İskenderiyeli Papa 1. Benyamin (ö.662)
İskenderiye'nin 38. Papasıdır. Batı
Deltası'ndaki Beheirah ilindeki bir köy olan Barshut'ta yaklaşık 590'da
doğmuştur. Benjamin, Kıpti kilisesinin en büyük patriklerinden biridir. Pers
istilasının (619-629) ve 641'deki Müslüman Arapların Mısır Fethi'ni yaşamıştır.
Kiliseyi bu çalkantılı ve karışık zamanlardan geçerek İslam'ın yükselen gücü
ile yan yana yeni bir başlangıcı yönlendirmeyi başarmıştır.
Amr ibn el-As ile yüz yüze görüştüğü tarihçiler tarafından aktarılmıştır. Severus[1] ve Dionysius I Telmaharoyo[2] hayatı hakkında yazmışlardır
Alfred J. Butler (1903). The Arab
Conquest of Egypt and the Last Thirty Years under Roman Dominion (PDF)
Oxford Üniversitesi Yayınları. s. 184; Aziz Suryal Atiya, “The Coptic
Encyclopedia”. New York: Macmillan Publishing Company, 1991; Heinzgerd
Brakmann “Zum Pariser Fragment angeblich des koptischen Patriarchen Agathon.
Ein neues Blatt der Vita Benjamin I.” Le Muséon 93 (1980):299-309);
René-Georges Coquin “Livre de la consécration du sanctuaire de Benjamin”,
Bibliothèque d’Etudes Coptes 13. Cairo, 1975; Girgis Daoud Girgis, “Abba
Benjamin the Coptic Patriarch in the 7th Century.” In Nubia et Oriens
Christianus, cf. 1988-90, 300; Caspar Detlef Gustav Müller zum 60.
Geburtstag, ed. P. O. Scholz and R. Stempel. Tübingen, 1987; Caspar
Detlef Gustav, “Benjamin I, 38. Patriarch von Alexandrien.” Le Muséon 69
(1956), 313-40; Caspar Detlef Gustav, “Neues über Benjamin I, 38.
Patriarchen von Alexandrien.” Le Museon 72 (1959):323-47; Caspar Detlef
Gustav, “Die Homilie über die Hochzeit zu Kana und weitere Schriften des
Patriarchen Benjamin I von Alexandrien” Abhandlungen der Heidelberger
Akademie der Wissenschaften, Philosophisch-historische Klasse. Heidelberg,
1968; Caspar Detlef Gustav, “Der Stand der Forschungen uber Benjamin I, den
38. Patriarchen von Alexandrien.” Zeitschrift der deutschen morgenlândischen
Gesellschaft, Supplement I 2 (1969):404-10; Caspar Detlef Gustav, “Grundzüge
des christlich-islamischen Ägypten”, Vol. 11. Darmstadt, 1969; Hermann
Zotenberg, “Mémoire sur la chronique byzantine de Jean, évêque de Nikiou V.”
Journal Asiatique, ser. 7, no. 13 (1879):348-86.
“And in those days Heraclius saw a dream in
which it was said to him : «Verily there shall come against thee a circumcised
nation, and they shall vanquish thee and take possession of the land». So
Heraclius thought that they would be the Jews, and accordingly gave orders that
all the Jews and Samaritans should be baptized in all the provinces which were
under his dominion. But after a few days there appeared a man of the Arabs,
from the southern districts, that is to say, from Mecca or its neighbourhood,
whose name was Muhammad; and he brought back the worshippers of idols to the
knowledge of the One God, and bade them declare that Muhammad was his apostle;
and his nation were circumcised in the flesh, not by the law, and prayed
towards the South, turning towards a place which they called the Kaabah. And he
took possession of Damascus and Syria, and crossed the Jordan, and dammed it
up. And the Lord abandoned the army of the Romans before him, as a punishment
for their corrupt faith, and because of the anathemas uttered against them, on
account of the council of Chalcedon, by the ancient fathers.
When Heraclius saw this, he assembled all
his troops from Egypt as far as the frontiers of Aswan. And he continued for
three years to pay to the Muslims the taxes which he had demanded for the
purpose of applying them to himself and all his troops; and they used to call
the tax the bakt, that is to say that it was a sum levied at so much a head.
And this went on until Heraclius had paid to the Muslims the greater part of
his money; and many people died through the troubles which they had endured.
So when ten years were over of the rule of
Heraclius together with the Colchian, who sought for the patriarch Benjamin,
while he was fleeing from him from place to place, hiding himself in the
fortified churches, the prince of the Muslims sent an army to Egypt, under one
of his trusty companions, named Amr son of Al-Asi, in the year 357 of
Diocletian, the slayer of the martyrs. And this army of Islam came down into
Egypt in great force, on the twelfth day of Baunah, which is the sixth of June,
according to the months of the Romans.
Now the commander Amr had destroyed the
fort, and burnt the boats with fire, and defeated the Romans, and taken
possession of part of the country. For he had first arrived by the desert; and
the horsemen took the road through the mountains, until they arrived at a
fortress built of stone, between Upper Egypt and the Delta, called Babylon. So
they pitched their |494 tents there, until they were prepared to fight the Romans,
and make war against them; and afterwards they named that place, I mean the
fortress, in their language, Bâblun Al-Fustât; and that is its name to the
present day.
