Coptic letter from the region of Hermopolis Magna (Middle Egypt) written in the 7th c., referring to a planned journey to venerate an unnamed saint (S00518) at or in the vicinity of a convent.
E00336
Documentary texts - Papyri
KSB 4 1692
The addressees of the letter are a nun and her convent from whom the sender hopes to receive a letter of condolence due to the sender’s great despair following the death of a young girl who seems to have been the biological rather than the spiritual daughter of the sender. The sender speaks of great sadness and suffering on his as well as on the girl's mother’s part and hopes that a message from the convent would console them both, before they are planning to set off on their journey south to visit the addressed and to venerate the saint (whose name is not mentioned).
Lines 7–9:
ⲗⲟⲓⲡⲟⲛ ϭⲱ ⲉⲧⲛⲉⲉⲓⲣⲉ ⲛⲡⲉⲛⲙⲉⲉⲩⲉ ϩⲛ ⲛⲉⲧⲛⲉϣⲗⲏⲗ ϣⲁⲛⲧⲉ ⲡⲛⲟⲩⲧⲉ ⲟⲩⲱϣ ⲧⲛⲉⲓ ⲉⲣⲏⲥ ⲙⲛⲛⲥⲁ ⲡⲉⲓϩⲟⲟⲩ ⲥⲛⲁⲩ ⲧⲛⲡⲣⲟⲥⲕⲩⲛⲉ[ⲓ]
ⲛⲡⲡⲉⲧⲟⲩⲁⲁⲃ
'Now continue to remember us in your prayers, until God wishes that we come south after these two days and venerate the saint.'
Translation: G. Schenke
Cult building - monastic
Cult building - unspecified
Non Liturgical ActivityPrayer/supplication/invocation
Pilgrimage
Source
Complete papyrus letter of eleven lines written in the Hermopolite dialect and dated to the 7th century on palaeographical and stylistic grounds. This papyrus number K2 is located at the Benaki Museum in Athens.Discussion
The name of the saint is not stated, though from the context he or she is likely to have been closely connected with the addressed convent. The region of Hermopolis has thus far produced evidence for more than 41 monasteries listed in Gascou 1994, four of which were explicitly for nuns.Although not explicit in the letter, the planned visit to the saint appears to have been intended to acquire consolation at a time of bereavement.
Bibliography
Edition:Hasitzka, M.R.M, Koptisches Sammelbuch IV (Berlin/Boston: De Gruyter, 2012). = KSB
Further reading:
Gascou, J., Un codex fiscal Hermopolite (P. Sorb. II 69) (Atlanta: Scholars Press, 1994), 80–85.
Schenke, G., "Die Trauer um ein kleines Mädchen: Eine Bitte um Trost," Zeitschrift für Papyrologie und Epigraphik 127 (1999), 117–122.
Gesa Schenke
9/3/2015
| ID | Name | Name in Source | Identity | S00518 | Saints, unnamed | Certain |
|---|
Please quote this record referring to its author, database name, number, and, if possible, stable URL:
Gesa Schenke, Cult of Saints, E00336 - http://csla.history.ox.ac.uk/record.php?recid=E00336