On Cana of Galilee: A Sermon by the Coptic Patriarch Benjamin I: A Revised Expanded Edition

Benjamin I, the 38th Patriarch of Alexandria (626-65 AD), is one of the most prominent figures in Coptic history. He lived through one of the most turbulent periods in Egypt’s history with the Persian Occupation (619-629 AD), ten years of Chalcedonian persecution (630-639 AD), and the early years of Arab rule. Despite his importance, very little is known about his life other than what comes from the History of the Patriarchs. Moreover, few of his writings are extant, with the exception of his Sixteenth Festal Letter (643-4 AD) and his sermon On the Marriage Feast at Cana of Galilee, which C.D.G. Muller called one of the best examples of Coptic homiletics we possess. In this volume, Maged S.A. Mikhail presents an English translation of this consummate Coptic homily based on Muller’s German edition of the Bohairic manuscript with comparisons to de Vis’s French edition, the sole surviving manuscript, a subsequently discovered Sahidic fragment, and the extant Arabic recension.