The Coptic Christian writings of St Yousab El Abah, in Arabic
[Collection of Essays].
4to (173 x 225 mm). 368 ff. Arabic manuscript on watermarked paper. Black naskh script with important words and titles in red, and red highlights and section markers throughout. Contemporary red morocco ruled in blind.
€ 8,500.00
A large manuscript of the teachings of the Coptic bishop and saint Yousab El Abah (d. 1826), literally "Yousab the Hoarse", whose twenty-nine essays and speeches span his theological sermons and philosophy. Before he became a bishop, Yousab was a member of the famous desert Monastery of St Anthony, located in an oasis in Egypt's Eastern Desert. While today a popular tourist and pilgrimage destination among Egyptian Christians and accessible by car from Cairo in six hours, in Yousab's day the monastery was ascetic and remote, built near the cave of St Anthony. Yousab himself is said to have returned to the monastery at the end of his life and been buried there.
His teachings, written in Arabic, are collected here by a scribe working only forty-three years after the author's death. Yousab had many occasions to teach and speak publicly as well as write the twenty-nine essays found in this manuscript, as he likely gave funeral orations upon the deaths of at least two Coptic popes.
Covers rather worn, spine professionally repaired. Some soiling and staining (including the occasional splatter of wax), one small chip with no loss to text.
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