Standard abbreviation: Encom. Mich.
Other titles: Vision of St. John the Evangelist
Clavis numbers: ECCA 698; CPC 0404; CPG 2529
Category: Pseudo-Apostolic Memoirs
Related literature: Investiture of the Archangel Michael
Compiled by: Tony Burke, York University
Citing this resource (using Chicago Manual of Style): Burke, Tony. “Encomium on the Archangel Michael by Pseudo-Timothy Aelurus.” e-Clavis: Christian Apocrypha. Accessed DAY MONTH YEAR. https://www.nasscal.com/e-clavis-christian-apocrypha/encomium-on-the-archangel-michael-by-pseudo-timothy-aelurus/.
Created February 2020. Current as of January 2024.
1. SUMMARY
The homily begins with Ps.-Timothy’s account of his travels to the holy places in Jerusalem. While there, he visited the home of the mother of Prochorus (Proclus in the Coptic text), the disciple of John, and found there a book written by the disciple. Prochorus tells a story of John walking with an unnamed angel beside a lake. From the lake comes noises, great smoke, and fire; beasts emerge along with a wheel of fire upon which are placed human sinners. John weeps over their punishment but the angel tells him that Michael will do something to help them.
Then Michael arrives on a chariot, attended by angels, patriarchs and prophets. Michael dips his wings into the lake, takes out the sinners, and brings them to the heavens where they worship God and rest from punishment. This occurs every 12 Ba’ūnah, the annual day in the Coptic calendar when Michael rescues the sinful from torment. John is amazed at the compassion of God and Michael. The angel then describes the manner of people who are taken from the fiery wheel: those who give food to the poor on the Lord’s day, and those who give mercy to the poor in the name of God or the Archangel Michael.
On this day also Michael goes beyond the veil to worship the Father and does not emerge until God has “provided the means of subsistence for men and beasts, and water in the river [Nile]” (p. 1027). Michael displays on his clothing what manner of crops will be raised in the coming year.
John’s angelic companion then promises rescue from punishment to those who copy the book, give to the church in the name of Michael, light a lamp in the church, etc. Such people will wait in the place of punishment as if in a warm house until the day when Michael comes to take them to heaven. The angel also promises protection against evil to those who provide a copy of the Covenant (i.e., the New Testament) to a church in the name of Michael or who keep a copy in their own home. He also prescribes painting certain combinations of letters on their home, and writing Michael’s name on the corners of their home, and on the edges of their clothing, their table, and on platters and cups. After these instructions, the angel brings John to the Mount of Olives and departs.
The homiletic framework resumes with Ps.-Timothy listing the benefactions of Michael (the rising of the Nile, the fruits of the earth, and the wine we drink) and repeats the angel’s instructions for the apotropaic use of Michael’s name. He finished with a prayer to Michael and a call to his audience to withdraw from sin and give praise to Michael.
Named Historical Figures and Characters: Adam (patriarch), Beliar, David (king), devil, John (son of Zebedee), Michael (angel), Paul (apostle), Prochorus, Timothy (archbishop of Alexandria).
Geographical Locations: Amente, Jerusalem, Mount of Olives, Tartarouchos/Tartaros.
2. RESOURCES
3. BIBLIOGRAPHY
3.1 Manuscripts and Editions
3.1.1 Arabic
Cairo, Coptic Museum, 111, 5
Cairo 457 (17th/18th cent.), fols. 11v–24r
Cairo 467, fols. 152r–159r (18th cent.)
Graf, Georg. Geschichte der christlichen arabischen Literatur. 5 vols. Rome: Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana, 1944 (manuscripts listed, vol. 1:464).
3.1.2 Coptic (Sahidic); PAThs entry
London, British Library, Or. 7029, fols. 67v–75v (992) (=MERC.AM)
New York, Morgan Library and Museum, M607, fols. 2r–23r (974) (=MICH.BB)
Budge, E. A. W. Miscellaneous Coptic Texts in the Dialect of Upper Egypt. London: British Museum, 1915 (text of BL Or. 7039, pp. 513–25, English translation, pp. 1022–33).
3.1.3 Ethiopic
Found in the Ethiopic collection Dersāna Mikā̕el; sometimes attributed to Demetrius of Alexandria.
Addis Ababa, Church of St. Michael, EMML 569, fols. 5r–13r (ca. 1770)
Addis Ababa, Church of St. Michael, EMML 570, fols. 8r–20r (20th cent.)
Addis Ababa, Pariarchate Library, EMML 646, fols. 15r–28r (1916/1922)
Goğğām Province, Dimā Giyorgis Monastery, G2-IV-25, fols. 133r–139r (14th/15th cent.) ~ HMML
Gubālāfto, Library of Qēs Haddis, EMML 1433, fols. 5r–12v (18th cent.)
London, British Library, Or. 608, fols. 1v–9r (ca. 1716–1721)
London, British Library, Or. 609, fols. 5r–15v (17th/18th cent.)
Vatican, Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana, Vat. et. 82, fols. 5v–12v (1896)
3.2 Modern Translations
3.2.1 English
Budge, E. A. W. Miscellaneous Coptic Texts in the Dialect of Upper Egypt. London: British Museum, 1915 (text of BL Or. 7039, pp. 513–25, English translation, pp. 1022–33).
3.2.2 French
Amélineau, Émile. Contes et romans d’Égypte chrétienne. 2 vols. Collection de contes et chansons populaires, 13–14. Paris: Ernest Leroux, 1888 (translation of unidentified Arabic manuscript, vol. 1:11–20).
3.3 General Works
Müller, C. Detlef G. Die Engellehre der koptischen Kirche: Untersuchungen zur Geschichte der christlichen Frömmigkeit in Ägypten. Wiesbaden: Otto Harrassowitz, 1959 (see p. 161).
———. Die alte koptische Predigt: Versuch eines Überblicks. Berlin: Darmstadt, 1954 (see pp. 106–12).
Suciu, Alin. The Berlin-Strasbourg Apocryphon: A Coptic Apostolic Memoir. WUNT 370. Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, 2017 (see pp. 83–84).