E02129: Greek list, most likely from Oxyrhynchos (Middle Egypt), presenting deacons and sub-deacons of churches and martyr shrines, including a martyrion of *Stephen (the First Martyr, S00030), datable to the 5th century.
Documentary texts - List
Late antique original manuscripts - Papyrus sheet
Language
Greek
Evidence not before
400
Evidence not after
499
Activity not before
400
Activity not after
499
Place of Evidence - Region
Egypt and Cyrenaica
Place of Evidence - City, village, etc
Oxyrhynchos
Place of evidence - City name in other Language(s)
Oxyrhynchos
Hermopolis
ϣⲙⲟⲩⲛ
Ashmunein
Hermopolis
Cult activities - Places
Cult building - independent (church)
Cult Activities - Protagonists in Cult and Narratives
Ecclesiastics - lesser clergy
Source
The papyrus P. Sem. 162 belongs to the University Library in Amsterdam. The document is dated on palaeographical grounds.
Discussion
The mention of an institution for saint Stephen listed together with a church/martyrion 'By the River’ likewise occurs in E00741 which comes from Oxyrhynchos, so our document here very likely has the same provenance. For a Southern church, likewise at Oxyrhynchos, see E02124.
The purpose of the list is not evident. Each of the three institutions mentioned, one church and two martyria, list their clerics: a deacon and two subdeacons each.
Bibliography
Edition:
R. P. Salomons, P.J. Sijpesteijn, and K.A. Worp, Die Amsterdamer Papyri I (Stud. Amst. XIV; Zutphen 1980).
Correction:
Minnen, P. van, “The Earliest Account of a Martyrdom in Coptic,” Analecta Bollandiana 113 (1995), 19.