Open-access edition and translation of Galen’s “Peri Alupias” (On grief) and “On my own opinions”

Posted on by Roger Pearse

I’ve written before about the discovery of a fascinating work by the 2nd century physician, Galen, describing the loss of libraries and his own research collection in a fire in Rome.  Now an edition of it, with English translation, plus another work, has come online, open-access:

Galen,, Polemis, Ioannis and Xenophontos, Sophia. ›On Avoiding Distress‹ and ›On My Own Opinions‹, Berlin, Boston: De Gruyter, 2023. https://doi.org/10.1515/9783111320816

It’s online here in PDF form.  This is how things should be.

H/t Scott D. Hendricks at Bluesky.

A letter of Peter of Alexandria to a bishop who apostasised in the persecution under Diocletian

Posted on by Roger Pearse

In the Acts of St Colluthus, which record events in May 304 AD, the persecutor Arianus attempts to get Colluthus the physician to apostasise by sacrificing to the gods.

Not that Arianus, nor the emperor Diocletian who set him to work, actually believed in the gods.  The demand was made precisely because it was known to be  one that a Christian could not accept, and would cease to be a Christian if he did.  Once he had done so, his Christian identity was gone.  This tactic is a standard one, even today, wherever men do evil to each other, which is often these days.

As part of the process of confusing his victim, Arianus tells of other Christian leaders who have buckled and conformed:

There was Apollonius, the bishop of Siout; his people were most understanding about him, and took a dignified view of his prudence, since he did not wish to be disobedient, or to be brought to court and hear all this rigmarole, but he proceeded of his own accord into the temple and sacrificed in full view of every one, with the vessels of libation in his hand, standing there and offering up sacrifice; he is not at all ashamed, and every one honours him. . . . Then there was Plutarchus, the bishop of Sbeht; this man for the excellence of his wisdom is worthy of all respect. He was prudent and reverenced the Emperor’s gods, and offered up sacrifice to them; and look at him now! He is alive, with every one who sacrificed with him, and is bishop over them.

Arianus uses a standard tactic: isolate the victim, try to convince him that “everyone else is doing it”, and “nobody is watching” and “it’s just this once”.  It is a warning to us that whatever course we are considering is a very bad one.  And of course, once the victim agrees, there is the despair that accompanies a violated conscience, and suddenly “you did it before” becomes the game.

Colluthus also knows the tactic.  Wisely he says as little as possible, wisely, except to refuse to sacrifice.  The persecutor intends to try to confuse his victim.  The only response is not to engage.

Interestingly we have a letter to this Apollonius of Siout (or Assiout) from his patriarch, Peter of Alexandria, rebuking him. It was published in 1973 by Henry Chadwick.  1  It is unusual that we have this.  As Chadwick rightly observes:

It was natural for the church to remember with pride the names and ‘birthdays’ of the martyrs who had died in the great persecution, and equally natural that the names of apostates were not recorded. Lapse, whether by preference or by weakness, had taken them out of the community, and there could be nothing but grief and embarrassment in the later recall of their concession to diabolical forces. No one had a motive for advertising their number or even existence. There was every reason to hush up the awkward facts, especially if the apostate had been a divine of some eminence…2

The opening of the letter, which is all that we have, survives in Paris MS copte 131 (1), fol. 1r-v (online here).  This is a single damaged leaf from a parchment codex, which has ancient page numbers on it – 67 and 68. The leaf is good quality and dates to the 9-10th century.  The modern “manuscript” is actually a collection of leaves from the White Monastery in Sohag, purchased in Cairo from dealers in 1885.  If so, possibly further leaves exist somewhere.  It would be nice to have the rest of the letter!  Anyone know?

Peter, it seems, was working hard to support his flock in this difficult time.  He worked to support, against the attempts of the persecutors to isolate.  He worked to get the victims to “bounce back” rather than allow their persecutors to use their integrity against him and despair.  He asks plaintively why Apollonius allowed himself to be drawn in by the twisted words of the interrogator.  He offers healing, instead of despair.  This is a wise pastor at work.

Here is the English translation, from which I have removed brackets, italics, and so forth, and added paragraphing for readability:

. . .  Epistle of …  Peter the Archbishop of Alexandria, which he wrote to Apollonius the Bishop of Sioout after he heard that he had fallen away when he fell down into the pit of idolatry.

I am grieved indeed for this sheep who has strayed—or rather for this shepherd whom the evil hunter has caught and has caused him to stray to him … and has brought him low through the awakening of evil thoughts and the idolatry of those whom I consider to fall away through a fateful mis-step and to have betrayed their own selves. As for you, poor wretch, perhaps Apollinarius has dragged you down with him into the pit of destruction since the writing of your name and his begin with the same letters!

I am at a loss about you, where your wits have gone, that you have not had the wit to turn back and escape, and have not had the wit to exercise yourself and escape by means of others who have their wits about them, before you were ruined. If you had given yourself over to me before you were ruined, I would by all means have helped you, as I did in the case of another who came to me and I helped him, namely Basil the Persian.

When this man came in to us, he saw us in our chamber praying, and wondered at us. I said to him ‘Do you not worship God in this way?’ He said ‘No’. I said to him ‘What is the manner of your belief ?’ He said ‘I believe in the sun, and the moon, and water, and fire, as illuminators of the whole world.’ And when I heard this, I wept; and when I wept, my tears poured upon him, and I baptized him with them; and when he saw me weeping, he him­self wept as well; and thus if was that he acknowledged the Godhead, and believed even as I had told him; and I evangelized him with the Faith.

But as for you, Apollonius, why have you not made haste to save yourself from the snare in which you have been caught ? If you had paid heed thoroughly, God would have given you strength. I wonder at you, that you should join in debate with the enemies of Him in Whose holy Name you were baptized.

Who has put this beast’s heart in you? I do not know.

You have established  . . . a faith worthy of veneration. What has happened to you? Tell me! Speak to me, you who have been separated by error from the Godhead. Know the Faith of the Almighty! Say yourself, ‘My God, convert me … .’

It is truly a shame, the denial which has caught you in a trap, and something from which there is no escape. Who suggested to you treason like this? I had no intimation of your evil disposition before today; else I could not have borne to refrain from sending to you to correct you. In whom have you baptized, brother? Have you not baptized . . .

The fragment ends there.  Both Apollinarius and Basil the Persian are otherwise unknown.

Here’s the beginning of the leaf.  Note the words “Epistole” and “Petros” in column 1, lines 1 and 2.

H/t to Alin Suciu whose blog made me aware that the MS was online.  Thank you!

  1. This was published in J. Barns & H. Chadwick, “A letter ascribed to Peter of Alexandria,” in: Journal of Theological Studies, New Series 24 (1973) pp. 443-455. URL: https://www.jstor.org/stable/23962128.[↩]
  2. Page 446.[↩]

A few musings on Colluthus and Coptic and copyright infringement

Posted on by Roger Pearse

I’m still pottering around in the Coptic martyrology area, especially with regard to the Great Persecution of the church under Diocletian.  I have  a translation of another version of the Acts of St Colluthus to upload, although a valueless one.  I’ve been looking for the other texts about the same saint – two encomiums – with limited success.

But it is terribly difficult simply to find stuff in Coptic.  Today, by accident, I discovered that all the Coptic material about Colluthus has recently been collected and critically edited, with German translation.  This is Gesa Schenke, “Das koptisch hagiographische Dossier des Heiligen Kolluthos”, Corpus Scriptorum Christianorum Orientalium volume 450, Louvain: Peeters (2013).

Obviously this is great news: except for two minor details.  The first detail is that I did not come across this earlier.  I have been googling relentless for some days about Colluthus, and reading books and articles, without ever becoming aware of the existence of this book.  I have now added it to the Wikipedia page for St Colluthus, if only to spare others the same experience.  With luck this will now bubble up into AI responses.

The other issue is that the book is not online; not even, as far as I can tell, in the pirate libraries which eke out their shadowy existence on the fringes of the web, ever pursued by the agents of the publishing industry.  The reason for this is fairly straightforward: it was published by Peeters in the CSCO series.

The CSCO series is vast.  I have no idea what it contains, myself, and if I don’t, nobody does.  Peeters carry out a marvellous function, in creating this great archive of obscure oriental texts.  But I can only imagine that they sell almost exclusively to research libraries that subscribe to the series  and don’t care what the price is.  Because that single volume is 120 euros, all by itself.

