The purpose of this workshop is to go beyond the question of the first official acts of conversion to Christianity, by observing the ebb and flow of Christianization processes in Egyptian, Nubian and Ethiopian societies from the first centuries AD to the High Middle Ages. What is the meaning of being Christian, of identifying oneself as member of the Christian community? Answers will be sought along the Nile, through interconnected, albeit distant, Christian (and non-Christian) societies. Texts will be scrutinized as well as ritual or legal practices to contribute to the understanding of social and material implications of conversion.

Le but de cette journée d’étude est de dépasser la question des premiers actes officiels de conversion au christianisme, en observant le reflux et l'évolution des processus de christianisation dans les sociétés égyptiennes, nubiennes et éthiopiennes depuis les premiers siècles de l'ère chrétienne jusqu'au Moyen-Age central. Quel est le sens d'être chrétien, de s'identifier comme membre de la communauté chrétienne ? Des réponses seront recherchées le long du Nil, à travers des sociétés chrétiennes (et non chrétiennes) connectées les unes aux autres, bien que distantes. Des textes seront examinés aussi bien que des pratiques rituelles ou juridiques pour contribuer à la compréhension des implications sociales et matérielles de la conversion.

Morning session 

Discussant: Françoise Briquel Chatonnet (CNRS, Orient et Méditerranée)

9h00 - Welcoming participants

9h15 - Presentation of the meeting, Marie-Laure Derat (CNRS, Orient et Méditerranée), Eloi Ficquet (EHESS, CéSor),

Religious Texts: circulations and translations

09h30 - Alessandro Bausi (Universität Hamburg), The Christianization process in Ethiopia: Assessment of the earlier literary Ethiopian corpus

10h00 - Emmanuel Fritsch (independent researcher, fellow of the CFEE, Addis Ababa), The Transformation of the Anaphora of the “Apostolic Tradition” into the Ge’ez Anaphora of the Apostles and Its Protagonists

10h30 - Discussion and break

Monachism in Egypt, Nubia and Ethiopia 

11h15 - Arietta Papaconstantinou (University of Reading), From recruitment to control: the changing image of the ‘good Christian’ in Egyptian monastic discourse

11h45 - Alexandros Tsakos (University of Bergen), The Christianization of Nubia and the world of Coptic monasticism 

Afternoon session

Discussant: Bertrand Hirsch (Université Paris I, IMAF)

14h30 - Antonella Brita (CSMC, Universität Hamburg), Between history and fiction: the role of hagiography in the reconstruction of the Christianization of Ethiopia and the emergence of a local monasticism

15h00 - Discussion and break

Christianization of the territory

15h45 - Robin Seignobos (Université Paris I, IMAF), The extent and limits of Christianization in Medieval Nubia as reflected by some recently discovered Copto-Arabic lists of bishoprics

16h15 - Marie-Laure Derat (CNRS, Orient et Méditerranée), Churches, land and dependents: the Christianization of the landscape in the 12^th century

16h45 - Discussion

Booking/Réservation souhaitable : https://atnile.eventbrite.fr