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The Cult of Saints in Late Antiquity


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


Coptic rent agreement from Hermopolis (Middle Egypt), mentioning a monastery dedicated to *John the Baptist (S00020) and a confraternity presumably of the same saint; datable to the 8th century.

Evidence ID

E06816

Type of Evidence

Late antique original manuscripts - Papyrus sheet

Documentary texts - Lease or rental document

P.Lond.Copt. I 1023 = BM 1023

The fragmentary document mentions the institution and the confraternity in line 2–3 as follows:

ⲛⲫⲁⲅⲓⲟ]ⲥ ⲓⲱϩⲁⲛⲏⲥ ⲙⲡⲡⲉⲣⲓⲡⲟⲧⲏⲥ ϩⲓⲧⲛ ⲁⲡⲁ . . . . ⲡ]ⲇⲓⲁⲇⲟⲭⲟⲥ ⲙⲛ ⲡⲥⲉⲉⲡⲉ ⲙⲡⲉⲫⲓⲗⲟⲡⲟⲛ[ⲟⲥ]

‘… of saint] John in the Peripatos, represented through Apa …, the
diadochos, and the rest of the confraternity …’


(Text W. E. Crum; trans. G. Schenke)

Cult Places

Cult building - monastic

Places Named after Saint

Monastery
Hospital and other charitable institutions

Source

The papyrus document BM Or. 5999 is kept in the British Museum in London and was dated on palaeographical grounds.


Discussion

For the same institution see E06815 and E02163.


Bibliography

Text and comments:
Crum, W.E., Catalogue of the Coptic Manuscripts in the British Museum (P.Lond.Copt. I) (London, 1905), 426.


Record Created By

Gesa Schenke

Date of Entry

17/10/2018

Related Saint Records
IDNameName in SourceIdentity
S00020John the BaptistⲓⲱϩⲁⲛⲏⲥCertain


Please quote this record referring to its author, database name, number, and, if possible, stable URL:
Gesa Schenke, Cult of Saints, E06816 - http://csla.history.ox.ac.uk/record.php?recid=E06816