E02167: Greek order for a payment in wine, from the Fayum, to be made to the reader of a church of *John (presumably either the Baptist, S00020, or the Apostle and Evangelist, S00042); datable to the 5th century.
'(The) Papas to Athanasios. Give five knidia of wine from Phentemin for expenses to the lord, the reader of saint John of Alexandrou (Nesos), 5 dipla only. 5 Phaophi 23 of the eighth indiction. (2nd hand) I have signed for 5 dipla.'
Text and German translation: W.C. Till. English translation: G. Schenke.
A full record of the document complete with image is available at:
http://papyri.info/ddbdp/cpr;10;42
History
Evidence ID
E02167
Saint Name
John the Baptist : S00020
John, the Apostle and Evangelist : S00042
Cult Activities - Protagonists in Cult and Narratives
Ecclesiastics - lesser clergy
Source
The papyrus P.Vindob. G 15621a belongs to the papyrus collection in Vienna. The document has been dated on palaeographical grounds.
Discussion
Both, Phentemin and Alexandru (Nesos) are localities in the Fayum.
Whether Papas here is a personal name or the title of the head of a monastery remains unclear.
Knidia and dipla are here used as synonyms. Since this payment seems to be intended to cover the expenses for the reader, one might assume this to be the reader of a church of John.
Bibliography
Edition:
Hameter, W., "42. Zahlungsanweisung," in: H. Harrauer et al. (ed.), Corpus Papyrorum Raineri X, Griechische Texte VII (Vienna, 1986), 90–91.
Mention:
Papaconstantinou, A., Le culte des saints en Égypte des Byzantins aux Abbassides (Paris: CNRS, 2001), 424.