(CE:1700a)
MURQUS AL-MASHRIQI AL-MALLAWANI, eighteenth-century Copt. Three letters are associated with this name. A Jirjis al- Qibti (George the Copt) who had taken up the Roman Catholic faith sent two letters to Murqus with arguments for the Roman Catholic doctrine, a refutation of the Monophysite errors, and an invitation to conversion. Murqus' letter in reply declined the invitation, and its polemical message apparently had the effect that Jirjis returned to the Coptic faith and accepted the penance that the bishop of ABU TIJ, Christodoulus, laid on him. The extant manuscript of the letters dates to 1795-1796.
VINCENT FREDERICK