In fairness I suspect that collections of PDFs are circulated among orientalist students.  How else could they work?  This used to happen with the Sources Chrétiennes series, although it is now some years since any zip file came my way.

I don’t like the idea of depriving the publishers of these series of the revenue from sales.  That’s how they fund their work.  On the other hand starving students and poverty-stricken pensioners are not going to be able to buy volumes anyway.  So we have the situation where PDFs exist and are tolerated, at least to some extent.  I have no idea what the answer is.

I could take a day of my life, drive a couple of hours up a road studded with speed cameras to a research library with inadequate parking, locate a copy of Schenke and spend some time at the photocopier with the pages of interest. But I don’t think that I will.  All the same, if you want Colluthus texts and translations, Schenke’s volume is the place to look.

The actions during the Diocletianic persecution of the provincial governor of the Thebaid, Satyrus Arianus, look like an interesting subject.  A papyrus which I translated in my last post mentioned him.  There are apparently others.  But it is strangely difficult to locate these things using Google, or even Papyri.info.

In fact this seems to be a general theme with Coptology.  Hardly anybody knows anything about it, and, if you try, it’s really hard to find out anything.  Oh well.

The trial of St Colluthus ca. 304 AD – a literal transcription of the court proceedings

Posted on by Roger Pearse

St Colluthus was tried and executed in the Great Persecution ordered by the emperor Diocletian, in May 304.  Unusually we have a near-exact transcript of his appearance before the Roman provincial governor.  This was Satyrus Arianus, whose activity against the church is recorded in a number of papyri. The opening and closing paragraphs are clearly later additions, perhaps rubrics.

Unlike the dreary fictional martyrdoms, in which the saint is insolent, gives long speeches full of bible quotes, miracles take place, and the prosecutor is a pantomime villain, this account shows the banal reality of such persecutions.  A superficially genial prosecutor tries to break down the resistance of the victim with a mixture of fake reasonableness, social pressure, gas-lighting and victim-blaming.  The tactic was doubtless used many times before on men of some social class – Colluthus was a physician – and probably effectively. In response the saint wisely says as little as possible.

The translation here has been extracted from E.A.E. Reymond and J.W.B. Barns (edd.), Four martyrdoms from the Pierpont Morgan Coptic codices, Oxford (1973), pp.145-150 and 11-13. This is a difficult book to access and use, but is full of good things.  I have removed formatting elements likely to obstruct the general reader.  The footnotes are mainly mine.  (The professional reader should of course access the printed book, not this post.)

Translation

The martyrology of the holy martyr of Christ Colluthus, and the physician and healer of every one who partakes of the body and blood of Christ in purity; he fulfilled his contest on the twenty-fourth day of Pashons;[1] in God’s peace, Amen.

It happened in the twentieth year of the emperors Diocletian and Maximinian (sic), the transgressors, and in the third year of Constantine, on the twenty-fourth day of Pashons,[2] that the holy Colluthus was set upon the tribunal of Antinoou.[3]

Arianus the governor said to the holy Colluthus, “If you want to be saved, do sacrifice, and you shall live. All these people present are praying for you to see sense. If shame is what restrains you, arising from vanity, well, now, show some shame before me; do sacrifice, and you will be saved. For so far you have shown no shame before any one worth your shame. Colluthus, reverence the Emperor’s gods, so that you do not perish miserably.”

The holy Colluthus answered, “The glory of this world is temporal, but the glory of the Kingdom of Heaven is eternal life.”

The governor said to him, “The tortures of the law-court are many and if there were some one present today accusing you, you would do your best not to be defeated in any argument; do not accuse your own self, and kill yourself. For your own people who are present are grieved for your sake. Let them see you sacrifice, and rejoice with you. Moreover, the administrator of lodgement[4]—that is, myself—has won no credit for his place of giving lodgement for this matter. Let every one see your good sense and admire you.

“Moreover, if there is any affair or consideration between you and any one, that other person will certainly be present to your discomfiture;[5] do not spite your own self. For when death comes peacefully and naturally, people console themselves, for they call it ‘the lot of mankind’, since it is the fate of every one; but in this place where you are now sentence is passed upon murderers and temple robbers and violators of graves and debauchees and adulterers and villains—no respectable person is brought out from here and destroyed. But if there is any one who has flouted the law, it is evident to every one that what has betrayed such a person is not wisdom, but an insanity of conceit; just as robbers are reckless of death for robbery’s sake.

“Now I have been lenient with you so far, so that you may see sense and live a life of liberty like any free man. . . . Colluthus, why don’t you speak to me when I am speaking to you?”

The holy Colluthus said, “It is not fitting for me to make a long speech before a governor.”

The governor said to him, “Do sacrifice, Colluthus!”

The saint said, “I will not sacrifice”

The governor said to him, “Indeed you have not obeyed me and sacrificed to the gods about whom the Emperor has written to me. I shall consume your body by fire. But this shall not happen yet, in case you wish to consider with yourself.”

The saint answered, “I have already considered with myself before I came here to you.”

The advocates said to him, “Grant him a few days, if you please.” Arianus said to the advocates, “He looks to me as if he wants to, and has changed his mind.” The governor said to him, “Do you want to wait a few days, to think the matter over? For I can see it in your face—it shows me that you want to be saved.”

The saint made no answer at all. . .

The governor said to him, “Are you ashamed to admit it?”

The saint said to him, “A word is enough to the wise.”[6]

The governor had the fire laid before the blessed Colluthus. The governor said to them[7], “Stop, don’t do him any harm yet.”

Then the governor turned to the holy Colluthus and said to him, “Be sensible now, and do as you are told. There was Apollonius, the bishop of Siout;[8] his people were most understanding about him, and took a dignified view of his prudence, since he did not wish to be disobedient, or to be brought to court and hear all this rigmarole, but he proceeded of his own accord into the temple and sacrificed in full view of every one, with the vessels of libation in his hand, standing there and offering up sacrifice; he is not at all ashamed, and every one honours him. . . . Well now, speak to me, Colluthus, and you shall be in especial honour. . . . Then there was Plutarchus, the bishop of Sbeht;[9] this man for the excellence of his wisdom is worthy of all respect. He was prudent and reverenced the Emperor’s gods, and offered up sacrifice to them; and look at him now! He is alive, with every one who sacrificed with him, and is bishop over them. As for you, Colluthus, it is a governor who is pleading with you, and advising you! The governorship has humbled itself for you. Let it be enough to have done what you have in the matter of the books, when you were persuaded by your God and did not burn them.[10]

“There was a man here today on a charge of murder. That man wants to live; but as for you, Colluthus, something evil possesses you, to make you destroy yourself with murderers! Don’t you see the beauty of this pleasant weather? There will be no pleasure to come your way if you kill your own self. But listen to me and you will be saved.”

The holy Colluthus said to him, “The death which is coming to me is more pleasant than the life which you would give me,”

The governor said to him, “So you do not realize that I have authority to chastise you? Come now, use your reason like a sensible man, and listen to me.”

The holy Colluthus said to him, “Whoever listens to you will bring his own death upon him­self. But I will not forsake my Lord Jesus Christ.”

The governor said to him, “Look at all these people with their tears streaming down as they see you standing on the tribunal—and you have shown no pity on your own self, but you are disobedient. Now, listen to me and sacrifice, and you shall live.”

The saint said to him, “This life is indeed no life to me, but death.”

And straightway he ordered him to be set up on the rack.[11]

The governor said to him, “You do not need any one to ask you— do you want me to grant you some more days?”

Besamon the advo­cate said, “Yes, that is his wish.”

The governor said to him, “What do you want? Say, and I will do it for you.”

Jeremias the chief advocate said, “My lord, this is indeed what he wishes—that you should bear with him for a few days more; for his silence tells us this; (we know) from his demeanour.”

The governor said, “Colluthus, why don’t you speak? Which do you want me to do—to sentence you, or to be lenient with you?”

The righteous man said to him, “Do what you like.”

The governor said to him, “Thus far till now I have been lenient with you. If you for your part will only be lenient with yourself, then I shall be all the more pleased.”

The saint said to him, “Your kindness constrains me to say a word more.”

The governor said to him, “Now I have begun to hear a good word from you. For this kind of speech tells me that you want me to leave you for a few more days.”

The holy Colluthus said to the governor, “What are these words of comfort which you are saying? I will no longer listen to you and be misled so as to forsake my God; but I am rather confirmed in His Faith. And I am ready to bear anything for the sake of His holy Name; for the torments of this world are nothing, but the torments of God are great, and eternal, and there is none who shall be able to hide in His presence.”

