coptichymns.net - Sharing the Joy of Coptic Hymns Around the World

Iqbal

posted on Oct 24, 2008 - 08:40 AM

Dear all,

Just wanted to refer you all to a website I began with the blessings of HE Metropolitan Seraphim, and the collaboration of various learned clergy and associates, on the Oriental Orthodox Church:

www.erkohet.com

I also wanted to announce the first Patristic Symposium organised by the Diocese of Sydney and its Affiliated Regions, to be held tommorow, Saturday 25th. See the poster at the following link for more details:

http://www.erkohet.com/images/PatristicsSymposium.jpg

Joined: Nov 14, 2004 | Posts: 153

Fady.Kozman

posted on Oct 27, 2008 - 06:25 AM

The symposium was more than fantastic and wonderfully organised, was a great blessing and we hope that it becomes an annual/semi-annual event

P.S. the talks were recorded, Fr. Matthew said so, so do you know Iqbal who i can annoy to get a copy of the talks? :p

Joined: Jun 26, 2004 | Posts: 88
Location: Sydney Australia

Iqbal

posted on Oct 27, 2008 - 11:17 AM

Hi Fady,

It was a wonderful day wasn't it?

The only names that come to mind who might be helpful to contact in regard to your inquiry, are Daniel and Paul Fanous.

Joined: Nov 14, 2004 | Posts: 153

minasoliman

posted on Oct 27, 2008 - 09:23 PM

Dear Iqbal,

Is there a way where you can have them posted on your site if you can bother Daniel and Paul Fanous for us?

Joined: May 22, 2003 | Posts: 1786

andrewtanios

posted on Oct 28, 2008 - 01:21 AM

Hi Iqbal,

Was this Symposium a one-off or are there hopes that it will develop into something regular?
(I can't believe I missed it!)

Cheers,
Andrew

Joined: Jun 02, 2003 | Posts: 65
Location: Sydney, Australia

mikhail90

posted on Oct 28, 2008 - 10:06 AM

Dan was only there to sell his book lol

Anyone know who the speakers were??

Joined: Jun 07, 2004 | Posts: 670
Location: Sydney, Australia.

Fady.Kozman

posted on Oct 28, 2008 - 01:00 PM

Dan Fanous, Andrew Youssef, Michael Ragheb, Frank? (Greek orthodox scholar i think), Fr. Antonious, Fr. Roufael, Fr. Yaccoub, and Andrew Salim (lol, i think thats the name)

God bless each of them for sharing the very beautiful words

Joined: Jun 26, 2004 | Posts: 88
Location: Sydney Australia

Iqbal

posted on Dec 22, 2008 - 03:11 AM

I'd just like to notify readers that erkohet.com has been updated recently with:

1. An article on St Cyril of Alexandria's contribution to the shaping of the Church's understanding of St Mary: 'St Mary: the Scepter of Orthodoxy.'

2. The first five entries of a work-in-progress timeline on our Orthodox Church history: click here.

More to come--including audio and visual materials--soon.

Joined: Nov 14, 2004 | Posts: 153

Iqbal

posted on Jan 02, 2009 - 03:37 AM

02/01/09 Updates:

1. English renditions of the Coptic Nativity hymns E-Parthenos and Pijinmisi, chanted by Jonathon Hakim, are available for download: click here.

2. A brief introduction on 'Arrow Prayers' followed by a selection of examples of Orthodox arrow prayers based on the prayers of Sts Nerses, Macarius the Great and Archangel Michael. This short selection of arrow prayers will be expanded periodically: click here.

3. The first two parts of a five part series prepared by a friend of erkohet.com, Professor John Charmley, introducing the early patristic development on the doctrine of 'theosis'--which is central to the Orthodox understanding of the reason for the Incarnation: click here.

Coming Soon:

1. A short piece on the importance and meaning of the underrated Feast of the Epiphany, accompanied by a short introductory multimedia presentation.

2. A contemplation on the exchange between St Mary and the Lord Christ at the Wedding of Canaa, based on the thoughts of the Holy Fathers, with an accompanying english recording of the relevant Gospel reading in the Coptic melody.

3. More Orthodox hymns chanted in the vernacular.

Joined: Nov 14, 2004 | Posts: 153

mourad

posted on Jan 05, 2009 - 09:40 PM

wow! This is all very exciting!

