Przemysław Piwowarczyk | Silesian University (original) (raw)
Books by Przemysław Piwowarczyk
Journal of Juristic Papyrology Supplement 43, Peeters, 2022
The book reconstructs the theological concepts shared by the Theban monks for the first time base... more The book reconstructs the theological concepts shared by the Theban monks for the first time based on documentary sources. It gleans scattered evidence from hundreds of private letters preserved on ostraca and, in several cases, papyri. Such documents do not expound on complex theological systems but use particular phrases, words and images loaded with religious meaning. These snapshots represent microtheologies – particular, fragmented realizations of the complex religious system. The book focuses on monastic status, use of the Bible, prayer and blessing, invocations of God and saints. etc. It also presents a big picture of a pessimistic worldview in which a human being is weak and constantly endangered, and God is the only one possessing the knowledge and means to rescue him from the vicissitudes of life. The book will be of interest to papyrologists, historians of late antiquity, historians of religion and theologians.
The Lexicon is conceived as a reference book for the names of spiritual powers attested in the Na... more The Lexicon is conceived as a reference book for the names of spiritual powers attested in the Nag Hammadi “library” presented against the background of the texts of ritual power. It provides the names in their immediate lexical and narrative context without any claims to wider philological or theological analyses, although the body of evidence has
been put together with the aim of enabling further investigation also in this field. The main goal of the Lexicon is to establish for the first time a tool for reliable research on interrelations between two source corpora replete with the names of power.
Papers by Przemysław Piwowarczyk
Studia Patristica 131: Christians of the Patristic Period in Relation to Nature, eds M. Szram, M. Wysocki, 2024
To get the file, contact me, please. The literary representation of the desert in monastic lit... more To get the file, contact me, please.
The literary representation of the desert in monastic literature primarily reflects classical and biblical education, not the daily experience of the landscape and creatures living within it. Intertextual references play cat and mouse with a reader deceived into believing that he is apprehending the truth about the desert. The paper is a case study focused on snakes – common desert reptiles – as represented in the early literature featuring
Egyptian monks (apophthegms, Historia Lausiaca, Historia monachorum in Aegypto, and some minor works). Several snake species living in Egypt are highly venomous, but most ophidians present no danger to humans. A limited number of passages gives us insight into actual contact with these creatures, but most of them understand each snake as the figure of the Devil. As such, monastics actively destroyed snakes, finding the justification for such actions in the Bible.
Vox Patrum, 2024
The article presents a translated and annotated version of a chapter from Michael of Damietta's N... more The article presents a translated and annotated version of a chapter from Michael of Damietta's Nomocanon, focusing on the prescribed times for prayer. This is the first time this chapter has been translated from Arabic into a modern language, offering valuable insight into its content and context.
Studia Patristica 124, 2021
The article describes modes of collecting, ordering and accessing knowledge in a local monastic c... more The article describes modes of collecting, ordering and accessing knowledge in a local monastic community. Undoubtedly, it was the memorised Bible which constituted the fundamental repository of knowledge and mode of thinking for all Theban Christians.
It was quoted both in daily correspondence and in documents as a set of norms for religious and community life, ready to be directly implemented. We are not dealingwith sheer textual knowledge in this case. Although Biblical texts were in use, we knowthat their memorisation was expected. The adaptations of biblical phrases present in those texts not only provide evidence for being quoted from memory, but also for the Scriptures being understood elastically, and altered in line with the demands of the current
situation (numerous examples in O. Frange)
![Research paper thumbnail of Obieg apokryfów Starego Testamentu w literaturze koptyjskiej [Circulation of the Old Testament Apocrypha in Coptic Literature]](https://attachments.academia-assets.com/117632724/thumbnails/1.jpg)
](The Biblical Annals, 2024
The article surveys the Old Testament Apocrypha in Coptic literature. After problematizing the na... more The article surveys the Old Testament Apocrypha in Coptic literature. After problematizing the nature and list of Apocrypha, specifically in the Egyptian context, it pragmatically uses Clavis apocryphorum Veteris Testamenti as a reference point. The analytic part shows that MSS containing Apocrypha constitute the very margin of the Coptic literary production. Such texts were relatively popular until the fifth century CE, but their popularity waned, and only some selected motifs were reworked in new compositions, mainly of homiletical nature. Moreover, the analysis of extant library catalogues and book lists on papyri, ostraca, and inscriptions proves the almost complete absence of Apocrypha, at least among the monastic readings. The interpretative part underlines the rise of the monasticization of Coptic Christianity and the tightening of episcopal control as crucial factors in the decline of apocryphal production.
