Early Christian Papyri and Inscriptions

Liturgy held a prominent place in the life of a Christian in 3rd to 9th century Egypt. Liturgical celebrations structured time, marked religious identity, and informed popular understanding of Christianity. Compared to its significance, it is little known in the historical research due to their marginal presence in literary and documentary sources. Our main access to Christian liturgy is through liturgical manuscripts, which are preserved on papyrus, parchment, ostraca, and wooden tablets from throughout the period. This thesis intends to serve as an introduction to this neglected genre. Besides establishing a corpus of 324 edited liturgical papyri, it addresses problems of dating, provenance, materiality, practical use, and language. The palaeographical dates assigned by the editors are revised, and a chronology of the most frequent writing style, the sloping majuscule, is established. The corpus originating from the monasteries and churches of the Theban necropolis is discussed in detail, where the richness of sources allows for a reconstruction of the liturgy in its late 6 th to 8 th century state. Since liturgical papyri are also the earliest liturgical manuscripts preserved, a chapter is devoted to their material features and the implications for the process of the transmission of liturgical texts. Noting the high proportion of informal copies, the thesis addresses the question of how these single sheets and ostraca were used. The observation of their materiality implies that they rarely served as amulets or in education and usually supported the performance of the services. The early evolution of the liturgical books is also introduced. Finally, the changing relationship between Greek and Coptic in the different parts of the services is tracked. From these discussions a history of writing the Christian liturgy in Egypt emerges. In addition, the thesis provides the edition and reedition of sixteen prayers in order to highlight the possibilities of the material still awaiting exploration.

Origen’s exegesis of the Song of Songs, despite the praise it generally raised both in antiquity and in modern times, still awaits for deeper investigation as far as the literary project of the Alexandrian and its output are concerned. In this respect, it is difficult not only to exactly define the mutual relations between the Commentary and the Homilies on the Song of Songs, apart from the evident similarity of their themes, but more specifically to catch the particular nature of Origen’s interpretation at the first level of the biblical text against his well-known allegorism. Viewing the «littera» or «historia» of the Song as a theatrical piece, as especially shown in the Commentary, Origen delivers a dramatical interpretation which by its careful description of the successive scenes develops into a proper script for the stage. Though this explanation is meant to guide the reader to a further level of interpretation, the ‘letter’ cannot here be appreciated simply as the provisional step leading to the ‘spirit’, i.e. the spiritual intelligence of the Song which is in principle the only one permitted for Origen in this biblical love poetry. Instead of that, through the discourse engaged by the dramatic interpretation, on the one hand, there is an overlapping of both the ‘historical’ and the ‘spiritual’ explanation and, on the other hand, the dramatic exegesis also delivers a surplus of sense which is not totally subsumed in the spiritual interpretation. At moments the Song as ‘play’ seems therefore to gain in Origen’s perceptive reading a life of its own.

The following text is a response sent to an email dispatched to me by the Chairman of the exiled Oromo Parliamentarians who struggle for the Independence and Self-determination of the 5 millennia long Kushitic Ethiopian Nation of the Oromos.
The Hamitic - Kushitic Oromo Nation - due to criminal, inhuman and evil persecution conceived by the colonial powers (France, England and America) and executed by the colonially promoted barbaric and incestuous pseudo-Christian Abyssinians - lost their kingdoms and were engulfed within the Cemetery of Nations Fake Ethiopia, which consists in the world's most tyrannical realm and the location of the world's more abhorrent, more enduring, and more multifaceted genocides. There are more than 45 million Oromos in Abyssinia (Fake Ethiopia) and Kenya today, despite the notorious and pathetic falsehood propagated by Wikipedia.
The present text enumerates all the major points of historical distortion and falsification carried out and diffused by the colonial academia, mass media, and diplomats, as well as by their local agents and criminal executioners, i.e. the barbaric, incestuous and Anti-Christian tribes of Amhara and Tigray (: the Abyssinians), who usurped the fair name of Ethiopia, which historically denotes the land of North Sudan and the Kushitic Nation that prospered there either in the Antiquity or in the Christian Era. Both, the Oromos and the Arabic-speaking (but not Arab) populations of Northern-Central Sudan are the descendants of Ancient Sudan's (i.e. Ancient Ethiopia's) Kushitic populations.
Representative photographic documentation was herewith added to the text in order to better illustrate the topic.