After fighting three battles with the
Romans, the Muslims conquered them. So when the chief men of the city saw these
things, they went to Amr, and received a certificate of security for the city,
that it might not be plundered. This kind of treaty which Muhammad, the chief
of the Arabs, taught them, they called the Law; and he says with regard to it :
«As for the province of Egypt and any city that agrees with its inhabitants to
pay the land-tax to you, and to submit to your authority, make a treaty with
them, and do them no injury. But plunder and take as prisoners those that will
not consent to this and resist you». For this reason the Muslims kept their
hands off the province and its inhabitants, but destroyed the nation of the
Romans, and their general who was named Marianus. And those of the Romans who
escaped fled to Alexandria, and shut its gates upon the Arabs, and fortified
themselves within the city.
And in the year 360 of Diocletian, in the
month of December, three years after Amr had taken possession of Memphis, the
Muslims captured the city of Alexandria, and destroyed its walls, and burnt
many churches with fire. And they burnt the church of Saint Mark, which was
built by the sea, where his body was laid; and this was the place to which the
father and |495 patriarch, Peter the Martyr, went before his martyrdom, and
blessed Saint Mark, and committed to him his reasonable flock, as he had
received it. So they burnt this place and the monasteries around it.
And at the burning of the said church a
miracle took place which the Lord performed; and that was that one of the
captains of the ships, namely the captain of the ship of the duke Sanutius,
climbed over the wall and descended into the church, and came to the shrine,
where he found that the coverings had been taken, for the plunderers thought
that there was money in the chest. But when they found nothing there, they took
away the covering from the body of the holy Saint Mark, but his bones were left
in their place. So the captain of the ship put his hand into the shrine, and
there he found the head of the holy Mark, which he took. Then he returned to
his ship secretly, and told no one of it, and hid the head in the hold, among
his baggage.
When Amr took full possession of the city
of Alexandria, and settled its affairs, that infidel, the governor of
Alexandria, feared, he being both prefect and patriarch of the city under the
Romans, that Amr would kill him; therefore he sucked a poisoned signet-ring,
and died on the spot. But Sanutius, the believing duke, made known to Amr the
circumstances of that militant father, the patriarch Benjamin, and how he was a
fugitive from the Romans, through fear of them. Then Amr, son of Al-Asi, wrote
to the provinces of Egypt a letter, in which he said : «There is protection and
security for the place where Benjamin, the patriarch of the Coptic Christians
is, and peace from God; therefore let him come forth secure and tranquil, and
administer the affairs of his Church, and the government of his nation».
Therefore when the holy Benjamin heard this, he returned to Alexandria with
great joy, wearing the crown of patience and sore conflict which had befallen
the orthodox people through their persecution by the heretics, after having
been absent during thirteen years, ten of which were years of Heraclius, the
misbelieving Roman, with the three years before the Muslims conquered
Alexandria. When Benjamin appeared, the people and the whole city rejoiced, and
made his arrival known to Sanutius, the duke who believed in Christ, who had
settled with the commander Amr that the patriarch should return, and had received
a safe-conduct from Amr for him. Thereupon Sanutius went to the commander and
announced that the patriarch had arrived, and Amr gave orders that Benjamin
should be brought before him with honour and veneration and love. And Amr, when
he saw the patriarch, received him with respect, and said to his companions and
private friends : «Verily in all the lands of which we have taken possession
hitherto I have never seen a man of God like this man». For the Father Benjamin
was beautiful of countenance, excellent in speech, discoursing with calmness
and dignity.
Then Amr turned to him, and said to him :
«Resume the government of all thy churches and of thy people, and administer
their affairs. And if thou wilt pray for me, that I may go to the West and to Pentapolis,
and take possession of them, as I have of Egypt, and return to thee in safety
and speedily, I will do for thee all that thou shalt ask of me.» Then the holy
Benjamin prayed for Amr, and pronounced an eloquent discourse, which made Amr
and those present with him marvel, and which contained words of exhortation and
much profit for those that heard him; and he revealed certain matters to Amr,
and departed from his presence honoured and revered. And all that the blessed
father said to the commander Amr, son of Al-Asi, he found true, and not a
letter of it was unfulfilled.
Thus when this spiritual father, Benjamin
the patriarch, sat among his people a second time, by the grace and mercy of
Christ, the whole land of Egypt rejoiced over him; and he drew to himself most
of the people whom Heraclius, the heretical prince, had led astray; for he
induced them to return to the right faith by his gentleness, exhorting them
with courtesy and consolation. And many of those that had fled to the West and
to Pentapolis, through fear of Heraclius, the heretical prince, when they heard
of the reappearance of their shepherd, returned to him with joy, and obtained
the confessor's crown. So likewise the bishops, who had denied their faith, he
invited to return to the orthodox creed; and some of them returned with
abundant tears; but the others would not return through shame before men, that
it should be known among them that they had denied the faith, and so they
remained in their misbelief until they died.