The governor ordered a great stone to be hung upon his neck. The governor said to him, “Colluthus, do not say a word to me about anything but the matter which we are hoping for—that you will obey the law of the Emperors.” But the saint spoke no word at all.

The governor said to him, “Think scorn of this vain glory which will be of no profit to you! Turn now, man, and take for yourself a glory worthy of respect.”

The saint said to him, “The glory of my Lord Jesus Christ will preserve me for ever.”

The governor said to him, “We are not demanding from you a contest of words with us, but we are demanding from you an urgent matter—that you should be persuaded by us and sacrifice to the gods. Well, then, consider with yourself.”

The holy Colluthus said to him, “Do not detain me any more.”

The governor said to him, “You have been ordered to be wise and not show contempt of the court. “

The holy Colluthus said to him, “I have been wise all the time; and I came here in pursuit of the wisdom of my Lord Jesus Christ.”

The governor said to the members of the entourage, “There, you see; I have used every possible means with him in the hope of saving him; and you see how he would not listen and be saved. I am just not going to tolerate him for another single moment.”

The members of the entourage said, “Sentence him; he deserves to die, for he has dared to mislead us, and he made us a promise and broke it, when he mocked us and did not sacrifice.”

The holy Colluthus said to them, “I said no word which it was not proper to say.”

The governor said to him, “Sacrifice and be sensible.”

The saint said to him, “I will not sacrifice, neither will I listen to your stupid arguments.”

The governor was angry, and said to him, “If you will not sacrifice, hear your sentence, which you have earned: I order you to be burned alive.”

The holy Colluthus said, “I thank You, my Lord Jesus Christ, that I have been deemed worthy of Your grace, to die for the sake of Your holy Name.”[12] And he was taken out to be burned.

Now that day was the twenty-fourth of the month Pashons, and the holy Colluthus fulfilled his martyrdom, and his soul was taken up to heaven in glory, and he made festival with the angels, and all the saints rejoiced with him through the grace and compassion of our Lord Jesus Christ; with whom is the glory of the Father and the Holy Spirit, for ever and ever, Amen.

Footnotes

[1] May 19th – in the Coptic Synaxarion it is Bashons 25th.

[2] May 304.  The earliest certainly known date for Arianus as provincial governor (Praeses) of the Thebaid is 305/6; see P. Oxy. 2665.  This is one of a number of administrative letters about seizing church property.  In this case it involves seizing the personal property of a Christian named Paulus.  He has already been sentenced by Arianus, who is named as the “hegemon of the Thebaid, Satrius Arianus” (τοῦ διασημοτάτου ἡγουμένου Θ̣η̣βαίδος Σατρίου Ἀριανου).  The officials write that there is no evidence in the land registry that Paulus owns any property.  Transcription URL: https://papyri.info/current/16870.  Translation with assistance from ChatGPT: “In the consulship of our lords the Emperors Constantius and Maximian, the Augusti…

To Aurelius Hierakion, also called Dionysius, gymnasiarch and councillor, and to … prytanis of the illustrious and most illustrious city of the Oxyrhynchites, and to …mus, gymnasiarch, and to Sarapion, advocates (syndikoi) of the same city.  We, Aurelius …, also called Heraclianus, formerly high priest, and Agathinus, exegete, both councillors of the same city and custodians of the archives of the same nome, send greetings to our esteemed friends.

You have written to us stating that Aurelius Athanasius, procurator of the privata in Egypt, had ordered—through the letter which he wrote in accordance with the divine command of our sovereign Emperors and Caesars, and in accordance with the letters sent to him by Neratius Apollonides—that the property belonging to Paulus, from the Oxyrhynchite nome, should, pursuant to the decision submitted by the most distinguished governor of the Thebaid, Satrius Arianus, be transferred to the accounts of the treasury and that a written report should be furnished.

Therefore, having investigated thoroughly using the records deposited in the archives, we declare that Paulus possesses nothing, nor is he registered in any way in the records deposited in the archives, nor do we know that his wife has anything; the aforesaid Paulus does not appear to be registered in the same records in the public archives.

(Second hand:) I pray that you remain well, dear friends.

(First hand:) Dated in the year … of our lords Constantius and Maximian, the Augusti, and of Maximinus, most illustrious Caesars …”

[3] Antinoupolis, or Antinoe.  In Colluthus 2, the trial is at Shmoun (Hermopolis Magna).

[4] A legal term for the court-proceedings.

[5] Colluthus seems to have been informed against, and Arianus indicates that his accuser is present.

[6] This Christian response to attempts to entrap them may originate (H. Chadwick, JTS NS 20 (1969), 645) in the New Comedy.

[7] Lit. “him”.

[8] The recipient of a letter from Peter of Alexandria, condemning his conduct.  Published with translation in J. Barns & H. Chadwick, “A letter ascribed to Peter of Alexandria,” in: Journal of Theological Studies, New Series 24 (1973) pp. 443-455. URL: https://www.jstor.org/stable/23962128

[9] Otherwise unknown.

[10] Diocletian’s edict to burn Christian scriptures.

[11] ἑρμητάριον, hermetarion/ermetarion. A torture rack or iron bed, but a machine of some complexity which frequently goes wrong in martyrdoms by divine intervention.  The definition in Lampe, “stake”, is misleading.

[12] These final words of Colluthus are not found in the Berlin palimpsest which also contains a version of the same text.

From my diary

Posted on by Roger Pearse

A book arrived through the post yesterday: E.A.E. Reymond & J.W.B. Barns, Four Martyrdoms from the Pierpont Morgan Coptic Codices, Oxford (1973). This contains the martyrdom of St Colluthus, plus an English translation.  I did try to order it by ILL, but something went wrong, and I gave up.  Needless to say they have now actioned it, just as the book from Amazon arrived.

Looking at it made me realise that I just do not read many – or any – physical paper books any more.  It’s all electronic.  My novels are on kindle, and my reference texts in PDF.  Anyway today I settled down to get to grips with it.

But it’s a funny old thing.  There’s a long and rambling introduction, which needed the attention of an editor badly.  It’s as if the authors just decided to talk around the subject, darting off here and there.  It’s full of interest, but compared to modern introductions, organised by topic with headings, it is very frustrating.  It really resists the reader.  This is a black mark on Oxford University Press, who should have demanded better.

This is followed by the Coptic text for all four martyrdoms – which has NOT been typeset!  Instead the pages are reproductions of hand-written sheets.  It’s incredible that in 1973 the press issued a volume without typesetting.  Oxford has been typesetting Coptic since the 18th century.  So what on earth happened here?

This is followed by translations of the four texts.  These are plainly designed as cribs.  Mysteriously various parts of the translation are in italics.  The introduction offers no clue.  Fortunately a couple of these were in the first line.  I wondered if these were words not in the original, as in the old KJV bible translation.  But this was impossible.  I looked at the tiny, handwritten Coptic, and then at the indexes – also handwritten! – and realised that these words in Italics were the Greek words like “martyrologion” embedded in the Coptic.  A footnote would have helped.

I think a bit of user-friendly formatting may help with the readability of the translation, so I will try this.

The introduction does contain interesting material.  For one thing, I learned that even Hippolyte Delahaye, the great Bollandist hagiographer of the early 20th century, thought that Coptic martyrdoms were pretty bad.  I feel better now, after concluding the same about yesterday’s texts.

For another, I learn that the martyrdom of St Colluthus reads a lot like a Roman trial record, rather than a made-up hagiography.  The prosecutor Arianus is a historical figure, attested elsewhere, with his genial, polished routine of getting prisoners to sacrifice to the gods.  Arianus refers to one bishop who has done so, as a way to pressure the victim; and apparently a letter from a patriarch to that bishop exists, unpublished in 1973, bollocking him for doing so.  This deserves investigation.

I wondered about the editor, E.A.E. Reymond (1923-1986).  Apparently there is an entry for her in M. L. Bierbrier, “Who was who in Egyptology”, 5th edition (2019), p.391; but this is not accessible to me.  A google search tells me that her name was Eva Anne Elisabeth Jelínková-Reymond, known as Eve, and professionally as E. A. E. Reymond.  She was a Czech scholar of Demotic, and worked as a research assistant at CNRS up to 1957, then at Cambridge (1955-1960), then as a lecturer, then reader in Coptic at the University of Manchester from 1960 onwards, although curiously she published nothing on Coptic until 1973.  Her publications are all technical.  She must have had an interesting life somewhere.  I had thought about creating a Wikipedia page for her – if the people who control the site would allow it – but I really do not have enough information.