Refutation of historical forgeries propagated by European colonials and incestuous Abyssinians
First published here:
https://megalommatiscomments.wordpress.com/2017/07/26/kushitic-oromos-ancestry-in-ethiopia-ancient-sudan-semitic-amharas-tigrays-abyssinians-ancestry-in-yemen/

Sessione pomeridiana, ore 15:00 Vittorio Rizzone L' iscrizione di Iulia Florentina: peculiarità linguistiche ed epigrafiche Martino Ruggieri La morte di Iulia Florentina: ipotesi diagnostiche Elena Commodari Iulia Florentina e la mors acerba: tra rappresentazioni e vissuti. Il punto di vista psicologico

The book of Jubilees is not regarded as part of the Western Biblical Canon, yet, in Ethiopia it is regarded as such. Should Biblical scholars take note of this book? This short introduction provides the reasons why this book should not be ignored by serious students of the Bible.

Background: The mathematical idea of Jesus Christ is ­ ~ ≤ X ≤ ~ and X = Y. Other mathematical ideas are the Cartesian coordinate system, n⁰ = 1 and ~, and n⁰ = 1 (X for the Lord ‘s day) and n ^n + 2 (Y for human’s day). Mathematically, it is scholarly that Christ came from heaven to earth and the dead people, and then came back to heaven through the earth. The gospel does not introduce a new Lord. There is no other Lord in Christianity, except Christ. The mathematical idea of - ~ ≤ X1 < ~ and X1 = Y1 is for Satan and the false prophet.
Objectives: To show mathematically that Jesus Christ is Lord and journey of Jesus Christ from heaven to earth and the world of the dead, then returned to heaven through this world. This journey is scholarly.
Methods: The n⁰ (X) and 10 ^2+n is mathematical ideas of days in God and human. The n⁰ = 1 and ~ in which -~≤ n ≤ ~ is for mathematical idea for one God. The ­ ~ ≤ X ≤ ~ and X = Y is mathematical idea for the spiritual journey of Jesus Christ. For the false prophet and Satan are - ~ ≤ X1 < ~ and X1 = Y1, and Cartesian coordinate systems were described.  Searched verses in the Bible manually and via the internet. Keywords included such as Christ, and the false prophet. 
Results: God in the Old Testament is the same as God in the New Testament. In mathematics, God is the same as one and ~. Mathematics can show who is God. Christ is the same as God. There is no other Christ. God became man in Jesus Christ to preach the gospel to humans. He went to the earth of the dead to preach the gospel 3 days, returned to the earth, and then to the heaven. This is the spiritual journey. Emmanuel is God with us.  A Christian could catch up into paradise as Paul’s vision. It was from the earth. It was not from heaven. It is different with Jesus Christ’s journey. Paul’s vision shows that the man catch up from the world to heaven, returned to the earth and died. He needed to wait the advent of Christ to rise up him from the death. Christ is eternal forever. The man in Paul’s vision still needs to be rise by Christ on the day of the Lord. The - ~ ≤ X ≤ ~ and X = Y fills Quadrant 1, Quadrant 2, Quadrant 3, and Quadrant 4 in the Cartesian coordinate system. Mathematical idea of -~ ≤ X=Y ≤ ~ is first the evidence as spiritual journey of Jesus Christ as the Father, Son, and the Spirit. The Cartesian coordinate system is the second evidence of the journey. Another evidence in mathematical idea, the third evidence, of the Father, Son and the Spirit is n⁰ = 1, ~. For example, if n is 1, 2, 3, the result is 1⁰ = 2⁰ = 3⁰ = 1. It shows that the Father, the Son, and the Spirit is one. The forth evidence is day in the Lord and day in human. Its mathematical idea is n⁰ = 1 (the Lord’s day) and n^n+2 (human’s day). Satan was from heaven and was thrown into the earth. It was not a spiritual journey. Satan, his angels and the false prophet have been thrown into the hell.  The mathematical model of the false prophet is - ~ ≤ X1 < ~ and X1 = Y1.
Conclusions: Jesus Christ is the Lord and scholarly. There is only one Lord Jesus Christ. The ­ ~ ≤ X ≤ ~ and X = Y shows that Jesus Christ is the Lord. Ten mathematical ideas or evidences can demonstrate the relationship between God, Jesus Christ, and the Spirit. This relationship also shows the Spiritual Journey of Jesus Christ. These include n⁰ = 1and~ , n0⁰ (X) and n^2+n, -~ ≤ X=Y ≤ ~, and the Cartesian coordinate systems. The false prophet has mathematic idea as - ~ ≤ X1 < ~ and X1 = Y1.

