E01014: Greek painted inscriptions from a rock-cut church located to the north of the village of Göreme (ancient Matiane, Cappadocia, central Asia Minor), probably dedicated to *Sergios (soldier and martyr of Rusafa, S00023). Probably 6th c.

The church was explored by Catherine Jolivet-Lévy and Nicole Lemaigre Demesnil before 2005. The inscriptions were edited by Denis Feissel and Jean-Luc Fournet. Three of them are invocations of *Sergios.

1) A painted inscription found on the western wall of the porch. The letters are painted red, to the left and to the right of the lower vertical bar of a painted cross, framed by a painted circle.

ἅγηε Σ- έργι βωή-
θη ̣τὸν δ- οῦλό̣ν σου
̣Σ{ρ}̣έργην (?) ̣μετὰ π̣α̣ν-
τὸς τοῦ ὔ- κου [. . .]
(καὶ) τοῦ χω- ̣ρ̣ί̣ου

'Saint Sergios, help your servant Sergios with all [his (?)] household and the village!'

Text: Feissel 2005, no. 1.

Line 3 gives us the name of a supplicant. Denis Feissel notes that the name of an original supplicant could have been erased and substituted with the name 'Sergios'. The spelling of the name is unusual. The last two letters, ΗΝ, are clearly legible and painted red. At the same time the first part of the name is not painted (just scratched) and probably erroneously spelt CΡΕΡΓ ('Srerg').

2) A cryptographic painted inscription from the eastern wall of the nave, written with uncial letters, painted red and framed by a tabula ansata. H. 0.35 m; W. 0.5 m. This kind of cipher was in use already in the Hellenistic period, and was later especially popular in late antique Egypt. The letters of the alphabet are divided into three groups (each consisting of nine letters) and then switched within each group (the first with the last, the second with the penultimate, etc.; for example: α = θ, β = η). For a recent commentary on the cipher, see: Łajtar & Górecki 2012, 154-156. Jean-Luc Fournet guessed that, in our case, the cipher was used because of a belief that it possessed some mystical meaning. However, there is also the possibility that the author of the inscription simply enjoyed wordplay.

ciphered version:

+ ΘΖϘΕΩΕϠΖϘ
ΗΛΒΑΒΩΛΝΨΛ
ΝςΛΧΟΛΝΩΛΧ
ΟΛΝΖϘΝΛΝΠΘϘ
ΨΒΝςΛΧΟΕΝ
ΩΛΧΞΘΡϘΘΝ
ΠΘϘΨΟΝΚ̣Θ̣Ρ̣Θ̣ΞΕΝ[. . ]
[.]̣Λ̣Ω[. . .]Ο[. .]̣Ν +

deciphered version:

+ ἅγιε Σέργι,
βοήθησον τὸ-
ν δοῦλόν σου
Λονγῖνον καὶ
τὴν δούλεν
σου Μαρίαν
καὶ τὸν π̣α̣ρ̣αμεν[. .]
[.]̣ο̣σ[. . .]̣λ[. .]̣ν +

'+ Saint Sergios, help your servant Longinos and your servant Maria and [- - -]! +'

Text: Fournet 2005, no. 3.

The author of the inscription erroneously ciphered the name Maria: ΞΘΡϘΘΝ instead of ΞΘϠϘΘΝ (Ϡ should stand for Ρ). The letter Ρ is again left unciphered in line 7, in the word ΘΡΘΞΕΝ, which stands for ΠΑΡΑΜΕΝ.

3) Another ciphered painted inscription from the eastern wall of the nave. It is likewise painted red, but this time not framed by a tabula ansata. H. 0.2 m.; W. 0.17 m.

ciphered version:

+ ΘΖϘΕ
ΩΕϠ
ΖϘΗΛΒ
ΑϘΨΛΝ
ςΛΧΟΛ̣Ν
ΩΛΧΟΛΝ
̣Ζ̣ϘΝΛΝ +

deciphered version:

+ ἅγιε
Σέρ-
γι, βοή-
θι τὸν
δοῦλό̣ν
σου Λον-
̣γ̣ῖνον +

'Saint Sergios, help your servant Longinos!'

Text: Fournet 2005, no. 4.

It seems likely, given the similarity of form, that the supplicant, Longinos, of this inscription is the same Longinos of Inscription 2 (as already suggested by Jean-Luc Fournet).