Two miracle stories of St Colluthus from the White Monastery

Posted on by Roger Pearse

As I wrote earlier, the first pages – parchment – to arrive in Europe from the library White Monastery at Sohag in Egypt were leaves of a life of the incredibly obscure St Colluthus (or Coluthus), containing two stories of miracles that took place at his shrine.  These were published by Francesco Borgia in 1781; the Coptic text and a Latin translation.

I thought that it might be interesting to translate these into English; as far as I know, no modern language version exists.  Unfortunately I was unable to work with the printed Coptic, so I had to use the Latin.

The stories are mutilated, unfortunately, and neither is very interesting nor – to me at least – edifying.  Rather they document the kinds of superstition circulating in Egypt in the Dark Ages.

Let me give the English first, and then the modern Latin translation from which I made it.

MIRACLE 1

“…I will give you the healing of your eyes, and difficulty will not cause it to fail you, in the course [of events].” The man said, “I wish to find a woman who has recently given birth, so that I may complete the work which has been commanded to me by Saint Colluthus.”  The woman said, “I will fill your eyes with milk from my breasts.” Then that man, whose eyes were diseased, said to her, “Show kindness to me: behold, you see my torment and my affliction.”

Her husband said to her, because he remained unbelieving, “Do not do this, lest perhaps those who slander you should mock you.”  She said, “Mock me? Why? For I believe, through the faith of my noble lineage and the teaching of my Fathers, that if I fill his eyes with milk from my breasts, he will see through the power of Saint Colluthus.”  Then she said to him, “Have people ever seen me as someone worthy of ridicule? Was I ever a wanton woman? Or have they said in their hearts that a man has had relations with me other than intercourse with you, my husband?  Behold, I call you all as witnesses today, all who hear me. I swear to you by Saint Colluthus, and by the oblation of the Christians,** [i.e. the mass] and by the sufferings which Christ endured on the cross, that I have had no relations with any man since I was given in marriage. From my mother’s womb I came to my husband only. And when has my flesh been touched by a strange man? Has not the Lord heard me, seeing my need?”

And so, taking her milk, she filled the man’s eyes. And she said, “In the name of the power of Saint Colluthus the true doctor” and then his eyes poured out waters, and these flowed out abundantly.

Immediately after this, he opened them, saying, “I believe in you, Saint Colluthus!” and at the same time he cried out to his people, “Behold, I have received my sight, so that I can distinguish a little.”

The woman said to him, “Allow me to fill them again another time.” And the man blessed her, saying, “May the Lord preserve you until His hands reach you.”** [i.e. his purpose is complete] When she filled his eyes a second time, these [waters] flowed out more abundantly.

A little later he opened them again. He looked here and there and said, “Truly, this time I see well.”

Again, after a short while, the woman said to that man, “Allow me to fill them once more also; for I believe that you will have health.”  Then she signed her whole body and her breasts with the sign of the cross, in the name of Christ. She filled his eyes with milk a third time, saying, “In the name of God and of Saint Colluthus.” Then the woman said to him, “Close your eyes for a little while, and may the grace of God and of Saint Colluthus be with you.”

And this noble woman, confirmed greatly in faith, was strengthened because she saw the healing which had gradually been accomplished for him. After a little while he opened his eyes again. The household servants were present at night, and at that time he saw the light truly and perfectly.

Then that man rose up in great joy. He walked, washed his face in a basin, and cried out, saying, “You are great, to you I give glory, O God of Saint Coluthus, because I have been made worthy that you should grant me the grace of light, just as it was for me at the beginning.”  And all the people who had entered the martyr’s shrine, together with those who had gone out, came together. They looked upon him rejoicing greatly because he was seeing this light.

Indeed, that man also, who considered the wrong which he had done to his wife, praised her and confessed before Saint Colluthus, saying, “Behold, I have been healed in body and in my soul, because I have been made worthy to come to this place of yours.”  The woman’s parents also came with her brothers and her people, rejoicing, blessing and glorifying [God], saying, “Blessed are you among women, O our sister and our daughter, because today you have received glory in the midst of many, since you have put to shame the multitude of men and women through your nobility. For the multitude thought, O our daughter, that they would find fault with you because of your noble birth, your kindness, and your sweet speech.” At this time Saint Colluthus revealed the glory of his greatness and his nobility through the greatness of the healings which he performed for those who were sick and who believed in him.

After these things, each person went away with him to his own house.  They honoured the martyr’s shrine of Saint Coluthus: they ate and drank in his place, and they returned home giving glory to God and to Saint Coluthus.

MIRACLE 2

Hear also another great miracle which was performed through Saint Colluthus.

Again a mutilated man was brought forward who had absolutely no power to walk on his feet: likewise his hands were withered. He did not lift up his step, but moved along by dragging his body over the ground, just as little children go, crawling upon the earth, and he was brought into that holy place.  Then he lay in the martyr’s shrine, praying to God and calling upon Saint Colluthus for the healing of his body, that healing might be given to him.  And he groaned day and night, weeping many times, crying out in great anguish of spirit, he said, “Help me, physician and healer! For this reason I flee to you, my lord, and to this your holy martyr’s shrine, that you may have mercy upon my lowliness.” All the people were greatly distressed because of him, crying out, “Truly he suffers.”

After all these things, Saint Colluthus, the physician and accomplisher of healings, had mercy on him. He came to him in a vision at night. He stood over him and said to him, “Do you know me?” He answered, “No, my lord. Who are you, who appear surrounded by the greatness of glory?” He said to him in the vision, “I am Coluthus the physician. I heal all people who have faith, freely, and I desire to receive no payment from anyone whatsoever.” The man said to him, “My lord, may your mercy embrace me, for I am in very great anguish.”

Saint Colluthus said to him in the vision, “Rise at dawn. Walk using your hands and your feet, and enter the city. To any man or woman who meets you in the city say, ‘Where is the house of Mary the prostitute?’ They will show it to you. And if they ask you, ‘Why?’ say to them, ‘I wish to spend the night with her; I will give her her payment.’  Do not fear, and do not be ashamed. For a great gift and a great grace will come to that woman through you. She will abandon the shamefulness of her error; she will become honoured through this business of yours, when she hears of the mercy of your healing…”

Latin, somewhat normalised with quotation marks added:

MIRACULUM I. VERSIO.

“…Tibi dabo sanitatem oculorum tuorum: et difficultas non faciet eam tibi deficere, in directione.”  Dixit homo: “Volo invenire mulierem puerperam, ut perficiam opus, quod a Sancto Colutho iussum est mihi.”  Dixit mulier: “Ego implebo oculos tuos lacte ex uberibus meis.” Dixit autem ad eam vir ille, cuius oculi erant infirmi: “Fac caritatem mecum: ecce vides cruciatum meum, et afflictionem meam.”

Dixit illius maritus ad ipsam: in incredulitate quia manens erat, “Ne hoc facito, ne forte detrectatores deriserint te .” Dixit illa: “Deriserint me? Quare? Ego enim per fidem nobilitatis meae, et doctrinam Patrum meorum credo, quod si implevero illius oculos lacte ex uberibus meis, ille videbit per virtutem Sancti Coluthi: dicens ei: “An aliquando viderunt me homines deridendam?” aut fui voluptuosa, aut dixerunt in corde suo, quod homo communionem habuit mecum praeter tui, mariti mei, consuetudinem? Ecce testor vobis hodie, quotquot estis qui me auditis : iuro vobis per Sanctum Coluthum, et per oblationem Christianorum, et per cruciatus , quos Christus passus est in cruce, quod communionem non habui cum homine ex quo fui nuptui tradita. Veni ab utero matris meae ad maritum meum solum. Et quando caro mea tacta est a viro alieno? Nonne Dominus exaudivit me videns necessitatem meam?

Et sic accepto lacte suo implevit oculos hominis: et sic dicebat: “In nomine virtutis Sancti Coluthi modici veri:” et sic oculi eius effuderunt aquas, et hae defluxerunt multum.

Inter haec autem statim eos aperuit dicens: “Credo tibi sancte Coluthe:” et eodem tempore exclamavit ad homines suos dicens: “Ecce visum recepi, ita ut parumper discernam.”

Dixit mulier ad eum: “Sine ut eos impleam alia vice.”  At homo benedixit ei dicens: “Dominus conservabit te quousque pertigerint manus eius.”  Illa vero ut implevit oculos eius secundo, aquam hi emiserunt copiosius.