The purpose of this paper is to demonstrate standard exegetical practice that helps to determine the meaning of Biblical text.  The text (1 Cor 15:29) chosen for this demonstration presents a number of difficulties that require proper hermeneutical analysis. The researcher thus follows a prescribed procedure in which he does the following: 1) peruses the manuscript textual evidence and other language translations; 2) looks at various English translations; 3) uses syntactic analysis, concordances  and theological dictionaries to help with determination of meaning; 4) investigates literary interactions; 5) sets the text in its historical and geographical context; 6) focuses on the original theoretical meaning; and finally 7) explores possible contemporary applications.

Introduction to Messianic Judaism provides a description of what the Messianic Jewish community looks like today at its center and on its margins. The first section of the book traces the ecclesial contours of the community, providing a socio-historical and theological snapshot of the community's origins, where it is presently and where it is heading. Alongside these chapters, the book also includes a number of essays on biblical and theological issues central to the identity of Messianic Judaism. The twelve contributors to the first part of the book are recognized leaders in the Messianic Jewish community. They work with various organizations, including the Union of Messianic Jewish Congregations, the Messianic Jewish Alliance of America, the International Alliance of Messianic Congregations and Synagogues, the Messianic Jewish Rabbinical Council, Tikkun International, Chosen People Ministries, Messianic Jewish Theological Institute, Israel College of the Bible and the New School for Jewish Studies. Fourteen scholars from a wide spectrum of Christian backgrounds have written essays for the second part of the book. Their participation signals a growing academic and ecclesial interest in Messianic Judaism. Since the 1970s, a sea change has taken place in New Testament studies that has far-reaching implications for how the church evaluates Messianic Judaism. A broad reassessment of the New Testament writers’ view of Judaism has occurred since the publication of E. P. Sanders’s seminal work Paul and Palestinian Judaism (1977), and this reevaluation continues unabated. The contributors to the second part of Introduction to Messianic Judaism draw from this recent scholarship and demonstrate how post-supersessionist interpretation of the New Testament results in readings of the biblical text that are consistent with Messianic Judaism. The final section of the book is written by Joel Willitts who provides a summary and synthesis of the essays, explaining how they shed light on the ecclesial context and biblical foundations of Messianic Judaism.

This article presents some new material on the Greek text of Melito. Nongbri describes the rediscovery of the first leaf of the Greek copy of Melito’s Peri Pascha in the Bodmer collection and discusses its place in the codex of which it is a part. Nongbri and Hall then jointly present a transcript of the text, supplemented where it is damaged with material from other sources and the published critical text. A new critical text follows, with notes in explanation. Finally we offer a new translation of the sections concerned.

The debate on the meaning of pistis in 2 Peter 1:1 has alternated between subjective faith (belief) and objective faith (the Faith). However, agreeing with Fredrick W. Danker’s analysis, a secular Hellenistic meaning of pistis better explains the distinctive context of 2 Peter 1:1 and 2 Peter’s use of pistis. Applying ten patterns for the use of pistis as a pledge of safe-conduct, gleaned from its use in secular Hellenistic literature contemporary to 2 Peter, we conclude that 2 Peter 1:1 uses pistis as a pledge of safe-conduct, which introduces 2 Peter’s theme and its controlling journey metaphor.

Digital communication technologies have greatly influenced and expanded the way humans interact. The progress of information technology has opened wider opportunities for communication. Social networks have become the modern-day social communities connecting people from different parts of the globe, sharing images and videos on these platforms. By creating virtual communities, digital communication has expanded the scope of communication eliminating barriers. We aim to make further progress in this arena by describing an image in the form of audio to visually impaired people. A certain section of differently abled people is unfortunately isolated from this world. Inorder to combat this issue we have come up with a system that describes an image shown in the form of plain text using an encoder-decoder architecture and is integrated with an end-to-end lexical articulator which produces a vocal description of the given image.

Cet article réexamine le texte du papyrus P45 dans l’évangile de Mc afin d’évaluer la pertinence du groupe P45-W.032 (codex de Freer) et de vérifier si P45 n’a aucune affinité textuelle avec un type de texte identifié. Une méthode nouvelle est mise en œuvre avec le calcul de distances entre leçons, puis entre témoins : un algorithme de classification permet alors l’établissement d’arbres illustrant la taxinomie textuelle obtenue. Les chapitres 6 et 9 de l’évangile de Marc sont étudiés, représentant un peu moins de la moitié des 305 lieux variants répertoriés pour P45.
(1) Au chapitre 9 le Papyrus P45 et le codex de Freer constituent indiscutablement un groupe textuel et n’ont aucun lien avec l’un ou l’autre témoin « césaréen ». De plus, bien que plusieurs textualistes mettent en doute l’existence du type de texte césaréen, nous devons conclure que le groupe Θ.038-565 existe au même titre que le groupe P45-W.032. Au point de vue taxinomique nier l’existence de l’un reviendrait à nier celle de l’autre dans ce chapitre.
(2) Au chapitre 6 le Papyrus P45 et le codex de Freer ne forment plus un groupe textuel. Dans ces conditions, la thèse largement répandue selon laquelle ces deux témoins constituent un groupe textuel pour l’ensemble Mc 5,31–16,20 doit être corrigée. Elle ne vaut pas pour le chapitre 6. Le calcul des distances entre P45 et les autres manuscrits montre néanmoins que le papyrus a sa plus forte proximité avec les témoins alexandrins, apparaissant dans l’ordre 892, B.03, א.01 et 579 (L.019).
(3) La divergence des résultats nous amène à conclure qu’une analyse indistincte de l’ensemble du texte du papyrus est une erreur méthodologique. Une analyse par sections de l’évangile est impérative.

