Under the name of Macarius the Egyptian, the great solitary from the desert of Scetis, have circulated numerous homilies, letters and other literary pieces which are sometimes labeled together as the “Macarian corpus.” I have recently identified some new fragments which belong to this corpus, yielding significant information about its transmission history in the languages of the Christian Orient.
The manuscript tradition of this vast and composite corpus Continue reading
(This post is based on my article “A British Library Fragment from a Homily on the Lament of Mary and the So-Called Gospel of Gamaliel,” forthcoming in Aethiopica. International Journal of Ethiopian and Eritrean Studies)
Among the scholarly books that I often use in my research is Bentley Layton’s catalogue of the Coptic manuscripts in the British Library.[1] This book is a description of the items which were acquired by the library after the publication of Walter Ewing Crum’s monumental catalogue (1905).[2] I find it brilliant for several reasons. First of all, Layton establishes a new method for describing the manuscripts, which was adopted by other scholars after him.[3] Secondly, it is one of the few catalogues which tries to take into consideration all the identifiable fragments of a codex. Given that most of the Coptic codices came to us in pieces, with the leaves scattered all over the world, Layton’s attempt to reconstruct the original manuscripts is very important.
For the sake of brevity, I shall explain right away the title of this post. Among the unidentified Coptic manuscripts in the British Library, there are several Sahidic fragments described by Layton in his catalogue as parts of two unknown “apocryphal works.” Here is the brief description of the first piece (= no. 99): “The harrowing of hell, in which Jesus commands the forces of hell to open their gates.” More recently, these two fragments (London BL Or. 6954[44]-[45]) were mistakenly attributed by some scholars to the Gospel of Bartholomew. However, I have already pointed out in a previous post that the fragments in question are not really apocryphal, rather they belong to the sermon entitled In divinis corporis sepulturam (CPG 3768) by ps.-Epiphanius of Salamis. Another Coptic fragment of the same text, and codex, is kept today in the National Library in Paris.
But what about the second “apocryphal work,” can we establish its identity? Continue reading
Michel Aubineau (1921-2002) remarked once that the number of Greek manuscripts which contain works attributed to John Chrysostom surpasses that of any other Church Father.[1] As far as our evidence goes, the same must have been true of the Coptic manuscripts, for there are over sixty literary pieces attributed to Chrysostom in Sahidic and Bohairic dialects.
Numerous translations of Golden Mouth’s works in Coptic are recorded by the Clavis Patrum Graecorum, but there is still much to be done regarding the outlines of his literary corpus in the vernacular language of Christian Egypt. Hereby I would like to show that the Coptic dossier of John Chrysostom can be enriched with a Sahidic fragment from one of his homilies on the Epistle to the Romans (CPG 4427).
The fragment in question Continue reading
The sermon In divini corporis sepulturam (CPG 3768; BHG 808e), attributed to Epiphanius of Salamis, is counted among the most curious Patristic works concerning the harrowing of hell. It was intended for liturgical reading on the Holy Saturday and is divided in two parts. The first of them is a praise to Joseph of Arimathea, who is presented as asking Pilate for the body of Christ in order to bury it. The second part recounts the harrowing of hell and contains a discourse of Jesus to Adam before the latter is released from Hades.
Although there is no argument for a genuinely Epiphanian authorship, the numerous versions in ancient languages shows the large diffusion that the work enjoyed in the Christian Orient. Clavis Patrum Graecorum lists various versions of this sermon in Syriac, Armenian, Georgian, Arabic and Old Slavonic.
The Greek text is available in Migne’s Patrologia Graeca vol. 43, coll. 439-464 (= Homilia II in Sabbato magno). André Vaillant[1] translated into French the Old Slavonic version and his critical edition can be downloaded below. Supplementary bibliographical details can be found in R. Gounelle’s book concerning Christ’s descent into hell.[2]
The numerous Egyptian Arabic manuscripts in which the homily In divini corporis sepulturam is preserved, indicate that it must have been a quite popular text among the Copts. Besides, one of the cathedral homilies of the patriarch Mark III († 819 AD), which survived in a Bohairic manuscript kept in the Vatican Library,[3] is merely a reworking and a paraphrase of ps.-Epiphanius’ text; it shows that a Coptic translation of In divini corporis sepulturam must have been in use already in the very beginning of the 9th century.