Shaping Letters, Shaping Communities: Multilingualism and Linguistic Practice in the Late Antique Near East and Egypt (ed. Y. Minets - P. Nowakowski) (Leiden: Brill 2023), 2023
[If you are interested in this paper, just let me know] We cannot deny that some monks and pos... more [If you are interested in this paper, just let me know]
We cannot deny that some monks and possibly clerics were active as ritual experts (“magicians”). However, nothing indicates that magic in Coptic was by and large the product of monastic or clerical activity. There is solid evidence that laypeople were involved in magic and made use of magical texts in Coptic. Unfortunately, so far the available sources do not allow us to catch red-handed a scribe who was a lay Christian and once wrote down a spell in Coptic. Such figures appear in hagiographic narratives. Moreover, there are known individuals who were perfectly capable of doing so—such as Dioscorus, whose only preserved spell is written in Greek. Although my argument currently relies on little direct evidence, there is a good chance that future discoveries and publications in the field of papyrology can provide more specific information about laypeople involved in the production of texts of ritual power in Coptic in late antique Egypt.
Uses and Misuses of Ancient Mediterranean Sources : Erudition, Authority, Manipulation, ed. Ch. Meccariello, J. Singletary , 2022
[pdf on request] The paper deals with different monastic strategies in referring to the Scriptur... more [pdf on request]
The paper deals with different monastic strategies in referring to the Scriptures. I scrutinize how the monks decontextualized, conflated, and freely created biblical passages in the documentary letters from Western Thebes.
Gnosis : Journal of Gnostic Studies, 2023
[file on demand] Several texts of ritual power in Coptic contain the names of four spiritual pow... more [file on demand]
Several texts of ritual power in Coptic contain the names of four spiritual powers known in the Sethian sources as luminaries. The article explores the relations between luminaries of the Nag Hammadi works and the “magical” and related texts. Two aspects are analysed. First, the sequence of luminaries, which is highly standardised in the Nag Hammadi Sethian dossier, and deviations from this standard in other texts help assess relations with original Sethian sources. Second, the texts of ritual power portray luminaries singing and playing musical instruments. The article traces the elements of the heavenly concert already in the Sethian texts. It also presents a development of this motif under the influence of the common Christian concept of the angelic concert in heaven.
U schyłku starożytności. Studia źródłoznawcze, 2021
The paper attempts to answer the question of esotericism of the Nag Hammadi texts. I propose to s... more The paper attempts to answer the question of esotericism of the Nag Hammadi texts. I propose to see these pieces of Christian literature as an essential part of Christian book production in late antique Egypt. Many of them claim to contain secret knowledge restricted to the chosen ones. However, the textual witnesses and testimonia from outside the Nag Hammadi ‘Library’ show that the circulation of many of these texts was wide, and some of these pieces cherished readership comparable to apocryphal or even canonical books. A crucial part of the contribution is a survey of all manuscripts, testimonia, and other evidence of circulation for all Nag Hammadi works.
addenda et corrigenda:
pp. 106-17; 114; is: "D. M. Parrot", should be: "D. M. Parrott"
Kõiv Mait, Läänemets Märt, Droß-Krüpe Kerstin [i in.] (red.): Crisis in Early Religion, Wiesbaden, Springer, 2022
The paper scrutinizes the major ideas about the end of Gnosticism present in modern scholarship. ... more The paper scrutinizes the major ideas about the end of Gnosticism present in modern scholarship. It then builds up a source-based alternative for them, proving that the crisis of Gnosticism was not a rapid decline and disappearance but a transformation with a long afterlife. Therefore, the structure of this paper is twofold. At first, after a brief presentation of the direct source evidence on the last Gnostics, the author presents and discusses three concepts distilled from scholarly works. The second part of the paper answers how Gnostic ideas persisted in three very different Coptic texts from late antiquity.
