Anaphora of St Basil (Egyptian)

In Brief

The Anaphora of St Basil is the ordinary eucharistic prayer of the Coptic Church: the prayer heard most days of the year, while Gregory's is kept for feasts and Cyril's is now rarely used.¹ Burmester's synopsis of the rite opens with the same fact: "The Liturgy of Saint Basil is that in general use in the Coptic Church throughout the year."² In shape it is Antiochene, not Alexandrian: thanksgiving, the Sanctus, the institution narrative, anamnesis, offering, a single epiclesis, and then the long intercessions after the epiclesis, closing with the commemorations of the saints.³ Tradition ascribes the anaphora to St Basil the Great; scholarship holds it to be of Syrian origin rather than his composition, and the Greek text "has not been used for centuries": the Coptic text is what is prayed.³ It is the Egyptian counterpart of the Byzantine Basil. Engberding argued that the Egyptian form stands closer to the lost original than the Byzantine, but there is no scholarly consensus, and Cody reserves judgment.⁴³

The Shape of the Liturgy

Part by Part

Authorship & Date

The service books call the Liturgy his, and the Church keeps him as its author. The claim is a tradition, and it is kept distinct from authorship here. What scholarship can say is this. The prayer "shows the structure of an Antiochene or Syrian anaphora" and is "presumably of Syrian origin".³ It is not, in the scholarly view, the composition of Basil of Caesarea. The famous thesis of Hieronymus Engberding, argued from an Egyptian anaphora fragment at Verona, was that the Egyptian form of the Basil anaphora preserves an older stage than the Byzantine form that eventually became the Byzantine Church's own.⁴ Later scholarship has been more cautious: the relation between the two Basil anaphoras, and the priority of either, remains an open question, and Cody's encyclopedia article records the evidence without deciding it.³ The entry's position: the ascription is traditional, the origin Syrian, the priority unresolved.

Witnesses & Editions

The oldest witnesses are Sahidic: four leaves at Louvain, published by Doresse and Lanne as an archaic witness to the Coptic liturgy of St Basil.⁵ The Bohairic euchologia that carry the text as used today include the dated Vat. copt. 17 (1288) among their principal manuscripts.⁶ The definitive modern edition is Achim Budde's, printing the Greek, Sahidic and Bohairic texts with commentary and history.⁷ The older Latin version is Renaudot's.⁸ In print for the Churches: Ṣalīb 1902 and Nicolotti 2023 for the Coptic Orthodox, Ṭūḫī 1736 for the Coptic Catholic. One negative witness matters: Brightman, whose collection prints the Greek Liturgy of St Mark and the Coptic anaphora of St Cyril, does not print the Egyptian Basil.¹⁰

Verification 2026-09-20 (Mike): the Coptic preface opening is quoted from the opened 2024 Daniel Girgis article.⁹ The remaining Coptic wording was not verified from an opened source, so the parts outline renders those incipits by English descriptor.

Theology & Spirit

The preface sets the address: the Father is invoked as "O You, He Who Is, Master, LORD, God of Truth": Ⲫⲏⲉⲧϣⲟⲡ ⲫⲛⲏⲃ ⲡ⳪︦ ⲫⲛⲟⲩϯ ⲛ̀ⲧⲉ ϯⲙⲉⲑⲙⲏⲓ.⁹ The opening dialogue is kept in Greek in the Coptic books: "Let us lift up our hearts." The institution narrative opens, "He instituted for us this great mystery of godliness", and the people answer the narrative with their acclamation.³ Burmester records the answer as "We believe that this is so indeed. Amen", and the rubric that follows it: the priest "breaks the Oblation into two thirds and into one third, slightly and without separating".²

The shape's signature is the order after the epiclesis. The intercessions come after the invocation of the Holy Spirit, in the Antiochene sequence, and they are long: they include the seasonal petitions for the waters of the river, the seeds and the fruits, appointed by Coptic month, and the commemoration of "the principal Saints, and especially the Saints of Egypt".² The anaphora thus binds the Eucharist to the Nile year and to the Egyptian sanctoral cycle, a local coloring the Byzantine Basil does not have.

