The aim of this work is to take the methodology developed by Ernest Cowell, and further refined by James R. Royse, of cataloging singular readings of Greek scribes and seek to apply it to Coptic scribes. This study focuses on the text of John found in P. Mich Inv. 3521 and the singular readings of that manuscript. In order to have a basis of comparison, singular readings from two other Coptic versions of John are cataloged as well.1 In total 1619 singular readings have been identified in the three manuscripts. Following Colwell and Royse, the readings have been further divided into orthographic, sensible and nonsense readings. The sensible and nonsense readings have been further divided and categorized into additions, omissions, substitutions, transpositions and verbal prefixes. All of these entries are then noted in the accompanying database with appropriate commentary so that the reader may format and use the information in a variety of ways. In addition to the database, detailed commentary has been provided on the singular readings of P. Mich. Inv. 3521 with the following conclusions: Like Greek scribes, Coptic scribes are more likely to omit something than to add something; The category of "transpositions as corrected leaps" which James Royse found useful in his work, has proved unhelpful when dealing with this papyrus; and finally some preliminary analysis about the scribe of P. Mich. Inv. 351 is given. 1 Elinor Husselman, The Gospel of John in Fayumic Coptic (P. Mich. Inv. 3521), The University of Michigan Kelsey Museum of Archaeology Studies (Ann Arbor: University of Michigan, 1962); Rodolphe Kasser, Papyrus Bodmer III: Évangile de Jean et Genèse I-IV, 2 en Bohaïrique (Louvain: Secrétariat du CorpusSCO, 1958); Herbert Thompson, The Gospel of St. John According to the Earliest Coptic Manuscript (London: British School of Archaeology in Egypt, 1924).

Thesis (M.A. (Hons.)) -- University of Western Sydney, 2002. / "A thesis submitted for the fulfillment of a Master's Degree in Contemporary Arts" Includes bibliographical references (leaves 74-75).

Egypt in the early Byzantine period was a bilingual country where Greek and Egyptian (Coptic) were used alongside each other. Historical studies as well as linguistic studies of the phonology and lexicon of early Byzantine Greek in Egypt testify to this situation. In order to describe the linguistic traces the language-contact situation left behind in individuals' linguistic output, this thesis analyses the syntax of early Byzantine Greek texts from Egypt. The primary object of interest is bilingual interference in the syntax of verbs, adverbial phrases, discourse organising devices and formulaic sections. The thesis is based on a corpus of Greek and Coptic private letters on papyrus, all of which date from the fourth to mid-seventh centuries, originate from Egypt and belong to bilingual, Greek-Coptic, papyrus archives. The data is analysed with a particular focus on three interrelated questions: (1) What kinds of deviations from the standard pattern appear and to what extent can language-internal confusion account for them? (2) How are instances of language-internal confusion and bilingual interference distributed over the selected syntactic domains? (3) Do deviations from the standard accumulate in certain letters or archives belonging to the corpus and do they correlate with additional indicators of bilingualism such as code-switching or circumstantial information about writers? In addition to answering these questions, the thesis seeks to explain the observed distributions. The results obtained from this study suggest that bilingual interference is linked to the way writers assimilated structures. In fact, there is a marked difference between deviating syntactic structures in non-formulaic and formulaic contexts. The study further suggests that bilingual interference does not affect every domain of syntax to the same degree. The degree of complexity of the syntactic structure in question as well as the degree of divergence from the corresponding Coptic structure seem to play a role.

D.Litt. et Phil. (Greek) / This thesis deals with the Christian divine, holy and saintly protection of African rulers in the Afro-Byzantine ‘Coptic’ (mainly Nubian and Ethiopian) iconographic tradition. The term ‘icon’ is used in its Byzantine Orthodox meaning as “a theological art picture; a religious, sacred image”, according to the theological and artistic Byzantine prescriptions.1 The term is also applied to frescos, murals, mosaics, larger wooden panels, illustrations in manuscripts and scrolls and smaller items such as protective amulets and charms, depicting a Christian holy representation. The iconographic themes, representing authority and its preservation and protection will be discussed, analysed and examined, the two coefficients being authority and protection of royals and their deputies and officials (i.e. the ‘protected’) on the one hand, and on the other hand Christ, the Holy Virgin, angels, military and non-military saints, supernatural and holy beings (i.e. the ‘protectors’). Firstly, a historical overview of the Byzantine and Afro-Byzantine Orthodox society in terms of religious, social, cultural and political influences is presented and the importance of Orthodox iconography and hagiography and the transformation of local Afro-Byzantine themes are analysed. As such, once the conversion from paganism to Christianity took place in Africa, influences of the Byzantine iconography and hagiography were transformed and integrated with local African Orthodox themes. Byzantine ideology and political theory as well as their relevance for the Coptic-Egyptian, Nubian and Ethiopian context have been discussed, while the artistic and symbolic iconographic representations of the Byzantine (and Medieval Afro-Byzantine) periods...

