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Evidences of Christianity in Egypt during the Roman Period

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  31 August 2011

H. I. Bell
H. I. Bell
Affiliation:
British Museum
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Extract

The diffusion of Christianity during the first two centuries and a half of its existence is a subject as full of interest as it is beset with problems and difficulties. Curiously enough, there are few provinces of the Roman Empire concerning which our evidence, in this respect, is more unsatisfactory than Egypt, about which we might expect to be particularly well informed. From Egypt we have not only the usual crop of inscriptions (which, being of a public nature, cannot be expected to be very informative here) but a vast mass of papyri, more abundant for the second century than for any other, and quite plentiful for the third. And these would seem to be precisely the sort of material which we require. They are selected by no official process of sifting but by the mere accidents of preservation and discovery, they include documents of every kind, and they touch all classes of society, in town and country. Official documents and legal contracts are not, indeed, likely to yield much evidence; but on the private letters and perhaps the accounts, possibly even the wills, Christianity should, one would think, have left some trace.

Type
Research Article
Information
Harvard Theological Review , Volume 37 , Issue 3 , July 1944 , pp. 185 - 208
Copyright
Copyright © President and Fellows of Harvard College 1944

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References

1 The greater part of this paper was read to the Oxford Society of Historical Theology on 27 May 1943. For the present purpose I have added an Appendix dealing with certain points which considerations of space made it necessary to omit from the paper as originally written.

2 See, e.g., Méautis, G., “L'introduction du Christianisme en Égypte,” Rev. de théol. et de phil., 1921, pp. 169–185Google Scholar, esp. 179.

3 H.E., ii. 16 (Migne, P.G. xx. 173).

4 Republished by P. M. Meyer, Jur. Pap. 30.

5 E.g. by Schubart, Ägypten, p. 96.

6 I was at one time rather attracted by this suggested interpretation of μηδὲ ὥσπερ ἐν δυσεὶ πόλεσειν κατοικοῦντας δύο πρεσβείας ἐκπέμπειν τοῦ λοιποῦ, but am now inclined to wonder whether my original idea, that the sentence is merely a clumsy way of expressing the other sense, may not be right. Cf. contra Nock, CR, LVII (1943), p. 80 f.

7 “La première allusion au christianisme dans l'histoire,” in Rev. de l'hist. des religions, xc (1924), 108–122Google Scholar.

8 “La lettre de Claude aux Alexandrins,” op. cit., xci (1925), 3–6.

9 W. Seston, “L'empereur Claude et les chrétiens,” in Rev. d'Hist. et de Phil. Rel., No. 3, Mai–Juin, 1931. [I can give no page reference to this, as I have only an off-print, separately paged, and the publication itself is not accessible to me in the British Museum.]

10 Cf., e.g., P. Giss. 40, ii, 16–29 = W. Chr. 22; B.G.U. VIII, 1730; P. Lond. II, p. 252, no. 356.

11 P. Oxy. XVIII, 2190.

12 See, e.g., S.B. III, 6222. The reference in P. Giss. 40, ii, 20 f., to Σαραπείοις καὶ ἑτέραις τισὶν ἑορτασί[μοις ἡ]μέραις suggests the importance of the (religious) games at Alexandria.

13 P. Oxy. I, 119.

14 Atti del IV Congresso internazionale di papirologia, 1936, pp. 333–350.

15 S.B. III, 7242.

16 P. Mich. III, 213.

17 It is an interesting question whether the physician who wrote P. Fouad I, 80 was a pagan or a Christian. This is suggested by τοῦ ἐλεεῖσθαι ὑπὸ τοῦ θεοῦ (l. 11) and χάρις δὲ τῶι θεῶι (l. 47), but there is nothing specially Christian in the contents of the letter, and reference is made (ll. 14 f.) to ἡ ἱέρισσα οῦ ιϕίου. For χάρις τῷ θεῷ cf. P. Oslo III, 155 (second cent.), χάρις θεοῖς. The date of the letter (fourth century) is perhaps an argument for a Christian origin.

18 S.B. V, 8006.

19 Atti, p. 339 f.

20 S.B. III, 6222.

21 Cf. A. Calderini, Dizionario dei nomi geografici e topografici dell' Egitto grecoromano, I, p. 124 f.

22 Something in the nature of the Assiout shawls made to-day?

23 P. Iand. 15.

24 P. Baden IV, 51, early 2nd cent.

25 P.S.I. VIII, 967 (1st/2nd cent.); B.G.U. II, 583, 1 (before A.D. 76; a royal scribe); B.G.U. II, 493, iii, 15; 496, 12; III, 816; 908; C.P.R. 63; P. Amh. II, 76, 8; P. Oxy. VI, 989; P. Lond. II, p. 50, l. 106; III, p. 186, l. 170; P. Lund II, 3.

26 P. Baden II, 35 = Olsson, Papyrusbriefe aus der frühesten Römerzeit, no. 51. For Ἰοάννῃ see Wilcken, Archiv f. Pap. vii, p. 304, who is prepared to accept the reading.