Joined: Nov 14, 2003 | Posts: 312
Location: Montreal, Canada

jono

posted on Jan 10, 2009 - 12:30 PM

Love your work Iqbal

Joined: Oct 24, 2003 | Posts: 57

Iqbal

posted on Jan 18, 2009 - 06:24 AM

Latest updates:

In anticipation to the Feast of the Wedding of Cana (celebrated by the Coptic Church this Wednesday, 21st January) I have prepared an article on what the St Severus of Antioch regarded the hermeneutical key to understanding the dialogue that took place between the Holy Virgin and her Son (Jn. 2:3-5): the Holy Mother’s prophetic character: click here to read.

The article is prefaced with a short multimedia display presenting the relevant Gospel reading--the audio chant of which (kindly provided by Jonathan Hakim) is available for download on our Hymns Download page.

I have also posted an update to our nascent selection of Orthodox Arrow Prayers: an arrow prayer for travellers by Hegomen Youssef Assad.

The third part of John Charmley’s four-part series on ‘The early Fathers on the doctrine of theosis’ has also been uploaded.

Joined: Nov 14, 2004 | Posts: 153

jydeacon

posted on Jan 18, 2009 - 06:40 AM

Wow thanks so much Iqbal, God Bless you and your service

Joined: Jan 16, 2007 | Posts: 199

Iqbal

posted on May 04, 2009 - 10:23 AM

Dear all,

Christ is Risen, and St George lives!

It befits this season of Christ’s Resurrection to commemorate the martyrdom of St George the Prince of Martyrs (whose feast day the Coptic Church celebrated last Friday, May 1st 2009) on account of the fact that, "the death of the martyrs is…proof of the Resurrection" (St John Chrysostom).

In celebration of the Prince of Martyrs’ witness to the Resurrection of Christ, www.erkohet.com presents:

1. An introductory multimedia display presenting a diverse range of Oriental Orthodox icons of St George (Syriac, Armenian, Coptic and Ethiopian) to the background audio of a contemporary Coptic Orthodox Mediha to St George sung by Vivian El-Sudany. Also displayed on the screen are the english lyrics to this Mediha as kindly translated for erkohet.com by Marina William.

2. A brief contemplation on the life and person of St George the Martyr with reference to a) the Coptic text of his hagiography as composed by his servant Pasikrates and b) liturgical and non-liturgical Coptic odes and hymns to St George (excerpted audio clips of which accompany the relevant text).

3. E. W. Budge’s translation of the speech of the Lord Christ welcoming St George into paradise, in addition to his translation of St George’s prayer as delivered amidst one of his tortures--both of which are handed down to us via the Coptic text of St George's martyrology.

4. An account of the relationship of St George to the Church today with reference to just a few of the many miraculous phenomena associated with the Saint.

5. The audio files (for download) and the lyrics of a) the full version of the mediha referred to in 1., b) the Coptic doxology to St George (in English and Coptic) as generously recorded and made available to erkohet.com by cantor Mark Tadros, and c) a Coptic ode to St George (in English), again, as generously recorded and made available to erkohet.com by cantor Mark Tadros.

All the above may be viewed and accessed by clicking here.

Wishing you and yours a blessed season of the Resurrection through the prayers of the Great Martyr Prince George.

Please remember erkohet.com in your prayers, and do not hesitate to contact me should you have any questions or problems.

Joined: Nov 14, 2004 | Posts: 153

jydeacon

posted on May 04, 2009 - 06:37 PM

God Bless your service Iqbal, I have a question for you however. The speech of Our Lord to St. George, what is the source of this? How did we get it? Is this a known speech or is it a contemplation? Please excuse my ignorance

God Bless and Pray for me and my weakness

Joined: Jan 16, 2007 | Posts: 199

Meghalo05

posted on May 04, 2009 - 08:15 PM

Christ is Risen!


Simply amazing website. Does anyone have more information regarding the famous icon of St. George slaying the dragon and saving the princess. Is this mere legend or is it fact based on legitimate Church books. The words of Christ towards St. George were also beautiful! Wow! God bless your service Iqbal!


Indeed, He is Risen!

Joined: Jan 18, 2005 | Posts: 365
Location: St. Mary and St. Mark Coptic Orthodox Church of Indianapolis, IN

Fortunatus

posted on May 04, 2009 - 08:32 PM

From Meghalo05:Does anyone have more information regarding the famous icon of St. George slaying the dragon and saving the princess. Is this mere legend or is it fact based on legitimate Church books.

