E00668: Fragment of a Coptic Miracle of *Kollouthos (physician and martyr of Antinoopolis, S00641), presumably associated with the shrine at Peneueit in the district of Achmim/Panopolis (Upper Egypt), describing the healing of a Greek woman in the martyr shrine and the reaction of her enraged Greek husband who tries to destroy that shrine afterwards; written perhaps in the 6th c.
online resource
posted on 2015-08-19, 00:00authored bygschenke
In this story, a Greek husband on the lookout for his missing wife and servants finds out that his wife had been healed in the saint’s martyr shrine. He become very angry and swears by Apollo to destroy that shrine. He gathers manpower in the area to attack the shrine, but ends up punished, and most likely a convert to Christianity once personally confronted by the saint.
‘According to God’s plan, behold, a Christian came walking by. He heard Kyprianos, the Greek, speaking with other Greeks in his manner saying: “I neither found my wife nor my servants at my house.” The Christian man answered and said to him: “Go to [six lines missing most likely directing the Greek to the martyr shrine of saint Kollouthos] [For he has] healed [her] from her illness. Kyprianos, however, when he heard these things, was very embarrassed in the midst of his Greek friends because of the name of saint Kollouthos. He was distressed in his spirit and said: “By Apollo, the great God, I will destroy that shrine.”’
‘ […] in the village. When they had gathered, he counted them and found that they were seven hundred souls. He let each one grab a cutting tool saying: “Truly, I will destroy that shrine and I will level it with the ground.” At once they made their way […] the step [which is] by the cistern. And at that moment, behold saint Kollouthos came forth from the shrine, while everyone was seeing him face to face. He blew into their face and they all went blind from the oldest to the youngest. They spent three days and three nights lying about by the step of the shrine being [blind].’
(Text and trans. G. Schenke)
History
Evidence ID
E00668
Saint Name
Kollouthos, physician and martyr of Antinoopolis (Middle Egypt), ob. early 4th cent. : S00641
Literary - Hagiographical - Collections of miracles
Late antique original manuscripts - Parchment codex
Language
Coptic
Evidence not before
500
Evidence not after
900
Activity not before
500
Activity not after
900
Place of Evidence - Region
Egypt and Cyrenaica
Place of Evidence - City, village, etc
Panopolis
Place of evidence - City name in other Language(s)
Panopolis
Hermopolis
ϣⲙⲟⲩⲛ
Ashmunein
Hermopolis
Cult activities - Places
Martyr shrine (martyrion, bet sāhedwātā, etc.)
Cult activities - Non Liturgical Practices and Customs
Composing and translating saint-related texts
Cult Activities - Miracles
Miracle after death
Punishing miracle
Miracles causing conversion
Healing diseases and disabilities
Cult Activities - Protagonists in Cult and Narratives
Women
Pagans
Source
Fragment of a parchment leave said to come from Achmim/Panopolis, British Library Or. 3581 B(38), palaeographically datable to the 9th century.
Discussion
The fact that the story takes place in a village and not in a city, suggests that this miracle story is associated with the saint’s shrine at Pneueit (see E00667) rather than at Antinoopolis (see $00666). In addition the cistern mentioned by the step of the shrine suggests that this is the cistern mentioned to contain the martyr’s blood at the shrine in Pneueit. If so, this miracle could be part of the encomion on Kollouthos, by Phoibamon, bishop of Panopolis, which would give a date of composition in the 6th century.
Bibliography
Text, Translation and Commentary:
G. Schenke, Das koptisch hagiographische Dossier des Heiligen Kolluthos – Arzt, Märtyrer und Wunderheiler, eingeleitet, neu ediert, übersetzt und kommentiert, CSCO 650 Subsidia 132, Louvain: Peeters 2013, 193–211.