ON SS. ABIBUS AND APOLLO, MONKS IN EGYPT,
IN THE 4TH CENTURY.
PRELIMINARY COMMENTARY.
Their memory from the martyrologies of the Copts, in which they are said to have flourished in the age of St. Macarius the Great. An encomium.
Abibus, monk in Egypt. (S.)
Apollo, monk in Egypt. (S.)
BY B. B.
Castellan makes mention on this day: "In Egypt, of St. Abibus, monk, The names and memory who is venerated by the Christians of Ethiopia." And in the Arabic Vatican codex XV Mai, Veterum scriptorum nova collectio, vol. IV, page 14 and following., in which are contained the four most holy Gospels, with an Index of the Gospel Lessons which are wont to be recited through the circle of the year in the divine offices of the Copts, memory is made of "Abbot Apollo, monk" Ibid. page 19.. I find almost the same things in some Coptic Synaxaries or calendars which I have in hand. But it is to be noted that the Copts, as well as the Abyssinians, begin the year, at least the ecclesiastical one, from the September of the Latins; they, however, anticipate the beginning of their months by three days, putting the first day of their first month on the 29th of our August; and thus the first day of our September is to them the fourth of their first month, that is Thoth; and accordingly our day the 22nd of October is to them the 25th day of the second month, that is Babeh. And on this day in the sacred Fasti or Calendar of the Ethiopian and Coptic church in Ludolf is read Commentary on the history of Ethiopia, page 395. Frankfurt am Main, 1691.: "Abba (father) Abibus, monk." Likewise in Selden, in a calendar written in Arabic about the year of Christ 1286 De Synedriis veterum Ebræorum, book III, page 1315 and following., there occurs on this day the memory "of father Ablua, monk" Ibid. page 1319.. We have also in our Mss. three Indices of the Coptic martyrology, but to be supplemented and corrected from one another, as Papebroch noted at the beginning of the first Index, about which he adds besides: "It seems to be the hand of Fr. Kircher, who wrote that he had translated that martyrology in his spare hours, on the 18th of October 1638." In this Index there is had at the 25th (to us the 22nd) of Oct.: "Abib and Bala"; in the second: "The death of abbot Abibus and abbot Pela"; in the third finally: "The death of abbot Abibus and abbot Bela." In the Synaxary or Martyrology (which to me is the same as the preceding) of the church of the Copts of Alexandria, of which a certain synopsis has been published by Cardinal Angelo Mai Veterum Script. vol. IV, page 92 and following., is had: "The repose of St. Abibus, monk, and the feast of St. Apollo according to the rite of Said or Upper Egypt. They are said to be contemporaries of St. Macarius the great abbot." And in the Vatican ms. Codex itself this is the announcement: "On this day died the devout abbot Abibus, soldier of God; and on the same day we celebrate the festival of abbot Apollo according to the use of the Thebaid." For he who by others is called Eblau, Ablua, Bala, Pela, Bela, is by his true name Apollo. Wherefore it is to be noted, first, that the word Apollo written in Arabic is rendered in our letters Abollau, Ebollau, Abolau, Ebolau; secondly, that our consonant p is lacking in the Arabic alphabet, and the vowel o, drawn out or long, is rendered by the diphthong au; thirdly, that in the common pronunciation of the Arabs one of the first vowels of words is ordinarily suppressed or absorbed, whence from Abolau or Ebolau easily comes Ablau or Eblau; fourthly, that the Copts frequently truncate names; let Chael for Michael be an example Mai. Ibid. page 113.; and from this the forms Pala, Pola, Bola are explained, if indeed they are not mere slips of copyists; finally, fifthly, that the Arabic text of the calendar praised in Selden De Synedriis book III, chap. 15, page 1319. admits at will Abali, Oboli, Ebli; Selden himself, however, reads Ablua; and in another place, namely at the 25th of July Ibid. page 1341., Abalii; Ludolf writes Oboli, probably because the Ethiopic has it so Commentarius in hist., Ethiop. page 395.. For the rest, Selden's calendar swarms with errors, nor was it corrected in the latest edition (this we have used), Frankfurt in the year 1696, as anyone will perceive who will compare it with the first edition of the same Selden, London 1653. For my part I do not at all doubt that the true name of our holy Monk is Apollo; and this is confirmed by the authority of Assemani, who renders it so in the synoptic Coptic Synaxary which Angelo Mai first published in print from the ms. catalogue of the same Assemani Vol. IV. Arabic Codd. page 64 in a note. Compare Ibid. Preface page VI..
