Coptica v. 16 2017

92 Mark N. Swanson

and other Christian holy men, for example, is one that we can trace throughout a work such as The History of the Patriarchs : the admiration of the Arab conqueror of Egypt, ʿAmr ibn al-ʿĀṣ, for Patriarch Benjamin, and their mutual cooperation provides the paradigm for what the relationship between ruler and patriarch should be. 55 I think we can hear echoes of this paradigm in what is said about the relationship between Patriarch Matthew and the sultan al-Ẓāhir Barqūq. There is historical reality here: between them, the Church seems to have enjoyed a period of some stability—at least in comparison to what followed in the final century of Mamlūk rule. But there is also a way of talking about this reality that has been strongly shaped by historiographical tradition. Likewise, the dangerous woman (especially a non-Christian woman) with her power of seduction is something of a stock figure in the hagiographical literature. In the second place, it seems to me that the literature from this short phase in Coptic history, despite the difficulties that Christians were experiencing in it, does not in general make a sharp, no-nuance distinction between, say, Christians who are “lovers of God” and Muslims who are “evil” (to use the language of The Martyrdom of Jirjis/Muzāḥim ). But it does not fall into the category of official public history, either; there’s far too much in the texts about awkward topics such as conversion and martyrdom for that. It does not fall at either extreme of the “hidden transcript”—“public transcript” distinction. What does strike me about this literature is its sense of pragmatism. “What is good and helpful for the Christian community?” is a question that seems to hang in the background of the texts. “What works?” So, for example: If the Muʿtazilah can be called upon in support of the Christian doctrine of free will—fine. If people who converted to Islam or their children want to return to the Church—may there be joy on earth as well as in heaven, and let their return be as quick and easy as possible. If Muslims from formerly Coptic families and who remain Muslims are kindly disposed to the Church and its institutions—well and good, and let them receive freely the spiritual benefits that the Church can give them. If a ruler rules with competence and some measure of justice—thank God, and let him be remembered with honor. Perhaps, in an age of sharp political and religious polarization, we have something to learn from the Copto-Arabic literature of six centuries ago.

55 See now Mark Swanson, “Reading the Church’s Story: The ‘ʿAmr-Benjamin Paradigm’ and Its Echoes in The History of the Patriarchs of Alexandria ,” in Copts in Context: Negotiating Identity, Tradition, and Modernity , ed. Nelly van Doorn-Harder (Columbia, SC: The University of South Carolina Press, 2017), 157-68.