A tradition of monophonic sacred music peculiar to the Coptic Orthodox Church of Egypt (for music of the Ethiopian Orthodox Church, also called ‘Coptic’, see Ethiopia, §II). Except for a few pieces that, on special occasions, are performed with a vigorous percussion accompaniment, the music is sung unaccompanied, solely by men. The texts of the chants are Coptic, with passages of Arabic interspersed according to local taste and need. Where Copts have emigrated to other lands, parts of the rite may now be sung in French, German or English; such linguistic changes, however, have had little effect on the music.
5. The Divine Office and Psalmōdia.
MARIAN ROBERTSON-WILSON
The term ‘Copt’ (Arabic qibt), now synonymous with ‘Egyptian Christian’, derives from the Greek Aigyptos (‘Egypt’), which is itself derived from the Egyptian ‘Ptah’’, the name for an important deity of Pharaonic Egypt. The Coptic language is the latest stage in the development of Ancient Egyptian, which, during Ptolemaic times, was written in the Greek alphabet with seven additional characters from the demotic (Egyptian) script. Coptic has also borrowed many words and phrases from Greek, which was the original language of the rite. There are two main dialects – Sahidic for Upper Egypt and Bohairic for Lower Egypt; the latter has become the dialect now used in all Coptic rites and in the authorized version of the Coptic Bible.
The origins of the Coptic Church lie in the patriarchate of Alexandria, which, according to tradition, was founded by St Mark. After the Council of Chalcedon in 451, the Church adhered to Monophysitism and was separated from the Byzantine and Roman Churches. The Copts, who had been an active Christian force throughout the eastern Mediterranean, deliberately withdrew from the other denominations and, except for some contact with the Syrian (Jacobite) Church (see Syrian church music), henceforth kept and developed their own distinctive musical tradition. After the Arab conquest of Egypt (640–41), the Copts continued to maintain their unique rites, although Arabic increasingly came to be used in some parts of the liturgy.
The Coptic rites developed gradually, with the alleluia, Sanctus and psalms among the earliest texts to be set to music. The Divine Liturgies, translated from their original Greek counterparts, became fixed in the 4th and 5th centuries. One melody, a lahn ma‘rūf (‘familiar melody’), which is still sung today, probably dates from the 7th century or even earlier. Long-enduring archetypal melodies have also been identified in the Anaphora of St Basil. Controversy exists as to whether there is a connection between simple Coptic melodies and the folksongs of Egyptian peasants (Arabic fallahīn). The music, in fact, probably derives from many regions of Egypt and from various centuries, and at the very least is a reflection of its ancient past. Certain practices appear to have persisted from ancient Egypt, such as the employment of professional blind singers, the use of percussion instruments echoing the sound of ancient sistra and bells, antiphonal singing, and the unusually long vocalises reminiscent of the ‘hymns of seven vowels’ sung by Pharaonic priests.
Over the centuries Coptic church music has been transmitted mainly through oral tradition, whereby trained cantors would teach each succeeding generation by rote. Ancient anecdotes state that because the melodies were held to be sacred, no deviation was permitted in performance. However, although the basic melodic outlines and rhythms seem to have remained the same, in a tradition where it is customary for each cantor to display his virtuosity, details of ornamentation will inevitably have changed. Today, in addition to teaching all the music, the cantors direct the singing of the choir of deacons during the rites. They are not ordained members of the clerical orders, but at times a special prayer in Coptic is said for each one ‘who shall be made a singer’.
A few extant Coptic and Greek manuscripts from Egypt dating from between the 3rd and 6th centuries ce contain signs, as yet undeciphered, that may be systems of musical notation. These include a hymn fragment (Oxyrhynchus Papyrus 1786; ed. Grenfell and Hunt); a papyrus (GB-Lbl Inv.230; ed. Jourdan-Hemmerdinger) with a system of dots related to letters of the text; and a controversial set of parchments (Gulezyan Collection) covered with circles of varying colours and sizes. Other manuscripts from the 10th and 11th centuries – those in the John Rylands Library, Manchester (see Crum) and the Insinger Collection at the Leiden Museum of Antiquities – have unusual accents above the text that may be a rudimentary but now forgotten form of ekphonetic notation (see illustration).
