Greek versions of the Life of Saint Onnophrius the Great and an archive by Father Joseph Paramelle (s.j, 1925–2011)

Abstract

The article focuses on the studies of the Greek manuscript tradition of the Life of Saint Onnophrius the Great, which is still almost unexplored. In this paper, based on analysis of the published versions of the Life, as well as copies of unpublished Greek manuscripts made by Father Joseph Paramelle, the existence of fi ve diff erent Greek versions of the Life (types I–V) is established. Among all the installed versions, the only one (type I) contains a text the closest to the original version of the Life. It is attested by three Greek manuscripts. All other types are later redactions of the original text. Types II–IV present the abridged versions of the Life, the type V is a partially shortened and strongly metaphrastic text descended probably from the Mount Athos. On the basis of circumstantial evidence, it was assumed the existence of at least another three versions of the Life

Keywords

• Saint Onnophrius the Great
• hagiography
• textual studies
• Byzantine studies
• Christian Orient
• Egyptian monasticism Close