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The Cult of Saints in Late Antiquity


from its origins to circa AD 700, across the entire Christian world


Coptic child donation document after 778, certifying the gift of a male child to *Phoibammon (soldier and martyr of Assiut, S00080) at Deir el-Bahari (Upper Egypt), after having been granted healing at the saint’s shrine located within the monastery of Apa Phoibammon on the mountain of Jeme.

Evidence ID

E00201

Type of Evidence

Late antique original manuscripts - Papyrus sheet

Documentary texts - Donation document

P.KRU 100

Palote, son of Peschate, from Timamen in the district of Hermonthis, donates his son Petros as a servant to Apa Phoibammon. The child was pledged to be given to the monastery upon birth, with reference to 1 Samuel 1, but when he grew up, his parents refrained from fulfilling their promise to the saint. The boy falls fatally ill, and the parents take him to the sanctuary of the saint to ask for forgiveness for their sinful negligence and to pray for the healing of their son. After a week at the saint’s topos where they received the Eucharist together with their son, the boy recovers. The overjoyed parents decide to honour their original agreement and the donation is carried out.


Summary: G. Schenke

The Coptic text can be found under: http://papyri.info/ddbdp/sb;1;5607/

Liturgical Activities

Eucharist associated with cult

Cult Places

Cult building - monastic
Place associated with saint's life

Places Named after Saint

Monastery

Non Liturgical Activity

Bequests, donations, gifts and offerings
Oath
Prayer/supplication/invocation
Consecrating a child, or oneself, to a saint

Miracles

Healing diseases and disabilities
Punishing miracle
Miracle after death

Protagonists in Cult and Narratives

Children
Ecclesiastics - abbots
Other lay individuals/ people

Source

P.KRU 100, complete papyrus document, located at the Cairo Museum, no. 8741.

These documents testify, often in great detail, to a healing cult at the monastery of Apa Phoibammon. Patients remain in the holy place (
topos) for a period of time, praying and entreating the saint to grant healing, and receiving the eucharist. Holy water in a basin by the altar seems to play an essential role in the healing miracles performed, when poured over the patient.


Discussion

Of the twenty-six child donation documents known so far, P.KRU 78–103 (E00179E00204), dating from the years 734–786, nearly half are entirely preserved (P.KRU 79–82 86, 88, 91, 93, 96, 99, 100). In these documents parents state their desire to donate their son as a lifelong servant to Apa Phoibammon. The reason stated in these documents is a miraculous healing bestowed upon these children through the intervention of Apa Phoibammon. It is explicitly stated that parents proceed with this donation for the salvation of their own souls. In most documents, fathers are donating the child with the consent of its mother; occasionally, however, this procedure is carried out by mothers acting independently (P.KRU 79, 81, 86, 95), either as widows, or by simply not mentioning a husband.

Formally, these donation documents following a successful healing are carried out as legal documents, addressed to the managerial body (the
dikaion) of the monastery and/or to its current superior. They are written by a professional scribe, read out by a notary, approved by the donor, and signed by several witnesses. They form the final link in a chain of cult events aiming to secure a miracle healing performed in the saint’s sanctuary and are intended to ensure its lasting effect.

This document belongs to a group of seven from among the child donation documents (the others being
P.KRU 80, 85, 86, 89, 96, and 97) which report that a child is pledged to the saint at birth, in analogy to 1 Samuel 1, but the oath is dishonoured. The parents are punished by a fatal illness of their child and entreat the saint to grant healing to their child at the price of its donation. The original pledge, which was then dishonoured, was made explicitly for the salvation of the donor’s soul. It appears to have been a purely private promise between the donor and the saint, without any formal documentation or witnessing. However, P.KRU 86, a similar document of this kind, seems to refer to a written contract (homologia) with respect to such an earlier pledge (P.KRU 86, line 32).


Bibliography

Edition:
Crum, W.E., and Steindorff, G., Koptische Rechtsurkunden des achten Jahrhunderts aus Djeme (Theben) (Leipzig, 1971), 253–320 (P. KRU 78–103).

German Translations:
Till, W.C., Die Koptischen Rechtsurkunden aus Theben (Vienna: H. Böhlaus, 1964), 149–186.

Further reading:
Biedenkopf-Ziehner, A., Koptische Schenkungsurkunden aus Thebais: Formeln und Topoi der Urkunden, Aussagen der Urkunden, Indices (Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz, 2001).

Godlewski, W.,
Deir el-Bahari V: Le monastère de St. Phoibammon (Warsaw: PWN, 1986).

Papaconstantinou, A., "Notes sur les actes de donation d’enfants au monastère thébain de Saint-Phoibammon,"
The Journal of Juristic Papyrology 32 (2002), 83–105.

Papaconstantinou, A., "Theia oikonomia. Les actes thébains de donation d’enfants ou la gestion monastique de la pénurie," in:
Mélanges Gilbert Dagron (Paris: Association des amis du Centre d'histore et civilisation de Byzance, 2002), 511–526.

Richter, T.S., "What’s in a story? Cultural narratology and Coptic child donation documents,"
The Journal of Juristic Papyrology 35 (2005), 237–264.

Schaten, S., "Koptische Kinderschenkungsurkunden,"
Bulletin de la Société d’archéologie copte 35 (1996), 129–142.

Schenke, G.,
"The Healing Shrines of St Phoibammon. Evidence of Cult Activity in Coptic Legal Documents," Zeitschrift für Antikes Christentum (ZAC) 2016, 20(3), 496–523.

Schroeder, C., "Children and Egyptian Monasteries," in: C. B. Horn and R. R. Phenix (eds.),
Children in Late Ancient Christianity (Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, 2009), 317–338.

Thissen, H.–J., "Koptische Kinderschenkungsurkunden. Zur Hierodulie im christlichen Ägypten,"
Enchoria 14 (1986), 117–128.

Wipszycka, E., "Resources and Economic Activities of the Egyptian Monastic Communities (4th–8th century),"
The Journal of Juristic Papyrology 41 (2011), 159–263, esp. 221–227.

For a full range of the documentary evidence on Phoibammon:
Papaconstantinou, A., Le culte des saints en Égypte des Byzantins aux Abbassides (Paris: CNRS, 2001), 204–214.


Record Created By

Gesa Schenke

Date of Entry

30/11/2014

Related Saint Records
IDNameName in SourceIdentity
S00080Phoibammon, soldier and martyr of Assiutⲁⲡⲁ ⲫⲉⲃⲁⲙⲱⲛUncertain


Please quote this record referring to its author, database name, number, and, if possible, stable URL:
Gesa Schenke, Cult of Saints, E00201 - http://csla.history.ox.ac.uk/record.php?recid=E00201