Poems from Codex Visionum (Pap. Bodmer 30‒36)

Abstract

This publication presents a translation of seven poems from the so-called Codex visionum, kept in Bodmer’s collection of the papyri (Pap. Bodmer 30–36). The Codex originates from a library of a Pachomian monastery in Egypt. These are small poems on Christian topics written in hexametres (only one poem — To the Righteous — is written in elegiac distichs). Some of them contain an alphabetic acrostic. All these poems apparently date from the 4th century, but could also be written by diff erent authors in different times. All the authors seem to have obtained a thorough school education, all of them are familiar with common rhetorical techniques, e.g. with the ethopoeia. As regards the content, all these poems are united by strict asceticism reaching as far as dualism, and by the idea of necessity of suff ering for Christ, perhaps non martyric, but monastic. This collection sheds light on the mentality of the educated people of the 4th century who devoted themselves to monasticism.

Keywords

• codex visionum
• папирусы
• бодмеровское собрание
• стихотворения
• этопея
• монашеская литература
• раннехристианская поэзия
• позднеантичная литература