E00200: Coptic child donation document of 5 October 780, certifying the gift of a male child to Apa *Phoibammon (soldier and martyr of Assiut, S00080) at Deir el-Bahari (Upper Egypt), after having been granted healing at the saint’s shrine located within the monastery of Apa Phoibammon on the mountain of Jeme.
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posted on 2014-11-18, 00:00authored bygschenke
P.KRU 99
Thomas, son of Sabinos (line 48 and 50, but Basileios in line 3), the presbyter and resident of Dekatritou in the district of Panopolis donates his two sons, Sabinos and Job, as servants to Apa Phoibammon. Within the document no reason or explanation is given for this donation.
'In the name of the Holy, life-giving, and consubstantial Trinity, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Written in the month of Phaophi, on the eighth, of the fourth indiction, year 164 (of the Saracens). I, Thomas, the son of Basileios, the presbyter, resident of Dekatritou in the district of Panopolis, write and provide, hereafter, writing assistants to let them sign this well-balanced and likewise secure donation document for me. I write willingly and am convinced without any guile, fear, force, deceit, deception, or circumvention, while there is no pressure on me, but through my most inner desire, I write and I donate my beloved sons Sabinos and Job to the holy monastery of Saint Abba Phoibamon on the mountain of Jeme for all the days of their life, so that they are servants to his holy monastery until eternal times and so that they act like anyone who is pledge to all the monasteries. Whether they wish to remain in the holy monastery and to serve it, in accordance with what the superior (proestos) will order them to do, or whether, and just as well, they wish to reside outside, they shall (in either case) pay their tax (demosion) to the monastery and this shall be thrown in for the cost of the sacrifice and for the lamp of the altar, through you, Sourous, the deacon and superior (proestos) of the holy monastery of Saint Abba Phoibamon on the mountain of Jeme. You will be master over my beloved sons Sabinos and Job for all the days of their life, so that no one else shall be able to be their master, except for this holy place. Although the divine laws through their regal arrangement order that it is allowed for anyone to let him be master over that which is his own, I myself have (also) yielded to the fulfilment of the (human) laws. I wish and I command to let the holy monastery of Saint Abba Phoibamon on the mountain of Djeme be master over my beloved sons Sabinos and Job for all the days of their life. You, Sourous, the deacon and superior (proestos), shall be master over my sons and any steward (oikonomos) who will come after you in this monastery, after today and after any other time. Whoever shall wish and come forward and take action against this holy monastery concerning these young children, be it myself, a brother or a sister, a close relative or a distant relative, a resident of the village or anyone entirely unknown to me, either in a court or outside a court, in a praetorium or outside a praetorium, through a ruling authority or through a church authority, that one shall gain nothing. First of all, he shall be a stranger to the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Additionally, he shall pay sixty gold solidi – (in numbers:) 60 nomismata – as a fine, apart from the punishment, which the laws have determined. Moreover, afterwards the Saint Abba Phoibamon, the esteemed martyr, this one whom Christ loves, he shall take revenge on him at the fearful tribune of God, the Almighty. He shall condemn him in this world. With respect to the security for the victorious God bearer, Saint Abba Phoibamon on the mountain of Jeme, I have produced this donation document, which is fixed and valid wherever it will be shown. I will be asked, and I will confirm (it). I, Thomas, the son of Sabinos, from Dekatritou (?) in the district of Panopolis, I agree to this donation document in accordance with the manner in which I have produced it.
Back: Thomas, son of Sabinos, from Dekatritou (?), Sabinos and Job, Phaophi 8th.
(Text: W. E. Crum and G. Steindorff, German trans. W. C. Till, Engl. trans. G. Schenke)
History
Evidence ID
E00200
Saint Name
Phoibammon, soldier martyr of Preht (ob. c. 304) : S00080
Sourous, Apa Sourous, superior and holy man at the monastery of Apa Phoibammon on the mountain of Jeme : S01584
Cult activities - Non Liturgical Practices and Customs
Bequests, donations, gifts and offerings
Cult Activities - Protagonists in Cult and Narratives
Children
Ecclesiastics - abbots
Other lay individuals/ people
Source
P.KRU 99, short and complete papyrus document, providing an additional date, the year 164 of the Saracenes, to the usual month and indiction year; document located at the Cairo Museum, no. 8740.