Indeed, some vestiges from a Sahidic copy of the homily in question can be found in two collections of Coptic manuscripts. They are the remnants of a dismembered parchment codex which belonged once to the library of the White Monastery, situated near Sohag. The codices of this monastery survived only as membra disjecta which are scattered today across the world.
To date, I have been able to find from ps.-Epiphanius’ sermon a leaf which is in the Bibliothèque Nationale in Paris Continue reading
Little is known about the period that Abba Isaiah spent in his native land, as a recluse in the desert of Scetis. His fame began to grow beyond the borders of Egypt only after he settled in a monastery near Gaza and befriended Peter the Iberian, the head of the anti-Chalcedonian resistance in Palestine.[1] The figure of Isaiah was soon appropriated by some “Monophysite” authors like John Rufus and Zachariah Rhetor,[2] who described him in the company of the opponents of the Council of Chalcedon.[3]
The Asceticon of Abba Isaiah contains a series of ascetic precepts for those who want to avoid the dangers of solitary life. The transmission history of the Isaian corpus is complex, as attested by the various forms in which is preserved. Unfortunately, a proper edition of the Greek original is still lacking. The project initiated by Herman Dörries in Götingen, which was supposed to offer the first critical edition of the Asceticon, did not bear fruit. The Greek text is available only in Augustinos Iordanites’ publication of an incomplete 18th century Greek manuscript.[4] Derwas Chitty collated Augustinos’ text with the Bodleian manuscript Cromwell 14[5] and, according to the report,[6] his transcription is deposed in the library of the House of St Gregory and St Macrina, Oxford. Besides, two Greek papyrus fragments containing small portions of the Asceticon were published.[7]
In 1956, Antoine Guillaumont edited the logoi of Abba Isaiah after several fragmentary Sahidic manuscripts.[8] As for Arabic, Joseph-Marie Sauget identified and published a cluster of fragments in the Vatican library,[9] while Victor Arras edited few bits that survived in Ethiopic.[10]
It was only in 1968 that the complete text of the Asceticon became largely available for scholarly research due to René Draguet’s edition and translation of the Syriac version.[11] Besides providing a detailed survey of the textual transmission of the Asceticon in Syriac, Draguet was the first to use a larger number of Greek manuscripts, often giving in parallel columns the Syriac translation and his own collation of the Greek text.
We also have knowledge of some Armenian[12] and Georgian fragments of the Asceticon. Finally, a Sogdian translation of the brief piece entitled “On humility” was found by the German archeologists at the ruins of a Nestorian monastery in the Turfan oasis.[13]
All these textual evidences show that the Asceticon was a bonum communis, being appropriated, at the same time, by the Chalcedonians, “Monophysites,” and even Nestorians.
*
Although the Sahidic version of the Asceticon is attested by a good number of fragments, no Bohairic manuscript has been announced yet. The only surviving witness in this dialect is thought to be a quotation which occurs in a catena on the four Gospels.[14] The fragment in question was published recently by Youhanna Nessim Youssef,[15] who assumed that a Bohairic version of the Asceticon must have existed: “[i]l est vraisemblable qu’une collection Copte Bohaïrique de l’Asceticon d’Isaïe existait en plus de ce qui est connue de la version Sahidique.”[16]
I should like to mention here that, although not yet identified, several such Bohairic fragments of the Asceticon Continue reading
I have already discussed here and here the ten Coptic fragments auctioned in July 2009 at Sotheby’s in London. They are all datable to the 10th century and belonged once to the library of the White Monastery, situated in Upper Egypt, near the ancient Panopolis.
The fragments have been purchased from Sotheby’s by Bolaffi in Turin, and in the meanwhile the new owners have supplied me with high-quality photos of the entire lot. I am indebted to them for their generosity.
As I said in my previous posts, the “Sotheby’s fragments” prove to be quite valuable. They preserve parts of the following works:
Cyril of Alexandria, Scholia on the Incarnation of Monogenes (CPG 5225).
ps.-Cyril of Jerusalem, On the Passion of Christ, homily 1 (CPG 3598; clavis coptica 0114).
ps.-Cyril of Jerusalem, On the Finding of the True Cross (CPG 3602; clavis coptica 0120).
ps.-Evodius of Rome, On the Passion of Christ (clavis coptica 0149).
It is noteworthy that all except Cyril of Alexandria’s Scholia incorporate apocryphal legends.