Paullo post iterum eos aperuit: respexit huc et illuc dicens: “Vere video hac vice bene.”

Rursus post paullulum dixit mulier ad hominem illum: “Sine ut eos impleam alia etiam vice; etenim credo, quod sanitas erit tibi.”  Ipsa porro signavit corpus suum omne, et ubera sua in nomine Christi, signaculo crucis: implevit oculos eius lacte tertia vice dicens: “In nomine Dei, et Sancti Coluthi.” Dixitque illi deinde mulier: “Claude oculos tuos parumper et gratia Dei, et S. Coluthi sit tibi.”  Eadem autem ingenua femina in fide, summopere confirmata est, quoniam vidit sanitatem, quae facta fuerat illi (homini) sensim.  Post paullulum eos aperuit : adfuerunt nocte domestici: eoque tempore vidit lucem vere, atque perfecte.

Homo vero ille surgens in magno gaudio, ambulavit, lavit faciem suam in pelvi, et exclamabat dicens: “Tu magnus es, tibi gloriam defero, O Deus Sancti Coluthi, quia factus sum dignus ut gratiam mihi concederes luminis, quemadmodum mihi erat in initio.” Et omnes homines, qui in martyrium ingressi erant cum iis qui exiverant, venerunt universi: eumque contemplati sunt gaudentem vehementer, quod hoc lumen aspiceret.

Verum et homo ille, qui consideravit malum, quod fecit mulieri suae, magnificans (eam) confessus est S. Colutho dicens: “Ecce sanatus sum in corpore, et in anima mea; quia factus sum dignus venire ad locum hunc tuum.” Parentes quoque mulieris cum eius fratribus eiusque hominibus venerunt gaudentes, benedicentes et glorificantes dicebant: “Benedicta tu inter mulieres, O soror nostra, et filia nostra, quia gloriam hodie accepisti in medio multorum, ex quo confudisti multitudinem hominum, atque mulierum per nobilitatem tuam. Multitudo enim putavit te, O filia nostra, deprehendere in nato propter nobilitatem generis, et comitatem, atque suavi loquentiam.” Hoc tempore Sanctus Coluthus manifestavit gloriam magnitudinis, et nobilitatis suae per magnitudinem sanationum, quas fecit illis, qui infirmi erant, et qui crediderunt ei.

Post haec unusquisque abiit cum eo in domum suam. Honorarunt martyrium Sancti Coluthi: manducarunt, biberunt in ipsius loco, et rediere domum dantes gloriam Deo, et Sancto Colutho.

MIRACULUM II. VERSIO.

Audite quoque magnum aliud miraculum, quod factum est per S. Coluthum. Adductus porro est et homo mutilus non habens vim ambulandi super pedibus suis omnino: erantque manus eius aridae simul : non equidem gressum extulit, sed incedebat trahendo corpus per humum, quemadmodum eunt filii parvuli raptantes se super terram: dimissusque est in illius loco sancto.  Erat autem iacens in martyrio deprecans Deum, interpellans S. Coluthum propter sanitatem corporis sui, ut ei fieret sanatio.  Et ingemiscebat die ac nocte plorans etiam multoties: vociferans in magnis angoribus animi dicebat: “Adiuva me medice, sanator; ob id enim confugio ad te, domine mi, et ad tuum hocce martyrium sanctum, ut misereatis vilitatis meae.”   Homines vero omnes affligebantur vehementer propter eum clamantes: “Vere cruciatur.”

Post haec autem omnia misertus est illius S. Coluthus medicus sanationum effector.  Venit ad eum in visione noctis: stetit super eum, dixitque illi: “Nostine me?” Respondit ei: “Non, domine mi: tu quis es, qui inveniris magnitudine gloriae circumdatus.” Dixit ei in visione; “Ego sum Coluthus medicus, et homines quosque habentes fidem sano omnes gratis, et nullius omnino mercedem accipere cupio.” Dixit illi: “Domine mi, misericordia tua complectatur me, quoniam ego in angoribus sum nimis.” Dixit ei S. Coluthus in visione: “Surge tu diluculo ambula manibus, pedibusque tuis, et ingredere civitatem: et homini, aut mulieri occurrentibus tibi in civitate dic eis: ‘Quaenam est domus Mariae fornicariae?’ Illi eam tibi indicent. Et si te interrogaverint: ‘quare?’ dic illis: ‘Volo noctem cum ea transigere : dabo ei mercedem suam.’ Ne timeas, et ne verecunderis; magnum enim donum, et magna gratia fiet mulieri illi per te. Deseret turpitudinem erroris sui: fiet illustris tua hac occasione, quum audiverit misericordiam sanationis tuae….”

I hope this will prove useful.

A 3rd century papyrus conjugating γράφω in the indicative

Posted on by Roger Pearse

Here is a truly fascinating item.  It’s a leaf of papyrus from Oxyrhynchus.  On it, someone has drawn out a table of the forms of the Greek verb γράφω (“I write”)!

Here’s a splendid image of the verso:

What is displayed here is the forms of the verb, and these are labelled, much as they would be in a modern text.  How fascinating to see this!

The first side of the papyrus, the recto, shows the perfect and pluperfect indicative active forms.

This side of the papyrus, the verso, shows the middle/passive forms.  Indeed at the top of the page it states “τούτων παθητικὰ ἐνεστῶτος” = “The present passive forms of these”.  Then there is a line of dashes below.  In the margins, letters indicating whether each block is singular, dual, or plural.

The first blocks on the left are the present indicative middle/passive.  These start with “alpha” – the singular, given as today in order, 1st person, 2nd person, 3rd person:

Γραφομαι
Γραφη
Γραφεται

Then a delta – “dual” and then these forms:

γραφόμεθον
γράφεσθον
γράφεσθον

Then a pi – “plural” against these forms:

γραφόμεθα
γράφεσθε
γράφοντο

Then a line and a fresh heading, “παρατατικού“, above the “imperfect” forms, this time with a leading epsilon.

In the right hand column are more forms.  The heading παρακειμένου precedes the perfect forms.  Then below the υπερσυντελισκοῦ, pluperfect.

Here is the published transcription (and reconstruction):

Somehow this is just wonderful to see, for anyone who has laboured over a grammar, memorising forms.

The papyrus and its transcription were published in 1940, in G. Zalateo, “Papiri Fiorentini inediti”, Aegyptus 20 (1940), pp.3-30, esp.8-11 (II.2); JSTOR.  The whole item is online here at PSI – Papiri della Società Italiana.  The papyrus itself is held at the “Istituto Papirologico «G. Vitelli»” – Vitelli Papyrological Institute, and has the shelfmark PSI inv. 204.

Here’s Zalateo’s 1940 introduction, passed through ChatGPT:

The papyrus comes from the excavation at Kôm Abu Teir (Oxyrhynchus), carried out by the Florentine Institute of Papyrology during the 1933 excavation campaign. Its quality is poor; it is light yellow in color; the handwriting is uncial, with numerous ligatures, yet clear and confident.

The sheet contains part of the conjugation of the verb γράφω (“I write”). Judging by the handwriting, one might think it was part of a school manual, albeit an inexpensive one. However, the numerous errors found in the conjugation suggest instead that it is a schoolboy’s exercise. Although the student evidently had very fine handwriting, he had not yet fully mastered the endings and characteristics of verbal conjugation.

Supporting this second hypothesis is a certain irregularity in the layout, both vertically—where the marginal abbreviations sometimes project farther out and sometimes are more indented—and horizontally. Moreover, the lines separating the different grammatical persons and moods vary considerably in shape and length, appearing to be the decorative flourishes of a young student. The erasure (line 20) seems to have been made with a wet finger, more discipulorum (“as schoolboys do”).

The papyrus, written on both sides in two columns, may have belonged to a student’s notebook, or it may have been a single sheet on which the student wrote an exercise consisting of the active and passive indicative conjugation of the verb γράφω.

The marginal abbreviations ᾱ, δ, π̄ refer to the grammatical numbers:

ᾱ = singular (ἐνικὸς ἀριθμός)
δ = dual (δυϊκὸς ἀριθμός)
π̄ = plural (πληθυντικὸς ἀριθμός)

In the footnotes, he notes various irregularities or mistakes in the forms given, and indeed a correction at one point.

But what a wonderful thing!  We may think of papyri as dull, but this is just marvellous to see.

