Alexandrine Sinodos

The Alexandrine Sinodos (or Clementine Heptateuch) is a Christian collection of Church Orders.[1] This collection can be dated in the 4th or 5th century CE, even if it is composed by more ancient texts. The provenience is Egypt and it was particularly used in the ancient Coptic and Ethiopian Christianity.

Contents

Manuscript Tradition

The probable original text in Greek in lost, but the Alexandrine Sinodos the Ge'ez, Bohairic Coptic, Sahidic Coptic and Arabic translations are extant.[2]

The Sahidic translation is found in British Museum manuscript or.1820, dated 1006, and was published in 1883 by Paul de Lagarde.[3] A new edition was published in 1954 by Till and Leipold[4] The Sahidic version lacks of some prayers.[5]

The Arabic translation is complete and older than 1295 CE. It is found in Vaticanus manuscript ar.149, and was published in 1904 by George William Horner.[6] Following editions were J. Perier in 1912 and Turnhout in 1971.

The Ge'ez translation, dating the 13th century, is complete even it contains some interpolations. It is found in British Museum manuscript or.793, and was published in 1904 by George William Horner.[7]

The Bohairic translation was made in 1804 from the Sahidic text, and was published in 1848 by Henry Tattam.[8]

The more ancient translations are the Sahidic and Arabic versions (probably both coming through a common lost Sahidic version of about 500 CE). The Ge'ez version is derived from the Arabic one[9]

Content

The Alexandrine Sinodos is a collection of Church Orders, usually divided in seven books. It is so composed:[2]

The numbering of the chapters is different in each version, so the Sahidic and Bohairic versions divide the Apostolic Church-Order in 30 chapters, while the Arabic and Ge'ez versions divide it in 20 chapters; the Sahidic and Bohairic versions have the Apostolic Tradition from the 31 to 62, while the Arabic and Ge'ez versions from 21 to 47.[2]

Notes

  1. ^ Bradshaw, Paul F. (2002). The Search for the Origins of Christian Worship. Oxford University Press. pp. 88. ISBN 9780195217322. 
  2. ^ a b c Steimer, Bruno (1992). Vertex traditionis: die Gattung der altchristlichen Kirchenordnungen. Walter de Gruyter. pp. 134–140. ISBN 9783110134605. http://books.google.com/books?id=ecCbiBifQ6AC&pg=PA134#v=onepage&q&f=false. 
  3. ^ Paul de Lagarde Ægyptiaca, Gottingen, 1883.
  4. ^ W. Till, J. Leipoldt, Der koptische Text der Kirchenordung Hippolyts, TU 58, Berlin 1954
  5. ^ Peretto, Elio (1996). Tradizione Apostolica. pp. 19–21. ISBN 8831131338. 
  6. ^ G.W. Horner, The statutes of the apostles or Canones Ecclesiatici, pp 89-120, London 1904
  7. ^ G.W. Horner, The statutes of the apostoles or Canones Ecclesiatici, pp 1-87, London 1904
  8. ^ Henry Tattam, The Apostolical Constitutions, or Canons of the Apostles, London, 1848
  9. ^ See the table at page 42 of Faivre, Alexandre (1966). Naissance D'une Hierarchie. Editions Beauchesne. pp. 134–140. 

See also

External links