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Who is Christ? A Man, a God, or both? He is a God-man, but what does this name really mean? How do divine and human nature unite in one person? And how is it possible for a God to be hungry, thirsty or pray with agony and finally be crucified? Did God indwell to a human being and abandon that human being during the crucifixion? How do the answers of these questions about Christ impact our faith? These contemporary questions initially appeared in the 4th century, and Saint Cyril, bishop of Alexandria, responded by determining how Divinity and humanity were united through his work “Christ is One”. Cyril is the main figure of the Church’s doctrine regarding Christ and the Church adopted his views as representative of its faith.
The current book begins by describing Cyril’s life and the theological-historical background of his period. Afterwards, there is a summary of Cyril’s text, a theological analysis of his views and moreover, some comments on how specific points apply to our contemporary spiritual life.

The late Antique mosaic of Orpheus decorated a small room, approximately 18 m2 in area, connected with two even smaller ones, in 4 m2 and the other 2 m2 in area, belonging most likely to a small funerary chapel (or tomb) discovered in the ancient necropolis by the Damascene Gate in Jerusalem; it was discovered in 1901 by H. Vincent.
The author proposes a new interpretation of the iconographic program of the Orpheus myth used by wealthy Christians in a sepulchral context (see Olszewski M.T. «Orphée endeuillé de la mosaïque funéraire de Jérusalem», in Rey Mimoso-Ruiz, B. ed., Actes du colloque «Orphée entre Soleil et ombre», à l’Institut Catholique de Toulouse du 16 au 17 novembre 2007, Inter Lignes, numéros spécial – mars 2008, pp. 205-214, 226). He also proposes a new interpretation of the role Orpheus played in Roman funerary art, concentrating on the importance of the play on words and the visual and textual punning that was popular in ancient art and especially in funerary art. He rejects the popular interpretation of Orpheus as Christ in the Roman catacombs and proposes to interpret the image as that of Orpheus, bard of the departed souls, without any ahistorical connection with Christ. The program of the mosaic from Jerusalem is thus explained as a play on the words Orpheus-orphanos and Chiron (Chi-Rho) and Pan [Παν(τοκράτωρ)].The frequently used Christian funerary formula of resting in peace, Christ or the Lord corresponds
perfectly with the mood created around the mythical bard.
Orpheus’ universal role as singer and musician moving even the most stony of hearts, extolling the beloved departed, is absolutely justified in the context of a 6th-century Christian tomb. Orpheus is a popular and neutral figure, meaning that in effect it does not constitute a threat to Christian theology and can be tolerated by the educated Christians of Jerusalem.

Poco menos de diez años después de «uno de los descubrimientos paleográficos  más  importantes de la historia moderna» , a mediados del mes de febrero de 1955, cercana a las cuevas ya descubiertas en los alrededores de las ruinas del asentamiento esenio de Qumrán, “en la costa noroeste de mar Muerto”, se descubrió y excavó la Cueva 7 (7Q).

La identificación de los fragmentos de papiro de la cueva 7 tendría un impulso, de repercusiones internacionales, cuando el sacerdote jesuita español José O’Callaghan Martínez (1922-2001) publica en 1972 sus artículos “¿Papiros neotestamentarios en la cueva 7 de Qumrân?" en la Revista Bíblica, Vol. 53, N.º 1, “Un fragmento del evangelio de san Marcos en el papiro 5 de la cueva 7 de Qumrân”, en la Revista Arbor, Tomo LXXXI, N.º 313, y poco después, en 1974, “Los Papiros Griegos de la Cueva 7 de Qumrân”,  en los que presentaba “sólo como una teoría o hipótesis” su “estudio”, sus “diferentes trabajos realizados sobre los papiros de la cueva 7 de Qumrân”, identificándolos como “textos neotestamentarios” y poniendo, humildemente, a consideración de sus colegas, tal tesis.