H/t: I owe my knowledge of this papyrus to a post by Seth M. Ehorn of HCU on Twitter here, with interesting comments from Paul McKenna – thank you!

St Colluthus again, from a different Synaxarion

Posted on by Roger Pearse

I read that the first proper analysis of the Constantinople synaxarion – list of saints, quick details, and their saints’ day – is that in the Acta Sanctorum by H. Delahaye: Synaxarium ecclesiae Constantinopolitanum e codice Sirmondiano nunc Berolinensi.  This is online here.  He’s printing a Berlin manuscript, but giving material from other manuscripts.

Here’s the entry he gives for May 19th, column 695, line 35, with a ChatGPT output for it:

2. Τῇ αὐτῇ ἡμέρᾳ ἄθλησις τοῦ ἁγίου μάρτυρος Κολούθου.e Οὗτος ἦν ἐπὶ Μαξιμιανοῦ τοῦ βασιλέως ἐκ Θηβαΐδος τῆς Αἰγύπτου ἐν Ἑρμουπόλει· καὶ διὰ τὴν εἰς Χριστὸν ὁμολογίαν Ἀρριανῷ τῷ ἡγεμόνι προσηχθῇ καὶ μήτε κολακείας δελεασθεὶς μήτε τὰς ἀπειλὰς αὐτοῦ καταπτήξας, πρῶτον μὲν μεγέθει λίθου τὸν αὐχένα βαρύνεται, εἶτα τὴν διὰ πυρὸς λαμβάνει ἀπόφασιν· καὶ ἐν αὐτῷ βληθεὶς τελειοῦται.

On the same day, the contest of the holy martyr Coluthus. This man lived under the emperor Maximian, from the Thebaid of Egypt, in Hermopolis. And because of his confession of Christ, he was brought before the governor Arianus; and, having been neither enticed by flattery nor terrified by his threats, first his neck is weighed down by the weight of a stone; then he receives the sentence by fire; and, having been cast into it, he is perfected (i.e., brought to martyrdom).

I was hoping to give you a proper “Life” of St Colluthus by now, but my local library have let me down.  I placed an ILL for a volume before I went away, two weeks ago.  This they never acknowledged.  I wrote again today, and was ignored.  Possibly the staff member is on holiday. Tomorrow I will write to a more general email address and we will see.

The Menologium Graecorum of Basil II and the “Life” of St Colluthus

Posted on by Roger Pearse

In the 1781 publication of two Coptic fragments of the “Life” of St Colluthus, the preface begins by describing how the pages reached the hands of the owner, Francisco Borgia.  It then continues by printing the entry for St Colluthus from volume 3, pages 105-6, of the “Menologium Graecorum”.  Borgia prints only the Greek text and that full of ligatures.  I was, indeed, unable to read it.

“Menologium Graecorum” was the title of the first printed edition of the Synaxarion of the Greek church.  (A synaxarion is a liturgical book containing a list of the saints and their feast days with a short description). The editor was A. Albani:

ALBANI, Annibale (1682-1751). Menologium Graecorum. Urbino: Antonio Fantauzzi (17270,  3 vols.

At more length, the title is:

Menologium Graecorum jussu Basilii imperatoris Graece olim editum, munificentia et liberalitate … Benedicti XIII. In tres partes divisum nunc primum Graece, et Latine prodit, studio et opera Annibalis … card. Albani

The volumes are online:

Vol. 1 – https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_layxa_CFQpEC/page/n4/mode/1up

Vol. 2 – https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_nOmkHy194oUC/page/n3/mode/1up

Vol. 3 –  https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_4Bol8GjwYB0C/page/n5/mode/2up

While the text was edited by Cardinal Annibale Albani, it was compiled by Giuseppe Simonio Assemani, and came with a Latin parallel translation. This Borgia helpfully omitted.

Albani’s work is reprinted in the Patrologia Graeca vol. 117.  The Colluthus section is on col. 465-6.

Now the first two volumes were printed from a single deluxe physical manuscript – 430 miniatures! – of one of the recensions of the Synaxarion.  This manuscript is known as the Menologium of Basil II, dates to the late 10th century, and today is held in the Vatican, where the shelfmark is MS. Vat. gr. 1613.  It is also online here.  But it only includes the contents for the months of September to February.  Probably a second volume once existed, with the summer months.

So where did Albani find the text of his summer section, which he printed as volume 3?  In Albini’s preface, unnumbered page, we learn:

Secundo, semestrem alteram Partem, cujus initium à mense Martio ducitur, quamque Bollandiani Socii in monasterio Cryptae Ferratae repertam dicunt, à Joanne Francisco Albano iis Graecè Latinèque transmissam fuisse ante annum Christi 1668. quo mensem Martium ex Basiliano Menologio edidere, quemadmodum Joannes Ciampinus in Diario anni 1676. testatur.

Secondly, the other six-month portion, beginning with the month of March, which the Bollandists report having found at the monastery of Grottaferrata, had already been sent to them by Giovanni Francesco Albani in both Greek and Latin before 1668. In that year they published the March section of the Basilian Menologion, as Giovanni Ciampini records in his diary under the year 1676.”

As I learn from the Ashgate Research Companion to Byzantine Hagiography vol. 2, p.205, the manuscript used for the summer section, which is still at Grottaferrata, has the shelfmark MS Cryptensis Β.γ.III.  So that was used for our section of the book.

Colluthus’ saints’ day is 19 May.  So what does the work say about St. Colluthus?  Well, I was not going to fight with the Greek ligatures, so I used AI to transcribe and translate the Latin.

Ex certamen sancti Martyris Colluthi.

Martyr Christi Colluthus fuit, Imperatore Maximiano, ex Thebaide Aegypti urbe. Ob Christi autem confessionem ab idololatris comprehensus, praesidi regionis traditus est: a quo neque blanditiis illectus, neque minis perterritus, Christum libere profitebatur. Idcirco primum quidem ingenti saxo ad ejus collum alligato, inverso capite suspensus fuit. Cumque a lictoribus flagellaretur, dicebat: “Non sunt condignae passiones hujus temporis ad futuram gloriam, quae revelabitur in nobis.” Postea e ligno, in quo suspensus fuerat, depositus, fanum idolorum ingredi, et sacrificare compellitur. Quod cum facere recusaret, ut flammis addiceretur, sententiam accepit. In fornacem itaque valde accensam injectus, hujusce temporariae vitae finem habuit.

English:

From the Contest (martyrdom) of Saint Martyr Colluthus.

Colluthus was a martyr of Christ, when Maximian was emperor, from a city of the Thebaid in Egypt. Because of his confession of Christ, he was seized by the idolaters, and handed over to the governor of the province. Neither enticed by his flattery nor frightened by his threats, he continued to profess Christ openly.  Therefore firstly he was suspended upside down with a great stone tied to his neck. And while he was being flogged by the executioners, he said, “The sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory that shall be revealed in us.” (Rom. 8:18)

Then he was taken down from the wooden frame on which he had been suspended, and he was forced to go into the temple of the idols and offer sacrifice. But when he refused to do so he was sentenced to be burned alive.  And so he was thrown into an intensely heated furnace, and there was the end of his earthly life.

But then it occurred to me that the Patrologia Graeca text must – unusually – be easier to read than the original edition, because the ligatures would be expanded.  And so they were.  ChatGPT scanned the PG text as follows:

Καὶ ἄθλησις τοῦ ἁγίου μάρτυρος Κολλούθου.

Ὁ τοῦ Χριστοῦ μάρτυς Κολλοῦθος ὑπῆρχεν ἐπὶ τῆς βασιλείας Μαξιμιανοῦ, ἐκ Θηβαΐδος πόλεως τῆς Αἰγύπτου· διὰ δὲ τὴν εἰς Χριστὸν ὁμολογίαν κρατηθεὶς ὑπὸ τῶν προσκυνούντων τὰ εἴδωλα, παρεδόθη τῷ τῆς χώρας ἡγεμόνι· καὶ μήτε κολακείαις δελεασθεὶς, μήτε ἀπειλαῖς πτοηθεὶς, ὡμολόγει τὸν Χριστὸν παῤῥησίᾳ. Διὰ τοῦτο πρῶτον μὲν λίθῳ μεγάλῳ τὸν τράχηλον προσεδεθεὶς, ἐκρεμάσθη κατὰ κεφαλῆς. Καὶ τυπτόμενος ὑπὸ τῶν δημίων, ἔλεγεν· Οὐκ ἄξια τὰ παθήματα τοῦ νῦν καιροῦ πρὸς τὴν μέλλουσαν δόξαν ἀποκαλυφθῆναι εἰς ἡμᾶς. Ἔπειτα τοῦ ξύλου, ἐν ᾧ ἐκρέματο, καταβιβασθεὶς, ἠναγκάζετο ἀπελθεῖν εἰς τὸν ναὸν τῶν εἰδώλων, καὶ θῦσαι. Καὶ μὴ πεισθεὶς, τὴν διὰ τοῦ πυρὸς ἀπόφασιν ἐδέξατο· καὶ ἐμβληθεὶς εἰς κάμινον ἰσχυρῶς ἐκκαεισαν, τέλος ἔσχε τοῦ προσκαίρου βίου.

