I agree that it's most fitting for the forum when a document or a question about it relates to the Coptic Church, as Dzheremi mentioned. I appreciate his and others conversations with me about these early writings here. One of the main questions that I have had when researching this document was about scholars' discussions on the commemoration of Isaac in the Coptic Church, so I'd like to ask about it below.
The main versions of The Testament of Isaac are in the Sahidic and Bohairic dialects of Coptic, although there are also Ethiopic and Arabic versions. M.Delcor suggests that it is early because of its affinity to the Dead Sea Scrolls and to the Testament of Abraham, whereas P.Nagel thinks that it dates to 400 AD. The Testaments of Abraham and Isaac are two early writings that narrate these three ancient Patriarchs' conversations with angels before their repose.
The Testament of Isaac is online here: https://ia902701.us.archive.org/16/items/TheTestamentOfIsaac/TheTestamentOfIsaac.pdf
(Question 1) Does the Coptic Church's commemoration of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob have special features or is it distinct from their commemoration in other Churches?
W. F. Stinespring writes in The Old Testament Pseudepigrapha (vol. 1, p. 904):
John Fadden connects T.Isaac to different aspects of Coptic Christian Tradition in his doctoral dissertation, "'Our Father Isaac': Reading the Sahidic Testamentof Isaac in an Egyptian Monastic Context". He writes:
I believe that the "sacrifices of the Christians" refers to the Eucharistic sacrifices, since it talks about Christ and the Eucharist right before discussing those sacirifices:
Fadden continues:
(Question 2) How do you understand Abraham's "offering" or "sacrifice" of Isaac in the Testament of Isaac and in Coptic or other Orthodox Church references to it? These references are confusing for me.
Chapter 13 of the Testament of Isaac says:
The entry for the commemoration of Isaac on 28 Masra in the Coptic Synaxarium (Coptic Orthodox Calendar) says:
I can see that Abraham intended to fulfill God's orders to sacrifice Isaac. But God intervened so that this intention was not successful. I don't know if one can rationally speak of unaccomplished actions being accomplished by intention but not in reality. Are there examples of this concept in common speech or literature that I am missing? I don't mean to pick on the Coptic Church here - maybe it talks this way in the Bible or in other Orthodox writings?
The main versions of The Testament of Isaac are in the Sahidic and Bohairic dialects of Coptic, although there are also Ethiopic and Arabic versions. M.Delcor suggests that it is early because of its affinity to the Dead Sea Scrolls and to the Testament of Abraham, whereas P.Nagel thinks that it dates to 400 AD. The Testaments of Abraham and Isaac are two early writings that narrate these three ancient Patriarchs' conversations with angels before their repose.
The Testament of Isaac is online here: https://ia902701.us.archive.org/16/items/TheTestamentOfIsaac/TheTestamentOfIsaac.pdf
(Question 1) Does the Coptic Church's commemoration of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob have special features or is it distinct from their commemoration in other Churches?
W. F. Stinespring writes in The Old Testament Pseudepigrapha (vol. 1, p. 904):
When I read this sentence, I took the writer as saying that the Coptic Church and its Tradition have a special commemoration for Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and that their Testaments emphasize stories of their repose that are part of this commemoration. But maybe I read this incorrectly and he only meant that the Testaments emphasize the repose of the two Patriarchs, who are commemorated in the Coptic Church.There are pronounced Christian elements in the Testament of Isaac as it now stands, and in its present form it has the function of emphasizing the state of the deaths of Abraham and Isaac as commemorated in the Coptic Church. Thus it would be possible to see the work as springing from the Coptic Christian Church.
John Fadden connects T.Isaac to different aspects of Coptic Christian Tradition in his doctoral dissertation, "'Our Father Isaac': Reading the Sahidic Testamentof Isaac in an Egyptian Monastic Context". He writes:
Fadden has this to say about the connection between Isaac's Testament and his commemoration in the Church:In Apostolic Constitutions vi. 16, the author identifies a list of apocryphal books of Moses, Enoch, Adam, Isaiah, David, Elijah, and of the three patriarchs. The reference to the three patriarchs may refer to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.73 Scholars who treat thisas a reference note that in the non-Sahidic versions of T. Isaac, scribes often placed it in a collection with T. Ab.and Testament of Jacob (T. Jac.) called the Testaments of the Three Patriarchs(T. 3 Patr.). T. 3 Patr. is the only collection of books of Abraham,Isaac, and Jacob that is known from antiquity.
T. Isaac has a clear notion of monk ( MONAXOC ) as an identity. Monasticism emerges in the third and fourth century C . E .
digitalcommons.du.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1970&context=etd
The Lord mentions the day of Isaac’s commemoration three times in the conversation between the Lord and Abraham (T. Isaac 6.8, 12, 15). In the epilogue, the narrator makes reference to the day of the patriarchs’ commemoration ( T. Isaac 8.6). These brief mentions reflect an awareness of a day of commemoration for Isaac that people are observing. The Coptic Church has a long history of celebrating the three patriarchs – Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob – as a group on the 28th of Mesore (August 21). ... The feast is the result of local practice before it became a part of an orthodox calendar. In Upper Egypt, the celebration of martyrs and biblical figures is already active in the fourth century.
...
Elsewhere in T. Isaac, Isaac discusses earthly and heavenly worship with Jacob... Prophesying the period after Christ’s death and resurrection and the end of time, Isaac says:
...
