It’s not very easy for non-specialists to find material by modern Coptic authors in Arabic. Yet it does exist, and much of it is even online.
In a series of comments, John Rostom has very kindly let us know about a bunch of links which are simply too useful to be left only as comments. Here is a digest.
Firstly, over 40 books by the late Pope Shenouda III are online in PDF form, in English translation. The URL is http://copticorthodoxy.com/BooksbyPope.aspx, and all the items are downloadable (with the exception of only 2 of the links, i.e. “The Spiritual Man.pdf” and “The Spiritual Means.pdf” which don’t work).
Second, the History of the Patriarchs of the Coptic Church of Alexandria is online in Arabic, compiled and edited by the late Bishop Samuel, Bishop of Shebeen el-Qanter (all published in 1999):
- Part 1: From Saint Mark the Apostle to Pope Yusab (52th Pope)
- Part 2: From Pope Khail II (53rd Pope) to Pope Mikhail II (68th Pope)
- Part 3: From Pope Macarius II (69th Pope) to Pope Cyril IV (112th Pope)
- Part 4: Pope Cyril Ibn Laklak III (75th Pope)
In addition is another book:
This is by the late Father Samuel Tawadros al-Syriani which appears to have been published much earlier (1st ed. 1977), with the 2nd edition being the one presented by the online bookshop (2nd ed. 2002) and revised by Bishop Mattaos, current Bishop and Abbot of Dair al-Sorian (Syrian Monastery). This book covers the History of the Patriarchs from Pope Peter VII (109th Pope) to Pope Cyril VI (116th Pope), thus a bit of an overlap with Bishop Samuel’s books. Why it is called “part 6” is not clear, but that title only applied to the 2nd edition.
Thirdly, the 4th volume (part) of Bishop Samuel’s edition of Abu’l Makarem’s History Of Churches & Monasteries – Part 4 is online here. Together with links by Dioscorus Boles, that gives links to the entire Arabic text. (Can anyone find a copy of the English text that exists somewhere?)
Thank you very much indeed, Mr Rostom – invaluable!