John of Nikiû

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John of Nikiû was an Egyptian Coptic bishop of Nikiû/Pashati in the Egyptian Delta and appointed general administrator of the monasteries of Upper Egypt in 696. He was author of a Chronicle extending from Adam to the end of the Muslim conquest of Egypt which contains important historical details otherwise unknown.

According to the History of the Patriarchs by Severus, Bishop of Al-Ashmunyn (Heliopolis), John of Nikiû lived under the Patriarchs John of Semnûd, Isaac, and Simeon. But when John disciplined a monk guilty of some moral offence so severely that the monk died ten days later, the Patriarch Simeon removed John from his office.

John of Nikiû's Chronicle was originally written mostly in Greek except possibly some of the chapters concerning Egypt which may have been written in Coptic to judge from the forms of the names. The work only survives in an Ethopian translation made in 1602 of an Arabic translation of the original. The text is in parts obviously corrupted with unfortunate accidental omissions. Most notably, a passage covering 30 years from 610 to 640 are missing.

[edit] Bibliography

• "La Chronique de Jean de Nikioû", ed. and translated into French by H. Zotenberg in Notices et Extraits des manuscrits de la Bibliothèque Nationale, t. XXIV, I, pp. 125–605 (Paris, 1883) and also separately (Paris, 1883). (Online version in Gallica website at the "Bibliothèque National Française")

[edit] External links

• The Chronicle of John, Bishop of Nikiu, trans. by R. H. Charles (The Text and Translation Society, Oxford University Press, 1916)
  • Tertullian.org: Introduction and English translation.
  • Early Christian Writings: Introduction and English translation.
• Catholic Encyclopedia: John of Nikiû