One word (παῤῥησίᾳ) was definitely read incorrectly, from an awful blur, but luckily it was not abbreviated in the original.  AI then translated this as follows, which I have slightly amended.  Someone with real knowledge of Greek will doubtless find errors, but this is enough for our purpose.

The Contest of the Holy Martyr Colluthus

The martyr of Christ, Colluthus, lived during the reign of Maximian. He was from a city of the Thebaid in Egypt. Because of his confession of Christ, he was seized by those who worshipped idols and handed over to the governor of the province. Neither enticed by flatteries nor intimidated by threats, he confessed Christ with boldness.

Therefore, they first fastened a great stone to his neck and suspended him head downwards. While he was being beaten by the executioners, he was saying, “The sufferings of the present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory that is about to be revealed to us.”

Afterward, they took him down from the wooden beam on which he had been hanging, and they compelled him to go to the temple of the idols and to offer sacrifice. But he refused to comply and he received the sentence of death by fire. He was thrown into a fiercely burning furnace, and he had the end of his temporary life.

Nothing about this tells us much, unfortunately.  Whatever the original work said, this is abbreviated to the point of non-existence.  Oh well.

I thought that I would finish this post by posting the Albani text, from p.105-106.

Lovely.

Update (20 July 2026): I have revised the text of this post in several places where it relates to the Synaxarion, because I have learned a bit more.  There are more than 50 manuscripts containing various versions of the Synaxarion of Constantinople.  Most of these belong to seven main recensions.1

The following useful summary is from D. Thomas and A. Mallett, “Synaxarion Of The Great Church” In: Christian-Muslim Relations. A Bibliographical History. Volume 3 (1050-1200) (2011) pp. 574–585  DOI:  https://doi.org/10.1163/ej.9789004195158.i-804.343:

The Synaxarion owes its origin to the deacon Euaristus who, during the personal reign of Constantine VII Porphyrogenitus (944-59), wrote the first book of this kind, which he dedicated to the emperor, and this is when the Synaxarion took the form in which we now find it: mostly a collection of notices. In his preface, preserved anonymously in a Greek manuscript (in the Arabic translation, the Melkite Synaxarion [q.v.], the name of the author is given as h.w.r.s.t.s; see Sauget, 1969), Euaristus briefly outlines the principles that guided him in making abstracts of long hagiographical texts, especially the passions of the martyrs. This first stage of the text (recension H*, separated by Noret) is preserved in whole or in part in three manuscripts.

The collection then evolved over the centuries. The fundamental work of the editor of the Synaxarion, H. Delehaye, taken further in the century that followed by others (Noret, Luzzi), makes it possible to distinguish seven recensions: H* (the primitive form), S* (later, to which belongs the Synaxarion of Sirmond, S, the base witness of Delehaye’s edition), B* (the archetype of which is the famous Menologion of Basil II, Vat. gr. 1613, a manuscript illustrated with 430 miniatures presented to the Emperor Basil II in the late 10th century), C* (probably an exclusively Italo-Greek recension, secondary to B*) D*, F* and finally M*, the most recent recension, which became prevalent in the 12th century. The Melkite Synaxarion (Sauget, 1969) is an 11th-century Arabic translation of a text close to that in MS G (see list of manuscripts below), which is an abbreviation of form F*. This classification omits a few individual manuscripts, since the history of the text of the Synaxarion, which was adapted and evolved with time and place, is still only imperfectly known.

  1. Andrea Luzzi, “Synaxaria and the Synaxarion of Constantinople,” in: S. Efthymiadis (ed.), The Ashgate Research Companion to Byzantine Hagiography, vol. 2 (2014), p.197-208.  Online here.[↩]

How the first pages from the White Monastery were discovered

Posted on by Roger Pearse

In the 18th century, a chamber in the ruins of the White Monastery at Sohag in Egypt contained piles of loose leaves of a vast and ancient Coptic library.   In previous posts I have noted how the first to learn of the existence of this material was Cardinal Stefano Borgia, secretary  of the Papal missionary organisation, the Propaganda Fidei.  In 1781 he published a Coptic text containing two miracles of the obscure Coptic saint Colluthus from some pages sent to him by a Franciscan missionary in Egypt.1  The actual transcriber and translator was, of course, not the mighty cardinal but A. Giorgi.

I thought that it would be interesting to see exactly what Borgia said about the find, in his preface.  An English translation is below.

Latin:

ERUDITO LECTORI STEPHANUS BORGIA

Fragmentum sane pretiosum, ac insigne prorsus Actorum S. Coluthi Martyris, quod nunc publici iuris facimus, detectum fuit anno circiter MDCCLXXVIII inter rudera veteris monasterii, quod situm erat prope Thebas in superiore Aegypto, quae urbs caput, & metropolis Thebaidis quondam erat.  Aliter etiam audiebat haec ipsa urbs, quae nimirum dicta quaque est “Diapolis”, vel “Diospolis” (a), & “Hecatompylos”, mutuato posteriori hoc nomine a centum portis, quibus eadem donabatur (b), & ob quas apud Iuvenalem (c) legitur: “Atque vetus Thebe centum iacet obruta portis.”

Thebarum itaque civitas, de qua nunc loquimur, haud permiscenda est cum ceteris eidem homonymis, quas & in Boeotia (quae quidem ob Amphionis fabulam, per quam ab eo condita eiusdem moenia circumferuntur, celebris evasit, quaeque & Heptapylos dicta est ob septem eidem tributas portas, quas respexit Iuvenalis (d), dum ait: “Rari quippe boni: numero vix sunt totidem, quot Thebarum portae, vel divitis ostia Nili” & in Cilicia, & in Corsica, & in Italia tandem, in Lucania nempe, olim exstitisse cognovimus. Hinc factum est, ut Ptolemaeus (a), quo nostras Thebas ab aliis distingueret, civitatem hanc ipsam “μεγάλην” “magnam” scilicet appellaverit.

De loco, in quo huiusmodi fragmentum prostabat, fidem nobis facit Angelus Antonius Bergomas Alumnus Fratrum Minor, Reformator, Nagadae degens, quod oppidum est Aegypti superioris, qui huiusmodi fragmentum ad nos dono misit cum nonnullis aliis, ac singulis quidem membranaceis, atque eodem loco existentibus, tum & Copticis litteris exaratis; inter quae est, quod ceteris praestet, illud, quod Coptice, & Graece uno tempore loquitur, quodque capitula aliquot adhuc integra Evangelii S. Ioannis comprehendit, quae insuper edenda in sacrorum studiorum utilitatem mature curabimus (b). Interim praeclare actum censeri debet cum fragmento, de quo agimus, quod nempe strenuum illustratorem, & interpretem magnum natum fuerit, virum scilicet cl. Augustinum Antonium Georgium Eremitarum Augustinensium Procuratorem generalem, cui commode illud extricandum pro summa sua orientalium fere omnium linguarum peritia, & pro insigni ad ardua quaeque  expedienda alacritate commisimus. Quare cum duo tantum, eaque mutila prodigia contineat fragmentum Actorum S. Coluthi, quae ad eius martyrium patrata perhibentur, ita ad ea supplenda ipse industriam, & animum suum comparavit, ut nil sive verosimilius, sive felicius excogitari posse videatur iis, quae ab eo nunc proponuntur.

