Fr. Arsenius (formerly: Ramez) Mikhail

Kurzbiografie

Education:

Bachelor of Arts, Classical Studies: University of California, Riverside – 2007
Master of Library and Information Science (MLIS): San José State University – 2010
Master of Arts in Applied Orthodox Theology (MA): University of Balamand, Lebanon – 2015
- Thesis Topic: The Presanctified Liturgy in the Alexandrian Tradition
Doctor of Philosophy in Advanced Theological Studies (PhD), summa cum laude: University of Vienna - Faculty of Catholic Theology; Liturgical Studies & Sacramental Theology – 2017

Awards:

Center for Advanced Studies “Beyond Canon”, University of Regensburg Research Fellowship: September–October 2021.
Gesellschaft zum Studium des christlichen Ostens (GSCO) Dissertation prize 2019.
William M. Calder III Fellowship for the research project: The Ritual Celebration of Scripture from Late Antique to Medieval Egypt in the academic year 2018–19, renewed for 2020.
Alexander von Humboldt Foundation Fellowship for Postdoctoral Researchers (2018–2021).
Volkswagen Foundation/Andrew W. Mellon Foundation Postdoctoral Fellowship in the Humanities (2018) – declined.
Yale Institute of Sacred Music Postdoctoral Fellowship (2017-2018).
Doctoral Dissertation Prize – Faculty of Catholic Theology, University of Vienna (2017).
The St. Shenouda the Archimandrite Coptic Society Academic Scholarship (2016–2017).
The St. Shenouda the Archimandrite Coptic Society Academic Scholarship (2015–2016).

Appointments:

2017–Present: Chair of Liturgical Studies, St. Athanasius & St. Cyril Coptic Orthodox Theological School, Anaheim, CA.
2020–Present: Area Editor (Liturgy) for the online Claremont Coptic Encyclopedia.
2018–2021: Postdoctoral Fellow of the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation, University of Regensburg, Germany.
2017–2021: Lecturer in Liturgical History, St. Athanasius College/University of Divinity, Melbourne, Australia.
2017–2018: Postdoctoral Associate, Yale Institute of Sacred Music. Winter 2017: Part Time Professor, St. Paul University, Ontario, Canada.
2017–2018: Lecturer in Liturgical Theology, Holy Transfiguration College, MTS Program.
2016–2018: Lecturer in Liturgical Theology, Antiochian House of Studies, MTh Program.
2013–2018: Coptic Chant and Liturgics Instructor at the Antiochian House of Studies Residency Program (Antiochian Village. Bolivar, PA).

Research projects:

2020–2021: Analecta Hymnica Coptica: Bohairic Hymns for the Liturgical Year from Medieval Chant Manuscripts
2019–Present: An Inventory and Typology of Bohairic Euchologia
2018–Present: The Ritual Celebration of Scripture from Late Antique to Medieval Egypt (Research funded by the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation).
2017–Present: Cataloguing of liturgical manuscripts, part of the project to catalogue the Arabic and Coptic manuscripts of the Monastery of the Virgin Mary al-Suryān (Wādī al-Naṭrūn, Egypt). Project director: Stephen J. Davis (Yale University)

Professional organizations:

Society of Oriental Liturgy (SOL).
International Association of Coptic Studies (IACS).
St. Shenouda the Archimandrite Coptic Society.

Languages:

Modern Languages:
Spoken fluency: English, Arabic, Modern Greek, German.
Academic reading fluency: French.
Ancient Languages:
Classical Arabic, Ancient Greek (Attic, Koine, and Byzantine), Coptic (Sahidic and
Bohairic dialects), Classical Syriac.

Kurzbibliografie

Books:

Analecta Hymnica Coptica: Bohairic Hymns for the Liturgial Year from Medieval Chant Manuscripts. Forthcoming in CSCO, Scriptores coptici.
The Ritual Celebration of Scripture from Late Antique to Medieval Egypt. In preparation.
For us and for our Salvation: Reflections and Readings on Holy Week in the Coptic Tradition (Anaheim, CA: ACTS Press), forthcoming 2022.
Guides to the Eucharist in Medieval Egypt: Three Arabic Commentaries on the Coptic Liturgy (New York: Fordham University Press, 2022).
The Presentation of the Lamb: The Prothesis and Preparatory Rites of the Coptic Liturgy, Studies in Eastern Christian Liturgies 2 (Münster: Aschendorff, 2020).
The Birth from On High: Theological Reflections on Baptism from the Monastery of St Macarius. (Springfield, VA: St Cyril of Alexandria Society Press, 2015).
St. Cyril of Alexandria’s Christological Dialogue on the Incarnation. (Springfield, VA: St Cyril of Alexandria Society Press, 2014), co-author.