These documents testify, often in great detail, to a healing cult at the monastery of Apa Phoibammon. Patients remain in the holy place (topos) for a period of time, praying and entreating the saint to grant healing, and receiving the eucharist. Holy water in a basin by the altar seems to play an essential role in the healing miracles performed, when poured over the patient.
Discussion
Of the twenty-six child donation documents known so far, P.KRU 78–103 (E00179–E00204), dating from the years 734–786, nearly half are entirely preserved (P.KRU 79–82 86, 88, 91, 93, 96, 99, 100). In these documents parents state their desire to donate their son as a lifelong servant to Apa Phoibammon. The reason stated in these documents is a miraculous healing bestowed upon these children through the intervention of Apa Phoibammon. It is explicitly stated that parents proceed with this donation for the salvation of their own souls. In most documents, fathers are donating the child with the consent of its mother; occasionally, however, this procedure is carried out by mothers acting independently (P.KRU 79, 81, 86, 95), either as widows, or by simply not mentioning a husband.
Formally, these donation documents following a successful healing are carried out as legal documents, addressed to the managerial body (the dikaion) of the monastery and/or to its current superior. They are written by a professional scribe, read out by a notary, approved by the donor, and signed by several witnesses. They form the final link in a chain of cult events aiming to secure a miracle healing performed in the saint’s sanctuary and are intended to ensure its lasting effect.
The document belongs to a minority of just two of such complete contracts from among the child donation documents in which no narrative part is provided, the other one being P.KRU 82.
This is the only donation of two children at the same time. The subscription of witnesses is lacking in the document.
Bibliography
Edition:
Crum, W.E., and Steindorff, G., Koptische Rechtsurkunden des achten Jahrhunderts aus Djeme (Theben) (Leipzig, 1971), 253–320 (P. KRU 78–103).
German Translations:
Till, W.C., Die Koptischen Rechtsurkunden aus Theben (Vienna: H. Böhlaus, 1964), 149–186.
Further reading:
Biedenkopf-Ziehner, A., Koptische Schenkungsurkunden aus Thebais: Formeln und Topoi der Urkunden, Aussagen der Urkunden, Indices (Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz, 2001).
Godlewski, W., Deir el-Bahari V: Le monastère de St. Phoibammon (Warsaw: PWN, 1986).
Papaconstantinou, A., "Notes sur les actes de donation d’enfants au monastère thébain de Saint-Phoibammon," The Journal of Juristic Papyrology 32 (2002), 83–105.
Papaconstantinou, A., "Theia oikonomia. Les actes thébains de donation d’enfants ou la gestion monastique de la pénurie," in: Mélanges Gilbert Dagron (Paris: Association des amis du Centre d'histore et civilisation de Byzance, 2002), 511–526.
Richter, T.S., "What’s in a story? Cultural narratology and Coptic child donation documents," The Journal of Juristic Papyrology 35 (2005), 237–264.
Schaten, S., "Koptische Kinderschenkungsurkunden," Bulletin de la Société d’archéologie copte 35 (1996), 129–142.
Schenke, G., "The Healing Shrines of St Phoibammon. Evidence of Cult Activity in Coptic Legal Documents," Zeitschrift für Antikes Christentum (ZAC) 2016, 20(3), 496–523.
Schroeder, C., "Children and Egyptian Monasteries," in: C. B. Horn and R. R. Phenix (eds.), Children in Late Ancient Christianity (Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, 2009), 317–338.
Thissen, H.–J., "Koptische Kinderschenkungsurkunden. Zur Hierodulie im christlichen Ägypten," Enchoria 14 (1986), 117–128.
Wipszycka, E., "Resources and Economic Activities of the Egyptian Monastic Communities (4th–8th century)," The Journal of Juristic Papyrology 41 (2011), 159–263, esp. 221–227.
For a full range of the documentary evidence on Phoibammon:
Papaconstantinou, A., Le culte des saints en Égypte des Byzantins aux Abbassides (Paris: CNRS, 2001), 204–214.