I´d like to mention that
- the earliest papyrus references (for chrestianos!) are of the 2nd/
3rd century CE (see also Lincoln´s mail),
- whereas the spelling chrestianos (with the eta) for "Christian" is
quite common, the spelling Chrestos for Christos ("Christ") is rare;
maybe the earliest and best reference for it is Suetonius´ famous
passage on Claudius, expelling the Jews from Rome (Claud. 25,4), which
proves that for a Roman the Greek "name" Christos could be easily
mistaken for the Graeco-Roman name Chrestos/Chrestus,
- we have no evidence that the word play christos-chrestos (as used by
several church fathers) was already used (and understood) by the very
early Christians (during the first century; also Philem. 10 cannot be
taken as a hint).
On the topic see already G.H.R. Horsley, New Documents Illustrating
Early Christianity, vol. 3: A Review of the Greek Inscriptions and
Papyri Published in 1978, Macquarie University 1983, 129; M.J.
Edwards, Χρηστός in a Magical Papyrus, ZPE 85 (1991) 232–236,
esp. 232–233: “it is one thing to play upon words and another to
think them identical, or advance one as a substitute for the other.
The same observation applies with even greater force to those
inscriptions and papyri [pagan and orthodox] in which the substitution
of Χρηστιανός for Χριστιανός is regular, but that
of Χρηστός for Χριστός more rare”.
Concerning the text and its meaning of the cup from Alexandria: as
Wieland Willker already mentioned on his website, "We need an image of
the back." Does anyone have access to such an image?
Best wishes,
Peter
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Ao.Univ.-Prof. Dr. Peter Arzt-Grabner
Fachbereich Bibelwissenschaft und Kirchengeschichte
Universitaetsplatz 1
5020 Salzburg
Austria
Tel.: +43 (0)662 / 8044-2921
Fax: +43 (0)662 / 8044-2901
Mobil: +43 (0)664 / 73620368
e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
http://www.uni-salzburg.at/bwkg/peter.arzt-grabner
Papyrologische Kommentare zum Neuen Testament:
http://www.uni-salzburg.at/bwkg/pknt
Am 17.09.2008 um 15:52 schrieb AnneMarie Luijendijk:
In response to the second question: both words, christos and
chrestos would, of course, be pronounced the same. In ancient
manuscripts, the word "Christos" itself occurs most frequently
written in contracted form as nomen sacrum. In those instances we
don't know how the scribe would have spelled it in full. Several
church fathers use the word play christos-chrestos (e.g,. Justin
Martyr, Apology 1.4).
In the case of the word "christianos, -h," the spelling with an eta
instead of iota is in fact the common one in documentary papyri (for
example P.Oxy. 42.3035, P.Oxy. 43.3119, SB. 12.10772), but also the
scribe of the Codex Sinaiticus wrote the word chrestianos thus in
the three New Testament passages where that word occurs (Acts
11:26, 26:28 and 1 Pet 4:16).
With kind regards,
AnneMarie Luijendijk
On Sep 17, 2008, at 8:15 AM, Rauchhaupt, Ulf von wrote:
This is already in the german media:
http://www.spiegel.de/spiegel/0,1518,578055,00.html
concerning this I'd have two questions to the experts:
1) is the connection of OGOISTAIS to magic practices or a deity
called OGO scholarly sound?
2) the replacement of the iota in XRISTOS by an eta (to XRHSTOS) -
is this a commong thing, also found in early christian writings?
thanks and regards
Ulf von Rauchhaupt
Dr. rer. nat. Ulf von Rauchhaupt
Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung
Redaktion Sonntagszeitung - Wissenschaft
Mail: 60267 Frankfurt am Main, Germany
Email: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
-----Ursprüngliche Nachricht-----
Von: The papyrological bulletin '[email protected]' [mailto:[email protected]
] Im Auftrag von Wieland Willker
Gesendet: Mittwoch, 17. September 2008 13:17
An: [email protected]
Betreff: [PAPY] Mysterious DIA CRESTOU inscription
Another enigmatic inscription has surfaced:
DIA CHRESTOU OGOISTAIS
Have a look here:
http://tinyurl.com/6amr2e
Unfortunately I do not have an image of the back, so I cannot judge
the letters OGOISTAIS. I hope I will get one soon.
Best wishes
Wieland
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