Religious Identifications in Late Antique Papyri, ed. M. Brant & E. Scheerlinck, 2022
Frange was a monk living in Western Thebes, Egypt, in the first half of the eighth century. His e... more Frange was a monk living in Western Thebes, Egypt, in the first half of the eighth century. His epistolary output consists of roughly five hundred pieces excavated in situ in the hermitage he dwelled in. Frange used a wide range of biblical references in some of his letters, from verbatim quotations to mere echoes. This chapter analyses these quotations as an instrument of deliberate audience-focused persuasive strategies. To understand the modality of relations between Frange and his addresses, the conceptual framework employs (1) Bernard Lahire’s model of individual identity as consisting of a set of inherited dispositions, (2) Allan Bell’s concept of “audience design”, and (3) Christopher Stanley’s differentiation between quotations as vehicles of authority and vehicles of community sense. The body of the analysis is focused on the analysis of particular epistolary pieces. It links biblical passages given by Frange with various levels of monastic tradition present in his social contexts.
Od zwoju do e-booka : kulturotwórcza rola tekstów religijnych, red. R. Hołda, P. Plichta, 2022
[Paper in Polish] Artykuł ma na celu prześledzenie teologicznych założeń stojących za chrześcijań... more [Paper in Polish] Artykuł ma na celu prześledzenie teologicznych założeń stojących za chrześcijańskimi amuletami zawierającymi cytaty biblijne. Aby osiągnąć ten cel, wykorzystuję dwa dobrze znane podejścia, a także proponuję nową perspektywę. Nowa flologia uznaje każdy rękopis z fragmentem Pisma Świętego za istotny sam w sobie, niezależnie od jego wartości dla krytyki tekstu biblijnego. Koncepcja semioforu Krzysztofa Pomiana pomaga prześledzić współzależność między materialnością a niewidzialnym znaczeniem danego przedmiotu. W związku z tym proponuję rozumieć amulety jako celowo stworzone semiofory zaprojektowane z uwzględnieniem strategii czytelniczych ich wyobrażonych czytelników, którymi miały być istoty nadprzyrodzone, duchy lub sam Bóg. Takie podejście ujawnia wielość mikroteologii uprawianych przez twórców i użytkowników amuletów. Niektórzy z nich zakładali, że duch rzeczywiście czytał tekst, a nawet wymagał wsparcia, aby go właściwie zrozumieć. Inni polegali na sile samego amuletu, uniemożliwiającego istotom duchowym zbliżenie się do jego właściciela.
Vox Patrum, 2021
Przekład ze wstępem i komentarzem kolekcji cudów św. Menasa zachowanej w pergaminowym kodeksie M.... more Przekład ze wstępem i komentarzem kolekcji cudów św. Menasa zachowanej w pergaminowym kodeksie M.590, przechowywanym w Pierpont Morgan Library and Museum (CLM 221; P.MorganLib. 125).
Lin to the full content of the Vox Patrum volume:
https://czasopisma.kul.pl/index.php/vp/issue/view/417
Being alone in antiquity : Greco-Roman ideas and experiences of misanthropy, isolation and solitude, ed. R. Matuszewski, 2021
[If you are interested in the paper, please contact me] The correspondence excavated in thousa... more [If you are interested in the paper, please contact me]
The correspondence excavated in thousands of pieces in numerous sites of Western Thebes witnesses the intense communication between monastics densely populating the area. In terms of spatial organization, Theban monks were all but solitaires. The messages written on ostraca give us no clue about recluses but prove that the monks visited one another to chat (e.g. O.Frange 568) and snack (e.g. O.Frange 233).
On the other side, however, the monastic letters express the bitter loneliness and desire for contact. Usually, the monks applied the biblical rhetoric (e.g. O.Frange 14), but the piece O.Frange 773, so far left unnoticed by the commentators, gives us a unique insight into what might be called a microtheology of the monastic solitude. The letter by an unknown individual is addressed to Moses who lived the life of a solitary in the first half of the 7th century in a Pharaonic Tomb (TT29) where the piece was excavated. The author writes, “the places (topos – the common term for monastic establishments) separate one from another, and the men will not always find the one whom he loves.” There are, however, commonly recognized ways to alleviate the tribulations of loneliness, and the letter lists them: the salutations (given in the first place as the rule instituted by God himself), the letters, and the gifts.