THE NEWLY IDENTIFIED FRAGMENT
There was among the fragments one scrap of parchment which contains such a small amount of text that, at first glance, I could not make very much sense out of it. However, when such cases occur, the paleographical comparison with other fragments from the White Monastery can be rewarding.
Indeed, the paleographical examination has revealed that this scrap originally belonged to a codex leaf which can be reconstructed out of three supplementary fragments. Two of these are kept today in the Bibliothèque Nationale in Paris (shelf marks 12918, f. 158 and 1315, f. 150), while a third one is in Österreichische Nationalbibliothek in Vienna (inventory number K 9371). I prepared a couple of montages of the four fragments using Adobe Photoshop (the Sotheby’s fragment is the colored one):
And joined together:
This is quite a nice puzzle. As the three other fragments have already been published, it is possible to infer on their basis the identity of the Sotheby’s fragment which previously escaped identification.
WHAT TEXT IS THIS?
These fragments contain an interesting apocryphal text which Continue reading
While checking a number of unidentified Coptic fragments in the Bodleian Library, Oxford, my attention was drawn by a dismembered parchment leaf (call number MS.Copt.e. 170[P]) copied on one column by a skilled and elegant hand.
The text utilizes the first person singular to recount the debate between an unnamed monk and the Devil. As I was reading the Coptic text, I came across a sentence that sounded familiar: Continue reading
My paper concerning the age of the Sahidic Euchologion manuscript was published in the latest issue of Vigiliae Christianae and can be read here. The article is dedicated to the memory of Dom Emmanuel Lanne, osb, who edited the Euchologion for Patrologia Orientalis. Father Lanne died on June 23, 2010 at the Chevetogne Abbey, less than half an hour after I arrived to visit him.
I just found out that in December 2009, Federico Bottigliengo presented in the bulletin Il collezionista ten fragments of Coptic manuscripts. Now, among the pictures published therein, someone can recognize the same White Monastery parchment folio which was sold in June 2009 by Sotheby’s in London. As “Il collezionista” is edited by Bolaffi in Turin, it becomes obvious that the Italian company is the one who purchased the ten fragments auctioned by Sotheby’s.
On the basis of the pictures published in “Il collezionista,” we can find out more about what I called the “Sotheby’s Coptic fragments.” Continue reading
Sotheby’s auctioned recently ten Coptic parchment fragments which were purchased for 28,750 GBP. Surprisingly, in the only picture available thus far can be recognized a portion from Cyril of Alexandria’s Scholia on the Incarnation of Monogenes, an important dogmatic work written in the first half of the 5th century.
The Sotheby’s fragments evidently come from the White Monastery (situated near ancient Panopolis), and they are not the only bits which survived from this codex. My preliminary report on the fragments can be found here.
View Zoom/Large ImageLOT 13
SERMONS, IN COPTIC (SAHIDIC DIALECT), ON VELLUM, FRAGMENTS FROM A LARGE DECORATED MANUSCRIPT
[Upper Egypt (most probably the White Monastery, in the province of Akhmim), ninth century AD.]10 fragments of varying sizes: (1) a near complete leaf, 335mm. by 261mm.; (2) (3) & (7) substantial fragments of leaves approximately 240mm. wide, (4) & (6) large sections of single columns; the remainder small pieces approximately 60mm. across; written space of (1) 255mm. by 165mm, double column, with 31 lines in black ink, capitals within the text touched in red, those beginning significant sections with clubs at the end of their terminals, dots within their bodies and outlined in red, vellum dry and brittle in places, many tears to outer edges of leaves, but in good and presentable condition
10,000—15,000 GBP
Lot Sold. Hammer Price with Buyer’s Premium: 28,750 GBP
Cristian Bădiliţă: Dragă Alin Suciu, pregăteşti un doctorat în literatură creştină coptă la Universitatea Laval din Québec. Cum se desfăşoară cercetările în acest domeniu? Care sunt maeştrii, principalele zone de interes, rezultatele de până acum şi proiectele de viitor?
Alin Suciu: Facultatea de Teologie şi Ştiinţe Religioase a Universităţii Laval din Québec a iniţiat la mijlocul anilor 1970 un proiect intitulat „Bibliothèque copte de Nag Hammadi”, care viza publicarea manuscriselor copte descoperite în 1945 la Nag Hammadi, în sudul Egiptului. Se urmărea, de fapt, stabilirea unei alternative francofone la două proiecte similare, unul anglofon, lansat de James M. Robinson la Institute for
Antiquity and Christianity din Claremont, iar celălalt german, coordonat de Hans-Martin Schenke în Berlinul de Est (Berliner Arbeitskreis für koptisch-gnostischen Schriften). Proiectul canadian a luat un avânt remarcabil la începutul anilor 1990, odată cu implicarea financiară a Fundaţiei Joseph-Armand Bombardier… continuarea aici
In preparation for Corpus Scriptorum Christianorum Orientalium (CSCO), Scriptores coptici series (Université catholique de Louvain/Catholic University of America).
