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Monastic Rules and Penance in the Life of Murqus al-Anṭūnī: A 14th-Century Copto-Arabic Hagiography

Règles monastiques et pénitence dans la Vie de Murqus al-Anūnī: une hagiographie copto-arabe du xive siècle
Asuka Tsuji
p. 375-390

Abstracts

Monastic life in Egypt in the medieval period remains a little-studied subject. This article explores the portrayal of the ideal monastic life in the Life of Murqus al-Anṭūnī, a hagiographical work about Murqus (d. 1386), a monk of the Monastery of St Anthony near the Red Sea. It contends that this text was composed for the monks of that monastery to follow as a form of monastic rule. This article also draws attention to the practice of penance and forgiveness as portrayed in this hagiography and in that of Murqus’s disciple, Ibrahīm al-Fānī, and discusses the polemical nature of these texts. Furthermore, it situates these hagiographies within the wider context of monasticism and of the survival strategies of the Coptic Church during the persecution of Christians and Jews led by the Mamluk government.

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Outline

Introduction
The Monastery of St Anthony in the 14th century
The Life and Miracles of Murqus al-Anūnī
Monastic Rules: The Ascetic Practices of Murqus and the Influence of Previous Literature and Rules
Previous Literature
The Ascetic Practices of Murqus
Penance
Conclusion

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Introduction

In the history of the Coptic church, the Mamluk period (ad 1250‑1517) is characterized by intensified persecutions due to regional and religious tensions. During this time, some Copts chose to convert to Islam to avoid discrimination or to attain a better social status. The persecution of 1354 is widely considered to be “a turning point in Egyptian religious history”, on the basis of the accounts provided by the historian al-Maqrīzī (d. 1442) of mass conversions, due both to loss of income and to the destruction of churches. Nevertheless, and despite the ongoing background of persecution, we find a very different perspective in the accounts of monastic life in Upper Egypt provided by two Copto-Arabic hagiographies of the period, the Life and Miracles of Murqus al-Anūnī (hereafter, the Life of Murqus) and the Life and Miracles of Ibrahīm (Abraʾām) al-Fānī (hereafter, the Life of Ibrahīm): these works portray a thriving monastery filled with monks leading traditional a...

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References

Bibliographical reference

Asuka Tsuji, “Monastic Rules and Penance in the Life of Murqus al-Anṭūnī: A 14th-Century Copto-Arabic Hagiography”Revue de l’histoire des religions, 3 | 2025, 375-390.

Electronic reference

Asuka Tsuji, “Monastic Rules and Penance in the Life of Murqus al-Anṭūnī: A 14th-Century Copto-Arabic Hagiography”Revue de l’histoire des religions [Online], 3 | 2025, Online since 03 January 2028, connection on 16 January 2026. URL: http://journals.openedition.org/rhr/13913; DOI: https://doi.org/10.4000/14uca

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About the author

Asuka Tsuji

Kawamura Gakuen Women’s University
Abiko, Chiba, Japan
astsuji[at]gmail.com

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Copyright

CC-BY-NC-ND-4.0

The text only may be used under licence CC BY-NC-ND 4.0. All other elements (illustrations, imported files) may be subject to specific use terms.

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