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ARTEFACT IDENTIFIERS

Artefact ID553
TM IDTM 64606
Findspot (DEChriM ID)-   ()
ClassTextual
MaterialPapyrus
Writing mediumCodex
Text contentLiterary, Subliterary
LanguageGreek
Description

Strasbourg Papyrus; RdSR 8 (1928): 489-515

Papyrus fragments containing the anaphora of Marcus.

The text is an opistographic folio consisting of 6 damaged fragments in total: There is one column of text on the recto (28 lines) and the verso (25 lines).

The ed. pr. describes the hand as a medium-sized, regular uncial, and notes that the kalamos would have been rather square-tipped as is evident from the thick hastas, thin bars and somewhat stylized lettering in the text. For diacritical marks, the text only presents diaereses, and uses mid-points as punctuation.

The text contains several nomina sacra.

The text is apparently a relatively early copy of the Alexandrine anaphora belonging to St. Mark, and the content is comparable to the manuscripts of the 11-13th c.: Codex Rossanéhsis and the Rotuli Vaticanus and Messanensis, as well as to the Coptic copies (named the liturgies of St. Cyril). The manuscripts do deviate from the papyrus on certain points, such as when parts shared by the papyri and the Coptic text differ from the manuscripts or have been moved to another section. The papyrus copy does not show an affinity to the later influences from Syrian liturgies and the liturgy of John Chrysostomos, as do the manuscripts. The ed. pr. notes that the anaphora of the papyrus copy does contain a few interpolations from Byzantine liturgies, inter alia the liturgy of St. James.

An unexpected doxology appears at the end of the fragments, in the place reserved between the anaphora and the trishagion, and the ed. pr. suggests that this could part of an eucharistic prayer.

Selection criteriaSubliterary genre (Liturgical), Nomina sacra
Date from350
Date to450
Dating criteria

Palaeography. The neat uncial is placed by the ed. pr. in the 4/5 c.

Absolute/relative dateRelative date
Archaeological context

Provenance is unknown.

Accession number

Strasbourg, Bibliothèque Nationale P. gr. 254

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Editio princeps:

∙ Andrieu, M. and Collomp, Paul. 1928. "Fragments sur papyrus de l'anaphore de saint Marc". Revue des sciences religieuses 8 (4). 489-515. 

Additional bibliography:

∙ Cuming, Geoffrey J. 1982. "The Anaphora of St. Mark : A Study in Development". Le Muséon 95. 115-129. 

∙ Hammerstädt, Jürgen. 1999. Griechische Anaphorenfragmente aus Ägypten und Nubien. Papyrologica Coloniensia XXVIII. Opladen, Wiesbaden. Papyrus no. 1 and plates no. 1 and 2.

∙ Hänggi, Anton and Irmgard Pahl. 1968. Prex eucharistica: textus e variis liturgiis antiquioribus selecti. Spicilegium Friburgense 12. Fribourg. 116-119, no. 1.

∙ Mazza, E. 1985. “Una anafora incompleta? Il Papiro Strasbourg Gr. 254.” Ephemerides Liturgicae 99. 425-436.

∙ Ray, Walter. 2009. "The Strasbourg Papyrus and the Roman Canon". Stud. Liturgica 39. 40-62.

∙ Spinks, B. S. 1984. "A Complete Anaphora? A Note on Strasbourg Gr. 254”. Heythrop Journal 25. 51-55.

∙ van Haelst, Joseph. 1976. Catalogue des papyrus littéraires juifs et chrétiens. Paris. Description no. 998.

∙ Wegman, H. A. J. 1981. "Une anaphore incomplète?". Studies Gilles Quispel. van den Broek, R. and M. J. Vermaseren, eds. Leiden: Brill. 432-452.

Authors
Sofia Heim, 2021
Suggested citation
Sofia Heim, 2021, "Artefact ID 553", 4CARE database - Fourth-Century Christian Archaeological Record of Egypt, https://4care-skos.mf.no/artefacts/553
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