'Abd al-Masīh Salīb al-Masū'dī
19th Century
Coptic Church
Egypt
A monk at the monastery of the Virgin (DAYR AL-BARAMŪS in Wādī al-Natrūn), 'Abd al-Masīh (1848-1935) was ordained a monk by his uncle, 'Abd al-Masīh al-Kabīr, in 1874. His prolific writings covered linguistics, ritual, and history. He mastered Hebrew, Syriac, Greek, and Coptic. His best known work is his interpretation of the Epact, in the Arabic version of al-Abukti (reckoning of the derivation of feast days in the Coptic, Syrian, Armenian, and Greek churches).
His most significant works include Kītāb al-Khulājī al-Muqaddas (i.e., Kitā al-Thalāth Quddāsāt; The three masses, Cairo, 1903); Kitāb al-Tuhfah al-Saniyyah (Theology, Cairo, 1925); Kitāb al-Durrah al-Nafisah fī Hisābāt al-Kanīsah, Cairo, 1926, a small and concise treatise on dates of the church developed in a much more detailed work of more than 617 pages entitled Al-Tuhfah al-Barāmūsiyyah fī Sharh wa-Tatimmat Qawā'id Hisāb al-Abqati lil-Kanīsah al Qibtiyyah al-Urthudhuksiyyah, Cairo, 1925; Kitāb al-Karmah (Theology, Cairo, 1927); Kitāb al-Asrār (Coptic and Arabic terminology of the church defined, Cairo, 1926); and Tuhfat al-Sā'ilīn fī Dhikr Adyirat Ruhbān al-Misriyyīn (On Coptic monasteries, Cairo, 1932).
He was summoned by Patriarch Cyril V to serve in the central administration of the church at the patriarchate in Cairo. He died at the age of eighty seven in 1935.
Aziz S. Atiya
Note: The DACB uses the transliteration system of the Encyclopedia of Islam (2nd ed.), dropping the diacritical marks on the kha, dtaa, saad, and daad.