And after that, Amr and his troops marched
away from Alexandria, and the Christ-loving duke Sanutius marched with him. And
on that night the father saw in his dream a man in shining garments, clothed in
the raiment of the disciples, who said to him : «O my beloved, make a place for
me with thee, that I may abide therein this day, for I love thy dwelling.» Now
the place, wherein the patriarch dwelt, was a pure habitation without
defilement, in a monastery called the Monastery of Metras, which was the
episcopal residence. For all the churches and monasteries which belonged to the
virgins and monks had been defiled by Heraclius the heretic, when he forced
them to accept the faith of Chalcedon, except this monastery alone; for the
inmates of it were exceedingly powerful, being Egyptians by race and all of
them natives, without a stranger among them; and therefore he could not incline
their hearts towards him. For this reason, when the Father Benjamin returned
from Upper Egypt, he took up his residence with them, because they had kept the
orthodox faith, and had never deviated from it.
And when the ships, containing the
provisions and booty of the troops, and the baggage of the believing duke
Sanutius and his companions, were about to set sail, his own particular ship remained
motionless, and could not be got under weigh. Therefore a great crowd assembled
near that ship, supposing that it had grounded, and fastened towing-ropes to
it, and pulled at it with all their might; and yet it did not move at all. So
they went to the duke, and made this known to him, for he was sailing with the
commander. Then the duke was greatly astonished; and he anchored the ship in
which the commander Amr was, and returned accompanied by many people, and when
he arrived at the ship, he saw by it an innumerable crowd of men who were
unable to move it. So he said to them : «Turn the prow of this ship to the
city.» And when they turned it round as if to enter the city, it sped towards
it like an arrow. Then the duke said to them : «Draw it outwards,» So they drew
it until it arrived at its former position, and then it stood still and
motionless. Then they turned the ship inwards again, and it sped; and they drew
it outwards again, and it stood still. This happened three times. Then the duke
said to the captain of the ship : «Bring up to me the baggage of the sailors,
that I may search among it, so that I may see what it is, and discover the
cause which has forced this ship to stand still alone of all these ships». Then
the captain who had taken the head of the holy Mark, the evangelist, was
afraid, and threw himself at the feet of the duke, and confessed to him what he
had done, and that the head was hidden among his baggage. So they brought up
his baggage from the hold, and found the head among it.
Then they went in haste and made known to
the Father Benjamin exactly what had taken place. So he mounted his horse at
once, and took with him a body of the clergy, and came to the duke, and related
to him the dream which he had seen that night; and thereupon they all said :
«Truly this is the head of the holy Mark the evangelist». And as soon as the
patriarch Benjamin came to the ship and took the pure head, and so released the
ship, it got under sail at once and departed in a straight course. So he and
the duke and all the people knew the truth of the story, and bore witness to
this miracle, and glorified God.
And the duke gave to the patriarch much
money, and said to him : «Rebuild the church of the holy Mark, and pray to him
for safety for us». And the Father Patriarch returned to the city, carrying the
head in his bosom, and the clergy went before him, with chanting and singing,
as befitted the reception of that sacred and glorious head. And he made a chest
of teak wood with a padlock upon it, and placed the head therein; and he waited
for a time in which he might find means to build a church.
And his care was bestowed night and clay
upon the conversion of those members of the Church who had been separated from
her in the days of Heraclius; and no other business made him neglect that; for
he was filled with faith and the Holy Ghost; and the grace of the Holy Ghost,
which was with Athanasius the Apostolic, was with him in his words and in his
deeds; and, through his agency and through his prayers, the Lord shewed mercy
to his people. By his intercession began the rebuilding of the monasteries of
Wadi Habib and of Al-Munâ; and the good works of the orthodox grew and
increased, and the people rejoiced like young calves, when their halters are
unfastened and they are set free to be nourished by their mothers' milk.
When Amr returned to Egypt, he departed
thence once more to the army of the prince of the Muslims; and a man named Abd
Allah, son of Sa'd, was sent to Egypt instead of him. This man arrived,
accompanied by many people; and, as he was a lover of money, he collected
wealth for himself in Egypt; and he was the first who built the Divan at Misr,
and commanded that all the taxes of the country should be regulated there.
And in the days of Abd Allah, son of Sa'd,
a great dearth took place, the like of which had not been seen from the time of
Claudius the unbeliever up to his time. For all the inhabitants of Upper Egypt
came down to the Delta, in search of provisions; and the dead were cast out
into the streets and market-places, like fish which the water throws up on the
land, because they found none to bury them; and some of the people devoured
human flesh. And if the Lord had not been compassionate, through the multitude
of his mercies and the prayers of our Father Benjamin, the holy one, and
speedily put an end to that dearth, all the inhabitants in the land of Egypt
would have perished; for every day there died of the people countless myriads.
But the Lord accepted the prayers of the patriarch, and had mercy on his
people, and satisfied them with his good things, and sought out his heritage in
his beneficence, as it is written 25 : «The eyes of all look unto thee, hoping
for thee, that thou mayest give them their meat in its season; and when thou
givest it them they live and are satisfied with good things.»”
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