The BA Digitizes Manuscripts of St. Catherine’s Monastery
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Alexandria—
The BA Manuscripts Center completed the digitization of some of the Arabic manuscripts of St. Catherine’s Monastery, as part of Digital Manuscript Library Project, adopted by the Center to make rare manuscripts accessible to researchers and public users on a wide scale and in a better format.
Dr. Youssef Zeidan, Director of the Manuscript Center and Museum, stated that the digital collection of St. Catherine Monastery Manuscripts is the fifth collection issued by the Center, preceded by four digital collections, namely: Alexandria Municipal Library's manuscripts, some of the rarities of the Islamic heritage collection in the mosque of al-‘Ārif bi-Allāh Abūl-‘Abbās al-Mursī, the codices held by Uppsala University Library, Sweden, and the manuscripts of the Religious Institute of Smūha. He added that these collections are valuable to those specialized in heritage and manuscripts as they enable researchers to review and study rarities of manuscripts that were not accessible to them before.
He added that according to the spiritual nature of the Monastery of St. Catherine, the Monastery’s Library includes Christian religious texts, of which seven rare manuscripts were selected for the fifth collection of the Digital Manuscript Library.
The seven manuscripts are namely: Four Gospels (al-Anājīl al-Arab‘a); Lectionary (Gospels) Qirā’āt min al-Anājīl; Lectionary of Gospels with Commentary (Qirā’āt al-Āhād wa Tafsīrahā); St. John Climax’s Mimars (Sullam al-Fadā’il); Sayings of St. Stomathalassa (Mayāmir Istumathalāsā); The Story of St. Stephen of the Monastery of St. Saba: Sirat al-Qidīs Istifānūs al-Sā’ih; and Monastic Teachings of St. Basil the Great (Mayāmir Basīlīūs al-Kabīr).