[2] from the Coptic Synaxary. The author of the aforesaid Synaxary or Martyrology is Michael, bishop of Atrib and Malig in Lower Egypt, who flourished about the year 1425. The work consists of two parts or volumes, each comprising six months. To the former, which begins from the month Thoth (September), is prefixed the title: "In the name of the Father, etc. We begin, by the help of God most high and by the goodness of His providence, to write the first volume of the book of the Synaxary, containing an epitome of the lives of the Martyrs through the whole circle of the year; as also the memories of the Angels, Apostles and Saints, according to the recension made by father Michael, bishop of Atrib and Malig, and by other holy Fathers" Ibid. page 93.. In the judgment of Cardinal Mai, or rather of Assemani, a compendious
"those eulogies of the Saints, if you take away and correct the old wives' tales and the palpable anachronisms with which they are everywhere sprinkled, we judge most worthy indeed of light, chiefly for this reason, that in them almost the whole history of the nation of the Copts and the Abyssinians is described; the traditions and rites of the church of Alexandria are illustrated, and various monuments of the best note are reported bearing on sacred and profane learning, as also on the knowledge of oriental history" Ibid.. It is therefore to be lamented by me that those codices have hitherto lain hidden in the cases of the Vatican library: for nothing, so far as I know, besides Mai's recension, has been printed; nor accordingly would it have been permitted to draw out from them anything bearing on the deeds of SS. Abibus and Apollo, had not, through the labour of Fr. John Baptist Rostagno, S.J. (whom I had earnestly asked to do this when he was lately departing from Louvain for the City), come into my hands an Italian version (diligently collated with the Arabic text, which you will find rendered into Latin at the end of this commentary) of all those things which occur in the aforesaid Vatican codex LXII at the 25th, or 22nd, day of October. We have also in the Bollandian museum a ms. Coptic Martyrology, which comprises the first six months of the Coptic year, and which, as our predecessor Conrad Janning noted, Simon Moyses, a Maronite and alumnus of the Maronite college at Rome, translated there in the year 1633. But our Maronite completed his work negligently: for he himself confesses that he wrote the names of the months and of many Saints as they are called by the Copts; that he passed over many things relating to the lives, deeds, martyrdoms, country, miracles of the Saints; that of many Saints who were reported on one and the same day he often selected only one; that through his incapacity he committed many errors; where our Janning adds, and rightly indeed: "And this is true; and therefore his interpretation ought not to be used straightway, but is to be compared with the writings of others." This further is the more to be lamented because the Martyrology, the synopsis of which praised above you have in Angelo Mai, has a great similarity with that other one rendered into Latin by Simon Moyses, as strikes the eyes of anyone comparing the recension of the most eminent Cardinal with our codex. Some things are added here and there in Simon; let an example be what occurs above in the Sylloge of St. Julius. But here, as also elsewhere commonly, the eulogy at the 25th day of the month Babeh, to us the 22nd of October, is faulty and truncated. You will find it written out below in the Annotations, letter g.
[3] The age of each Saint. The age of the holy Men is declared from the fact that in Cardinal Mai they are said to be contemporaries of St. Macarius the Great, abbot, as is also clearly shown from their Encomium. I should think it is a question of Macarius the elder or the Egyptian, and not of the Saint of the same name of Alexandria. The Acts of the former Bolland published at the 15th of January Acta SS. vol. I of January, page 84 and following.; of the latter at the 2nd of the same month Ibid. page 1005 and following.. But which of the two it was matters nothing to our question, since they are contemporaries Baillet, Vies des Saints, 2 Jan., and both flourished in the 4th century; Macarius called the Egyptian indeed from the beginning of that century until about the year 390. At which time, besides, no heretical taint was yet raging among the Egyptian monks.
