The Pauline epistles survive in all three major dialects of the Coptic language: Sahidic, medieval Bohairic, and classical Fayyūmic. Unfortunately, the latter of these three versions has not yet received the attention it deserves. In this lecture, I would like to offer my reflections on the fragmentary parchment codex housed at the Morgan Library & Museum in New York and designated in Leo Depuydt’s catalog as P.MorganLib. 265. An editio princeps of this manuscript will appear next year in New Testament Studies. P.MorganLib. 265 bears witness to four chapters of First Corinthians in classical Fayyūmic. Most of these chapters have been hitherto unattested in FayyGmic and thus allow us to attain better insight into the history and text of the Coptic Bible. As | am going to demonstrate, the time has come to retire the views on the relationship between the Bohairic and Fayyimic Bibles expressed by the prominent Coptologists of the past (Paul E. Kahle and H. J. Polotsky) and to search for more complex and viable solutions.
المتحدث: Dr. Ivan Miroshnikov
Senior Research Fellow at the Centre for Egyptological
Studies, Russian Academy of Sciences Pro Futura Scientia Fellow at the Swedish Collegium for Advanced Study