Relations

The Byzantine Basil is this prayer's longer companion. The two anaphoras bear one name and share the Antiochene order at every point; where the Byzantine expands, the Egyptian is the shorter and, on Engberding's thesis, the older form. The priority is disputed, as above.⁴³ Gregory's anaphora is the other Antiochene-shaped prayer of the Coptic euchologion: the festal to Basil's ordinary, addressed to the Son where Basil addresses the Father.¹¹ Cyril's is the third, the one that keeps the Alexandrian order the other two abandoned. All three share the common Coptic order of the liturgy that frames them.¹

• Anaphora of St Basil (Byzantine)relatedThe two anaphoras that bear Basil's name; Engberding argued the Egyptian is closer to the lost original, but there is no consensus^3,4
• Anaphora of St Gregory the TheologiansiblingThe other Antiochene-shaped anaphora of the Coptic euchologion¹¹
• Anaphora of St Cyril (St Mark)siblingShares the common Coptic order of the liturgy that frames all three anaphoras¹

Disputed Questions

Did the Egyptian Basil preserve an older form than the Byzantine? Engberding said yes, from the Verona fragment; the field has not settled the question, and the entry does not settle it either.⁴³ The date of the Egyptian recension itself, and the path by which a Syrian-shaped anaphora became the ordinary prayer of Egypt in Coptic dress, remain undetermined. What is certain is the use: the Coptic text, prayed most days of the year, the Greek long disused.³

Go Deeper

Burmester's synopsis preserves two rubrics that show how the anaphora is heard in practice. A rubric of the Cairo Euchologion of 1932, noted at the fraction, reads: "Now indeed the Oblation has become the Body of Christ and the Wine the Blood of Christ."² The same Euchologion, he notes, "contains eighteen Prayers of the Fraction".² And the Confession before communion, "The Body and the Blood of Emmanuel Our God, this is it in truth", is the congregation's answer to the whole action.² The anaphora is the center of a rite that has surrounded it with this dense, exact devotion.

Recommended reading

• Budde, Achim, Die ägyptische Basilios-Anaphora: Text — Kommentar — Geschichte, Jerusalemer Theologische Schriften 28, Münster: Aschendorff, 2004.The definitive modern edition (Greek, Sahidic, Bohairic).
• Cody, Aelred, “Anaphora of Saint Basil”, The Coptic Encyclopedia, ed. Aziz S. Atiya (New York: Macmillan, 1991), 1991, 121b-123b.The concise scholarly conspectus: origin, structure, witnesses. Read online
• Hadji-Burmester, O. H. E., “Rites and Ceremonies of the Coptic Church, Part II: The Service of the Hallowing (Synopsis)”, Eastern Churches Quarterly 8, no. 1 (January-March 1949), 1949, pp. 1-39.Synopsis of the Liturgy of St Basil as celebrated. Read online

