The Legend of Saint Aur and the Monastery of Naqlun: The Copto-Arabic Texts

This book studies the literary heritage of the Coptic Orthodox monastery

of the Archangel Gabriel at Naqlun in the Fayyum province in Egypt by

focusing on the hagiographical cycle of Saint Aur, the presumed founder

of its church. It presents the edition and translation, with extensive

commentaries, of six previously unedited texts, all preserved in Middle

Arabic. The author argues that the literary tradition around the

monastery of Naqlun evolved in about the eleventh century, a period in

which the monastery experienced a revival. The texts recall the memory

of great saints from the past, among whom Saint Antony, and convey a new

view of the Christian landscape of this region.