Coptica v. 16 2017

Fakhr al-Dawlah ibn al-Muʾtaman

69

professional entertainers, and was bound by her bonds. Every time he sought salvation [from this situation], he found himself unable [to save himself]. When his anxiety became acute and regret came over him, he betook himself to this saintly father [Anbā Ruways] and said to him: “O man of God, have mercy on me! For the Enemy has thrown me down, expelled me, and cast me away, and whenever I seek salvation from his bonds, I am unable [to save myself].” This saintly father said to him: “Do not fear, O man, because even though the Enemy has thrown you down and overcome you, from now on he will no longer throw you down. For I have seen you throw him down and overcome him ! If you gird up your strength and go out to fight him, I will be among your partisans; for if even the good fighter is without partisans, nothing will avail him! This is why I have said to you that I am among your partisans, and I will not give up on you until you fight and overcome your Enemy. And if the king seeks you, I will divert him from you.” When the youth heard [the saint’s] speech, he rejoiced and took heart, because the greatest of his fears was that, if he were to go out and become a monk, and the king sought and did not find him, the king’s rejection would fall upon him. But when the saintly father encouraged him in that way, he rejoiced and was strengthened all the more. He abandoned wife, children, brethren, fine clothes, and horses, and made his way to the Mountain of St. Antony the Great … At this point, we can interrupt our reading from the biography of Anbā Ruways and let the biography of Marqus al-Anṭūnī tell us what happened at the Monastery of St. Antony. The new narrator is one of Mark’s disciples at the monastery: 5 One time, when we were seated beside [Abba Mark], he said: “O my children, I have seen [a vision in which] a man came right up to me, and while I was saying “Go, leave me, get up,” he was saying to me: “I shall remain prostrate at your feet until I hear [you say], ‘Your sins are forgiven you.’” When we heard this speech of the Old Man, we were astonished, for we did not know who that man [might be] … … [That is, not] until daybreak [the next day], when a youth came to the monastery, a scribe from the people of Miṣr [Old Cairo] named Fakhr al-Dawlah, son of the priest al-Muʾtaman.

5 The following is my English translation from MS Monastery of St. Paul, Hist. 115, ff. 63v- 65v (Miracle #10).