24. Gramatically and linguistically the translation follows quite closely the
THE TRANSLATIONS BEFORE 1400
and shorter interrogations.176 The Girk' Harc'olac' was accompanied by the authentic A sc. Pr3, the dubious A sc. Pr5 and the likewise dubious Epit.
24. Gramatically and linguistically the translation follows quite closely the Greek, but not slavishly. It should be of great assistance for establishing the critical text of the Asc. 2111
The influence of Basilian asceticism on the formation and development of Armenian monasticism antedates the publication of the Girk'
Harc'olac'. Nerses was brought up in Cappadocia in the schools of Eustathius and Basil, and through him the main features of Basilian asceticism were introduced into Armenia: Christian perfection combined with works of apostolate and evangelization; social initiative and enterprise (building and administering of schools and hospitals, care of the sick and needy); sanction of the "ordo hieromonachorum" (vardapets) among a hitherto exclusively lay and uneducated group of monks.178
However, the progress of this dynamic and socially and ecclesiastically relevant asceticism was not fast nor universal, not even after the appearance of the Girk' Harc'olac'. The forms of eremitism remained strongly rooted. Hence the Council of Sahapivan (24 June 444?) had to remind everyone of the necessity to practice the cenobitic life.179
Direct borrowings from the Asc. 2h are found in the homily called Yacaxapaloum 23. attributed by some to Gregory the Illuminator, by others to Mashtots. but which in reality seems to be from 630. Here are its main ideas for which it is not difficult to find parallels in the work of Basil: the ascetic community as the body of Christ: necessity to obey the leader and the community; practice of prayer as memory of God. etc.180 In the Universal History of Asolnik. written at the beginning of the eleventh century, there is a description of the founding of a monastery at Sevan
"according to the institutes of Basil,'" by Mashtots, the future Catho176 Gribomont Histoire, pp. 65-77. G. Uluhogian, "Contributi alio studio della tradizione manoscritta del Basilio armeno: 1) II mscr. 5595 di Erivan," RILSL 109 (1975)
210-225, adds the description of one of the oldest and most complete witnesses written in 1279 at the monastery of Eliazar or the Convent of Twelve Apostles near Mows (Armenia proper). With Asc. 2. Asc. 2h omits EApokr. br. 130, 194, 203, 314 (and fus. 48bis) but adds from Asc. 213a or Asc. 213b, 130, 156, 278, 282, 315-318.
177 Uluhogian is preparing the editio princeps of the Girk' Harc'olac'.
178 See G Amaduni, "Armeno, monachesimo," DIP 1 (1974) 879-899. The same author assembled all the relevant documents in ceo 12(1940) xii-xiii; see also ibid., 39,43,
145, 194-195.
179 See the text in Gribomont, Histoire, p. 76.
180 See Amaduni. ceo 12 (1940) 202 ff.
PAUL J. FEDWICK
licos.181 To the same Mashtots is attributed an Euchologion in which there is an "Exhortation of Basil," in fact a cento from his works.182 ii. Hexaemeron Contrary to the opinion of earlier scholarship, Muradyan has convincingly shown that the Armenian translation of Basil's Hexaemeron, at least the one contained in the Matenadaran manuscripts, is not derived from the Syriac but that it has been made directly from the Greek.183
Because it was made during the "Golden Age" it could well predate the Syriac version. The translator, or rather translators, are unknown but it is quite certain that they belonged to the school of Eznik.184 In the assessment of some earlier scholars who based their opinion on the edition of Venice 1830 it appeared as a free rendering of the original.185 Muradyan, who has been studying the manuscripts of Erevan with a view of a new critical edition, thinks that it is a rather good translation.186 However, since most of the manuscripts are rather recent and contain many scribal mistakes, recourse must be made to the ancient quotations. Chief among the authors who availed themselves of the Hexaemeron is Ananias
Shirakatsi, a seventh-century philosopher, astronomer, geographer, and traveller.187 In him we have the best witness to the original version of the Hexaemeron. According to Thomson, Shirakatsi's treatise On Clouds and 181 Amaduni, ibid., p. 39.
182 Conflation of *Asc. Pr5 and EApokr. fus. 25, PG 31: 884B9-C13, 984c5-ll, 985B12-C7. See Venice BSL arm. 457, 9/11th cent, and the English translation of F. C.
Conybeare, Rituale Armenorum (Oxford 1905) pp. 159-160.