In my paper, I aim to comment on those methods using the documentary sources (also in terms of material philology) from Western Thebes to explain how they work in practice. That helps to understand how the monks used to release a paradoxical tension between the imagined reality of solitary life and the tangible reality of the crowd. In that perspective, the bustling social life was not an undesired distraction but a deliberate way of fulfilling God’s will and practicing charity.
![Research paper thumbnail of Cuda św. Menasa według rękopisu IFAO copte inv. 315-322 [Miracles of St Menas according to Ms IFAO copte inv. 315-322]](https://attachments.academia-assets.com/88068736/thumbnails/1.jpg)
](Vox Patrum, 2021
The paper contains the translation into Polish and commentary on the Miracles of St Menas from Ms... more The paper contains the translation into Polish and commentary on the Miracles of St Menas from Ms IFAO copte inv. 315-322 (Coptic Literary Manuscript ID 1770; Clavis Coptica 398)
link to the full content of the Vox Patrum volume:
https://czasopisma.kul.pl/index.php/vp/issue/view/388
Studia Patristica, 2021
There is no doubt that the Bible constituted the very fundament of monastic and clerical life, an... more There is no doubt that the Bible constituted the very fundament of monastic and clerical life, and is omnipresent in Egyptian monastic literature. These texts give us the impression that repetition from memory, especially in the context of daily melete, was one of the main ways, if not the central one, for monks to have contact with the Scriptures. This paper scrutinises the evidence from late Christian Egypt to show the extent, the ways, and the limits of memorisation. First of all, however, it shows that the different authors and source corpora pay unequal attention to memorisation skills. To check the literary sources, the paper uses data obtained from documentary ostraca originating in Western Thebes, which give us the specific books and the periods in which those books were expected to be memorised. The calculations made on this basis, coupled with other pieces of information dispersed throughout various categories of sources, allow us to conclude that memorisation required written texts which were not always at hand, that the extent of the memorised Bible only rarely reached beyond the Psalter and some New Testament books, and that the omnipresence of Biblical references in the monastic literature does not necessarily reflect the average level of Biblical mastery, but rather belongs to the erudite framework of the Christian (and especially monastic) literary production. [pdf on request]
[
Śląskie Studia Historyczno-Teologiczne, 2020
The text entitled "Prayer to the emanations" was found in situ in the village Kellis in Egypt and... more The text entitled "Prayer to the emanations" was found in situ in the village Kellis in Egypt and subsequently recognized as the Manichaean daily prayer. it is a Greek translation of an Aramaic original, most probably composed by Mani himself. the paper consists of an introduction and commented translation. it focuses on the elements of the Manichaean theology present in the prayer [Paper in Polish]
Adamantius, 2019
This paper offers some methodological and bibliographical comments about the volume The Nag Hamma... more This paper offers some methodological and bibliographical comments about the volume The Nag Hammadi Codices and Late Antique Egypt, ed. H. Lundhaug - L. Jenott (STAC 110), Mohr Siebeck, Tübingen 2018. In particular, questions of source evidence and religious contextualisation are discussed.
Studi e Materiali di Storia delle Religioni (Multiple Religious Identities in Late Antique Egypt (2nd-7th Centuries)), 2020
Errata & addenda: to p. 102: P.Bodmer 43 contains not the beginning of Zostrianos but the passag... more Errata & addenda:
to p. 102: P.Bodmer 43 contains not the beginning of Zostrianos but the passage parallel to NHC VIII (1), 119,1–121,7
to p .103, n. 23: I missed the paper by E. Crégheur, The Manuscript and the Coptic text
of the Untitled Text, Chronique d’Égypte 92 (2017), pp. 397-407.
to p. 110: typo (twice): "Macquire" instead of "Macquarie".
The aim of this paper is to reassess the role played by the Sethians in
4th and 5th century Egyptian Christianity. It offers an extensive survey of
the source evidence, directing particular attention to the texts outside the Nag Hammadi corpus. The contribution focuses on the manuscripts as they functioned in the Coptic Christian milieu, proving that Sethian theology triggered affirmative shared by the individuals and groups. I propose to locate these people within the Church, where, only rarely embattled, they smoothly contributed with their original heritage to Egyptian Christianity
Journal of Juristic Papyrology Supplement 43, Peeters, 2022
The book reconstructs the theological concepts shared by the Theban monks for the first time base... more The book reconstructs the theological concepts shared by the Theban monks for the first time based on documentary sources. It gleans scattered evidence from hundreds of private letters preserved on ostraca and, in several cases, papyri. Such documents do not expound on complex theological systems but use particular phrases, words and images loaded with religious meaning. These snapshots represent microtheologies – particular, fragmented realizations of the complex religious system. The book focuses on monastic status, use of the Bible, prayer and blessing, invocations of God and saints. etc. It also presents a big picture of a pessimistic worldview in which a human being is weak and constantly endangered, and God is the only one possessing the knowledge and means to rescue him from the vicissitudes of life. The book will be of interest to papyrologists, historians of late antiquity, historians of religion and theologians.
