Evidence ID
E00090
Type of Evidence
Literary - Hagiographical - Lives of saint
Late antique original manuscripts - Papyrus codex
Late antique original manuscripts - Parchment codex
Major author/Major anonymous work
Paphnoutios of Sketis
Paphnoutios of Scetis, Life of Onnophrios, the Anchorite
Prior to meeting Onnophrios, Paphnoutios finds Timotheos, a hermit, who had already spent thirty years in the desert. Paphnoutios describes the physical appearance of Timotheos:
ⲛⲉϥⲕⲏⲕ ⲁϩⲏⲩ ⲡⲉ ⲁⲩⲱ ⲉⲣⲉⲡⲉϥⲃⲱ ϩⲱⲃⲥ ⲛⲧⲉϥⲁⲥⲭⲏⲟⲥⲩⲛⲏ ⲁⲩⲱ ⲉϥⲟ ⲛϩⲃⲥⲱ ⲉϥϭⲟⲟⲗⲉ ⲙⲙⲟϥ
'He was naked and his hair was covering his shame and functioning as a garment wrapped around him.'
For a summary of the complete text, see E00089.
Text: Budge 1914, p. 206, fol. 2a
Translation: Gesa Schenke
Cult PlacesComposing and translating saint-related texts
Protagonists in Cult and Narratives
Cult building - monastic
Use of ImagesVerbal images of saints
Non Liturgical ActivityComposing and translating saint-related texts
Transmission, copying and reading saint-related texts
Protagonists in Cult and NarrativesEcclesiastics - monks/nuns/hermits
Source
The Coptic Life of Onnophrios, the Anchorite is known through three complete manuscripts, two in Sahidic: British Library, London, Oriental 7027, fols. 1–21v, from Edfu, with a colophon giving the year 1004/5 (ed. Budge, Coptic Martyrdoms) and Pierpont Morgan Library, New York, M580, fol. 1–36, from Hamuli in the Fayum, dated to the year 889/890 (unpublished), one in Bohairic (Vatican Library, Coptic 65, fols. 99–120v, dated to the year 978/979). There are also codex fragments: a papyrus leaf dated on palaeographical grounds to the 7th century (ed. Lefort, 1945, 97–100), a fragmentary papyrus leaf from the end of the story, dated on palaeographical grounds to the 6th/7th century (ed. Orlandi), and two parchment leaves of a codex from the so called White Monastery (ed. Till). There are therefore good reasons to think that the text is 6th century or earlier.Discussion
A visual image of Timotheos is created that seems to have been influential on the iconography of hermits.Bibliography
Editions:Budge, E.A.W., Coptic Martyrdoms etc. in the Dialect of Upper Egypt (Coptic Texts 4; London: British Museum, 1914), 205-224.
Lefort, L.T., “Fragments coptes,” Le Muséon 58 (1945), 97-120.
Orlandi, T., Papiri copti di contenuto teologico (Vienna: In Kommission bei Verlag Brüder Hollinek, 1974), 158-161.
Till, W.C., Koptische Heiligen- und Martyrlegenden. Vol. 1 (Rome: Pont. institutum orientalium studiorum, 1935), 14–19.
Translation:
Vivian, T., Paphnutius, Histories of the Monks of Upper Egypt and the Life of Onnophrius (Cistercian Studies 140; Kalamazoo: Cistercian Publications, 1993). [With an introduction and evaluation of the text, as well as an English translation, all three of rather questionable value]
Further reading:
Coquin, R.-G., “Onophrius, Saint,” in: A.S. Atiya (ed.), The Coptic Encyclopedia. 8 vols. (New York: Macmillan, 1991), vol. 6, 1841-1842.
O'Leary, De L., Saints of Egypt (London: SPCK, 1937), 210.
Sauget, J.-M., “S. Onofrio anacoreta in Tebaide,” Bibliotheca Sanctorum 9 (1987), 1187-1197.
Williams, C.A., Oriental Affinities of the Legend of the Hairy Anchorite. Part II: Christian (University of Illinois Studies in Language and Literature 11/4; Urbana IL: University of Illinois Press, 1926).
For a full range of the documentary evidence on Onnophrios:
Papaconstantinou, A., Le culte des saints en Égypte des Byzantins aux Abbassides (Paris: CNRS, 2001), 161-162.
Record Created By
Gesa Schenke
Date of Entry
4/11/2014
| ID | Name | Name in Source | Identity | S00056 | Timotheos, 4th c. Egyptian anchorite | ϯⲙⲟⲑⲉⲟⲥ | Certain |
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Gesa Schenke, Cult of Saints, E00090 - http://csla.history.ox.ac.uk/record.php?recid=E00090