183 K. Muradyan, Barset Kesarac'i ew nra "Vec'oreayn" hay matenagrut'yan me/ (Erevan 1976) pp. 138-204. For the opposite view see A. Suk'rean, "Surb Barset ew ir erkasirut'iwnk'n," Bazmavép 31 (1873) 112-126; J. T'orosean, "S. Barsei. Ir 'vec'öreay' carere ew hay t'argmanut'iwne," Bazmavép 92 (1934) 327-336; and I. W. Driessen, "Les recueils manuscrits arméniens de saint Basile," Mu 66 (1953) 92. It should be noted, however, that none of these authors has made a comparative study of the Syriac and Armenian versions. Hence it is not at all impossible that originally there was a version based on the Syriac.
184 Muradyan, Barset, p. 261 raises the possibility that there could have been more than one translator working on the Hexaemeron. He/they would belong to the school of Eznik (first half of the fifth century).
185 Editio princeps published in Venice in 1830; see the article in this volume by Uluhogian, n. 4. See the authors cited in n. 183 for the opposite view from Muradyan's.
186 Muradyan, Barset, pp. 260-261. The work in Georgian by M. Kachadse, Lexikon zum Sechstagewerk des (hl.) Basilius (Tiflis 1951 ?) is known to me only through the brief reference of M. Tarchnisvili, "Kurzer Überblick über den Stand der georgischen Literaturforschung," OrChr 37 (1953) 97-98.
187 See Muradyan, Barsei, pp. 209-247, and his articles cited in this volume by Uluhogian, n. 4 (Nos. 3, 7).
THE TRANSLATIONS BEFORE 1400
Signs is "an almost verbatim rewriting of Basil's Hexaemeron."m The readings that his works have preserved are devoid of the many errors found in the manuscripts. Other authors who prior to Shirakatsi made use of the Hexaemeron without mentioning it are Eznik and Agathangelos; both wrote in the mid-fifth century, Agathangelos a decade or two after Eznik.189
Because in the pre-tenth-century Armenian schools the Hexaemeron was used as the main textbook, Muradyan has discovered several lexicons and commentaries specially designed to help the students in the reading and study of the Hexaemeron.190 iii. Moral Homilies The collection of some 33 to 35 works of Basil, which in Armenian appears apart from the Hexaemeron and the Asceticon, is ordinarily referred to by the title of the first work in the series which is Basil's
HIeiun. 1, hence Girk' Pahoc', "Liber de ieiunio." There are some seventeen manuscripts containing the entire corpus, six independent from the Hexaemeron and the Asceticon.191 All the manuscripts are later than the tenth century. However, the translation itself is to be dated to the fifth to eighth centuries. Unlike the Girk' Harc'olac', the Girk' Pahoc' is a work of accretion constituted over a period of several centuries and hence the critical value of each item ought to be assessed individually. In general, however, authors agree that the translation of most homilies is quite literal.192
Here are the components of the Girk ' Pahoc' (only in few manuscripts are all the works found together): i. HIeiun. 1 ; ii. HIeiun. 2-, iii. HEbr. [14]; iv. HAtt. [3]: v. "HPaen. [28]; vi. HDestr. [6]; vii. HDiv. [1]; viii. HPs. 14b;
188 R. W Thomson. The Fathers in Early Armenian Literature." SP 12 (1975) 467.
189 Eznik. disciple of Mashtots. is the author of De Deo. known before as De refutandis sectis' ; see PO 28 (based on the only surviving MS). For the identification of Eznik's sources see L. Mariés. Le De Deo dEznik de Kolb. Éludes de critique littéraire el textuelle (Paris 1924). Agathangelos (probably a pseudonym) wrote a History which purports to describe the conversion of Armenia to Christianity and the activity of Gregory the Illuminator See the study of G. Garitte. Documents pour l'étude du livre d'Agalhange
(Vatican 1946) and the English translation, with identification of the sources, by R. W.
Thomson. The Teaching of St. Gregory (Cambridge. Mass. 1970) §5 259-715: the remaining paragraphs are in idem. Agathangelos. History of the Armenians (Albany 1976).
"° Muradyan. Barset. p. 261
"' For a summary description of the MSS see the article by Lluhogian in this volume.
On the MSS of the Matenadaran in general see Problemy paleogrufii i kodikologii ν SSSR
(Moscow 1974) pp 362-381.