The Lexicon is conceived as a reference book for the names of spiritual powers attested in the Na... more The Lexicon is conceived as a reference book for the names of spiritual powers attested in the Nag Hammadi “library” presented against the background of the texts of ritual power. It provides the names in their immediate lexical and narrative context without any claims to wider philological or theological analyses, although the body of evidence has
been put together with the aim of enabling further investigation also in this field. The main goal of the Lexicon is to establish for the first time a tool for reliable research on interrelations between two source corpora replete with the names of power.
Studia Patristica 131: Christians of the Patristic Period in Relation to Nature, eds M. Szram, M. Wysocki, 2024
To get the file, contact me, please. The literary representation of the desert in monastic lit... more To get the file, contact me, please.
The literary representation of the desert in monastic literature primarily reflects classical and biblical education, not the daily experience of the landscape and creatures living within it. Intertextual references play cat and mouse with a reader deceived into believing that he is apprehending the truth about the desert. The paper is a case study focused on snakes – common desert reptiles – as represented in the early literature featuring
Egyptian monks (apophthegms, Historia Lausiaca, Historia monachorum in Aegypto, and some minor works). Several snake species living in Egypt are highly venomous, but most ophidians present no danger to humans. A limited number of passages gives us insight into actual contact with these creatures, but most of them understand each snake as the figure of the Devil. As such, monastics actively destroyed snakes, finding the justification for such actions in the Bible.
Vox Patrum, 2024
The article presents a translated and annotated version of a chapter from Michael of Damietta's N... more The article presents a translated and annotated version of a chapter from Michael of Damietta's Nomocanon, focusing on the prescribed times for prayer. This is the first time this chapter has been translated from Arabic into a modern language, offering valuable insight into its content and context.
Studia Patristica 124, 2021
The article describes modes of collecting, ordering and accessing knowledge in a local monastic c... more The article describes modes of collecting, ordering and accessing knowledge in a local monastic community. Undoubtedly, it was the memorised Bible which constituted the fundamental repository of knowledge and mode of thinking for all Theban Christians.
It was quoted both in daily correspondence and in documents as a set of norms for religious and community life, ready to be directly implemented. We are not dealingwith sheer textual knowledge in this case. Although Biblical texts were in use, we knowthat their memorisation was expected. The adaptations of biblical phrases present in those texts not only provide evidence for being quoted from memory, but also for the Scriptures being understood elastically, and altered in line with the demands of the current
situation (numerous examples in O. Frange)
The Biblical Annals, 2024
The article surveys the Old Testament Apocrypha in Coptic literature. After problematizing the na... more The article surveys the Old Testament Apocrypha in Coptic literature. After problematizing the nature and list of Apocrypha, specifically in the Egyptian context, it pragmatically uses Clavis apocryphorum Veteris Testamenti as a reference point. The analytic part shows that MSS containing Apocrypha constitute the very margin of the Coptic literary production. Such texts were relatively popular until the fifth century CE, but their popularity waned, and only some selected motifs were reworked in new compositions, mainly of homiletical nature. Moreover, the analysis of extant library catalogues and book lists on papyri, ostraca, and inscriptions proves the almost complete absence of Apocrypha, at least among the monastic readings. The interpretative part underlines the rise of the monasticization of Coptic Christianity and the tightening of episcopal control as crucial factors in the decline of apocryphal production.
