Text of a Coptic Monastic Discourse On Love and Self-Control

Carolyn Schneider is associate professor of church history at the Lutheran Theological Seminary in Hong Kong, where she serves as a missionary of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. She teaches courses introducing the history of the global church in every era but specializes in exploring the theologies of Athanasius in his fourth-century Egyptian context and Martin Luther in his sixteenth-century European context.

"In this excellent book of meticulous scholarship, Carolyn Schneider restores a neglected Coptic text to its original context in early Egyptian monasticism. Schneider persuasively argues that On Love and Self-Control originated within the Pachomian monastic community, probably during the turmoil that followed Pachomius's death in 346, and that the leader Horsiesios could have been its author. She then traces the history of the text and its reception, from late antiquity, to a medieval scriptorium in the White Monastery, to its rediscovery by modern scholars. A clear and accurate English translation makes this rich discourse available to a wide range of readers interested in the history and spirituality of early Christian monasticism."David Brakke, Joe R. Engle Chair in the History of Christianity and Professor of History, The Ohio State University

• ContentsPreface   ixAcknowledgments   xxiList of Abbreviations   xxviiIntroduction   1Summary of the Text   4The Language and Fourth-Century Date of the Text   7The Pachomian Koinonia: The Community to which On Love and Self-Control Was First Addressed   10The Pachomian Remission: An Annual Opportunity for a Discourse On Love and Self-Control   15A Potential Context for On Love and Self-Control in the Pachomian Conflicts following Pachomius’s Death   17Pachomian Use of On Love and Self-Control in the Editing of Instruction concerning a Spiteful Monk   25The Dissolution of the Pachomian Community   36On Love and Self-Control and Its Codex (MONB.CP)   42The Provenance of the Manuscript of On Love and Self-Control   42The Creation of the Codex in the Late Sixth or Early Seventh Century   44Issues of Authorship   51Attribution to Athanasius   51 Affinities between Athanasian Writings and On Love and Self-Control   52Reasons to Question an Athanasian Origin for On Love and Self-Control   58A Possible Origin for On Love and Self-Control among the Pachomians   67Horsiesios and On Love and Self-Control   76The Use of the Discourse On Love and Self-Control Beyond the Seventh Century   83Events Affecting the Church in Egypt from the Seventh to Tenth Centuries   85A Tenth-Century Reception of On Love and Self-Control by way of Instruction concerning a Spiteful Monk   87On Love and Self-Control in the Eleventh-Century Apocalypse of Samuel of Qalamun   90The Copying of On Love and Self-Control in the Eleventh or Twelfth Century   100The Dismemberment of the Codex in the Nineteenth Century and Its Current Reconstruction   105Conclusion   120On Love and Self-Control: A Translation   125Appendix A: A Comparison of Three Texts on Wine   147Appendix B: The Contents of the Codex MONB.CP   153Select Bibliography   187General Index   201Scripture Index   206