1,2 See Dnessen. les recueils." p. 92
PAUL J. FEDWICK
ix. HIra [10]; x. HInv. [11]; xi. HPs. I ; xii. HPs. 59; xiii. HPs. 61 ; xiv. HPs.
114; xv. HPs. 115; xvi. HFide [15]; xvii. HVerb. [16]; xviii. HChr. [27]; xix.
**Contra Apollinarem; xx. (?) Ad Gregorium theologum-, xxi. EOpt. [260]; xxii. EAth. [82]; xxiii. £Y7/VöZ. [2]; xxiv. ETheod. [173] + Depe/;/: [22]; xxv.
EDiod. [160]; xxvi. HGrat. [4]; xxvii. ///w/. [5]; xxviii. **Encomium in Stephanum; xxix. HMart. [19]; xxx. HGord. [18]; xxxi. HBapt. [13]; xxxii.
HMal. [9]; xxxiii. **De eleemosyna.m The florilegium Sea/ of Faith, which was put together in 610/611, during the pontificate of the Catholicos Komitas, includes, among others, extracts from Basil's De Sp. S., chapter 18, HGrat. [A], H lui. [5], HProv.
[12], **"Disputatio Orthodoxi cum Apollinario,"194 and the complete text of HFide [15].195 The translation of most passages is derived from previous versions.196 Based on the Syriac translation of the texts are the excerpts contained in the anti-Chalcedonian florilegium of Timothy Aelurus.197
193 The title of v. in some MSS is "Basilii ad Theologum De paenitentia." or "In ps. 37." xix. is the Ps.-Athanasius. Dialogus 4. PG 28: 1249-1265. The author of this dialogue is probably somebody named Orthodoxus (see next note; also n. 76 above), xx. is one of the many * "EApokr. Basilii el Gregorii; for others see below. In Erevan Matén. 5595. a. 1279. the title of xx. is "Tractatus de fide beatorum SS. Basilii et Gregorii." The title of xxii. in the Pahoc' is Epistula ad Eusebium Caesariensem praedecessorem suum" (see CPG 2980); it was identified for the first time by Uluhogian. see below pp. 572-573. n. 10. No. 22. xxviii. and xxxiii. have no parallels in Greek. For the works that have thus far been edited see Uluhogian below p. 573. n i l . Now also K. Muradyan. "Tri gomilii Vasiliya
Kesariiskogo ν drevnearmyanskom perevode." Kavkaz i Vizamiya 1 (1979) 200-230 (critical edition of HDiv. [1]. HPs. 14b. HEbr. [14]. based on Erevan Maten. 2549. 13th cent, and Erevan Maten. 5595. a. 1279). The oldest translation of HBapt. [13]. under the name of Severian of Gabala. was published by G. B. Aucher. Severiani sive Seberiani
Gabaloruni episcopi Emesensis homiliae (Venice 1827) pp. 370-401. Another version is extant in Vienna MB 217. a. 1848/1849 (copy of Erevan Maten. 1500. 13th cent). For still another translation (excerpt) corresponding to PG 31: 440B 1-8. 443c3 see Vitae Patrum (in Arm.) ed. by N. Sargisian (Venice 1855) 2: 676-678.
4 Same as xix. above (n. 193). For Orthodoxus as a proper name see Lebon cited in the following note. Cf. Florence BML SM lat. 584, 9/ 10th cent, and Mercati. Codici latini. p. 188. Armenian translation with a Greek retroversion of "'Dial. A in P. Jungmann. Die armenische Fassung des sog. pseudo-athanasianische Dialogus de sancta Trinitate IV (Armenisch: 'Betrachtung über die Körperlichkeit des Erlösers')." OrChr 53 (1969) 159201.
195 Edition of the florilegium by Κ. Ter-Mekerttschian. Knik' Hawaioy (Etchmiadzin
1914: rpt. Louvain 1974). See J. Lebon, "Les citations patristiques grecques du Sceau de la foi." RHE 25 (1929) 5-32. and Thomson. "The Fathers." pp. 462-466. For another
Armenian florilegium compiled by a certain Vardan by 1205 under the title "Root of Faith." see R. W. Thomson. "The Shorter Recension of the 'Root of Faith." REArm 5
(1968)249-260.
1,6 Thomson. "The Fathers." p. 463. However, the extract from the De Sp. S. must come from another source as this work has never been translated into Armenian.
