Record | The Cult of Saints

Coptic/Greek list of saint names, from Jeme (Upper Egypt), mentioning Dios (saint venerated in Upper Egypt, S01232), Phoibammon (soldier and martyr of Assiut, S00080), and possibly *Papnouthios (Egyptian saint of uncertain identity, S00882); datable to the 7th/8th century.

Evidence ID

E02472

Type of Evidence

Documentary texts - List

Liturgical texts - Invocations, prayers and spells

Late antique original manuscripts - Ostracon/Pot-sherd

BKU 1 148

The limestone ostracon has been used on both sides. One side shows a short letter formula, the other a list of saint names, possibly as part of an invocation.

The verso reads:

+ ⲟ ⲁⲅⲓⲟⲥ ⲁⲡⲁ ⲇⲓⲟⲥ
ⲟ ⲁⲅⲓⲟⲥ ⲁⲡⲁ ⲫⲓⲃⲁⲙ
ⲁⲡⲁ ⲡ[ ]
ⲟ ⲁⲅⲓ[ⲟⲥ ]

'Saint Apa Dios, saint Apa Phoibammon, Apa [Papnouthios (?)], saint […]'

Text: A. Erman and W. E. Crum
Translation: G. Schenke

Non Liturgical Activity

Prayer/supplication/invocation

Source

The limestone ostracon was bought in Thebes and is now housed at the papyrus collection in Berlin, P.Berol. inv. 704. The text has been dated on palaeographical grounds.

Discussion

There are several references in documents from Upper Egypt to a saint named 'Apa Dios', and the name also occurs on Egyptian terracotta lamps, on one of which (E07227) Dios is said to have been a martyr (for these documents and lamps, see the entries recorded under S01232). Because the cult of our Dios seems to have been focused in Upper Egypt, he is unlikely to be the Dios who was a presbyter and martyr of Alexandria (alongside Faustos and Ammonios), and very unlikely to be the Dios, presbyter and martyr of Caesarea of Cappadocia (S01043). He may well have been a local martyr - for this and all other possibilities, see Papaconstantinou 2001, 74-75.

Bibliography

Edition:
Erman, A., and Crum, W.E., Ägyptische Urkunden aus den koeniglichen Museen zu Berlin, Koptische Urkunden, vol. 1 (Berlin, 1904), 123.

Further reading:
Papaconstantinou, A., Le culte des saints en Égypte des Byzantins aux Abbassides (Paris: CNRS, 2001).

Record Created By

Gesa Schenke

Date of Entry

8/3/2017

Related Saint Records

ID	Name	Name in Source	Identity
S00080	Phoibammon, soldier and martyr of Assiut	ⲁⲡⲁ ⲫⲓⲃⲁⲙ	Uncertain
S00882	Paphnoutios, Egyptian saint (precise identity uncertain)	ⲁⲡⲁ ⲡ[	Certain
S01232	Dios, saint venerated in Upper Egypt	ⲁⲡⲁ ⲇⲓⲟⲥ	Certain

Please quote this record referring to its author, database name, number, and, if possible, stable URL:
Gesa Schenke, Cult of Saints, E02472 - http://csla.history.ox.ac.uk/record.php?recid=E02472

The Cult of Saints in Late Antiquity

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

Coptic/Greek list of saint names, from Jeme (Upper Egypt), mentioning Dios (saint venerated in Upper Egypt, S01232), Phoibammon (soldier and martyr of Assiut, S00080), and possibly *Papnouthios (Egyptian saint of uncertain identity, S00882); datable to the 7th/8th century.

E02472

Documentary texts - List

Liturgical texts - Invocations, prayers and spells

Late antique original manuscripts - Ostracon/Pot-sherd

Prayer/supplication/invocation

Source

Discussion

Bibliography

Gesa Schenke

8/3/2017

Coptic/Greek list of saint names, from Jeme (Upper Egypt), mentioning *Dios (saint venerated in Upper Egypt, S01232), *Phoibammon (soldier and martyr of Assiut, S00080), and possibly *Papnouthios (Egyptian saint of uncertain identity, S00882); datable to the 7th/8th century.

E02472

Documentary texts - List

Liturgical texts - Invocations, prayers and spells

Late antique original manuscripts - Ostracon/Pot-sherd

Prayer/supplication/invocation

Source

Discussion

Bibliography

Gesa Schenke

8/3/2017

Coptic/Greek list of saint names, from Jeme (Upper Egypt), mentioning Dios (saint venerated in Upper Egypt, S01232), Phoibammon (soldier and martyr of Assiut, S00080), and possibly *Papnouthios (Egyptian saint of uncertain identity, S00882); datable to the 7th/8th century.