Martyrs and Archangels: Coptic Literary Texts from the Pierpont Morgan Library

The three hitherto unpublished Coptic literary texts edited and translated here derive from the famous monastery of St Michael at Hamuli and currently belong to the collections of the Pierpont Morgan Library in New York. The first work, a passio of a soldier named Phoibamon, is a native Coptic composition that provides a prime example of the so-called ‘epic’ type of Egyptian martyrdom literature. The second text, another martyrdom of three saintly soldiers, Theodore, Leontius, and Panigerus, represents anciently translated literature and shows interesting deviations from the more standard mould of Coptic martyrdoms. The third and final work edited here is a sermon on St Michael the Archangel attributed to Archelaos, a bishop of the town of Neapolis. These fascinating stories and discourses are of notable interest to students of early Christianity as well as to Coptologists and Egyptologists.