197 Edition by K. Ter-Mekerttschian and E. Ter-Minassiantz, Timotheus Aelurus Widerlegung (Leipzig 1908). Quotations identified by Cavallera. "Le dossier patristique."
THE TRANSLATIONS BEFORE 1400
In a Chrysostomic manuscript of the eleventh or twelfth century Ad virg. [46] appears as HChr. [27] (sic); another miscellaneous twelfthcentury manuscript contains, along with some items of the Pahoc', a.
**"Oratio de hypapante (ex Comm. in Lucam)," b. **"Commentarius in Zachariam 13.7" (fragment); c. **"Ad Terentium strategum."198
Independently from the Pahoc' and chiefly as part of the homiliaries appear the following sermons and treatises whose dates of composition are unknown (some could be as recent as the nineteenth century): d.
**"Admonitio ad omnes credentes"; e. **"Admonitio 'Nunc ... ne prohibeat te"\ f. * '"Consilium de paenitentia"; g. ""Consilium 'venerabilis quidam homo Dei'": h. **"De eleemosynaet in-eleemosyna 'Ne quis"; i.
""EApokr. Basilii et Gregorii theologi 'Basilius ait: Cum nee'"; j .
**"EApokr. Basilii et Gregorii theologi 'Basilius ait: Quot lumina "; k.
**"EApokr. Basilii et Gregorii Nysseni"; 1. **"In s. Baptistam"; m. **"In ieiunium 'Sabbatum dies festus "; n. **"In illud: TJnde, vel a quo invenerunt": o. *J ' In Verbum 2."199 iv. Liturgy, Prayers. Canons Under the title "Anaphora of St. Gregory the Illuminator" (t332) has been preserved the oldest recension of Basil's Liturgy, LBas. 3, translated into vernacular shortly after the invention of the Armenian script.200 An p. 347 For the dependence on Timothy's Refutation of Movsès Khorenatsi (last decades of the 5th cent, author of a "Treatise") see K. Sarkissian. Γ/ie· Council ofChalcedon and the Armenian Church (London 1965) p. 165: the work of Khorenatsi in Girk' T'lt'oc;
SahakMesropean Library 5 (Tiflis 1901) 22-28.
198 The Chrysostomic codex. Vienna MB 232. a. 1851. is a copy of two MSS. one from 1046. and another from 1198. a-c. are found in Venice BSI. 463. 13th cent. Sometimes c. is mistakingly identified as ETer. ft. [105], probably because of the title in some MSS "Ad
Terentium de obitu filiarum." Paris BN arm. 118 ( ~ 116-118). 14th cent, ascribes to Basil an "Oratio in festum prophetae Davidis atque Iacobi apostoli." According to M. van
Esbroeck (see n. 263 below), pp. 189-190. the latter is an extract from the PseudoChrysostomian homily CPG 4544: Aldama 294.
1 , 9 For information on most of these works I am indebted to Prof. Gabriella Uluhogian who kindly made available to me her notes. I do not possess at the moment the dates of all the MSS: however, they all seem to be very recent. Some authors of catalogues ascribe to Basil two commentaries. "In Marcum 13.3," and "In Ezechielem." which in the MSS appear anonymously. According to Driessen. "Les recueils." p. 79 the fragment "In Christi generationem" (see K. Zarbhanalean. Matenadaran haykakan Targmanut'eanc naxeac' (Venice 1889] p. 336) is taken from HChr. [27]. Another excerpt from this homily from the 11/12th cent, was published by Β Outtier. "Les feuilles de garde onciales du
Psautier arménien de Tours." REArm 9 (1972) 107-112.
200 Texts of LBas. 3 in H. Catergian and H. Dashian. Srbazan pataragamatoyts'k'
Havols' T'argmanowl'iwnk' pataragats'
Yownats', Asorwots' ew Latinals'MOIS (Vienna
PAUL J. FEDWICK
excerpt of the anaphora of LBas. 3 is quoted in the Armenian version of the History of the Church of Faustus of Byzantium. Writing ca. 425 the history of the years 320-387, Faustus puts in the mouth of the priest
Zowit' of Artasat a long prayer for the conversion of a monk entertaining doubts about the presence of the Lord in the eucharistie mystery. As Renoux points out, the beginning of this prayer is identical with that of the anaphora of LBas. J.201
LBas. 3 remained in use in the Armenian church probably until the late fifth century, when Catholikos Yovhannës Mantakuni (405-485) reorganized all the ritual of his church. The translation of LBas. I is to be dated either to the end of the eighth or to the ninth to tenth centuries.202
The following prayers go under the name of Basil in Armenian: i.