Nos vero, ut quoquo modo huic rerum apparatui sane egregio respondeamus, & orientalis litteraturae studiosis morem geramus, characteris specimen aere insculptum exhibemus, quod nempe ex prioribus fragmenti lineis petitum est, ut proinde ex eo iudicium ferri possit de universa Copticarum litterarum forma, qua quinque omnino membranae, binis in unaquaque scripturae columnis appositis, exaratae sunt, quot nempe a pag. 221. ad pag. 230., quemadmodum recensentur, existunt. Hinc sane colligere est, fragmentum hoc pertinuisse olim ad codicem, in quo forsan alia Sanctorum Martyrum acta continebantur, quodque vulgo “Passionarium” appellari consuevit. Profecto scribendi forma magnam redolet vetustatem, quae ex sententia laudati Georgii nostri, & Raphaelis Tukii natione Aegyptii, & Episcopi Arsenovensis, cui acceptae referri debent editiones peractae Liturgicorum librorum, & Psalmorum Coptice loquentium typis Propagandae Fidei, viri sane utriusque ad iudicium de huiusmodi re recte ferendum perquam idonei, saeculi quinti aetatem citra dubium omne attingat. Nulla in hisce membranis capitulorum vestigia, sive sectionum indicia, neque eo loci, quo ad rem aliam fiat orationis conversio; ut idcirco ubi explicit prioris miraculi narratio per haec verba: “Dantes gloriam Deo, & Sancto Colutho,” continenter, citra ulterioris capituli auspicationem, alterius prodigii descriptio subsequatur per haec verba: “Audite quoque magnum aliud miraculum”. Acta haec Thebanensi, seu Sahidica dialecto, quae in superiore Aegypto obtinebat, non autem Memphitica, seu Alexandrina, quae communiter adhibebatur, concinnata sunt. At non haec nos nunc agimus.

(a) Hinc Manethoni, Africano, & Eusebio Reges Thebani “Diopolitani” nuncupantur.

(b) “Hecatompylos” eadem de causa vocabatur urbs Parthiae maxima, & regia, inter Ecbatana, & Alexandriam Ariae.

(c) Sat. xv. v. 6.

(d) Sat. xiii. v. 26.

(a) Lib. iv. cap. 5.

(b) Vide quae de hoc fragmento adnotavit eruditiss. Andreas Christianus Hwiidius Hauniensis in Specim. ined. versionis Arabico-Samarit. Pentateuchi Romae 1680. pag. 14.

English:

TO THE LEARNED READER, STEPHANUS BORGIA.

This truly precious and altogether remarkable fragment of the Acts of Saint Coluthus the Martyr, which we are now publishing, was discovered (detectum) around the year 1778 among the ruins of an old monastery situated near Thebes in Upper Egypt, a city that was once the capital and metropolis of the Thebaid. This same city was also known by other names: it was called “Diapolis” or “Diospolis” (a), and “Hecatompylos,” the latter name being derived from the hundred gates with which it was endowed (b), and on account of which we read in Juvenal (c): “And ancient Thebes lies buried beneath its hundred gates.”

The city of Thebes of which we now speak, therefore, must not be confused with other cities bearing the same name, which we know to have existed in Boeotia (which indeed became famous because of the legend of Amphion, by whom its walls are said to have been built, and which was also called Heptapylos because of the seven gates attributed to it, as Juvenal (d) had in mind when he said: “for truly the good are rare: they are scarcely as many in number as the gates of Thebes or the mouths of the wealthy Nile)” — and also in Cilicia, in Corsica, and finally in Italy, namely in Lucania. Hence it came about that Ptolemy (a), in order to distinguish our Thebes from the others, called this very city “μεγάλην”—that is, “the Great.”

Concerning the place where this fragment was offered for sale (prostabat), we have the testimony of Angelo Antonio Bergamo, a member of the Order of the Reformed Friars Minor, residing at Nagada, a town in Upper Egypt. He sent this fragment to us as a gift, along with several others, each of them on parchment and found (existentibus) in the same place, and all written in Coptic letters. Among them, the one that stands out above the rest is that which speaks (loquitur) both in Coptic and Greek at the same time, and which contains several chapters—still complete—of the Gospel of Saint John, which we shall take care to publish in due course for the benefit of sacred studies (b). In the meantime, the fragment with which we are now concerned should be considered particularly fortunate, in that it has found a vigorous editor and great interpreter, namely the renowned Father Agostino Antonio Giorgio, Procurator General of the Augustinian Hermits, to whom we conveniently entrusted the task of unraveling it, on account of his supreme expertise in almost all Oriental languages and his notable eagerness to undertake difficult tasks. Therefore, since the fragment of the Acts of Saint Coluthus contains only two miracles—and those mutilated—which are reported to have been performed at the time of his martyrdom, he so applied his industry and mind to supplementing them that it seems impossible for anything to be more plausibly or more successfully devised than what he now proposes.

For our part, in order to respond in some measure to this truly excellent scholarly undertaking and to gratify students of Oriental literature, we present a specimen of the script engraved on copper, taken from the first lines of the fragment, so that from it a judgment may be formed concerning the whole form of Coptic letters in which all five parchment leaves are written—with two columns of writing on each—namely those which exist from page 221 to page 230, as they are numbered. From this it may be gathered that this fragment once belonged to a codex that perhaps contained other Acts of the Holy Martyrs, and which was commonly called a “Passionarium.” Indeed, the style of writing smacks greatly of antiquity, which, in the opinion of our aforementioned Giorgio and of Raphael Tukius, an Egyptian by birth and Bishop of Arsenopolis—to whom are owed the editions already completed of the Liturgical books and the Psalms in Coptic printed by the Propaganda Fide press, both men highly qualified to make a correct judgment on this matter—unquestionably reaches back to the fifth century. In these leaves there are no traces of chapters or indications of sections, nor any place where the discourse turns to another subject; so that where the account of the first miracle ends with these words: “Giving glory to God and to Saint Coluthus,” the description of the second miracle immediately follows, without any heading of another chapter, with these words: “Hear also another great miracle.” These acts are composed in the Theban, or Sahidic, dialect, which prevailed in Upper Egypt, and not in the Memphitic, or Alexandrian, dialect, which was more commonly used. But we are not concerned with these matters now.

(a) Hence Manetho, Africanus, and Eusebius call the Theban kings “Diopolitans.”

(b) For the same reason, “Hecatompylos” was also the name of the greatest royal city of Parthia, situated between Ecbatana and Alexandria in Aria.

(c) Satires, Book XV, verse 6.

(d) Satires, Book XIII, verse 26.

(a) [second occurrence] Book IV, chapter 5.

(b) [second occurrence] See what the most learned Andreas Christianus Hwiidius of Copenhagen noted about this fragment in his unpublished Specimen of the Arabic-Samaritan Version of the Pentateuch, Rome 1680, page 14.

He then goes on to give the Greek text of a Greek menologium about the saint, and then other bits and pieces, of no importance here.

Borgia is clearly suspicious of the supposed location of the find, in a monastery near Thebes.  It may be that he has enough knowledge of the area, from missionary reports, to realise that this cannot be true.  He repeats the information that he has – plainly from Bergamo – that it was “discovered (detectum) around the year 1778 among the ruins of an old monastery situated near Thebes.”  Then in the next paragraph he refers instead to “the place where it was offered for sale (prostabat)”. No doubt the pages were indeed brought to Luxor – was the antiquity trade already beginning at that date? -, and so were offered to Bergamo at Naqada, just 15 miles away to the north.

Stephen Emmel in his massively scholarly Shenoute’s Literary Corpus vol. 1 (2004), p.20 rightly suggests:

Both the vagueness of the reported provenance and its basic inaccuracy are symptoms of what was no doubt a conscious effort on the part of those in charge of the monastery to keep their treasure secret. Even when subsequent visitors to the monastery asked explicitly about old books, with a view to studying or buying them, the horde of precious parchment fragments was not revealed.(56)

On the other hand, it is reasonable to suppose that it was precisely the steadily growing stream of European visitors interested in antiquity that led to a new regard for the heap of ruined old books in the trash room, which could now be perceived as a valuable commodity. Furthermore, in 1718 a Jesuit mission had been established in Akhmim, across the river from the monastery …

In all this, it is important to remember that archaeology had yet to be invented, and would not be invented until the 20th century.  Indeed the creation of a scientific discipline to uncover the past was prompted precisely by observing the rate at which “everything was being destroyed.”

In this period those in charge at the White Monastery no doubt felt that they were acting very much for the best, turning worthless unreadable rubbish into good solid current coinage – always a pleasant thing – at the expense of rich but daft foreigners.  The same predatory feeling still motivates a very large number of people in Egypt today, of course.

  1. Fragmentum Copticum ex Actis S. Coluthi Martyris Erutum ex Membranis Vetustissimis Saeculi V ac. Latine Redditum:  online here.[↩]