Fr. Arsenius (formerly: Ramez) Mikhail

Education:

• Bachelor of Arts, Classical Studies: University of California, Riverside – 2007
• Master of Library and Information Science (MLIS): San José State University – 2010
• Master of Arts in Applied Orthodox Theology (MA): University of Balamand, Lebanon – 2015
  • Thesis Topic: The Presanctified Liturgy in the Alexandrian Tradition
• Doctor of Philosophy in Advanced Theological Studies (PhD), summa cum laude: University of Vienna - Faculty of Catholic Theology; Liturgical Studies & Sacramental Theology – 2017

Awards:

• Center for Advanced Studies “Beyond Canon”, University of Regensburg Research Fellowship: September–October 2021.
• Gesellschaft zum Studium des christlichen Ostens (GSCO) Dissertation prize 2019.
• William M. Calder III Fellowship for the research project: The Ritual Celebration of Scripture from Late Antique to Medieval Egypt in the academic year 2018–19, renewed for 2020.
• Alexander von Humboldt Foundation Fellowship for Postdoctoral Researchers (2018–2021).
• Volkswagen Foundation/Andrew W. Mellon Foundation Postdoctoral Fellowship in the Humanities (2018) – declined.
• Yale Institute of Sacred Music Postdoctoral Fellowship (2017-2018).
• Doctoral Dissertation Prize – Faculty of Catholic Theology, University of Vienna (2017).
• The St. Shenouda the Archimandrite Coptic Society Academic Scholarship (2016–2017).
• The St. Shenouda the Archimandrite Coptic Society Academic Scholarship (2015–2016).

Appointments:

• 2017–Present: Chair of Liturgical Studies, St. Athanasius & St. Cyril Coptic Orthodox Theological School, Anaheim, CA.
• 2020–Present: Area Editor (Liturgy) for the online Claremont Coptic Encyclopedia.
• 2018–2021: Postdoctoral Fellow of the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation, University of Regensburg, Germany.
• 2017–2021: Lecturer in Liturgical History, St. Athanasius College/University of Divinity, Melbourne, Australia.
• 2017–2018: Postdoctoral Associate, Yale Institute of Sacred Music. Winter 2017: Part Time Professor, St. Paul University, Ontario, Canada.
• 2017–2018: Lecturer in Liturgical Theology, Holy Transfiguration College, MTS Program.
• 2016–2018: Lecturer in Liturgical Theology, Antiochian House of Studies, MTh Program.
• 2013–2018: Coptic Chant and Liturgics Instructor at the Antiochian House of Studies Residency Program (Antiochian Village. Bolivar, PA).

Research projects:

• 2020–2021: Analecta Hymnica Coptica: Bohairic Hymns for the Liturgical Year from Medieval Chant Manuscripts
• 2019–Present: An Inventory and Typology of Bohairic Euchologia
• 2018–Present: The Ritual Celebration of Scripture from Late Antique to Medieval Egypt (Research funded by the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation).
• 2017–Present: Cataloguing of liturgical manuscripts, part of the project to catalogue the Arabic and Coptic manuscripts of the Monastery of the Virgin Mary al-Suryān (Wādī al-Na?rūn, Egypt). Project director: Stephen J. Davis (Yale University)

Professional organizations:

• Society of Oriental Liturgy (SOL).
• International Association of Coptic Studies (IACS).
• St. Shenouda the Archimandrite Coptic Society.

Languages:

Modern Languages:
Spoken fluency: English, Arabic, Modern Greek, German.
Academic reading fluency: French.
Ancient Languages:
Classical Arabic, Ancient Greek (Attic, Koine, and Byzantine), Coptic (Sahidic and
Bohairic dialects), Classical Syriac.

Books:

• Analecta Hymnica Coptica: Bohairic Hymns for the Liturgial Year from Medieval Chant Manuscripts. Forthcoming in CSCO, Scriptores coptici.
• The Ritual Celebration of Scripture from Late Antique to Medieval Egypt. In preparation.
• For us and for our Salvation: Reflections and Readings on Holy Week in the Coptic Tradition (Anaheim, CA: ACTS Press), forthcoming 2022.
• Guides to the Eucharist in Medieval Egypt: Three Arabic Commentaries on the Coptic Liturgy (New York: Fordham University Press, 2022).
• The Presentation of the Lamb: The Prothesis and Preparatory Rites of the Coptic Liturgy, Studies in Eastern Christian Liturgies 2 (Münster: Aschendorff, 2020).
• The Birth from On High: Theological Reflections on Baptism from the Monastery of St Macarius. (Springfield, VA: St Cyril of Alexandria Society Press, 2015).
• St. Cyril of Alexandria’s Christological Dialogue on the Incarnation. (Springfield, VA: St Cyril of Alexandria Society Press, 2014), co-author.

Peer-reviewed articles:

• With ?gnes T. Mihálykó, “A Prayer for the Preparation of the Priest and the First Prayer of the Morning in Sahidic Coptic (P.Ilves Copt. 8),” Orientalia Christiana Periodica 87 (2021): 353–370.
• “Stichic Hymnography Beyond Byzantium: Coptic Kata Stichon Hymn Genres,” forthcoming.
• “Coptic Orthodox Church Music in the West,” forthcoming in The Oxford Handbook of Music and Christian Theology, edited by Martin Clarke and Alexander Lingas.
• “‘And They Shall Stand Bareheaded’: On the Historical Development of Liturgical Head-Covering in the Coptic Rite,” in Proceedin