"Prayer for Monday"; ii. "Prayer for the blessing of the water on the day of the Epiphany"; iii. "Prayer of Holy Thursday, for those who make penance"; iv. "Prayer for the day of Easter"; v. "Prayer for the holy day of Pentecost"; vi. "Prayer for the burial of a layperson"; vii. "Prayer for the burial of a priest"; viii. "Prayer to be recited over the tomb"; ix. "Prayer for the day of the Transfiguration of our Lord."203
The Armenian "Canons of Basil," derived from the Greek, were edited by Hakobyan.204 It should be noted that ED'iod. [160], which appears in that collection, forms also part of the Girk' Pahoc'.
D. BASIL IN COPTIC LITERATURE
Early Christian Egypt, notably from the third century on, is associated with the origin and development of two forms of monasticism, the 1897) pp. 120-159; French translation in A. Renoux, "L'anaphore arménienne de saint
Grégoire l'llluminateur," in Eucharisties d'Orient et d'Occident, ed. B. Botte et al. (Paris
1970) 2: 88-108. See also the partial Greek retroversion by Engberding, Das eucharistische, pp. 2-24. For the MSS see Engberding, ibid., pp. xlvii-xlviii, and Renoux, ibid., pp. 84-86.
201 Faustus' quotation from the prayer after Sanctus is reproduced in its entirety by Renoux, "L'anaphore," pp. 93-100.
202 See De Meester, "Grecques (Liturgies)," col. 1605. Complete text of LBas. 1, in Armenian, in Catergian-Dashian, Srbazan, pp. 180-216. On the MSS see Engberding, Das eucharislische, pp. xlvii-xlviii.
203 With gratitude I acknowledge the contribution of Prof. Gabriella Uluhogian to the making of this list.
204 Kanonagirk' Hayoc', 1 (Erevan 1964) 329-362. On the various stages of development (all rather late) see V. Hatzuni, "Disciplina armena. Armeni," ceo 8 (1932)
139-168, esp. 156-158, 164-165. According to this author, the Canons of Basil never occupied a prominent place in the Armenian canonical collections.
THE TRANSLATIONS BEFORE 1400
eremitic and the quasi-eremitic model.205 Pachomius was not the only organizer of cenobitic monasticism on Egyptian soil. An even more active role before him was displayed by Meletian monasticism, a movement that tended to keep close to the affairs of the local churches.206
In ca. 357 Basil paid a short visit to Egypt, probably only to Alexandria, with the intention of learning the most suitable forms of evangelical life.207
In a letter from 375 he left a rather unfavourable opinion of what he saw and learned during his trip.208 However, his judgment is quite generic bearing at the same time upon the forms of monasticism as seen by him in Syria, Mesopotamia, Osrhoëne, and Palestine.209
From the surviving documents, some, the earliest, in Sahidic, others, the majority, in Bohairic, it is possible to appreciate only to a certain degree the popularity enjoyed by Basil among the Coptic speaking
Christians. He is commemorated as a Saint in the synaxaries, although the information about his life contained therein is often deprived of any historical value.210 For the most part it is derived, independently though, from the same source as the Pseudo-Amphilochian Vita et miracula
Basilii211 The Arabic Jacobite Synaxary (Coptic redaction) adds a mention of his works by genres:
20i On the myth of Egypt as the cradle of monasticism see A. Veilleux, "La théologie de l'abbatiat cénobitique et ses implications liturgiques," VSSuppI 21 (1968) 353-366; and Fedwick, 5v. Vasylû. pp. 11-19. Cf. also J. Gribomont "Le monachisme au sein de l'Église en Syrie et en Cappadoce," StMon 1 (1965) 7-24.
206 The fundamental work is that of H. I. Bell, Jews and Christians in Egypt (London
1924) esp. pp. 38-99. See also L. W. Barnard. "Some Notes on the Meletian Schism in Egypt," SP 12 (1975) 399-405. In many ways the organization but most of all the terminology of the Meletians concurs with that of Basil. The most striking example is the use of the term προεστώς. Could have Eustathius been the intermediary? While studying in Alexandria under Arius. Eustathius doubtlessly came into contact with Egyptian monasticism, see E. Amand de Mendieta, L 'ascèse monastique de saint Basile (Denée
1949) p. 53, η. 46. This monasticism was not the Pachomian as Pachomians lived mostly outside Alexandria. The Meletians on the other hand kept close to the towns and they were very much involved in current church affairs. On a similar feature in the Eustathians see briefly Fedwick, The Church, p. 158.
