Coptica v. 16 2017

64 Ramez Mikhail

“Vestments are to be simplified according to the custom of the Copts, and no vestments resembling the Melkites are to be worn.” 36

The Precious Jewel of Ibn Sibā ʿ ’s (13 th c.)

In his ecclesiastical compendium The Precious Jewel in the Ecclesiastical Sciences , Yūḥannā ibn abī Zakariyā ibn Sibā ʿ provides no detailed list of episcopal vestments. He does however mention only those vestments he thought are unique to the bishop. He writes for episcopal ordinations:

Then he [the patriarch] puts on him the clothes of the episcopacy differing from the hegumen, and that is the ṭaylasān and the phelonion [Arabic: burnus ].

ثم يلبسه قماش الاسقفية بخلاف الاغومنس وهو الطيلسان والبرنس . 37

Once again, one encounters a term typically used for one rank ascribed to another. The ,طيلسان ṭaylasān so far has been – and today still is – a head covering for the priest. 38 The text is stating explicitly how the vestments of the episcopacy differ from those of the hegumens, a common title in Arabic literature and the modern era for a protopresbyter or archpriest. It is unlikely then that the priestly ṭaylasān is intended. Instead, as mentioned above, ṭaylasān and ʿarḍī must have been similar as long broad cloths. Thus, ṭaylasān can be taken in this instance as another term for the episcopal scarf, also known as the ballīn in previous sources. This may indicate that the phelonion mentioned here was either hoodless, or that the hood and the ballīn coexisted, though it is unlikely that both would be worn at the same time. This investigation into the historical development of Coptic liturgical vestments would not be complete without an explanation of current practice in the Coptic Church. In the last five decades, Coptic communities have developed beyond the historical boundaries of the Patriarchate of Alexandria and have reached Sub-Saharan Africa, Europe, North and South America, Asia, and Australia. It would be presumptuous therefore to provide one sweeping description of Coptic vesting practices, claiming it to be a definitive description applicable everywhere the Coptic liturgy is celebrated. 36 Samuel al-Suriānī and Nabīh Kāmil, [ تاريخ الآباء البطاركة للأنبا يوساب أسقف فوه The History of the Fathers the Patriarchs of Anba Yūsāb Bishop of Fuwwa ] (Cairo, 1987), 174. 37 Vincentio Mistrīḥ, Yūḥannā ibn Abī Zakaryā ibn Sibāʿ: Pretiosa margarita de scientiis ecclesasticis , Studia Orientalia Christiana (Cairo, 1966), 229. 38 Mikhail, “‘And they Shall Stand Bareheaded’,” forthcoming , Pl. 3. Cf. Graf, Verzeichnis , 76. Current Usage