The Archangel Michael is a figure venerated within ancient Judaism, Christianity, and early Islam [1]. Michael's distinct background and properties, however, vary according to tradition, region, and period. As others have noticed, within Egypt Michael came to be associated, among other things, with the Nile inundation [2]. This recurring annual flood, which usually took place between June and September, supplied fertilizing silt to arable fields throughout the Nile Valley. Michael is venerated on two particular days as listed in the Coptic Synaxarium: the 12th of Ba’ūna (June 6th) and the 12th of Hatūr (November 8), the former corresponding to the day on which the Nile inundation was thought to begin, the latter marking the day on which the river returned to its normal course [3]. Five Coptic texts from the 6th to 12th centuries (CE) clearly associate the Archangel Michael with the Nile’s rise [4]. Such texts either praise the Archangel for causing “the flood of the river and the dew of heaven and the growth of the crops” or record prayers entreating Michael to pray “to the Lord… that He may bring up the water in the river” [5]. These texts, mostly encomia, would have been regularly recited and heard on the two (aforementioned) synaxarial days commemorating the Archangel in pre-modern Egypt. While many have acknowledged Michael’s association with the Nile inundation in discussions of Christianization and religious continuity in pre-modern Egypt (i.e., Lueken, Bonneau, Hermann, Frankfurter, Tripaldi, Peers, etc.) [6], the topic has never been explored vis-à-vis the intersections of ecology, liturgy, and religious practice. Michael’s association with the Nile inundation reflects the confluence of ecology and liturgy in pre-modern Egypt. An indigenous, riparian ecology (i.e., that of the cultures situated along the Nile Valley) thus engenders a particular mode and rhythm of religiosity. On the 12th of Ba’ūna, tales of Michael's investiture and/or encomia praising his benevolent patronage, would have been read and heard in conjunction with the Nile’s rise. The flood season, spanning from June through most of October, would then be perceived as an act of mercy shown by Michael, patron of the inundation. Consequently, on the 12th of Hatūr, Coptic Christians would gather in gratitude to the Archangel Michael, thanking and singing praise to him for bringing about a sufficient flood. Thus, local ecology engenders collective liturgy, while such liturgies shape conceptions of local ecology. In this paper, I will first examine the earliest attested sources associating Michael and the inundation in late antique Egypt. I will then analyze such texts according to their literary and performative genre, explicating their ritual function in relation to the Nile's rise. By mythologizing the Nile inundation as a result of Christians’ veneration of and supplications toward the Archangel Michael, Coptic Christians conceptualized a recurring ecological event through the received categories of Judeo-Christian tradition. Such mythologizing inevitably shapes their subsequent interactions with the Nile River, serving to produce and enhance a community’s ecological consciousness via collective liturgy. By building on prior studies of the Christianization of Nile veneration in Coptic Egypt, this paper will explore the intersections of ecology, liturgy, and religious practice through the Archangel Michael and the Nile inundation.
Endnotes
[1] See: Mika Ahuvia, On My Right Michael, On My Left Gabriel: Angels in Ancient Jewish Culture. University of California Press, 2021; Ingvild Saelid Gilhus et al (eds.), The Archangel Michael in Africa: History, Cult and Persona. Bloomsbury Academic, 2019; Rangar Cline, Ancient Angels. Brill, 2021; Michael Van Esbroeck, “Saint Michael the Archangel.” In Coptic Encyclopedia, 1616b–20.
[2] Pietro D’Agostino, “On the Liturgical Memories of the Archangel Michael in the Coptic Church and Their Link with the Nile’s Rise: Some Reflections,” in The Archangel Michael in Africa, 51-58; Alfred Hermann, “Der Nil und die Christen.” Jahrbuch für Antike und Christentum (January 1, 1959), 30-69; Daniele Tripaldi, “Edfu and the Oriens: On Re-Discovering Ancient Egyptian Lore in Two Coptic Apocalypses.” Zeitschrift Für Antikes Christentum 20, no. 1 (January 2016): 127–46; Glenn Peers, Subtle Bodies: Representing Angels in Byzantium. University of California Press, 2001.
[3] D’Agostino, “On the Liturgical Memories of the Archangel Michael,” 52-3.
[4] I.e., Encomium on Michael and Gabriel by Pseudo-Athanasius; Encomium on the Archangel Michael by Theodosius of Alexandria; Encomium on the Archangel Michael by Eustathius of Trake; Homily on Michael by Timothy of Alexandria; The Mysteries of John.
[5] I. K. I. Saweros, “Another Athanasius: Four Sahidic Homilies Attributed to St. Athanasius of Alexandria. Introduction, Editions, Translations.” PhD Dissertation, Universiteit Leiden: 2016; E. A. Wallis Budge, Saint Michael the Archangel: Three Encomiums. London: 1894; Coptic Apocrypha in the Dialect of Upper Egypt. London: 1913; Miscellaneous Coptic texts in the dialect of Upper Egypt. London: 1915.
[6] Wilhelm Lueken, Michael: Eine Darstellung Und Vergleichung Der Jüdischen Und Der Morgenländisch-Christlichen Tradition Vom Erzengel Michael. Vandenhoeck und Ruprecht, 1898; Danielle Bonneau. La crue du Nil: divinité égyptienne à travers mille ans d’histoire, 332 av.-641 ap. J.-C., d’après les auteurs grecs et latins, et les documents des époques ptolémaĩque, romaine et byzantine. Klincksieck, 1964; David Frankfurter, Religion in Roman Egypt: Assimilation and Resistance. Princeton University Press, 1998; Christianizing Egypt: Syncretism and Local Worlds in Late Antiquity. Princeton University Press, 2017.
The Archangel Michael’s characterization in Coptic and early Islamic Egypt extended beyond his traditional role as a healer and protector to that of patron of the Nile inundation. Coptic texts from the 6th to 12th centuries CE, which mostly include apocalypses, encomia, and various homilies, describe Michael’s role in bringing about a sufficient flood. The annual inundation was crucial for agricultural prosperity throughout the Nile Valley. Liturgical rituals associated with Michael’s feast days, on the 12th of Ba’ūna (June 6) and the 12th of Hatūr (November 8), coordinate with key moments in the river’s flood cycle. Such traditions, preserved in Coptic and later Arabic sources, show how Michaelic veneration in pre-modern Egypt intersected with local ecological sensibilities. By analyzing a variety of Coptic literary sources, this paper will explore how Egyptian Christians mythologized the inundation through ritual, literature, and devotion, revealing the connections between ecology and liturgy in pre-modern Egypt.