207 See EEust. [1] and EEust. [223]. On the former cf. J. Gribomont, "Eustathe le
Philosophe et les voyages du jeune Basile de Césarée," RHE 54 (1959) 115-124.
208 EEust. [223] 2-3. See Fedwick, The Church, p. 159.
209 Gribomont. Histoire, p. 86 draws a rather strong conclusion from Basil's verdict on the Egyptian (Coptic) monks. See, however, Lefort, "Les Constitutions," p. 5, and especially T. Orlandi, "Basilio di Cesarea nella letteratura copta," RSO 48 (1975) 49-50.
Besides, the Coptic monks could have not been aware of the contents of EEust. [223] which existed only in Greek.
210 See Orlandi, "Basilio," pp. 49-50.
2,1 Orlandi, "Basilio," p. 50. TheStoria dellaChiesa (ed. T. Orlandi, Milan 1968/1970) from the 5/6th cent, dedicates to Basil chapters nine and ten. But the information
PAUL J. FEDWICK
Il composa de belles homélies, des discours, des exhortations, des écrits ascétiques; il commenta les livres de l'ancienne et de la nouvelle loi et composa des règles qu'on trouve entre les mains des fidèles.212
I shall review the Coptic translations of Basil's works for the entire period of the existence of Coptic as a spoken language — from the sixth or seventh to the twelfth or thirteenth centuries. Already in the tenth century, beginning with Severus Ibn al-Muqaffa', the use of Arabic started to prevail particularly among the Jacobites in Egypt.213 The works in Arabic, however, will be excluded from this section as they are treated separately elsewhere.214 i. Ascetica No complete version of Basil's Asceticon has been preserved probably because such a complete translation never existed in Coptic. It is difficult to infer from the fragmentary remains of some prologi that there were also versions of the complete works to which they are usually appended in Greek. Asc. Pr3 has been preserved in an abbreviated form in a Sahidic palimpsest of the tenth to twelfth centuries.215 Fragments of Mor. Prl have been discovered in a seventh-century ostracon found in a Coptic monastery of Upper Egypt.216 Several remains of the spurious Const, are concerns only the role of Basil in the death of Julian the Apostate. This story is often combined in Coptic with the legend of St. Mercurius; see Orlandi, "Basilio." p. 50. The source for Severus Ibn al-Muqaffa"s information in the book Affliction's Physic and the Cure of Sorrow, csco 396-397. SA 34-35: 15, is undoubtedly the Or. A3 of Gregory of Nazianzus probably in Coptic. On the existence of an early Coptic version of this work see
Orlandi. "Basilio." p. 50 n. 2.
212 po 11: 550.
213 About the substitution of Arabic for Coptic in Egypt write R. Y. Ebied and M. J. L.
Young: "With Severus ibn al-Muqaffa' (905/910-after 987) begins the history of Coptic literature in Arabic. In the 10th cent, the Coptic language was no longer intelligible to a large number of Egyptian Christians, who were fast adopting the Arabic tongue of the Muslim rulers. Severus realized that Christian learning would be extinguished among the Copts unless they were instructed in a language they understood" (The Lamp of the Intellect of Severus ibn al-Muqaffa' bishop of Al-Ashmünain, Louvain 1975. csco 365366. SA 32-33: vi-vii). Two observations should, however, be made: Coptic did not die completely after the 10th cent; there are many MSS written after that period. While the above statement is true about Egypt, in other parts of the empire, notably in Palestine.
Arabic has been in use among Christians since at least the 8th cent. See n. 227 below. For further on Severus see n. 236 below.
214 See below pp. 485-492.
215 Manchester JRULM copt 62. f. 3. Same text in Arabic in Strasbourg BP Or. 4226 (ar.
151). 9th cent, from Mount Sinai. The Arabic probably depends on the Coptic see Gribomont, Histoire, pp. 86-87.