+iryny nem `hmot,

The icon of Saint George was actually quite possible a "baptised" Arian icon of the George that "replaced" Athanasius as Patriarch of Alexandria. The dragon is supposed to be Athanasius.

An anecdotal on it is found in this old book on pages 123-125.

Pray for me.

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Joined: Sep 04, 2003 | Posts: 458
Location: the Coptic Orthodox Church

Iqbal

posted on May 04, 2009 - 08:36 PM

Christ is Risen.

Dear jydeacon,

The source of the speech in question is the Coptic Econium on St George written by St Theodotus of Ancyra (4th-5th century Bishop). St Theodotus would undoubtedly have had at his own disposal earlier sources on St George's martyrdom upon which he would've based his Econium, including an earlier version of the original hagiography composed by St George's servant. (It would seem that I accidently misreferenced the speech as being taken directly from one of the surviving Coptic texts of that hagiography; but I am unable to rectify that at this stage because of some problem with my hosting company that I need to sort out).

Dear Meghalo,

You will notice that there is a section of the article on St George that is dedicated to addressing issues surrounding the Saint's 'historicity' but which at this stage has been marked with 'coming soon' as it is yet a work in progress.

Very briefly, however: regarding the issue of the dragon, the earliest surviving texts (including the Coptic and Syriac translations of the original hagiography composed by St George's servant) make no mention of St George encountering a literal dragon. Curiously, however, both the Coptic and Syriac texts refer to Dadianus (nickname for Emeperor Galerius who was responsible for persecuting St George) as 'the dragon' or 'the serpent.' In that sense, the dragon depicted in our iconography is to be understood metaphorically. You may have noticed in the Introductory video presentation that the first Icon displayed, a Syrian Orthodox icon of St George, actually has St George slaying a crowned human figure instead of a dragon.

Accounts of St George encountering and slaying an actual dragon are inauthentic legends introduced at a much later time (c. 12th century).

---------------------------------------------------

PS. I'd like to make a general pronouncement regarding the fact that I am currently resolving a technical difficulty recently procured as a consequence of the redelegation of my domain name to a new server. As such, the website at this stage may not be working for some people at certain times. Hopefully all will be resolved soon; I will post notice of final resolution in due course.

Joined: Nov 14, 2004 | Posts: 153

Meghalo05

posted on May 04, 2009 - 11:03 PM

Wasn't it Emperor Diocletian who was responsible for St. George's tortures not Emperor Galerius?

Joined: Jan 18, 2005 | Posts: 365
Location: St. Mary and St. Mark Coptic Orthodox Church of Indianapolis, IN

Iqbal

posted on May 04, 2009 - 11:28 PM

Christ is Risen

As I mentioned in my last post, the earliest Coptic texts on the matter identify the prime persecutor of St George as 'Dadianus'; Dadianus is most likely a corruption of Dacianus which is in turn most likely a pejorative reference to Emperor Galerius' place of origin (Dacia).

The character of 'Dadianus' as depicted in the earliest Coptic texts furthermore best fit what we know of Emperor Galerius.

Additionally, the Coptic texts make a pretty clear distinction between this Dadianus and Diocletian. The latter only becomes a significant player in the narrative of St George's martyrdom when he seeks to destroy the shrine to St George built by his servant subsequent to his departure.

Emperor Galerius, in case you weren't aware, was a contemporary of Emperor Diocletian and his cohort. It was he who incited Diocletian to launch his anti-Christian edicts in the first place. He was known to have been a more ruthless character and more staunch in his determination to persecute the Christians.

Joined: Nov 14, 2004 | Posts: 153

Christ4Life

posted on May 05, 2009 - 11:54 PM

Hello all,

I also thought the emperor responsible for St. George's martyrdom was Diocletian. In fact, that is what is in the second grade curriculum for my Sunday School class, and that is what I told them last Sunday! Is that wrong? I will gladly supply the PDF file of the curriculum if anyone would like to see.

_________________
Grant me, O my Good Savior, that I might consider Your suffering my treasure, Your crown of thorns my glory, Your pain my happiness, Your bitterness my sweetness, Your blood my life, Your love my pride and thanksgiving. O wounds of Christ, wound me with the spear of Divine love.

He must increase, and I must decrease.

Joined: Jan 29, 2005 | Posts: 36

the_youngest

posted on May 06, 2009 - 01:17 AM

that's also what it says in the synaxarium... i think that's what everyone thought until recent studies have shown otherwise according to Iqbal

what we teach in sunday school is debatable...do we teach them what everyone thought and what is written in our synaxarium or do we teach them the latter along with what recent studies have shown? this also depends on age.

i really don't know

Joined: Mar 14, 2008 | Posts: 116

Peter

posted on May 13, 2009 - 07:37 PM

To the question of who was emperor during the martyrdom of St. George? It was both Galerius and Diocletian.