Coptic melodies use nuances of pitch and rhythm that are foreign to Western musical tradition. They contain numerous macro- and microtones, and the Western distinction between ‘major’ and ‘minor’ does not exist; there are, therefore, many ‘neutral’ 2nds and 3rds. The melodies are diatonic and have the ambitus of a 5th. Leaps greater than a 3rd are rare; the augmented 2nd is also uncommon, but the minor 3rd is used frequently and the diminished 4th is integral to some typical cadences. In performance, a wide vibrato, often akin to a quarter-tone trill, colours all the singing, especially that of the soloists.
One of the most obvious characteristics of Coptic chant is the prolongation of a single vowel over several musical phrases: in phrases that have a definite rhythmic pulse this practice is called ‘vocalise’; in those that use a rubato rhythm and rich embellishment it is known as ‘melisma’ (ex.1). Because vocalises and melismas are so common in the repertory, an analysis of the chant texts alone cannot always reveal the musical structure. The independence of the melody from the text is also evident in the enjambement that occurs when a musical cadence falls in the middle of a line of text, as, for example, in the prayers and pre-anaphoral hymns, and in the distortion, by the melody, of the natural length and stress of syllables, particularly in chants sung in Greek.
The longer melodies, both solo and choral, are built upon musical formulae that are common to many melodies but linked together in different ways in each chant. Coptic music is based on intervallic relationships, not fixed pitch, and can therefore be performed at whatever pitch is suitable for the needs and voices of the singers. The tonal centre of a melody often migrates, usually upwards, by means of strategically placed macrotones, for example, the tonal centre of the Good Friday hymn Golgotha rises by a 3rd during the course of the chant.
The Arabic term lahn (pl. alhān: ‘tune’, ‘melody’; Gk. ēchos), often found in Coptic music, refers to a specific melody or melody type that is easily recognized by the people and is identified by a distinct, often descriptive name, for example, lahn al-farah (‘ … of joy’), lahn al-salbūt (‘ … of the crucifixion’) etc. Alhān labelled sanawiyya (Arabic: ‘annual’) may be sung throughout the year, but others are reserved for particular seasons or days: those for the weekdays in Lent are designated fī ayyām al-sūm al-kabīr; those for Easter, fī ‘īd al-qiyāma al-majīd; and those sung at Advent are named kīyahkī, after the Coptic month Kīyahk, which is roughly equivalent to December. The sorrowful lahn al-idrībī is sung during Holy Week; its name may derive from the ancient Egyptian village Atribi or from Coptic eterhēbi (‘one who mourns’). A single lahn may have several different texts, or a single text may be set to more than one lahn.
On auspicious occasions a given lahn may be lengthened by introductory and interpolated vocalises; it is then known as kabīr (Arabic: ‘great’). Examples include the Alleluia and ‘Great Alleluia’ for Holy Week; the Eulogoumenos (Gk.: ‘blessed’) and ‘Great Eulogoumenos’; and the Aspazesthe (Gk.: ‘greet’) and ‘Great Aspazesthe’, which is reserved for solemnities such as the consecration of a bishop.
Two Coptic terms used to identify a lahn are Adam and Batos (Arabic Adām and Wātus). Adam designates the pieces sung from Sunday to Tuesday and on other specified days; Batos, the pieces sung from Wednesday to Saturday, at the evening service and during Holy Week. These terms derive from the incipits of two theotokia (chants in honour of the Virgin) – Adam eti efoi (Coptic: ‘When Adam became contrite’) sung on Monday, and Pibatos eta Moysēs nav erof (Coptic: ‘The bush that Moses saw’) for Thursday; and they refer to two theotokia melodies – Adam for Monday and Tuesday, and Batos for Wednesday to Saturday. In other chant genres the distinction is more poetic than musical: Adam, for example, has fewer syllables and accents.
The Divine Liturgy (Arabic quddās) forms the core of the Coptic eucharistic service and all other rites connected with baptism, marriage etc. It is always sung complete, except for the synaxarion (martyrology), creed and dismissal. Three liturgies are performed today: that of St Basil the Great, celebrated throughout the year; that of St Gregory Nazianzen, sung at Christmas, Epiphany and Pentecost, the music of which is very ornate and highly emotional; and that of St Cyril (also called ‘of St Mark’), the most Egyptian of the three, although it cannot be celebrated in its entirety because only very few melodies survive.