214 Described by W. E. Crum. Coptic Ostraca from the Collections of the Egypt
THE TRANSLATIONS BEFORE 1400
contained in a manuscript of Naples.217 The manuscript written in the eleventh or twelfth century is acephalous and mutilated; hence the beginning of Hyp. Pr. is missing as is the conclusion of chapter one of the second book De baptismo. The Sahidic text of this manuscript is from the sixth or seventh century. ii. Moral Homilies The Coptic versions of Basil's moral homilies, some in Sahidic, others in Bohairic, do not constitute a homogeneous tradition. They are scattered throughout various manuscripts, often under the name of other authors.
Fragments of a homily in Sahidic similar to HIeiun. 1, written in the time of Patriarch Damian (578-607), have been preserved in two tenth-century manuscripts from Amhim, the White Monastery, in the valley of Nitria.218
Derived from the complete text of this Sahidic translation is the ninth or tenth-century Bohairic text of Vatican BAV Vat. copt. 58 (A 7). Another
Sahidic fragment of the same homily De ieiunio is found in the papyrus of Turin, from the seventh century, but under the name of Athanasius.
Likewise as a work of Athanasius appears in a seventh-century manuscript the spurious HMis. [34]. The same Sahidic codex from Upper
Egypt carries a homily under the name of Basil with the title "De consummatione saeculi et templo Salomonis; et de exitu animae."219 This homily has no parallel in Greek and, according to Orlandi, the Coptic could preserve an authentic work of Basil whose original text has been lost.220
Exploration Fund, the Cairo Museum and Others (London 1902) p. 6. The text of Basil was identified by Gribomont in Orlandi, "Basilio," p. 59.
217 See Lefort, "Les Constitutions," pp. 5-13.
218 One fragment is now in London BL Add. or. 3571A (3), and the other in Paris BN copt. 131 (2). With regard to the text of the homily Orlandi, "Basilio," p. 51, writes: "Ci troviamo dunque in presenza di una diversa 'redazione' dell'omelia, esistente già forse in greco." Since such different "redactions" of the homilies on fasting are found also in other languages (Latin, Syriac, and Arabic) it would be important to know first if they are interrelated and second if the different redaction is the work of Basil or of the compilerseditors of the homiliaries ?
2" The papyrus London BL Or. 5001 has been edited in its entirety by E. A. T. W.
Budge, Coptic Homilies in the Dialect of Upper Egypt (London 1910), **HMis. [34]: 58-65
(text); 204-211 (translation); "HCons. (CPG 2966): 105-114 (text); 248-257 (translation).
For summaries of the latter see W. E. Crum, Catalogue of the Coptic Manuscripts in the British Museum (London 1905) p. 63, and Orlandi, "Basilio," pp. 54-55.
220 Orlandi, "Basilio," p. 55. On the sole basis of the Coptic translation it is difficult to say anything definite about the Basilian authorship of HCons. If the translation is faithful to the original I would be inclined to reject its authenticity.
PAUL J. FEDWICK
The authentic HMal. [9] goes under the name of John Chrysostom in the Vatican BAV Vat. copt. 57, from the tenth century. Another tenthcentury manuscript, the Paris BN copt. 1312, attributes to Athanasius a work entitled "De vita in Christo," which in some Greek manuscripts appears under the name of Basil.221 There were probably also translations of HGord. [18] and HMart. [19] but no manuscripts of these works have been preserved.222 Most of the other homilies which are handed down in the Coptic manuscripts as works of Basil are spurious. Such are the following eight found in the manuscripts of the homiliary type: i.
**"Homüia de area Noe"; ii. **"Dedicatio ecclesiae Mariae virginis"; iii.
**"Sermo in ecciesia Michaelis archangeli ad Lazicam"; iv. **"Sermo alter in ecciesia Michaelis archangeli ad Lazicam"; v. **"Sermo in Gabrielem archangelum"; vi. **"Miracula Mercurii"; vii. **"Homilia circa annuntiationem beatae Virginis"; viii. **"Sermo de conceptione beatae Virginis super die vii mensis Pharmute."223 iii. Canons and Liturgy In the Coptic as in the Christian Arabic literature a special place occupied the canonical writings in view of the political circumstances of the Christians living under Moslim rule. In both languages Basil is credited with a series of thirteen and another of one hundred six canons.224
In 1960 Doresse published the Coptic text of the **LBas. 4 from a seventh-century papyrus found in the White Monastery of Nitria.223
221 CPG 2945. The fragment of twenty-three lines has been edited and translated by L.
Th. Lefort, "S. Athanase, Sur la virginité," Mu 42 (1929) 197-275; 239: text; 264: translation.
