Apocalypse of Samuel of Kalamoun
| Dem name after | Samuel of Kalamoun  |
|---|---|
| Main subject | language shift, Arabization |
| Publication date | 10. century |
| Language of work or name | Coptic |
De Apocalypse of Samuel of Kalamoun be Coptic text wey dem ascribe give de Coptic saint Samuel ce Confessor, alias Samuel of Kalamoun, wey live insyd de seventh century. Edey contain de strongest denunciation of de language shift insyd de Middle Ages of Egypt, wey dem slowly replace de country ein Coptic language plus Arabic. Edey record insyd say na de Christians wey dey insyd Egypt increasingly dey turn Arabized insyd dema culture den customs. Actual conversion go Islam no really be concern give de author. Insyd reality, de arabization of Lower Egypt precede of Middle den Upper Egypt, as Ibn Hawqal suggest insyd de late 10th century.
Dem produce text insyd de Monastery of Saint Samuel de Confessor. Dem dey claim say ebe de transcript of de monk Apollo of de words of de monastery ein founder, Samuel de Confessor.[1]
De work be prophecy of Samuel de Confessor of how Egyptians go abandon demma native Coptic language den adopt de language of de colonizers, Arabic. De text dey criticize de adoption of de Church ein adoption of Arabic at length, not only for de introduction of Muslim theological terms go Christian theology insyd, but say ego sana enable give other forms of assimilation.[2]
Sam excerpt of de text, Ziadeh wey translate am, be:[3]
Woe upon woe!! What shall I say, my children, about those times and about the great idleness that will overtake the Christians? At that time they will move away from uprightness and start to assimilate themselves to the Hagarenes in their actions: they will give their names to their children, discarding the names of the angels, the prophets, the apostles, and the martyrs. They will also do something else, which if I were to tell you of it, would greatly pain your hearts: they will abandon the beautiful Coptic language, in which the Holy Spirit has often spoken through the mouths of our spiritual fathers; they will teach their children from an early age to speak the language of the Bedouin, and will take pride in it. Even the priests and the monks - they too! - will dare to speak in Arabic and to take pride in it, and that within the sanctuary.
Woe upon woe!! Oh, my dear children! What shall I say? At that time the readers in the church will no longer understand what they read nor what they say because they will have forgotten their language, and they will truly be miserable and deserving to be wept over because they will have forgotten their language and will speak the language of the Hagarenes. But woe to every Christian who teaches his son the language of the Hagarenes from an early age, causing him to forget the language of his fathers! [...] Many books of the Church shall fall into disuse, because there shall be nobody among them to take care of the books, their hearts being attracted by the Arabic books. They will forget many martyrs at that time because their biographies will fall into disuse and there will be none left. If the few biographies that will be found are read, many people will not understand what is read because they will not know the language. And many churches, at that time, will fall into ruin, and they shall be deserted on the eves of the feasts and on the eve of Sunday, too.
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[edit | edit source]References
[edit | edit source]- ↑ Georg Graf, Geschichte der christliche arabische Literatur vol. I, p. 280-282. See also Paul VAN CAUWENBERG, Études sur les moines d'Égypte depuis le Concile de Chalcédoine (451) jusqu'à l'invasion arabe, Paris, 1914.
- ↑ Roman Egypt, A History. Roger Bagnall. pp. 336
- ↑ J. Ziadeh, Revue de l'Orient chrétien, 20 (1915–17), pp. 379–381