Coptic homilies in the dialect of Upper Egypt/Preface

Coptic homilies in the dialect of Upper Egypt; edited from the papyrus codex Oriental 5001 in the British museum (1910)
translated by Ernest Alfred Wallis Budge

Preface

3927534Coptic homilies in the dialect of Upper Egypt; edited from the papyrus codex Oriental 5001 in the British museum — Preface1910Ernest Alfred Wallis Budge

PREFACE

The present work contains the Coptic versions of ten Greek Homilies on fasting, repentance, the end of the world, the Incarnation, &c, which are attributed to John the Faster, Athanasius of Alexandria, Proclus of Cyzicus, Eusebius and Basil of Caesarea, and Archbishop Theophilus. The texts, written in the dialect of Upper Egypt, are edited from the papyrus volume Oriental 5001 by arrangement with my colleague Dr. L. D. Barnett, Keeper of the Department of Oriental Printed Books and MSS. in the British Museum. This volume originally, together with the great Coptic Psalter Oriental 5000, belonged to the Library of a large monastery in the Thebaid, and was copied, probably towards the close of the seventh century, by a scribe attached to the brotherhood. Both volumes were acquired by the Trustees of the British Museum in 1896, and are the two largest papyrus codices at present known to exist.

Linguistically the texts are of great importance, and they form a mass of material which is of the highest value to Egyptologists generally. From the theological point of view they are no less interesting, for they illustrate Egyptian Theology in its Christian form, and reveal the opinions which were current among the dwellers in monasteries on the essentials of faith and works.

The English translations of the Homilies which follow the Coptic texts have been made as literal as possible, but in some passages the meaning is obscure, and the renderings I have given must be only regarded as suggestions as to their general sense. Most of the quotations from Scripture have been identified.

The Appendix contains Syriac and Ethiopic versions of certain Homilies which are valuable for deciding the order of the texts of the Coptic versions, and for illustrating their meaning. All the texts in this volume are edited from MSS. in the British Museum, and they, and the English translations given herein, are published for the first time.

E. A. WALLIS BUDGE.

Department of Egyptian and Assyrian Antiquities,

British Museum.

May 28th, 1910.