Each liturgy is preceded by specified introductory hymns and consists of two parts. The first, the Liturgy of the Catechumens (or ‘of the Word’), contains prayers, hymns and specified scriptural lections and concludes with the Prayer of Reconciliation; the pre-anaphoral material is largely the same in all three liturgies. The second, the Anaphora or Eucharist, mainly consists of eloquent passages chanted in fervent preparation and celebration of Holy Communion. These two sections are preceded in the morning and on the previous evening by an intoned rite unique to the Coptic Church – a Morning or Evening Offering of Incense (Arabic raf‘ bukhūr bākir or raf‘ bukhūr ‘ashiyya). The Morning Offering of Incense is often incorporated into the Divine Liturgy; an entire service may thus last between three and six hours.
No Coptic liturgical books have musical notation. However, the texts of the Divine Liturgy and Offering of Incense are contained in the euchologion (Arabic al-khūlājī) and are written in Bohairic with Arabic translations; the words of the Proper chants and hymns are given in the final section. The euchologion also includes rubrics in Arabic specifying the procedures to be performed by the priest and deacon during the course of the Liturgy. Another liturgical book currently used in the Coptic rite, Khidmat al-shammās (Arabic: ‘the service of the deacon’), is a compilation of chant texts and rubrics first assembled in 1859. Its purpose is to aid the deacon and cantor in the selection and performance of the hymns and responses in the celebration of the Divine Liturgy, the Office and other occasional services, and it contains instructions for the use of certain instruments and the particular lahn to be sung. Other liturgical books set out the texts of prayers and chants recited at occasional ceremonies, such as marriage and baptism, or for particular events and seasons of the Church calendar.
The chanted sections of the Divine Liturgy include the lengthy embellished prose prayers (Arabic awshiyāt) sung by the priest and other high clergy who may be officiating. These prayers are performed in a freely rhythmic and ornamented melismatic style, according to the feast or season and dependent upon the skills and inspiration of the singer, and are interrupted by dialogues consisting of short admonitions (Arabic ubrūsāt) sung by the deacon, and by acclamations (Arabic maraddāt: ‘responses’) chanted by the choir of deacons and congregation; the Prayer of Thanksgiving (Coptic Marenshepehmot: ‘Let us give thanks’) is a typical example. The deacon’s ubrūsāt are usually – though not always – less melismatic and less free in rhythm than the officiant’s awshiyāt, while the maraddāt are syllabic in style and sung in fixed rhythm, except at the cadences. The awshiyāt, ubrūsāt and maraddāt may share the same concluding melodic formulae, of which there are about ten types, according to liturgical context.
The scriptural lections of the Liturgy of the Catechumens are chanted by the deacon; the texts are taken from a Pauline Epistle (Paulos; Arabic būlus), a Catholic Epistle (katholikon; Arabic kāthūlūkūn), the Acts of the Apostles (praxis; Arabic abraksīs), the psalms (psalmos; Arabic mazmūr), and the Gospels (evangelion; Arabic injīl). Each reading is chanted, with a standard introduction and conclusion, in a style whose elaboration depends on the solemnity of the occasion. The reciting of the synaxarion, which follows the lection from Acts, is often replaced by the hymn Apekran ernishti (Coptic: ‘Thy name has been magnified’), wherein the name of the saint in question is merely mentioned. Before and after each of these lections a specified hymn is sung.
The hymns of the Divine Liturgy are sung by the choir of deacons (Greco-Copt. laos; Arab. sha‘b). The choir stands in two lines (Arab. bahrī: ‘northern’; and qiblī: ‘southern’), one on each side of the sanctuary door, and sings either in unison or antiphonally according to the directions in the ritual books; the southern choir, qiblī, is indicated by the Arabic letter qaf (‘Q’). The music for the hymns may range from frequently repeated, short, unadorned, very rhythmic and syllabic tunes (ex.2) to lengthier melodies complicated by extended phrases with definite but irregular pulse and much ornamentation (ex.3).
