The Legacy of Demetrius of Alexandria 189-232 CE: The Form and Function of Hagiography in Late Antique and Islamic Egypt [Paperback]

This is the first full-length study of Demetrius of Alexandria (189232 ce), who generated a neglected, yet remarkable hagiographic program that secured him a positive legacy throughout the Middle Ages and the modern era. Drawing upon Patristic, Coptic, and Arabic sources spanning a millennium, the analysis contextualizes the Demetrian corpus at its various stages of composition and presents the totality of his hagiographic corpus in translation.

This volume constitutes a definitive study of Demetrius, but more broadly, it provides a clearly delineated hagiographic program and charts its evolution against a backdrop of political developments and intercommunal interactions. This fascinating study is a useful resource for students of Demetrius and the Church in Egypt in this period, but also for anyone working on Early Christianity and hagiography more generally.

Preface

Abbreviations

Part I: The Genesis and Evolution of a Hagiographic Program

1. The Bishop and the Scholar

2. Sources

3. Early Imprints

4. Date and Socio-Literary Setting of the Sahidic Coptic Tradition

5. The Encomium on Demetrius as Hagiography

6. Hagiography across Language and Culture

7. Arabic Recensions, Amendments, and Omissions: Emergence of the Normative Hagiography

8. Lent and Epact in Alexandria

9. Form, Function, and Meaning

Part II: Texts  Demetriuss Bio-Hagiographic Dossier