[4] nothing concerning Abibus, ex to spiriti, It remains that I should write out the passage of John Moschus in the Spiritual Meadow, chap. CCII [In Rosweyde, On the Lives of the Fathers, book X, page 923. Antwerp, 1615. Likewise Migne, Latin Patrology, vol. LXXV, col. 230 and following.], where these things are read about a certain holy Abibas: "One of the Fathers related that a certain layman had a son, pious, religious, a virgin, and from his very boyish years accustomed to continence in all things, so that he no longer drank wine. And he had it in his desires to settle in solitude: but his father wished to bind him to the affairs of the world, and could not: for he would by no means suffer this. He had also other brothers, but he himself was the eldest of all. And since his manner of life was very remote from his father's will, his father reproached him continually, upbraiding him for his very continence, and saying: Why art thou not like thy brothers, nor dost expose thyself to business? But he bore it in silence. And all loved him for his religion and modesty. And when his father was about to die, some of his kindred and others most loving towards Abibas (for this was the son's name), thinking that his father hated him on account of his continual reproaches, came together, saying: Lest perchance the father deprive the Servant of God of the inheritance, let us intercede for him. For he was very rich. They go therefore to him and say: We have come together to ask something of thee. He says to them: What do you wish to ask of me? We pray for the lord Abibas, that thou mayest not neglect him. Then the father: Do you ask me for him? They say to him: Certainly. He says: Call him here. And they thought that he wished to reproach him according to his custom. And when he had come in, his father said to him: Come near to me. And when he had come near to him, he held his feet weeping and saying: Forgive me, my son, and pray God that He may not impute it to me that I afflicted thee: for thou wast seeking Christ, and I was moved in a worldly way. And he calls also the other sons and says to them: This is your lord and father; whatever he shall say, do, and what he shall wish you to have shall be in his power. And all wondered. And immediately when their father had died, he distributed their parts to his brothers; but he himself, taking his own part, gave it to the poor, reserving nothing at all for himself. And he made himself a small cell that he might live as a solitary; and soon, when he had finished the cell, he fell sick and came to his end. And his brother was with him (perhaps St. Apollo?), to whom he said: Go, brother, give comfort to thy household: for the solemnity of the Apostles was at hand. His brother said to him: How shall I leave thee and go away? He says to him: Go, and when my hour has come, I will call thee. When therefore the hour had come, he rose to the window and knocked. And his brother looked towards him; and he nodded to him, saying: Come. And immediately when his brother came, he gave up his spirit to the Lord. And all wondered and glorified God, saying: By the excellent charity with which he loved Christ he found a worthy end." Whether these things are plainly to be referred to our St. Abibus I should not dare to assert; yet so it seems to me. Certainly the narration does not differ from the style and manner of the Coptic martyrology; nay, it agrees exceedingly in this, that St. Abibas is related to have lived in the desert for only a brief space of time. An abridgement of this is had in the hagiographical Dictionary lately published by the Migne press Dictionnaire Hagiographique. Paris, 1850. Under the word: Abibe., by the Reverend D. Petin, who refers St. Abibus to the 22nd of October, adding that he died about the end of the 6th century; perhaps it is a slip, in place of the 4th century. For the rest, in the Spiritual Meadow, from which I should not doubt the praised writer drew his matter, no age is noted.
ENCOMIUM OF SS. ABIBUS AND APOLLO.
From the Arabic Vatican ms. codex num. LXII, page 98.
Abibus, monk in Egypt. (S.)
