The Oxyrhynchus Papyri, Part 4

2

THE OXYRHYNCHUS PAPYRI

text represents the beginning of a collection which later on included the original ‘ Logia ’ sayings/oracles is very probable; this and the other general questions concerning the papyrus are discussed on pp. 10–22.

Excluding the introduction, there are parts of five separate Sayings, marked off from each other by paragraphi horizontal strokes marking breaks. In three cases (ll. 5, 9, and 36) a coronis a mark indicating a section end indicates the end of a sentence, which in the two first cases is also the end of the Saying, but in the third is the end of the question to which the Saying is the answer. In all three instances the words λέγει Ἰησοῦς Jesus saith followed immediately after the coronis. In l. 27, however, there is no coronis at the end of the Saying, but there is one after the succeeding λέγει Ἰησοῦς. The scribe is thus inconsistent in his employment of this sign, and would seem to have misplaced it in l. 27, unless, indeed, his normal practice was to place a coronis both before and after λέγει Ἰησοῦς, and the absence of a coronis after σιν in l. 27 is a mere omission. It is noteworthy that in l. 27 a blank space is left where the coronis was to be expected. The single column of writing is complete at the top, but broken at the bottom and also vertically, causing the loss of the ends of lines throughout. From ll. 7–8, 15, 25, and 30, which can be restored with certainty from extant parallel passages, it appears that the lacunae gaps at the ends of lines range from twelve to sixteen or at most eighteen letters, so that of each line, as far as l. 33, approximately only half is preserved. The introduction and the first and fourth Sayings admit of an almost complete reconstruction which is nearly or quite conclusive, but in the second, third, and fifth, which are for the most part entirely new, even the general sense is often obscure, and restorations are, except in a few lines, rather hazardous. The difficulties caused by the lacunae are enhanced by the carelessness of the scribe himself. The opening words οἱ τοῖοι οἱ λόγοι these are the words are intolerable, even in third century Greek, and γνωσθε know/be known in l. 20 and αποκαλυφησετ[αι will be revealed in l. 29 are forms that require correction; while several instances of the interchange of letters occur, e.g. ει and η in l. 8 βασιλευση, αι and ε in l. 23 επερωτησε, and probably in l. 18 γνωσθεσθαι (cf. note ad loc. at that location), τ and θ in l. 31 θεθαμμενον, and perhaps υ and η in l. 10 (cf. note ad loc.). In two cases (ll. 19 and 25) words which the scribe had at first omitted are added by him over the line. The only contraction which appears is Iης for Ἰησοῦς; πατήρ father in l. 19 and οὐρανός heaven in ll. 11–2 are written out, as usually happens in the earliest theological papyri.

We proceed now to the text; in the accompanying translation supplements which are not practically certain are enclosed in round brackets.

For valuable assistance in connexion with the reconstruction, interpretation, and illustration of 654, we are indebted to Profs. Blass and Harnack, Dr. Bartlet, and Mr. F. P. Badham, but for the general remarks on pp. 10–22 we are alone responsible.