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Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI) / Traditional Coptic charity, as I call it, is not just a flawed attempt at humanitarianism, as many believe. It is not just “giving a man a fish” as proponents of “human development” argue. Traditional Coptic charity, as I hope to explain, is an integral part of a larger social system that works together to maintain (and grow slowly) a religious community whose very salvation rests in the practice and transmission of its complex Liturgical body. By merit of its theological peculiarity, and the soteriological significance it gives the practice of sacraments and other religious activities, the Coptic Church effectively hems in the community in perpetuity. This contrasts with the other side of the philanthropic coin—development. Development, which is championed by certain organizations stands as a bulwark of “modernity” in the face of charity’s traditionalism, does not fit into the soteriological orientation of the Church’s Liturgical life. In essence, development’s ultimate goal is to “develop” individuals to the point of “financial independence”—a goal that does not fit into the Church’s communal ethos or exclusively contribute to salvific ends. In recognizing these facts, I began to reevaluate my initial stance on human development as the best way of engaging non-Copts. Overall, this thesis is can be read as a continuation of an ongoing debate between modernity and tradition—and the philanthropic tools they deploy—development and charity.

Christian monasticism originated in Egypt and then spread to the rest of the Christian church. Coptic monks made a significant contribution to Christian theology and spirituality through their distinctive approach to the life of faith. This study by a Coptic monk analysis Coptic missionary spirituality as it flowered in the fourth and fifth centuries. Chapter 2 introduces the three main types of Coptic monasticism and the key figures in each of the three types. Chapter 3 describes the centripetal dimension of their mission, indicating how they attracted a wide.variety of people to a committed Christian life through their holiness, simplicity and humility. Chapter 4 discusses their "outreaching" mission of love: their preaching in harmony with the culture of people, their concern for the poor and oppressed, their healing miracles and exorcisms, their defense of the Orthodox faith against heresy. Chapter 5 summaries the findings of the study and identifies priorities for further research. / Department of Christian Spiritual Church History and Missiology / M.Th. (Missiology)

The Göttingen Virtual Manuscript Room (VMR); The Göttingen Virtual Manuscript Room (VMR) offers both an online based digital repository for Coptic Biblical manuscripts (ideally, high resolution images of every manuscript page, all metadata etc.) and a digital edition of their texts, finally even a critical edition of every biblical book of the Coptic Old Testament based on all available manuscripts. All text data will also be transferred into XML and linguistically annotated. In this way the VMR offers a full physical description of each manuscript and, at the same time, a full edition of its text and language data. Of course, the VMR can be used for manuscripts and texts other than Coptic too.

<p>Already in the second century, the Church Father Irenaeus warned against reading the Gospel of Truth that was used among the so-called Valentinians. For more than one and a half millennium GospTruth was lost until in the 1950s a Coptic text was discovered that could be a translation of that work both loved and hated.</p><p>Since the discovery scholars have tried to determine whether the Coptic text represents the one mentioned by Irenaeus, and whether its author might even be the famous Gnostic teacher Valentinus of Alexandria.</p><p>The text is very complex and the present study the first attempt to use text linguistic tools for analysing GospTruth. A new and sometimes radically different translation is presented, and an hypothesis of date of redaction and authorship is put forward. Previously Gnostic texts have usually been read in light of the reports of the Church Fathers. In this study an attempt is made to detect topics that were interesting for the Valentinians and that have so far been neglected. The analysis presents a new ethical debate among early Christians regarding the Biblical law, and a hypothesis of how the author of GospTruth wanted his or her community to act towards the neighbouring communities is elaborated. In addition my investigation draws attention to an interpretation of the crucifixion that seems to have distinguished Valentinians from others.</p><p>For a long time scholars depicted the Gnostics as evil opponents to the church. During the last decades this view has been criticized, and today many scholars abandon the term Gnostic altogether, and instead only use the term Christian. In my opinion such an approach risks to conceal the unique features of Valentinianism, and the results of the present study will hopefully shed new light on a branch of Christianity which still is relatively unexplored.</p>

Already in the second century, the Church Father Irenaeus warned against reading the Gospel of Truth that was used among the so-called Valentinians. For more than one and a half millennium GospTruth was lost until in the 1950s a Coptic text was discovered that could be a translation of that work both loved and hated. Since the discovery scholars have tried to determine whether the Coptic text represents the one mentioned by Irenaeus, and whether its author might even be the famous Gnostic teacher Valentinus of Alexandria. The text is very complex and the present study the first attempt to use text linguistic tools for analysing GospTruth. A new and sometimes radically different translation is presented, and an hypothesis of date of redaction and authorship is put forward. Previously Gnostic texts have usually been read in light of the reports of the Church Fathers. In this study an attempt is made to detect topics that were interesting for the Valentinians and that have so far been neglected. The analysis presents a new ethical debate among early Christians regarding the Biblical law, and a hypothesis of how the author of GospTruth wanted his or her community to act towards the neighbouring communities is elaborated. In addition my investigation draws attention to an interpretation of the crucifixion that seems to have distinguished Valentinians from others. For a long time scholars depicted the Gnostics as evil opponents to the church. During the last decades this view has been criticized, and today many scholars abandon the term Gnostic altogether, and instead only use the term Christian. In my opinion such an approach risks to conceal the unique features of Valentinianism, and the results of the present study will hopefully shed new light on a branch of Christianity which still is relatively unexplored.