The homily “On the Cross and the Good Thief,” attributed to Theophilus of Alexandria, is preserved in four Sahidic manuscripts. This is an edition of New York, Pierpont Morgan M595, ff. 141r-148r (and parallels).
Prima parte a interviului “Tezaurul literaturii creştine în limba coptă”, apărut în revista on-line Oglindanet.
Oglindanet: Dragă domnule Alin Suciu, v-aş ruga să ne descrieţi, pe scurt, zona studiilor copte în cadrul, mai vast, al literaturii creştine vechi.
Alin Suciu: Literatura coptă este abordată astăzi din mai multe perspective, în funcţie de competenţele şi priorităţile celor care o studiază. Trebuie precizat înainte de orice că limba în care ne este transmisă această literatură – copta – reprezintă ultimul nivel de dezvoltare al străvechii limbi faraonice şi este cunoscută ca limba vernaculară a Egiptului creştin (până la înlocuirea ei cu araba). Datorită aceastei descendenţe mulţi egiptologi şi-au însuşit copta pentru clarificarea anumitor dileme lingvistice ale egiptenei vechi, care în coptă îşi găsesc o explicaţie. Să nu uităm că pentru Champollion, primul occidental care a realizat că limba coptă este o formă tardivă a egiptenei, această intuiţie a fost decisivă atunci când a descifrat limba faraonilor. O şi spune de altfel foarte limpede într-una dintre scrisorile către fratele său: „…je me livre entièrement au copte. Je veux savoir l’égyptien comme mon français parce que sur cette langue sera basé mon grand travail sur les papyrus égyptiens.” continuarea aici
I recently edited together with Einar Thomassen a parchment folio owned by the Norwegian collector Martin Schøyen. The Schøyen leaf (MS 1991) was immediately followed in the codex by another dismembered fragment which ended up in the Bibliothèque Nationale in Paris. They seem to belong to an unknown apocryphal writing, although the echoes it contains of fifth century Christological debates should warn against regarding it as an early document.
Excerpts from A. Suciu & E. Thomassen, “An Unknown ‘Apocryphal’ Text from the White Monastery,” in P. Buzi & A. Camplani (eds.), Christianity in Egypt: Literary Production and Intellectual Trends in Late Antiquity (Studia Ephemeridis Augustinianum) forthcoming 2011.
Excerpts from the draft version of the article “The Borgian Coptic Manuscripts in Naples: Supplementary Identifications and Notes to a Recently Published Catalogue.” An updated version was accepted for publication in Orientalia Christiana Periodica.
The article is a review of P. Buzi, Catalogo dei manoscritti copti borgiani conservati presso la Biblioteca Nazionale “Vittorio Emanuele III” di Napoli (Accademia dei Lincei – Memorie, Ser. IX, 25/1; Rome 2009).
“À propos de la datation du manuscrit contenant le Grand Euchologe du Monastère Blanc,” Vigiliae Christianae 65 (2011) 189-198. The article is dedicated to the memory of Father Emmanuel Lanne, osb.
Abstract: The most complete Sahidic manuscript of the Euchologion, the liturgical book destined to the priestly service, comes from the White Monastery in Upper Egypt. The dating of this fragmentary codex has been a matter of debate among scholars for a
long time, but their results have not reached consensus. The aim of the present paper is to enter this debate from the angle of paleography, showing that the existence of a dated codex copied by the same scribe offers us a firm ground to establish the age of the Euchologion manuscript.
Published in Le Muséon 122 (2009) 279-289.
Suciu-New Fragments Historia Josephi
Abstract: Focused on the figure of Joseph, the earthly father of Jesus Christ, the so-called History of Joseph the Carpenter is one of the most renowned writings preserved in Coptic. Our article presents a couple of new Parisian fragments of this work in the Sahidic dialect of Coptic, widely regarded as the original language of the text. The study examines the testimonies mainly from a codicological and paleographical perspective.
Alin Suciu 