Peer-reviewed articles:

With Ágnes T. Mihálykó, “A Prayer for the Preparation of the Priest and the First Prayer of the Morning in Sahidic Coptic (P.Ilves Copt. 8),” Orientalia Christiana Periodica 87 (2021): 353–370.
“Stichic Hymnography Beyond Byzantium: Coptic Kata Stichon Hymn Genres,” forthcoming.
“Coptic Orthodox Church Music in the West,” forthcoming in The Oxford Handbook of Music and Christian Theology, edited by Martin Clarke and Alexander Lingas.
“‘And They Shall Stand Bareheaded’: On the Historical Development of Liturgical Head-Covering in the Coptic Rite,” in Proceedings of the Eleventh International Congress of Coptic Studies, Claremont, California, July 25th–30th, 2016, ed. Hany N. Takla, et al, Orientalia Lovaniensia Analecta (Leuven: Peeters). Forthcoming.
“‘We will Enter into His Dwelling Place’: Reconstructing the History of the Chants at the Transfer of the Gifts in Egypt,” in Let us be Attentive! Proceedings of the Seventh International Congress of the Society of Oriental Liturgy Prešov (Slovakia), 9–14 July 2018, ed. Martin Lüstraeten, Brian Butcher, and Steven Hawkes-Teeples, Studies in Eastern Christian Liturgies 1 (Münster: Aschendorff, 2020), 173–187.
“Chancen und Herausforderungen für die Ökumene: Einige Bemerkungen aus der koptischen liturgischen Tradition,” Ostkirchliche Studien 68 (2019): 307–326.
“Prostrating, Processing, and Burying: The Human Body and its Participation in the Coptic Tradition for Great Friday,” in Le corps humain dans la liturgie: 65e Semaine d’études liturgiques, Paris, Institut Saint-Serge, 2–5 juillet 2018, ed. André Lossky, Goran Sekulovski, and Thomas Pott, Studia Oecumenica Friburgensia 90 (Münster: Aschendorff, 2019), 179–191.
“The Liturgy Coram Patriarcha Revisited: The Prothesis of the Coptic Patriarchal Liturgy in Sources of the 15th–16th Centuries,” Le Muséon 131, no. 3–4 (2018): 279–312.
“Einige Bemerkungen aus der koptischen liturgischen Tradition im ökumenischen Kontext,” in Liturgie als Chance und Herausforderung für die Ökumene: Beiträge der Liturgiewissenschaft zur Einheit der Kirche, ed. Regina Augustin, et al. Pro Oriente 41 (Innsbruck: Tyrolia Verlag, 2018), 99–104.
“Towards a History of Liturgical Vestments in the Coptic Rite: II-Bishops and Patriarchs,” Coptica 16 (2017): 55–66.
“A Magical Cure for Rabies: The Coptic Liturgical Service in Honor of Abū Tarbū,” in Ritualia Orientalia Mixta: Reflexionen über Rituale in der Religionsgeschichte des Orients und angrenzender Gebiete, ed. Predrag Bukovec and Vedrana Tadić, Religionen im Vorderen Orient 4 (Hamburg: Verlag Dr. Kovač, 2017), 267–289.
“Towards a History of Liturgical Vestments in the Coptic Rite: I- Minor Orders, Deacons, and Presbyters,” Coptica 15 (2016): 55–70.
“The Coptic Church and the Presanctified Liturgy: The Story of a Rejected Tradition,” The Alexandria School Journal 3 (2016): 2–30.
“The Presanctified Liturgy of the Apostle Mark in Sinai Ar. 237: Text and Commentary,” Bollettino della Badia Greca di Grottaferrata III s.12 (2015): 163–214.
“Aspects of Witness in the Coptic Liturgical Tradition,” The Alexandria School Journal 1 (2014): 1–26.
“On Evening Worship in Egypt: A Theological Evaluation of Contemporary Practice in Light of Patristic and Medieval Sources,” Coptica 12 (2013): 77–94.

Encyclopedia entries:

“Biography, the Rite of the Reading of,” Claremont Coptic Encyclopedia (URL: ccdl.claremont.edu/digital/collection/cce/id/2167).
“Bohem and Parallax,” Claremont Coptic Encyclopedia (URL: ccdl.claremont.edu/digital/collection/cce/id/2166).

Non-peer-reviewed articles:

“Diversity in Adversity: Reflections of a Liturgical Historian on Coptic Liturgy in the Time of the 2020 COVID-19 Pandemic,” in Gottesdienst auf eigene Gefahr? Die Feier der Liturgie in der Zeit von Covid-19, ed. Hans-Jürgen Feulner and Elias Haslwanter (Münster: Aschendorff, 2020), 759–767.
“History of the Communion Ritual in the Eastern and Coptic Traditions,” [Arabic and English] Watani Newspaper, 5 July 2020 [URL: en.wataninet.com/coptic-affairscoptic-affairs/coptic-affairs/history-of-the-communion-ritual-in-the-eastern-and-coptictraditions/33131/].

