Hourly Coptic Orthodox prayers in Arabic and Coptic

[Coptic Orthodox prayer book]. Agpeya.

The term "Agpeya" (or "Agbiye" in Egyptian Arabic) comes from the Coptic "ti agp" (the hour) and refers to an hourly prayer book of the Coptic Orthodox Church. The tradition roughly corresponds to that of the Greek Orthodox Horologion.

The present manuscript contains prayers for seven different hours; each of these prayers is to be completed at its designated time throughout the day. Each additionally corresponds to an event in the life of Jesus Christ, specifically to particularly holy moments of the crucifixion. Each section consists of an introduction which includes the Lord's Prayer, the Prayer of Thanksgiving, and Psalm 50; this is followed by various psalms, an excerpt from the Holy Gospel, and litanies. Afterwards, "Kyrie eleison" is sung forty-one times (thirty-nine for the number of lashes Christ received before the crucifixion, two more for two further injuries sustained by Christ), followed by several other prayers and a conclusion.

The manuscript is a lovely mix of Coptic and Arabic, the majority written in the Coptic liturgical language, with distinctive Northeast African decorations. The Coptic language manuscript tradition is one of the oldest manuscript traditions outside the cultural mainstream manuscript traditions of Arabic and Persian, tracing its roots back at least to the early medieval period.