A little more on the lost “De baptismo” of Melito of Sardis in Coptic

Ten years ago Alin Suciu proposed that a homily preserved in Sahidic Coptic in a fragmentary manuscript in the Pushkin Museum in Moscow was in fact a genuine work by second-century patristic author Melito of Sardis.  Remarkably his article arguing this is now about to appear, in Adamantius.  The first page is on Academia.edu here.

Here’s the abstract:

This article reexamines a fragmentary Sahidic papyrus codex in Moscow that preserves a homily on baptism and the four cosmic elements. First edited by Alla Elanskaya, the text has remained largely neglected because of its damaged state and uncertain authorship. It is argued here that the homily is best understood as an authentic work of Melito of Sardis († ca. 180 CE). A close philological investigation shows how the homily combines Aristotelian and Stoic physics with Middle Platonic philosophy, presenting Christian baptism as both the realization of cosmic harmony and the path to human deification. Its theology and stylistic features closely parallel Melito’s Peri Pascha and On the Soul and the Body. By situating the Moscow papyrus within Melito’s literary corpus, the study expands the understanding of his theology and demonstrates how second-century Christianity adapted philosophical cosmology in its reflection on baptism.

The text itself was printed back in 1991, but apparently attracted little attention.

Let’s hope that this is indeed a work of Melito!