This is "The Complete Book of Revelation" and it is the full explanation of the Book of Revelation that is found in the Bible. Written by Pastor Orin E.Bogart and was given by God to man through His Word (The Bible)and the Holy Spirit. This book explains why God made man and the setup of His eternal Kingdom.

The book covers all wars, plagues, prophecies,  famines, the four horsemen of the apocalypse and more.

Each chapter in the Book of Revelation from the Bible is explained verse by verse and can be easily understood with God's help.

It has been proposed that references to Jesus’ relationship to Mary Magdalene in the Gospel of Philip represent a possible context for an early gospel fragment in which Jesus refers to her as ‘My wife’. It will be argued here that Mary’s relationship to Jesus in Philip is determined by her role as privileged recipient of revelation, not by her marital status. More significant in accounting for the Jesus’ Wife fragment is the Gospel of Thomas, which the author appears to have known in precisely the text-form represented by the one surviving Coptic exemplar.

Revisions to the Greek NT in NA28 are restricted to the Catholic Epistles—the product of the Münster Institute’s ongoing work on the Editio critica maior. The text of the rest of the NT remains unaltered. The updated manuscript data, however, spans the apparatus of the entire NT and signals a new day for its textual history. The revised correctors of the Apocalypse in Codex Sinaiticus make the point. The proposed revisions have direct and far-reaching implications for the book’s textual history. Corrections once placed in the fourth through sixth centuries now occupy the seventh. The changes appear slight, even inconsequential—“touch ups” in support of the task of reconstruction. The clarification and re-dating of the correctors, though, represent a material shift with instant repercussions. The inclusion of new and additional witnesses—alongside of and in juxtaposition to the corrections—further portend altered textual alignments and disclose forgotten chapters in the history of textual criticism. The clarity of the new data also facilitates an examination of their limitations and unclutters the landscape for renewed textual research. The stage is set for a reappraisal of the Apocalypse’s textual history.

The Fathers of the Church were acquainted and influenced by both Jewish exegesis and Greek philosophy; the doctrine of the λόγος ἐνδιάθετος (inner) and προφοροκός (exteriorised) was one of those influences. Stoic in its genesis, it dealt with the psychological dualities mind/speech, thought/utterance in man. Philo adopted the theory for his hermeneutical system so that it was transmitted to the Fathers, who used it as a resource for their explanations of the nature of the Son of God (long identified as the λόγος of God). My goal is to let the texts speak for themselves as sign-bearers of the routes taken by the doctrine. I limit my examination to the Greeks Fathers of the first four centuries who witness the doctrine and/or the terms related to it (Theophilus of Antioch, Hippolytus of Rome; Justin Martyr, Tatian and Athenagoras of Athens). Finally it shall be seen that the doctrine, especially from the 4th on, was rejected by theologians (e.g. Athanasius of Alexandria) as well as by Councils’ and Synods’ decrees (namely the Synod of Sirmium in 351 a.D.).


KEY-WORDS: λόγος ἐνδιάθετος and προφορικός; Philo of Alexandria; Patristic Christology.

Clement of Alexandria is listed, without fail, in all commentaries on Hermas among the early authors who held the Shepherd in highest esteem. Yet it is not always an easy task to grasp the meaning of this esteem. My paper aims to reassess the peculiar view Clement held about Hermas as an instance of this text’s reception, and thus as a part of the reception history of the Shepherd.

Three independent converging lines of physical evidence support a preliminary interpretation of Irish Early Christian occupation at the Gungywamp site, Groton, Connecticut:

-Calibrated Carbon-14 date to mid 6th century AD.
-Hiberno-Latin "nomina sacra" petroglyphs.
-Calendrically oriented drywall oratory architecture.

An overview of the variety of textual differences that exist between the Apocalypse in Codex Sinaiticus and the book in modern critical editions, thereby offering a window into the book's early readership. There is also a YouTube link to the lecture version of this paper, which was recently delivered at Samford University for their Holley Hull Lecture Series: https://vimeo.com/878444925/a35492dd8b?share=copy&fbclid=IwAR10Iu7HKuAjjcEcDdxgfT7XKqe2F6W6Bwb1cVHafNO0Yz6g4VhsIhXHMz4

This introduction to the life and work of the 4th century theologian John Chrysostom from an Anglican viewpoint, uses six of St. John’s most popular sermons as exemplars to illustrate rhetorical devices often present in texts from the Second Sophistic period; the essay also references the Paschal Sermon of John Chrysostom, even though possibly apocryphal, and includes its text.