This book deals with a very critical epoch in the history of Christian Egypt, namely the time around the Council of Chalcedon that was held in 451 A.D. by the command of the byzantine emperor Marcian.On the Council of Chalcedon the Coptic patriarch Dioscorus (444-454) was disposed and exiled because he refused the dogmatic (Christological) doctrine of this council. In his stead and against the will of the Copts, Emperor Marcian appointed a certain Proterius as the new patriarch of Alexandria. The Copts remained loyal to their disposed patriarch Dioscorus and resisted Proterius who was murdered in 457. The confliction between the two parties - the chalcedonians and antichalcedonians - continued for many centuries and was not without bloodshed on both sides.Among the few works that report on this council is a panegyric on the Coptic bishop Macarius of the city Tkoou in Upper Egypt who accompanied Dioscorus to the Council of Chalcedon. The Panegyric on Macarius was traditionally attributed to the patriarch Dioscorus himself. The Panegyric on Macarius is handed down in Coptic and Arabic. The Coptic versions were mostly published. The Arabic version, in contrast, remained out of consideration.This book presents first of all the historical and dogmatic background of the Panegyric on Macarius and demonstrates the important sources used in this study. After that the research history is summarised and discussed. The core of this study is the edition of the Arabic version of the Panegyric on Macarius with a critical apparatus and a German translation. The whole text is commented in every detail philologically as well as historically. The „Nachleben“ of the Panegyric on Macarius in later Coptic and Arabic literature is discussed in a separate chapter. It demonstrates how important the Panegyric on Macarius was for composing later literature and how this work was widespread in Coptic Egypt. The last part of the book sheds light on the philosophy of writing history by the Copts. It lumps together the most important historical sour-ces in the Coptic and Copto-Arabic literature and tries through a profound study to create a conception of how the Copts dealt with the writing of their own Church History. Furthermore, the collective memory of the Copts is analysed by exploring the available sources. weiterlesen