Shaping Letters, Shaping Communities: Multilingualism and Linguistic Practice in the Late Antique Near East and Egypt (ed. Y. Minets - P. Nowakowski) (Leiden: Brill 2023), 2023
[If you are interested in this paper, just let me know] We cannot deny that some monks and pos... more [If you are interested in this paper, just let me know]
We cannot deny that some monks and possibly clerics were active as ritual experts (“magicians”). However, nothing indicates that magic in Coptic was by and large the product of monastic or clerical activity. There is solid evidence that laypeople were involved in magic and made use of magical texts in Coptic. Unfortunately, so far the available sources do not allow us to catch red-handed a scribe who was a lay Christian and once wrote down a spell in Coptic. Such figures appear in hagiographic narratives. Moreover, there are known individuals who were perfectly capable of doing so—such as Dioscorus, whose only preserved spell is written in Greek. Although my argument currently relies on little direct evidence, there is a good chance that future discoveries and publications in the field of papyrology can provide more specific information about laypeople involved in the production of texts of ritual power in Coptic in late antique Egypt.
Uses and Misuses of Ancient Mediterranean Sources : Erudition, Authority, Manipulation, ed. Ch. Meccariello, J. Singletary , 2022
[pdf on request] The paper deals with different monastic strategies in referring to the Scriptur... more [pdf on request]
The paper deals with different monastic strategies in referring to the Scriptures. I scrutinize how the monks decontextualized, conflated, and freely created biblical passages in the documentary letters from Western Thebes.
Gnosis : Journal of Gnostic Studies, 2023
[file on demand] Several texts of ritual power in Coptic contain the names of four spiritual pow... more [file on demand]
Several texts of ritual power in Coptic contain the names of four spiritual powers known in the Sethian sources as luminaries. The article explores the relations between luminaries of the Nag Hammadi works and the “magical” and related texts. Two aspects are analysed. First, the sequence of luminaries, which is highly standardised in the Nag Hammadi Sethian dossier, and deviations from this standard in other texts help assess relations with original Sethian sources. Second, the texts of ritual power portray luminaries singing and playing musical instruments. The article traces the elements of the heavenly concert already in the Sethian texts. It also presents a development of this motif under the influence of the common Christian concept of the angelic concert in heaven.
U schyłku starożytności. Studia źródłoznawcze, 2021
The paper attempts to answer the question of esotericism of the Nag Hammadi texts. I propose to s... more The paper attempts to answer the question of esotericism of the Nag Hammadi texts. I propose to see these pieces of Christian literature as an essential part of Christian book production in late antique Egypt. Many of them claim to contain secret knowledge restricted to the chosen ones. However, the textual witnesses and testimonia from outside the Nag Hammadi ‘Library’ show that the circulation of many of these texts was wide, and some of these pieces cherished readership comparable to apocryphal or even canonical books. A crucial part of the contribution is a survey of all manuscripts, testimonia, and other evidence of circulation for all Nag Hammadi works.
addenda et corrigenda:
pp. 106-17; 114; is: "D. M. Parrot", should be: "D. M. Parrott"
Kõiv Mait, Läänemets Märt, Droß-Krüpe Kerstin [i in.] (red.): Crisis in Early Religion, Wiesbaden, Springer, 2022
The paper scrutinizes the major ideas about the end of Gnosticism present in modern scholarship. ... more The paper scrutinizes the major ideas about the end of Gnosticism present in modern scholarship. It then builds up a source-based alternative for them, proving that the crisis of Gnosticism was not a rapid decline and disappearance but a transformation with a long afterlife. Therefore, the structure of this paper is twofold. At first, after a brief presentation of the direct source evidence on the last Gnostics, the author presents and discusses three concepts distilled from scholarly works. The second part of the paper answers how Gnostic ideas persisted in three very different Coptic texts from late antiquity.
Religious Identifications in Late Antique Papyri, ed. M. Brant & E. Scheerlinck, 2022
Frange was a monk living in Western Thebes, Egypt, in the first half of the eighth century. His e... more Frange was a monk living in Western Thebes, Egypt, in the first half of the eighth century. His epistolary output consists of roughly five hundred pieces excavated in situ in the hermitage he dwelled in. Frange used a wide range of biblical references in some of his letters, from verbatim quotations to mere echoes. This chapter analyses these quotations as an instrument of deliberate audience-focused persuasive strategies. To understand the modality of relations between Frange and his addresses, the conceptual framework employs (1) Bernard Lahire’s model of individual identity as consisting of a set of inherited dispositions, (2) Allan Bell’s concept of “audience design”, and (3) Christopher Stanley’s differentiation between quotations as vehicles of authority and vehicles of community sense. The body of the analysis is focused on the analysis of particular epistolary pieces. It links biblical passages given by Frange with various levels of monastic tradition present in his social contexts.