27 P. Ryl. II, 243.

28 B.G.U. I, 27 = Ghedini, Lett. cr. 1, W. Chr. 445, Hunt-Edgar, Select Papyri, I, 113.

29 P. Oxy. XII, 1492 = Ghedini, Lett. cr. 12.

30 P. Oxy. XVIII, 2190, 56, 58.

31 S.B. III, 6823: περὶ δὲ τοῦ ξυστοῦ, [ὅτι σο]ι ϕαίνεται, γράψον μοι, ἐπὶ κσι αὐτόν, τί ἐκεῖ θέλις γενέσθαι ἢ Ἰλια ἢ ὃ ἂν ἄλλο θέλῃς ὁ [γ]ὰρ τόπος ἀπαιτῖ.

32 B.G.U. I, 246 = Ghedini, Lett. cr. 2 (note the words ἰδότες ὅτι νυκτὸς καὶ ἡμέρας ἐντυνχάνω τῷ θεῷ ὑπὲρ ὑμῶν).

33 P. Ross. Georg. II, 43: … [θ]εοϕιλὴ[α]ὶ ἅπασιν [θρ]ώποις [ἐ]παινετή, ὅτι δὴ τοὺς συνήθεις αὐτῇ ἀποκατέστησεν, ὤστε ϕιλεῖσθαι ὑπ᾽ ἀλλήλων˙
 οὐδὲν γὰρ μεῖζόν ἐστιν οὐδὲ ἐράσμιον οὐδὲ ἡμ[ερώ]τατον οὐδὲ ἀπολαυστ[ότερόν?] ἐστιν ἡ τοιαύτη ϕ[λία ἐν τ]ῶι ἀνθρωπ[ί]νωι βίωι.

34 P. Amh. I, 3; P. Bas. 16 (as already remarked, this appears in Lett. cr., as no. 3, but is omitted from the list in Atti).

35 P. Iand. 11; P.S.I. IV, 299.

36 P. Oxy. IX, 1220; XIV, 1763; S.B. III, 6222 (see above, p. 193). There is slightly more to be said for the Christian character of P. Oxy. XIV, 1678; 1773.

37 “P. Ross. Georg. 308.” I cannot trace this in the series referred to.

38 P. Harris 107.

39 P. Gron. 17.

40 P. Lund II, 4.

41 P. Mich. III, 214–221.

42 See the Appendix, below, p. 207.

43 In these figures I have ignored the Paniscus letters, since they are definitely of the reign of Diocletian and so outside the limits I had assigned myself.

44 See, e.g., P.S.I. VIII, 972 (4th cent.?).

45 Now P. Ryl. III, 457.

46 H. I. Bell and T. C. Skeat, Fragments of an Unknown Gospel, 1935.

47 P. Beatty 6.

48 P. Baden IV, 56.

49 It must be remarked that might well be used by a Jew.

50 P.S.I. VIII, 921.

51 N.P.S. Series II, pl. 182.

52 P. Beatty 2.

53 P. Ryl. I, 5.

54 P. Oxy. I, 1.

55 P. Beatty 8.

56 P. Beatty 9 + John H. Scheide Papyrus (ed. A. C. Johnson, H. S. Gehman, E. H. Kase, Jr., Princeton, 1938).

57 These are: P. Oxy. IV, 654 (Logia, second fragment); P. Oxy. IV, 655 (uncanonical Gospel; G. H. do not exclude second century); P. Oxy. VII, 1007 (Genesis; G. H. late third, but it seems definitely third rather than fourth); P. Oxy. VIII, 1074 (Exodus), 1075 (do.); P. Oxy. IX, 1166 (Genesis), 1171 (Epistle of St. James; G. H. “more likely … latter half of the third century than … commencement of the fourth”); P. Oxy. XI, 1355 (Romans); P. Mich. III, 137 (Matthew); P. Beatty 1 (Gospels and Acts); P. Beatty 3 (Revelation); P. Beatty 5 (Genesis); P. Beatty 7 (Isaiah); P. Mich. Inv. 6652 (Sanders, Quantulacunque, 1937, pp. 151–161; Matthew, Acts); Freer Minor Prophets (ed. Sanders, 1927; I agree with S. that this is likely to be third century, though the latter half of that century is likelier than the earlier); P. Ryl. III, 463 (Gospel of Mary); P. Lond. Inv. 2556 (Milne, Lit. Pap. no. 206; Psalms); P. Lond. Inv. 212 verso (op. cit. no. 228; Homily; recto dated A.D. 237); Michigan Shepherd of Hennas (ed. Bonner, 1934); P. Lond. Eg. 3 (Bell-Skeat, Unknown Gospel, no. 2; Gospel commentary?); P. Lond. Eg. 4 (op. cit. no. 3; Chronicles).

58 P. Beatty 7.

59 Bell, H. I. and Thompson, H., A Greek-Coptic Glossary to Hosea and Amos, Journ. Eg. Arch. XI (1925), 241–246Google Scholar.

60 Ath., Vita Ant., 90, Migne, P.G. xxvi. 968–969.

61 Eus., H.E. vii. 24 (Migne, P.G. xx, 696 A).

62 The most complete and convenient collection of these is still that of Knipfing, J. R., “The Libelli of the Decian Persecution,” Harv. Theol. Rev. xvi (1923), pp. 345–390CrossRefGoogle Scholar, where the problems connected with them are discussed at length.

63 P. Oxy. IV, 658; XII, 1464.

64 Raccolta di scritti in onore di Giacomo Lumbroso, 1925, pp. 514–528.

65 See, e.g., A. Stein, Archiv f. Pap. IV, p. 151 and references there.

66 E.g. Schubart, Gnomon VI, p. 611.

67 P. Mich. III 214–221.