Heritage & Theology
The Precious Jewel of Church Sermons
Fifty-two texts of Coptic preaching for the Church’s feasts, sacraments and seasons, collected and arranged by Habib Girgis.
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About This Book
How did the Coptic Orthodox Church preach the faith through the seasons, feasts, sacraments, and changing circumstances of Christian life?
First printed in Egypt in 1914, The Precious Jewel of Church Sermons brings together fifty-two texts selected and arranged by Saint Archdeacon Habib Girgis under the direction of Pope Cyril V. The collection preserves sermons attributed to the medieval writers al-Ṣafī ibn al-ʿAssāl and Shams al-Riʾāsa Ibn Kabar, pieces transmitted without an individual author in earlier church collections, and a closing pastoral encyclical by Pope Cyril V.
Moving through the feasts of Christ, the Virgin Mary, the apostles, angels, martyrs, and saints, the book also addresses the Sundays of Kiahk and the Holy Fast, Baptism, marriage, ordination, repentance, death, judgement, and the responsibilities of clergy and people. Historical sermons celebrate the reopening of churches and preserve glimpses of Coptic communal life in medieval Egypt.
This English edition aims to retain the devotional force and abundant imagery of the Arabic while adding concise notes for Scripture, historical attributions, unusual readings, and source-specific traditions. Prepared from the 1914 scan and checked against a fuller Bonn-hosted file sharing the same digital page images, it opens an important treasury of Coptic preaching to English readers.
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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.
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