- And the sacrifices of the Christians will not cease until the completion of the age, whether in secret or in open. And the Antichrist will not appear as long as they offer sacrifice. Blessed is every person who does this service and believes in it, since the archetype is done in the heavens, and they will celebrate with the Son of God in his kingdom. (T. Isaac 3.18-20)
The specifics of Christian sacrifices are not stated at this point [i.e. at the part cited above]; later, however, in T. Isaac 6, Isaac reports various sacrifices the Lord endorses to commemorate Isaac’s day... The types of sacrifices endorsed elsewhere in T. Isaac [I think Fadden means eg. works of mercy] are found elsewhere in early Christian monastic writings.[170]
FOOTNOTE 170
David Frankfurter has argued persuasively that the category of sacrifice is not meaningful in ancient Egyptian religion if sacrifice is narrowly conceived as related to animal slaughter. Thus, when considering how the textual community would have understood the Greek-loan word θυσια, it would not primarily be understood as animal sacrifice. D. Frankfurter. "Egyptian Religion and the Problem of theCategory "Sacrifice"," in Ancient Mediterranean Sacrifice (eds. Knust and Várhelyi; Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2011), 75-93.
I believe that the "sacrifices of the Christians" refers to the Eucharistic sacrifices, since it talks about Christ and the Eucharist right before discussing those sacirifices:
On the other hand, it later gives instructions on Old Testament sacrifices, so when it says that people who identify with Isaac (apparently referring to the Christians as the spiritual sons of Abraham and Isaac) should make sacrifices for him, it sounds like they are talking about the Old Testament type of animal sacrifices, although I suppose it could refer to donations or other non-bloody offerings. Here in Chapter 6, Isaac says:At the end of all this, he will choose twelve men and reveal to them his mysteries and teach them about the archetype of his body and his true blood by means of bread and wine: and the bread will become the body of God and the wine will become the blood of God. ... The generations to come will be saved by his body and by his blood until the end of time. The sacrifices of Christians will not cease until the end of time, whether offered secretly or openly; and the Antichrist will not appear so long as they offer up their sacrifice.
(T. Isaac, Chp. 4)
And then in Chapter 10,My sons and brothers... Do not offer a sacrifice with a blemish in it; and wash yourself with water when you approach the altar. ... When you stand before God and offer your sacrifice. when you come to offer it on the altar, you should recite privately a hundred prayers to God and make this confession to God saying: ‘Oh God, the incomprehensible, the unfathomable... [etc.]'
The Lord said to Abraham, ‘As for all those who are given the name of my beloved Isaac, let each one of them copy out his testament and honour it, and feed a poor man with bread in the name of my beloved Isaac on the day of his holy commemoration; to you will I grant them as sons in my kingdom’. ... But the most essential thing of all is that he should offer a sacrifice in my beloved Isaac's name, For his body was offered as a sacrifice.'Yet not only will I give you everyone called by my beloved Isaac's name as a son in my Kingdom; I will give you also everyone who does one of the things I have mentioned.
Fadden continues:
The epilogue is also concerned with the inheritors of the kingdom and practice (T. Isaac 8.5-8)... The emphasis is on performing acts of mercy in the name of Abraham and Isaac on the day of their commemoration. Those that do so will become the children of the patriarchs in the kingdom of heaven. ... After additional acts are suggested, the Lord endorses reading Isaac’s testament or listening to another person read his testament: “let him seek out a copy of his testament and read it on my beloved Isaac’s day. If he cannot read it, let him go and listen to others who can” (T. Isaac 6.15).
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The reading of T. Isaac as part of a yearly commemoration suggests that reading could be an act of devotion in the liturgical setting, in a communal setting.(431)
Footnote 431
In Coptic, it is more common for public reading from a physical book, such as when the lector read inchurch was denoted by the verb ωϣ [pronounced like "Osh" in English phonetics]
(Question 2) How do you understand Abraham's "offering" or "sacrifice" of Isaac in the Testament of Isaac and in Coptic or other Orthodox Church references to it? These references are confusing for me.
Chapter 13 of the Testament of Isaac says:
I have trouble understanding what "Isaac's sacrifice" was. I could take this passage to mean that Abraham "offered" Isaac in the sense that he presented, submitted, and tendered Isaac to God as a sacrifice, and that the smell of Isaac went up to God. Interesting issue though in that wind/breeze in Hebrew and Greek also means spirit (pneuma), and that in Russian perfume and spirit are overlapping words (dukh = spirit & wind; dukhi = spirits, winds, perfume). In the liturgy, we ask that our prayer rises like incense. So the rising of isaac's smell could resemble the concept of Isaac's spirit rising to God.This is the going forth from the body of our father Isaac, the patriarch, on the twenty-fourth of the month Mesore. And the day on which his father Abraham offered him as a sacrifice is the eighteenth of Mechir.(12 February) The heavens and the earth were full of the soothing odour of our father Isaac, like choice silver: this is the sacrifice of our father Isaac the patriarch. When Abraham offered him as a sacrifice to God, the soothing odour of Isaac's sacrifice went up into the heavens.
The entry for the commemoration of Isaac on 28 Masra in the Coptic Synaxarium (Coptic Orthodox Calendar) says:
What do you think about this?As it was considered that Abraham had fulfilled the sacrifice of his son by intention, it was also considered that Isaac was sacrificed by intention.
The Commemoration of the Patriarchs: Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob - 28 Misra - Masra Month - Coptic Synaxarium | St-Takla.org
I can see that Abraham intended to fulfill God's orders to sacrifice Isaac. But God intervened so that this intention was not successful. I don't know if one can rationally speak of unaccomplished actions being accomplished by intention but not in reality. Are there examples of this concept in common speech or literature that I am missing? I don't mean to pick on the Coptic Church here - maybe it talks this way in the Bible or in other Orthodox writings?