The Copts observe seven Canonical Hours: First Hour, or Morning Prayer, said at daybreak; the Third, Sixth, Ninth and Eleventh Hours; Twelfth Hour, or Hour of Sleep; and Midnight Hour, to which the monks usually add a Prayer of the Veil (Arabic salāt al-sitār). The Coptic day begins at sunrise, so the Third Hour is at approximately 9 a.m. The prayers for these services are contained in the piajpia (Coptic; Arabic al-ajbīya or salawāt al-sawā‘ī), the liturgical book equivalent to the horologion.
Each Hour begins with an invocation (‘In the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit’), three chanted Kyries, the lesser doxology, the Lord’s Prayer, the Prayer of Thanksgiving and Psalm cl, and concludes with the chanting of 41 Kyries, the ‘Thrice-Holy’ (Arabic qaddūs qaddūs qaddūs), the Lord’s Prayer, the Prayer of Absolution, and the Petition (‘Have mercy on us, O God’). Interpolated into these prayers and praises are 12 psalms, two troparia, two theotokia, and a lection appropriate to the Hour, chosen one each from the psalms, the Gospels and Epistles. The chants are generally recited in Arabic, except for the Kyries, which are sung in Greek. In some monasteries Coptic has been reintroduced into the liturgy.
During the Hours of Holy Week many special hymns are sung, often to a lahn hazinī (Arabic: ‘sorrowful’). Some pieces consist of rhythmic, syllabic verses set to simple melodies, for example, Thōk te tigom (Coptic: ‘Thine is the power’), whereas others are lengthy and melismatic, for example, Ethve tianastasis (Coptic: ‘Through the resurrection’), which is sung at the Ninth Hour of Good Friday to a lahn al-tajnīz (‘of burial’). The ‘Hymn of the Thief on the Cross’, with its haunting incipit ‘Remember me’ (Coptic aripamevi; Gk. mnēsthēti mou) is sung to the aforementioned lahn ma‘rūf (‘familiar’), which also appears in the Good Friday settings of Ho monogenēs huios (Gk.: ‘The only-begotten Son’) and the Trisagion. On Easter Eve – regarded as a time of transition between the sorrow of Good Friday and the joy of the Resurrection – each scriptural lection is sung partly in ‘sorrowful’ and ‘joyful’ alhān.
Psalmōdia (Arabic absulmūdiya or tasbiha) is a choral service celebrated by monks twice daily (just after the Midnight and Morning Hours) and by the laity on Sunday eve. The texts and directions for the service are contained in a book known as al-absulmūdīya al-sanawiyya; the words for the hymns sung at Advent during the month of Kīyahk are found in a separate book, al-absulmūdiyya al-kīyahkīya. Both books contain the following genres of hymn sung at Psalmōdia and elsewhere:
(i) Hōs (from Ancient Egyptian h-s-j: ‘sing’, ‘praise’; Arabic hūs, pl. hūsāt). Among the oldest Coptic hymns, these are sung to a rapid tempo, and their melodies consist of short, simple, rhythmic phrases ending in a refrain. The texts, taken from the Old Testament canticles and psalms, are unrhymed quatrains interspersed with Alleluias. Four hōs are chanted during Psalmōdia, the first three at the Midnight service, the fourth in the morning; another is sung at Christmastide and yet another at Easter.
(ii) Theotokia (a term both singular and plural in Coptic). As in the Byzantine rite, these are a series of hymns in honour of the Virgin Mary and are sung during the Divine Office and Psalmōdia (see above). In the Divine Liturgy one is regularly sung as an introductory hymn, and another is sung after the lection of the Catholic Epistle. A special series of theotokia sung only in Advent are of variable length and are composed to Coptic quatrains. Each day has its own set of hymns: 18 for Sunday, nine each for Monday, Thursday and Saturday, and seven each for Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday. The sets for Sunday to Tuesday conclude with the same Adam text; the other days conclude with the same Batos text. These sets are interpolated with many bōl (Gk. hermēneia: ‘interpretation’), which paraphrase the texts. In any given set, each hymn has a common unifying refrain, and in practice one hymn may suffice to represent the whole set.