Od zwoju do e-booka : kulturotwórcza rola tekstów religijnych, red. R. Hołda, P. Plichta, 2022
[Paper in Polish] Artykuł ma na celu prześledzenie teologicznych założeń stojących za chrześcijań... more [Paper in Polish] Artykuł ma na celu prześledzenie teologicznych założeń stojących za chrześcijańskimi amuletami zawierającymi cytaty biblijne. Aby osiągnąć ten cel, wykorzystuję dwa dobrze znane podejścia, a także proponuję nową perspektywę. Nowa flologia uznaje każdy rękopis z fragmentem Pisma Świętego za istotny sam w sobie, niezależnie od jego wartości dla krytyki tekstu biblijnego. Koncepcja semioforu Krzysztofa Pomiana pomaga prześledzić współzależność między materialnością a niewidzialnym znaczeniem danego przedmiotu. W związku z tym proponuję rozumieć amulety jako celowo stworzone semiofory zaprojektowane z uwzględnieniem strategii czytelniczych ich wyobrażonych czytelników, którymi miały być istoty nadprzyrodzone, duchy lub sam Bóg. Takie podejście ujawnia wielość mikroteologii uprawianych przez twórców i użytkowników amuletów. Niektórzy z nich zakładali, że duch rzeczywiście czytał tekst, a nawet wymagał wsparcia, aby go właściwie zrozumieć. Inni polegali na sile samego amuletu, uniemożliwiającego istotom duchowym zbliżenie się do jego właściciela.
Vox Patrum, 2021
Przekład ze wstępem i komentarzem kolekcji cudów św. Menasa zachowanej w pergaminowym kodeksie M.... more Przekład ze wstępem i komentarzem kolekcji cudów św. Menasa zachowanej w pergaminowym kodeksie M.590, przechowywanym w Pierpont Morgan Library and Museum (CLM 221; P.MorganLib. 125).
Lin to the full content of the Vox Patrum volume:
https://czasopisma.kul.pl/index.php/vp/issue/view/417
Being alone in antiquity : Greco-Roman ideas and experiences of misanthropy, isolation and solitude, ed. R. Matuszewski, 2021
[If you are interested in the paper, please contact me] The correspondence excavated in thousa... more [If you are interested in the paper, please contact me]
The correspondence excavated in thousands of pieces in numerous sites of Western Thebes witnesses the intense communication between monastics densely populating the area. In terms of spatial organization, Theban monks were all but solitaires. The messages written on ostraca give us no clue about recluses but prove that the monks visited one another to chat (e.g. O.Frange 568) and snack (e.g. O.Frange 233).
On the other side, however, the monastic letters express the bitter loneliness and desire for contact. Usually, the monks applied the biblical rhetoric (e.g. O.Frange 14), but the piece O.Frange 773, so far left unnoticed by the commentators, gives us a unique insight into what might be called a microtheology of the monastic solitude. The letter by an unknown individual is addressed to Moses who lived the life of a solitary in the first half of the 7th century in a Pharaonic Tomb (TT29) where the piece was excavated. The author writes, “the places (topos – the common term for monastic establishments) separate one from another, and the men will not always find the one whom he loves.” There are, however, commonly recognized ways to alleviate the tribulations of loneliness, and the letter lists them: the salutations (given in the first place as the rule instituted by God himself), the letters, and the gifts.
In my paper, I aim to comment on those methods using the documentary sources (also in terms of material philology) from Western Thebes to explain how they work in practice. That helps to understand how the monks used to release a paradoxical tension between the imagined reality of solitary life and the tangible reality of the crowd. In that perspective, the bustling social life was not an undesired distraction but a deliberate way of fulfilling God’s will and practicing charity.
