(CE:5a-5b)
‘ABD AL-MASIH. A manuscript of the Coptic Patriarchate, Cairo (Theology 290; Graf, no. 533; Simaykah, no. 333) contains a collection of 149 poems in simple literary Arabic on moral and religious subjects, composed by Anba Bistawrah, known as al-Hariri (Graf, 1934, Vol. 4, p. 133). It was copied by Ibrahim ibn Sulayman al-Najjar al-Miri in March 1709 for the mu‘allim ‘Awad al-Mahallawi, and was offered to the hegumenos ‘Abd al-Masih.
He may be the same hegumenos (priest) who, during the reign of the 103rd patriarch, JOHN XVI (YU‘ANNIS) (1676-1718), and in his patriarchal residence, copied a liturgical manuscript (Coptic Patriarchate, Cairo, Liturgy 15; Simaykah, no. 815; not in Graf) containing a lectionary in Coptic for the Sundays of the first six months of the year. This manuscript was restored in March 1715.
KHALIL SAMIR, S. J.