The great persecution occurred during a period in the Roman empire known as the tetrarchy. There were 4 rulers 2 for the East and 2 for the West. The 2 consisted of an Augustus (senior emperor) and a Caesar (junior). In the east at the time of the martyrdom Diocletian was Augustus and Galerius was Caesar. MAximian was Augustus in the West. (can't remeber who was caesar). Though Maximian served as Caesar under Diocletian as well before becoming Augustus in the west and being succeeded by Galerius as Caesar in the East. It is because this confusing state of rule that most hagiographers ascribe various martyrdoms directly to Diocletian despite him not being directly responsible but being the most senior emperor he may have recieve the most of the "credit".

This tetrarchy continued until the reign of Constantine the Great, who unified ruled once again. (In his story the eve of the battle in which he had the vision of the cross was part of the civil war to unify the rule of the empire)

Joined: Mar 18, 2003 | Posts: 461
Location: Jersey City, NJ

Iqbal

posted on Jun 06, 2009 - 07:51 AM

Dear All,

Latest additions to www.erkohet.com as of 06/06/09 are as follows:

1. Ever wondered what the deal is with those prolonged vowel intonations typical of Coptic liturgical chant? An exploration of the spiritual significance of this unique feature of the Coptic Liturgical tradition in consideration of the wisdom of the ancient Egyptian sages and the discoveries of modern quantum physics has been undertaken in our newly published work: Coptic Melismata/Vocalise in the Light of Ancient Mysticism, Modern Science and the Divine Splendour: click here to read!

2. We are pleased to launch a new segment to erkohet.com: 'Blazing Darts from the Orient.' The aim of this segment is to provide terse answers (limited by a 500 word threshold) based on the teachings of the Oriental Orthodox Fathers to miscellaneous questions on Oriental Orthodox faith, praxis, and history (we welcome question submissions from those interested). The questions and their corresponding answers will be systematically organised in alphabetically arranged categories for your convenience. The first inquiry we have addressed concerns the implications of the descent of the Holy Spirit in the particular form narrated by the Holy Book of Acts: fire. Click here to read!

2. The late and blessed Dr. Ragheb Moftah has been hailed ‘the father of hymnology’ by the current Patriarch of Alexandria, H.H. Pope Shenouda III. His commitment to the preservation and purification of the spiritual musical heritage of the Coptic Church saw him excel not only in scholarship, but in righteousness and holiness as well. A condensed summation of the life and achievements of this remarkable Copt constitutes the latest entry to our Alphabetical Synopsis of the Fathers & Saints section: click here to read!

3. Erkohet proudly makes freely available for download an Mp3 audio file of the first stanza and chorus of the Coptic Orthodox Pentecost Communion hymn, Asomen To Kyrio. Such has been kindly performed and recorded for erkohet.com by Jonathan Hakim, in Greek, Coptic, and English (consecutively). Click here to download!

4. A page has been created to present the definition of terms relevant to an Oriental Orthodox vocabulary. Definitions will be progressively added to this page in accordance with the terms used in the material uploaded from here on. All newly defined terms as used throughout the website will be hyperlinked to their definitions for your convenience.

Lastly, we apologise to those who accessed the website during the period in which it was temporarily hacked. Fortunately, the hacker did no permanent or substantial damage. The article on St George, however, has been lost, as its content was unfortunately displaced by the hacker so that he could showcase his tagline on our front page. I will work on getting that article back up in due time.

Please keep www.erkohet.com in your prayers. Wishing a blessed Feast of the Pentecost to you all.

-EA
(Admin)

Joined: Nov 14, 2004 | Posts: 153

mikhail90

posted on Jun 11, 2009 - 05:58 AM

From andrewtanios:Hi Iqbal,

Was this Symposium a one-off or are there hopes that it will develop into something regular?
(I can't believe I missed it!)

Cheers,
Andrew

it's going to be a regular event! there's one that's supposed to be in July sometime (it was supposed to be 4th July- but they're changing the date because of some churches having camp on that weekend)
So yeah, should be good!!

_________________
'God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble'
- James 4:6

Joined: Jun 07, 2004 | Posts: 670
Location: Sydney, Australia.