This archdeacon was a noted compiler of certain biographies of the Coptic patriarchs. He was a close friend and contemporary of SIMON I (689-701), forty-second in the line of succession to Saint Mark. He came originally from the town of Sakhā. His list comprises the lives of CYRIL I (412-444) to ALEXANDER II (705-730), that is, from the twenty-fourth to the forty-third patriarchs. His work was accomplished partly in the Monastery of Saint Macarius (see DAYR ANBĀ MAQĀR) in Wādī Habīb (Sāwīrus, 1907, Vol. 1, pt. 3, p. 91). Probably he was once nominated to succeed the fortieth patriarch, JOHN III (677 -686), but his position was never upgraded beyond the rank of HEGUMENOS. Instead, Isaac of the Monastery of Saint Macarius was consecrated as the forty-first patriarch. Abū Jirjah was a contemporary of the Umayyad caliphs from 'Abd al-Malik (685-705) to Hishām (724743). The period he covered included the sensitive ecumenical age of CHALCEDON (451) and the upheaval caused by the ARAB CONQUEST OF EGYPT (641). As may be expected, the essential biographies in his list were those of his own contemporaries, that is, Simon I (Sāwīrus, 1907 , Vol. 1, pt. 3, pp. 27 -49) and Alexander II (pp. 50-83), as he was an eyewitness of the events of their reigns.
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.
Bibliography:
Atiya, A. S. History of Eastern Christianity. Millwood, N.Y., 1980.
Eusebius of Caesarea. Historia ecclesiastica. 2 Vols., ed. and trans. K. Lake and J. E. L. Oulton, Books 2 and 3. Cambridge, Mass., and London, 1926-1932.
Kāmil Sālih, Nakhlah. Kitāb Tārīkh wa-Jadāwil Batārikat al-Iskandariyyah. Cairo, 1943.
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Roncaglia, M. Histoire de l' église copte, Vol. 1. Beirut, 1966 (6 vols. in progress).
Smith, W., and H. Wace. Dictionary of Christian Biography, 4 vols. New York, 1974.
Tillemont, L. S. N. Mémoires pour servir à 1'histoire écclesiastique, Vol. 2. Paris, 1711.