Apollo, monk in Egypt. (S.)
aOn the 25th day of the month Babeh b. On this day died the devout abbot c Abibus d, soldier of God, and on the same day we celebrate the festival of abbot Apollo e, according to the use of the Thebaid. Abbot Apollo then, equal to the angels, had a father named Emani, of the city of Ehmim f, and a mother called Aiti. Both were blameless before God, walking in the way of His commandments, loving saints and strangers. But they lacked offspring. One night his mother (of St. Apollo) had a vision g. There appeared to her, namely, a shining man, bearing with him a tree, which he planted in their house; and it flowered and brought forth fruit. And the shining man said: "Whoever shall eat of that fruit shall live for ever." The woman therefore ate, and finding the fruit sweet to the throat, said: "Perhaps there will be offspring for me." When she had awakened, she told her husband of the vision; who testified that he had had altogether the same one. Wherefore both glorified the Lord and walked more ardently the paths of justice and virtues. Their food was bread and water, and they fasted on alternate days. The wife, having become pregnant, devoted herself to prayer beyond what her strength allowed; for she cast herself on her knees a thousand times by night, and a thousand five hundred times by day; and this she performed for the whole nine months, until at length she brought forth a son, whom they called by the name of Apollo; and thenceforward they applied themselves much more to good works also. The boy, scarcely past tender age, began to long for the religious life; nor did he cease until he obtained the opportunity of fulfilling his vow; then he chose a friend named Abibus and they went away together to put on the religious habit in a certain monastery, where they excelled exceedingly in the exercise of virtues. A little after, abbot Abibus died on the 25th day of the month Babeh. Then abbot Apollo withdrew to the mountain Eblieg h, where he gathered a great multitude of people, whom he taught the fear of God and true piety. One day, when they were keeping the memory of the holy abbot Abibus, abbot Apollo said to them: "Brethren, whoever shall today pour forth any prayer in the name of St. Abibus, the Lord Jesus Christ will forgive him all his sins." And so it came about. At this hour one of the brethren had died, and when they were celebrating his obsequies, some doubted of the truth of the Abbot's promises; but behold, the dead man sat up, and began to address them, saying: "Why are the promises of our Father doubtful to you on the day of the commemoration of the holy abbot Abibus?" These words said, he died again. The brethren then, astounded, glorified God. And abbot Apollo lived many years, and had several monasteries and many brethren. Our father Apollo lived in the times of St. Macarius the Great, who rejoiced whenever he heard anything about him (St. Apollo); and he wrote him a letter by which to console him and the brethren, exhorting all to serve the Lord faithfully. And while St. Macarius was writing this letter, abbot Apollo was warned of it by the Holy Spirit through a vision; wherefore he said to the multitude standing round, which he was feeding with the word of God: "Behold, our father abbot i Macarius is writing us a letter of consolation." This said, after about half an hour a brother is present with the aforesaid letter, to meet whom all hasten joyfully. Then the Man of God read the letter to the brethren, not without great consolation of all. The holy abbot Apollo is also the one who once, departing from the holy abbot Amani, saw the most blessed virgin standing near him k. And when it pleased
our Lord Jesus Christ to give him rest from the labours of this world, abbot Apollo died in peace. May the blessing of his prayer be with us. Amen.
ANNOTATIONS.
"Codex 62, of cotton paper, of 195 leaves, brought from the East by Joseph Simonius Assemani, written in Arabic, the author being Michael, bishop of Atrib in Egypt. Volume I, containing the Synaxary of the church of the Copts of Alexandria, comprising the first six months from September to February. It was written in the year of Christ 1713 by Abraham Salomon, an Egyptian carpenter, as appears from the inscription placed at the end." It is signed with the little note: "Antonius Simonius Assemani, scriptor of the Arabic and Syriac languages in the Vatican Library, and professor of the Syriac language in the Roman archigymnasium of the Sapienza, etc. 1788."
"St. Abibus and Bala. The mother of this Saint saw in sleep a man having a tree; and he planted it in her house; and the tree sprang up, and produced fruits; and he said: Whoever eats of these fruits shall live for ever. And she ate. And she saw that they (the fruits) were sweet. And when she awoke, she related it to her husband, who also had seen the same vision. She conceived and bore Bala. Further, the parents of St. Bala feared God and prayed; they worshipped God with genuflections and fasts and prayers. A little after the boy was growing up; and he chose the monastic life; and he was in the time of St. Macarius the Great; and he flourished in great holiness and discipline."