Sources

1. ReferenceSamaan, Moses (Fr); Coptic Orthodox Diocese of Los Angeles, Liturgies of the Coptic Orthodox Church, 2012. LinkVerified 2026-09-18 · an article posted on the diocese's website, read: 'The Liturgy according to St. Basil is the one used most of the year; St. Gregory's Liturgy is used during the feasts and on certain occasions; only parts of St. Cyril's Liturgy are used nowadays'; 'the Liturgy was first used (orally) in Alexandria by St. Mark and that it was recorded in writing by St. Cyril I', and from it 'the other two liturgies… are derived'; the Basilian liturgy 'drew heavily on the Liturgy of St. Mark the Evangelist'; St Gregory's 'is addressed to the Son'; 'Vespers and Matins prayers always preceede the service'
2. ScholarshipHadji-Burmester, O. H. E., “Rites and Ceremonies of the Coptic Church, Part II: The Service of the Hallowing (Synopsis)”, Eastern Churches Quarterly 8, no. 1 (January-March 1949), 1949, pp. 1-39, 1; 18–19; 21–22; 22; 20 n. 2; 24 n. 1; 27–28. LinkVerified 2026-09-18 · archive.org full text read, pp. 1-39 (the synopsis runs to p. 37; pp. 37-39 are bibliography), signed 'Alexandria. Feast of St. Stylianos, 26th November 1948'; p. 14 checked on the page image. A synopsis of the Liturgy of St Basil with its Arabic rubrics translated. p. 1: 'The Liturgy of Saint Basil is that in general use in the Coptic Church throughout the year', Gregory 'reserved for the Feasts of Christmas, the Epiphany and Easter, when the Liturgy is celebrated at night'; p. 2: Cyril 'now very rarely used', 'sometimes used in Lent'; p. 4: the priest 'careful not to taste anything at all before the Liturgy'; p. 5 and n. 8: 'three or five or seven or more loaves', 'always presented in uneven numbers'; p. 6: the procession of the Lamb; p. 7: the water 'not less than a quarter or not more than a third', and the Prayer of Thanksgiving, n. 4 also said at the Offering of Incense; p. 8: the Prayer of the Prothesis with three signs, 'bless them… sanctify them… purify them'; p. 9: 'In actual practice this Prayer of Absolution is omitted and in its place shall be read May Thy servants ministering this day'; pp. 9-13: the incense and the four readings, one verse 'in Coptic' then the reading 'in Arabic'; p. 12: the Synaxarium 'generally by the priest'; p. 13: 'Stand with the fear of God. Let us hear the Holy Gospel'; p. 14: the prayer of the veil; p. 16: 'In the wisdom of God let us attend', 'the people recite the Creed'; the kiss, n. 4, 'to touch the hand of one's neighbour and then kiss one's own hand'; 'the choir sings, to the accompaniment of cymbals, the Aspasmos Hymn'; p. 17: 'Look to the east'; pp. 18-19: the people answer the institution 'We believe that this is so indeed. Amen', and the priest 'breaks the Oblation into two thirds and into one third, slightly and without separating'; p. 20 n. 2: a rubric of the Cairo Euchologion of 1932, 'Now indeed the Oblation has become the Body of Christ and the Wine the Blood of Christ'; pp. 21-22: the seasonal petitions for the waters of the river, the seeds and the fruits, by Coptic month; p. 22: the commemoration of 'the principal Saints, and especially the Saints of Egypt'; p. 24 n. 1: the 1932 Euchologion 'contains eighteen Prayers of the Fraction'; pp. 24-27: the fraction, the Lord's Prayer, the absolution and the elevation; pp. 27-28: the Confession, 'The Body and the Blood of Emmanuel Our God, this is it in truth'; p. 29: Communion with 'The Body of Emmanuel Our God, this is It in truth. Amen'; p. 30: the dismissal and the eulogia; pp. 31-32: the loaf, leavened, made by a man, with five holes that 'represent the five nails', not fit 'after the expiration of three hours from the time of baking', and wine 'from dried raisins'; pp. 33-37: Communion, the Blood given 'with the spoon'
3. ReferenceCody, Aelred, “Anaphora of Saint Basil”, The Coptic Encyclopedia, ed. Aziz S. Atiya (New York: Macmillan, 1991), 1991, 121b-123b, 121b–123b. LinkVerified 2026-09-18 · the Claremont Coptic Encyclopedia text read in full (item 125): Basil is the 'anaphora normally used in the Coptic church'; like Gregory's, and unlike that of St Mark/St Cyril, it is 'not of Egyptian but of Syrian origin'; 'fundamentally Syrian in both composition and structure, with some Egyptian retouching'; the prayer of the veil 'taken from the Syrian Liturgy of Saint James'; scholars differ on its relation to the Byzantine Basil, Engberding holding the Egyptian text 'closer to the original', and 'the verbal similarities between the two have not been explained to everyone's satisfaction'; the common order is Egyptian, with 'specifically Egyptian' features: four readings from the New Testament, 'the absolutions before the prayer of incense preparing the readings and after the prayer of inclination following the Lord's Prayer', and the homologia; 'The fraction of the consecrated bread takes place before the Lord's Prayer'; the Greek text 'has not been used for centuries, with Coptic and, increasingly Arabic, being the only liturgical languages retained', with short Greek elements; at 123b, there is 'some reason to think' that a recension of the Greek text was also used in the Melchite church of Alexandria 'until its local usages gave way to the integral observance of the Byzantine rite'