222 See Orlandi, "Basilio," pp. 49, 53. For the MSS of the "Sermo in Nativitatem," same as the Greek under the name of Ps.-Chrysostom, see Orlandi, ibid., p. 54.
223 The first six, with the exception of No. 5, are in CPG 2965, 2970, 2967, 2968, and 2969, respectively. For the MSS see Orlandi, "Basilio," pp. 56-57. For Nos. 7 and 8 see
Naples BN IB 11, 428, 11th cent, (fragments).
224 Coptic fragments of the latter in F. Rossi, / papiri copti del Museo Egizio di Torino, trascritti e tradotti, 2.4 (Turin 1892) 81-92; English translation in W. E. Crum, "The Coptic Version of the 'Canons of St. Basil'," ProcSocBibArch 26 (1904) 57-62; German
(from the Arabic of the 106) in J. W. Riedel, Die Kirchenrechtsquellen des Patriarchats
Alexandrien (Leipzig 1900) pp. 234-283. Cf. G. Graf, Geschichte der christlichen arabischen Literatur, 1 (Vatican 1944) 606-608, and O. Meinardus, Christian Egypt. Faith and Life (Cairo 1970) p. 84. For some see also Rahmani, I fasti, pp. xiv-xviii. According to A.
Raes, Introductio in liturgiam orientaient (Rome 1947) pp. 55, 59, Canons 97, 99 are from the sixth century, and Canon 96, ibid., p. 233, from the fourth.
225 J. Doresse and E. Lanne, Un témoin archaïque de la liturgie copte de saint Basile
(Louvain 1960). For the Greek and other (Sahidic, Bohairic, and Ethiopie) MSS see ibid., pp. 7-10. For the Arabic, "codex Kacmarcik," see below n. 251. There is an edition of the
THE TRANSLATIONS BEFORE 1400
iv. Further Remarks None of the major treatises of Basil — his Hexaemeron, Contra
Eunomium, De Spiritu Sancto, or his letters — have ever been translated into Coptic. Neither has his Asceticon, usually found in the other languages. In order to understand the reason for this we have to look at the main characteristics of early Coptic literature.
For the longest time, practically during the whole period of its existence, Coptic has been almost exclusively the language of the ordinary people of Egypt; hence its literature was always of a popular nature — moralizing, homiletic, and didactic.226 This folk nature of Coptic can be well seen in the kind of Basil's works translated into the vernacular. They are all of a didactic and ascetical nature geared to serving the needs of illiterate monks whose major occupation was manual labor. The liturgical synaxes were the only opportunities during which the Egyptian fellahin were exposed to literary artefacts. During the whole sixth and seventh centuries (especially during the patriarchate of Damian, 587-607) there was a special group of schoolmen, "litterati," whose main assignment was to supply these monks with adequate items of Christian literature. In the selection but more so in the "edition" of such works these learned schoolmen adopted a particular method which had little or no regard for questions of authenticity and whose main objective was to "edify" their readers or rather listeners. (Very few monks could read at all.) During the same period the language of the cultured Egyptians was Greek, and Basil and the other Fathers were usually read in the original.
E. BASIL IN ARABIC
Whereas it is only in the tenth century that Arabic becomes the popular tongue of the Copts living in Egypt, in other parts of the empire especially among the Melkites in Palestine, Syria, and on Sinai, the language was widely employed and spoken by Christians since the eighth century.227
Ethiopie text by S. Euringer, Die aethiopische Anaphora des heiligen Basilius (Rome
1934). In Doresse-Lanne are also mentioned the editions of some fragments by Evelyn
White and Lanne (the latter in an Euchologion of the While Monastery from the 10-11th cent.). See also Engberding. Das eucharistische, pp. xxxv-xxxvii, xlix-1, and the excellent study of A. Houssiau. "The Alexandrian Anaphora of St. Basil," in The New Liturgy, ed.
L. C. Sheppard (London 1970) pp. 228-243.
226 SeeT. Orlandi, "Patristica copta e patristica greca," VetChr 10(1973) 328-341,esp.
337.
227 See J. Assfalg, "Arabische christliche Literatur," RGG 1 (1957) 529; K. Samir, "Les plus anciens homéliaires géorgiens et les versions patristiques arabes," OrChrP 42 (1976)
229-231.