(iii) Lōbsh (Coptic: ‘crown’; Arabic lubsh or tafsīr: ‘explanation’). A lōbsh immediately follows the sets of theotokia, as well as each of the first three hōs. Though recited rather than sung, it is designated either lahn Adam or Batos, indicating that at one time it was probably chanted.
(iv) Psali (from Gk. psallein: ‘to pluck a string instrument’ or, by extension, ‘to sing the songs of David’; Arabic absālīya or madīh: ‘praise’). These metrical hymns accompany either a theotokia or hōs. Each day has its own psali, designated as Adam or Batos; there may also be one or more psali for a liturgical season. The long texts of the psali sometimes form Coptic or Greek alphabetic acrostics and may contain the name of the author. The melodies are rhythmic, syllabic and easy to sing.
(v) Tarh (Arab.: ‘interpretation’). This is an Arabic paraphrase of a preceding hōs, theotokia or Gospel lection. Like the lōbsh, it was formerly sung (according to Coptic texts dating from the 9th century), but is now recited.
(vi) Difnār (from Gk. antiphōnarion) hymn. The difnār is a book containing biographies, written in hymnic form, of Coptic saints. When performed during Psalmōdia, because of the great length of these hymns, only two or three strophes may be sung in Coptic, the entire text then being read in Arabic. If the synaxarion is read, the difnār hymn may be omitted.
Musical instruments dating from the 3rd to the 8th centuries found at the monastery of St Jeremiah, Saqqara, suggest that the Copts originally used many different types, for example, castanets, sistra, flutes, harps and lutes. However, the only term found in Coptic liturgical books to specify instrumental accompaniment is nāqūs (Arabic: ‘bell’). The Copts may have used an ancient type of small bell that was sounded by striking the outside with a rod, but this has long since disappeared from the rite and is not known today. The only instruments now allowed in Coptic services are small hand cymbals (Arabic sanj, pl. sunūj, and colloquial sajjāt) of about 18 cm diameter, and the triangle (Arabic muthallath); both instruments are played by a deacon or the cantor. In monasteries a small ebony bar (also known as nāqūs) is sometimes used.
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Kitāb al-absulmūdiyya al-muqaddasa al-sanawiyya [The holy book of rituals for the year] (Cairo, 1908)
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B.P. Grenfell and A.S. Hunt, eds.: The Oxyrhynchus Papyri, xv (London, 1922)
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H. Hickman: ‘Zur Geschichte der altägyptischen Glocken’, Musik und Kirche, xxi (1951), 72–88
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I. Borsai: ‘Quelques traits caractéristiques de la musique copte’, SMH, x (1968), 360–63
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I. Borsai: ‘Caractéristiques générales du chant de la messe copte’, Studia orientalia christiana: collectanea, xiv (1970–71), 412–42
I. Borsai: ‘Mélodies coptes des textes grecs byzantins’, Byzantine Studies XIV: Bucharest 1971, 493–503
I. Borsai: ‘Un type mélodique particulier des hymnes coptes du mois de Kiahk’, SMH, xiii (1971), 73–85
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I. Borsai: ‘Le tropaire byzantin “O Monogenés” dans la pratique du chant copte’, SMH, xiv (1972), 329–54
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I. Borsai: ‘Die musikhistorische Bedeutung der orientalischen christlichen Riten’, SMH, xvi (1974), 3–14
I. Borsai: ‘Y a-t-il un “Octoéchos” dans le système du chant copte?’, Studia aegyptiaca, i (1974), 39–53
E. Werner: ‘The Origin of the Eight Modes of Music: Octoechos’, Contributions to a Historical Study of Jewish Music (New York, 1976)
