-1937) has become the semiofficial edition of the Coptic church. For this edition its authors used an Arabic version of the Ethiopic Synaxarion (Coptic Museum, MS Lit. 155 a-c). Certain notices complete the ancient recension of the Synaxarion of the Copts.
  12. 12.The Coptic Encyclopedia, Volume 6 — Aziz S. Atiya (Editor in Chief) (p. 674)
    The only complete account of his life is a short notice in the Copto-Arabic SYNAXARION. Fragments in Coptic allow a more exact idea of the lost Life.
  13. 13.The Coptic Encyclopedia, Volume 1 — Aziz S. Atiya (Editor in Chief) (p. 37)
    The Synaxarion relates that his mother was denounced to the Persians (who occupied Egypt from 616 to 628) and carried off into slavery, but the Arabic life speaks not of Persians but of "barbarians" during a raid in their district.
  14. 14.The Coptic Encyclopedia, Volume 3 — Aziz S. Atiya (Editor in Chief) (p. 27)
    According to the Coptic SYNAXARION, his death occurred at the city of Akhmim in Upper Egypt in the year 440; however, this information is not corroborated by other sources.

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