Book reviewes:

La liturgie de S. Marc dans le Sinaï arabe 237: Édition et traduction annotée avec un état de la question par Heinzgerd Brakmann, by Ugo Zanetti, forthcoming in Theologische Revue.
The Making of the Medieval Middle East: Religion, Society, and Simple Believers, by Jack Tannous, Journal of Orthodox Christian Studies 2, no. 2 (2019): 232–234.
Al-Difnār: Al-antīfūnāryūn al-ṣa‘īḍī ‘an makhṭūṭ mūrgān M575 [The Difnār: The Upper Egyptian Antiphonarion based on the manuscript Morgan M575], edited by Bishop Makārī, Kārās al-Baramūsī, and Michael Ḥilmī Rāghib, Coptica 17 (2018): 89–92.
Orthodox Christianity: The Worship and Liturgical Life of the Orthodox Church, by Hilarion Alfeyev, Journal of Orthodox Christian Studies 1, no. 1 (2018): 124–126.

Lectures & Presentations:

2021: “The Arabic Version of JAS in Sinai Ar. 237,” The Liturgy of St. James—Online ”Trailer Meeting”, 27 May, 2021.
2020: “Clerical Boundaries in the Coptic Incense Ritual,” 21st St. Shenouda Conference of Coptic Studies.
2020: “The Byzantine Liturgy of Peter the Apostle: Arabic Text in Sinai Ar. 237,” Center for Advanced Studies, Beyond the Canon, Regensburg, Germany.
2019: “The Lectionary as a Reflection of Coptic Society in the Middle Ages,” St. Macarius Monastery, Wādī al-Naṭrūn, Egypt.
2019: “Elements of the Byzantine Horologion in the Coptic Liturgy of the Hours?” International Workshop: The History of the Byzantine Liturgy of the Hours and the Horologion, Regensburg, Germany.
2019: “A Celebration of Scripture: Towards a History of the Coptic Liturgy of the Word,” St Athanasius College, Melbourne, Australia.
2018: “‘We will Enter into His Dwelling Place’: Reconstructing the History of the Chants at the Transfer of the Gifts in Egypt,” The Seventh International Congress of the Society of Oriental Liturgy, Prešov, Slovakia.
2018: “Prostrating, Processing, and Burying: The Human Body and its Participation in the Coptic Tradition for Great Friday,” La 65e Semaine d’études liturgiques Saint-Serge, Paris, France.
2018: “Remarks on the Decline of the Diaconate: The Case of the Coptic Prothesis,” North American Academy of Liturgy Annual Conference, Vancouver, British Columbia.
2017: “The Coptic Calendar and Liturgical Year,” Course: The Liturgical Year, Prof. Stefanos Alexopoulos, Catholic University of America, Washington DC. Guest Lecturer.
2017: “The Preparation and Presentation of the Gifts in Egypt: Reflections and Prospects,” Liturgy Symposium Series. Yale Institute of Sacred Music, New Haven, Connecticut.
2017: “A Present Absence: The Curious Role of the Patriarch in the Prothesis Rite of the Coptic Liturgy in the 15th-16th Centuries,” 18th St. Shenouda-UCLA Conference of Coptic Studies. University of California, Los Angeles.
2017: “Einige Bemerkungen aus der koptischen liturgischen Tradition im ökumenischen Kontext,” Liturgie als Chance und Herausforderung für die Ökumene, Linz, Austria.
2016: “And They Shall Stand Bare-Headed: The Historical Development of Liturgical Headgear in the Coptic Rite,” International Association for Coptic Studies (IACS), 11th International Congress of Coptic Studies, Claremont Graduate University, California.
2015: “The Presanctified Liturgy of St. Mark according to a Sinai Arabic Manuscript,” The 17th St. Shenouda-UCLA Conference of Coptic Studies. University of California, Los Angeles.
2013: “On Evening Worship in Egypt: A Theological Evaluation of Contemporary Practice in Light of Patristic and Medieval Sources,” The 15th St. Shenouda-UCLA Conference of Coptic Studies. University of California, Los Angeles.
2013: “On Evening Worship in Egypt: A Theological Evaluation of Contemporary Practice in Light of Patristic and Medieval Sources,” The Ninth Annual Archbishop Iakovos Graduate Students Conference in Patristic Studies. Holy Cross Greek Orthodox School of Theology, Brookline, MA.