Heritage & Theology
The Nomocanon of Michael of Damietta
Seventy-two major sayings on worship, ministry and communal life, translated from the Berlin manuscript of Michael of Damietta’s medieval collection.
Edition details
Paperback
- Format
- Paperback
- Language
- English
- Pages
- 452
- ISBN-13
- 9781764445085
- Dimensions
- 7 × 10 in
- Amazon ASIN
- 1764445082
- Availability
- Available now
Hardcover
- Format
- Hardcover
- Language
- English
- Pages
- 452
- ISBN-13
- 9781923901025
- Dimensions
- 7 × 10 in
- Availability
- Coming soon
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About This Book
At the turn of the thirteenth century, Michael, Metropolitan of Damietta, gathered a wide world of ecclesiastical memory into one ordered collection. Through seventy-two major “Sayings,” his Nomocanon brings together material on worship and the sacraments, ministry and monastic life, discipline and care for the poor, marriage, property, inheritance, and many other parts of Christian communal life.
These canons and ordinances set out rules for bishops, priests, deacons, readers, and monks; for the Eucharist, baptism, fasting, and prayer; and for marriage, charity, church property, inheritance, and the settlement of disputes. Together they reveal how medieval Coptic Christians sought to order worship, ministry, discipline, and daily communal life.
This volume offers a fresh English translation of the complete Nomocanon preserved in Berlin, Diez A quart. 117, folios 1v–422v. Every section was translated from the digitised manuscript images. Michael’s sources range from Scripture and material attributed to apostles and councils to patristic canons and inherited civil-law traditions. The translation keeps the manuscript’s own attributions, repetitions, and tensions, while concise notes and a glossary help modern readers enter its language and setting.
At once practical in design and vast in scope, the Nomocanon opens a window onto medieval Coptic Christian scholarship and its careful ordering of many centuries of received authority.
Generative artificial intelligence was used to prepare translation, supporting text and cover artwork, followed by editorial checking against the source. This accessible edition follows the Berlin manuscript; it is not a reconstructed critical text or a complete collation of all witnesses. It does not replace primary texts, printed editions or surviving manuscripts. Scholars should verify quotations, textual readings and academic conclusions against those sources. Its medieval legal material is presented historically, not as current church or civil law, legal advice or pastoral direction.
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An access edition
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This edition is intended to improve access to the work. Advanced digital tools, including generative AI, were used in its production, with responsibility for the final text and editorial decisions remaining with the editor.
This access edition is intended for general reading, discovery and further exploration. It may also serve as a stepping stone for academic study. Some passages may remain uncertain or benefit from further refinement. Readers undertaking academic research or detailed theological study should consult the original-language sources, relevant manuscripts and specialist scholarship; this edition is not presented as a scholarly translation or critical edition.
Source and edition details: The controlling witness is Berlin, Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin, Diez A quart. 117 (Ahlwardt 10180), folios 1v–422v. Later astronomical notes on folios 423–425 are excluded. The edition follows this witness rather than reconstructing a critical text from all recensions.
For corrections, please give the edition or version printed in your copy, or state that it is not identified.
We welcome suggested corrections, alternative readings and supporting evidence. Accepted changes are published in a dated record and incorporated into subsequent editions, with acknowledgement by permission.