4. ScholarshipEngberding, Hieronymus, “Das ägyptische Anaphorafragment in Verona”, Oriens Christianus 8, 1931, 36-56.Verified 2026-09-20 · Catalogued: the Alexandrian canon records Engberding's thesis that the Egyptian form of the Basil anaphora is closer to the lost original than the Byzantine; the article itself was not opened
5. ScholarshipDoresse, Jean, and Emmanuel Lanne, Un témoin archaïque de la liturgie copte de S. Basile, Bibliothèque du Muséon 47, Louvain: Publications universitaires, 1960.Verified 2026-09-20 · Catalogued: the Alexandrian canon records it as the edition of four Sahidic leaves at Louvain, an archaic witness to the Coptic liturgy of St Basil; the book itself was not opened
6. ScholarshipMikhail, Ramez, “A Preliminary List of Bohairic Liturgical Manuscripts with a Focus on the Divine Liturgy and the Liturgy of the Hours”, Journal of the Canadian Society for Coptic Studies 15, 2023.Verified 2026-09-20 · Seen (FT): the numbered Bohairic liturgical manuscripts including Vat. copt. 17; fn. 3 notes that no critical edition of the Coptic text of the Cyril anaphora exists
7. ScholarshipBudde, Achim, Die ägyptische Basilios-Anaphora: Text — Kommentar — Geschichte, Jerusalemer Theologische Schriften 28, Münster: Aschendorff, 2004.Verified 2026-09-20 · Catalogued: recommended by the Alexandrian canon (2026-09-20 review) as the definitive modern edition — Greek, Sahidic and Bohairic texts with commentary and history; the book itself was not opened
8. Primary textRenaudot, Eusèbe, Liturgiarum Orientalium collectio, Paris, 1847.Verified 2026-09-20 · Seen (via archive.org): the Latin versions of the Coptic anaphoras of Basil and Gregory and of the Ethiopian anaphoras, including the 'Missa S. Basilii' and the Ethiopian Apostles anaphora (pp. 43-59)
9. ReferenceGirgis, Daniel, “As He Was — On the Name of God in Coptic Liturgy”, Living Tradition (danielgirgis.com), 2024. LinkVerified 2026-09-20 · Article page opened and read 2026-09-20 (Mike): the Coptic preface openings of St Basil ('Ⲫⲏⲉⲧϣⲟⲡ ⲫⲛⲏⲃ ⲡ⳪︦ ⲫⲛⲟⲩϯ ⲛ̀ⲧⲉ ϯⲙⲉⲑⲙⲏⲓ', 'O You, He Who Is, Master, LORD, God of Truth'), St Cyril ('ⲕⲉ ⲅⲁⲣ ⲁⲗⲏⲑⲱⲥ ϥⲉⲙⲡϣⲁ', 'For truly it is worthy'; the address 'Ⲫⲏⲉⲧϣⲟⲡ ⲫⲛⲏⲃ ⲡ⳪︦ ⲫϯ ⲫⲓⲱⲧ', 'O You, Who-Is, Master, Lord God, the Father') and St Gregory ('ⲫⲏⲉⲧϣⲟⲡ ⲫⲛⲏⲃ ⲡ⳪︦ ⲫϯ ⲛ̀ⲧⲁⲫⲙⲏⲓ ⲉⲃⲟⲗϧⲉⲛ ⲟⲩⲛⲟⲩϯ ⲛ̀ⲧⲁⲫⲙⲏⲓ', 'O You, He Who Is, Master, LORD, true God of true God'), plus the Gregory incarnation-segment opening ('ⲛⲑⲟⲕ [ⲡⲉ] ⲫⲏⲉⲧϣⲟⲡ ⲛ̀ⲥⲏⲟⲩ ⲛⲓⲃⲉⲛ ⲁⲕⲓ ⲛⲁⲛ ϩⲓϫⲉⲛ ⲡⲓⲕⲁϩⲓ ⲁⲕⲓ ⲉⲑⲙⲏⲧⲣⲁ ⲛ̀ϯⲡⲁⲣⲑⲉⲛⲟⲥ', 'You, He Who Is at all times, have come to us on the earth. You have come to the womb of the Virgin'), all quoted in Coptic with the author's English translation
10. Primary textBrightman, F. E., Liturgies Eastern and Western, vol. 1: Eastern Liturgies, Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1896, pp. 113–188. LinkVerified 2026-09-12 · archive.org full text; pp. lxxxiii, lxxxv, lxxxviii–lxxxix checked; order locators spot-checked 13 Sep 2026 (pp. 362, 377–378, 393, 394; glossary s.v. Zeon, Cancelli, Ektene). Checked 19 Sep 2026 for the Ge'ez entry: Preface p. xiii, the Ethiopic translations are the Rev. C. J. Ball's ('the Rev. C. J. Ball for the Ethiopic (including the collation of the British Museum manuscripts)'); p. lxiii, the Egyptian rite; pp. lxxii-lxxiii, the Rome printing of 1548 ('Testamentum novum.. Missale') and the Lord's anaphora there; pp. 194-244, the Ethiopic Liturgy of the Apostles from BM Or. 545 (1670-75); p. 232, 'THIS bread… IS MY BODY' (a rubric between) and 'DRINK… THIS CUP'
11. ReferenceCody, Aelred, “Anaphora of Saint Gregory”, The Coptic Encyclopedia, ed. Aziz S. Atiya (New York: Macmillan, 1991), 1991, 124a-125a, 124a–125a. LinkVerified 2026-09-18 · Claremont text read in full: the anaphora 'shows the structure of an Antiochene or Syrian anaphora' and 'is presumably of Syrian origin'; it is addressed to the Son; 'Traditionally, the Anaphora of Saint Gregory is used on major feasts such as Christmas, Epiphany, and Easter, and on PALM SUNDAY, because it is addressed to Christ'; in modern times some celebrants do not use it at all, and some use parts of it in Basil