I. Borsai: ‘Deux chants caractéristiques de la Semaine Sainte copte’, Studies in Eastern Chant, iv, ed. M. Velimirović (Crestwood, NY, 1979), 5–27
D. Jourdan-Hemmerdinger: ‘Nouveaux fragments musicaux sur papyrus: une notation antique par points’, ibid., 81–111
I. Borsai: ‘Mélodie et métrique dans les théotokies coptes’, SMH, xxii (1980), 51–60
M. Robertson: ‘The Modern Coptic Tarnīmah, “Farahānīn, Farahānīn” (“We are Joyful, We are Joyful”)’, Coptologia, v (1984), 77–84
M. Robertson: ‘The Reliability of the Oral Tradition in Preserving Coptic Music’, Bulletin de la Société d’archéologie copte, xxvi (1984), 83–93; xxvii (1985), 73–85; xxviii (1989), 93–105
M. Robertson: ‘Vocal Music in the Early Coptic Church’, Coptologia, vi (1985), 23–7
M. Robertson: ‘Preserving the Coptic Musical Tradition’, Coptologia, x (1989), 103–09
M. Robertson: ‘A Coptic Melody Sung Interchangeably in Different Languages: Comparisons thereof and Proposed Dating therefor’, Coptic Studies III: Warsaw 1984, ed. W. Godlewski (Warsaw, 1990), 365–70
M. Robertson: ‘Which Came First, the Music or the Words? A Greek Text and Coptic Melody: Musical Transcription and Analysis of the Setting’, By Study and Also by Faith: Essays in Honour of Hugh W. Nibley, ed. J.M. Lundquist and S.D. Ricks (Salt Lake City, 1990), ii, 417–27
M. Velimirović: ‘Christian Chant in Syria, Armenia, Egypt, and Ethiopia’, NOHM, ii (2/1990), 3–25
M. Robertson and others: ‘Music, Coptic’, The Coptic Encyclopedia, ed. A.S. Atiya (New York, 1991)
M. Robertson: ‘Ernest Newlandsmith et sa notation de la musique copte’, Congrès copte IV: Louvain-la-Neuve 1988, ed. M. Rassart-Debergh and J. Ries (Louvain-la-Neuve, 1992), ii, 463–9
R. Moftah: ‘La musique de l’église copte’, Le monde copte, xx (1992), 15–17
M. Robertson: ‘The Gulezyan Manuscripts: Possible Remnants of Ancient Coptic Musical Notation?’, Coptic Studies V: Washington 1992, ed. D. Johnson and T. Orlandi (Rome, 1993), 355–67
M. Robertson-Wilson: ‘Kopten: §Koptische Musik’, Lexikon für Theologie und Kirche, ed. W. Kasper and others, vi (Freiburg, 1997)
R. Moftah, M. Tóth and M. Roy: The Coptic Orthodox Liturgy of St Basil with Complete Musical Transcriptions (Cairo, 1998)
M. Robertson-Wilson: ‘The Good Friday Trisagion of the Coptic Church: a Musical Transcription and Analysis’, Miscellany in Mmemoriam of Ivan Duyčev, ed. A. Dzhurova (Sofia, forthcoming)
The Ragheb Moftah Collection of Coptic Chant, US-Wc (c1945–60) [various recordings of parts of the Divine Liturgies and hymns for special occasions]; guide to the collection by M. Robertson-Wilson (MSS, 1998, US-Wc) [MS transcrs., transliterations, and trans. of Coptic and Arabic texts]
Al-quddās al-Bāsīl [sic] al-mukhtasar [The Liturgy of St Basil, abridged], coll. R. Moftah, Al-ma‘had al-‘ālī lil-dirāsāt al-qibtīya [The Higher Institute of Coptic Studies, Cairo] (1955) [with commentary by A.S. Atiya]
Coptic Music, coll. A.S. Atiya, Folkway Records FR8960 (1960) [with notes by A.S. Atiya]
Al-quddās al-Bāsīl [sic] [The Divine Liturgy of St Basil], coll. R. Moftah, Al-ma‘had al-‘ālī lil-dirāsāt al-qibtiyya [The Higher Institute of Coptic Studies, Cairo] (1965)
Taqs al-baskha al-muqaddasa [The Holy Week ritual], ibid. (1972)
Taqs ‘īd al-qīyāma al-majīd [The Easter ritual], ibid. (1972)
Taqs tasbiha ‘ashiyya [The evening Psalmōdia], ibid. (1976)
Taqs tasbiha nisf al-layl [The midnight Psalmōdia], ibid. (1978)
Kull al-alhān al-khāssa bighibta al-ab al-batrīyark wa al-ābā’ al-asāqifa [Special melodies for the patriarch and bishops], ibid. (1980)
Quddās aghrīghūriyūs [The liturgy of St Gregory], ibid. (1984)