Coptic fragments of the Martyrdom of *Theodore the Easterner (possibly the soldier and martyr of Amaseia and Euchaita, S00480) of unknown Egyptian provenance, relating his influence over the war between Rome and Persia, his torture and death, written most likely in the 6th/7th century.
E03575
Literary - Hagiographical - Accounts of martyrdom
Late antique original manuscripts - Parchment codex
When Nikomedes was fighting with the Persian army against the Romans, they called out to the Persians that Theodore the Easterner was about to kill them. As soon as the Persians heard that name, they fled and Nikomedes was captured.
Till, KHML 2, p. 144, column 1, lines 2–10:
[ⲛⲧⲉ]ⲣⲟⲩⲥ⳨ⲟⲩ ⲙ[ⲡϩⲁⲅⲓ]ⲟⲥ ⲑⲉⲟⲇⲱⲣ[ⲟⲥ ⲡⲁ]ⲛⲁⲧⲟⲗⲉⲩⲥ ⲉⲡ[ⲉϣⲟⲩⲉⲃⲉ ⲁⲩⲛ[ⲟϭ] ⲛⲗⲩⲡⲏ ⲥⲱⲣ ⲉⲃⲟⲗ ϩⲛ ⲧⲡⲟⲗⲓⲥ ⲛ[ⲧ]ⲙⲛⲧⲉⲣⲟ
ⲙⲡ[ⲉϩⲟ]ⲟⲩ ⲉⲧⲙⲙⲁⲩ
‘After saint Theodore the Easterner was crucified on a persea tree, a great sadness spread throughout the city of the kingdom on that day.’
Text: W. C. Till, KHML 2, 143–145. Summary and translation G. Schenke.
A papyrus leaf at the Pushkin Museum in Moscow, ed. Elanskaya, mentions a companion of Theodore, Leontios, the Arab (ⲗⲉⲟⲛⲧⲓⲟⲥ ⲡⲁⲣⲁⲃⲉⲩⲥ), attacking the leader of the Persian army, cutting off his right arm holding the sword. Theodore then asks him to bring that leader of the Persian to Antioch before the emperor Diocletian.
Composing and translating saint-related texts
Transmission, copying and reading saint-related texts
MiraclesMiraculous interventions in war
Source
Six pages of a former parchment codex preserve parts of the story of Theodore the Easterner. The fragments belong to collections in Naples/Rome (Z 148, pages 37–40) and Vienna (K 9398 and K 2853, both lacking page numbers). Layout and script suggest a date of manufacture somewhere in the 9th–11th century.A papyrus leaf at the Pushkin Museum in Moscow, I.1.b.308 (5405, Copt. 50), presumably from Edfu, and datable on palaeographical grounds to the 10th/11th century.
Bibliography
Text and German translation:Till, W.C., Koptische Heiligen- und Martyrlegenden. 2 vols. (Rome: Pont. institutum orientalium studiorum, 1935-36), vol. 1, 200–202; vol. 2, 143-145.
Text and English translation of the papyrus fragment in Moscow:
Elanskaya, A.I., The Literary Coptic Manuscripts in the A. S. Pushkin State Fine Arts Museum in Moscow (Leiden, 1994), 115–119.
Gesa Schenke
18/8/2017
| ID | Name | Name in Source | Identity | S00480 | Theodore, soldier and martyr of Amaseia and Euchaita | ⲑⲉⲟⲇⲱⲣ[ⲟⲥ ⲡⲁ]ⲛⲁⲧⲟⲗⲉⲩⲥ | Uncertain |
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Gesa Schenke, Cult of Saints, E03575 - http://csla.history.ox.ac.uk/record.php?recid=E03575