Vox Patrum, 2021
The paper contains the translation into Polish and commentary on the Miracles of St Menas from Ms... more The paper contains the translation into Polish and commentary on the Miracles of St Menas from Ms IFAO copte inv. 315-322 (Coptic Literary Manuscript ID 1770; Clavis Coptica 398)
link to the full content of the Vox Patrum volume:
https://czasopisma.kul.pl/index.php/vp/issue/view/388
Studia Patristica, 2021
There is no doubt that the Bible constituted the very fundament of monastic and clerical life, an... more There is no doubt that the Bible constituted the very fundament of monastic and clerical life, and is omnipresent in Egyptian monastic literature. These texts give us the impression that repetition from memory, especially in the context of daily melete, was one of the main ways, if not the central one, for monks to have contact with the Scriptures. This paper scrutinises the evidence from late Christian Egypt to show the extent, the ways, and the limits of memorisation. First of all, however, it shows that the different authors and source corpora pay unequal attention to memorisation skills. To check the literary sources, the paper uses data obtained from documentary ostraca originating in Western Thebes, which give us the specific books and the periods in which those books were expected to be memorised. The calculations made on this basis, coupled with other pieces of information dispersed throughout various categories of sources, allow us to conclude that memorisation required written texts which were not always at hand, that the extent of the memorised Bible only rarely reached beyond the Psalter and some New Testament books, and that the omnipresence of Biblical references in the monastic literature does not necessarily reflect the average level of Biblical mastery, but rather belongs to the erudite framework of the Christian (and especially monastic) literary production. [pdf on request]
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Śląskie Studia Historyczno-Teologiczne, 2020
The text entitled "Prayer to the emanations" was found in situ in the village Kellis in Egypt and... more The text entitled "Prayer to the emanations" was found in situ in the village Kellis in Egypt and subsequently recognized as the Manichaean daily prayer. it is a Greek translation of an Aramaic original, most probably composed by Mani himself. the paper consists of an introduction and commented translation. it focuses on the elements of the Manichaean theology present in the prayer [Paper in Polish]
Adamantius, 2019
This paper offers some methodological and bibliographical comments about the volume The Nag Hamma... more This paper offers some methodological and bibliographical comments about the volume The Nag Hammadi Codices and Late Antique Egypt, ed. H. Lundhaug - L. Jenott (STAC 110), Mohr Siebeck, Tübingen 2018. In particular, questions of source evidence and religious contextualisation are discussed.
Studi e Materiali di Storia delle Religioni (Multiple Religious Identities in Late Antique Egypt (2nd-7th Centuries)), 2020
Errata & addenda: to p. 102: P.Bodmer 43 contains not the beginning of Zostrianos but the passag... more Errata & addenda:
to p. 102: P.Bodmer 43 contains not the beginning of Zostrianos but the passage parallel to NHC VIII (1), 119,1–121,7
to p .103, n. 23: I missed the paper by E. Crégheur, The Manuscript and the Coptic text
of the Untitled Text, Chronique d’Égypte 92 (2017), pp. 397-407.
to p. 110: typo (twice): "Macquire" instead of "Macquarie".
The aim of this paper is to reassess the role played by the Sethians in
4th and 5th century Egyptian Christianity. It offers an extensive survey of
the source evidence, directing particular attention to the texts outside the Nag Hammadi corpus. The contribution focuses on the manuscripts as they functioned in the Coptic Christian milieu, proving that Sethian theology triggered affirmative shared by the individuals and groups. I propose to locate these people within the Church, where, only rarely embattled, they smoothly contributed with their original heritage to Egyptian Christianity
Prawda i fałsz w nauce i sztuce, B. Bokus, E. Kosowska (eds.), Wydawnictwa Uniwersytetu Warszawskiego, 2020
It is the Polish version of the paper "Mechanism of Mystification and Demystification at the Poin... more It is the Polish version of the paper "Mechanism of Mystification and Demystification at the Point of Contact between the Humanities and Science: Case Study of the Gospel of Jesus’ Wife"
Journal of Juristic Papyrology, 2019
Recent years witnessed an increasing interest in Christian amulets with Biblical texts. Several ... more Recent years witnessed an increasing interest in Christian amulets
with Biblical texts. Several catalogues and monographic contributions have been published, facilitating the research on historical and religious aspects of these artefacts. The paper offers a methodological framework, founded mainly on the concept of semiophore formulated by Krzysztof Pomian, as well as six case studies, which show how the analysis of material and textual aspects of a scriptural amulet might reveal theological ideas, more or less consciously shared by its producers and users.
Katowice wobec przestępczości i bezprawia na przestrzeni wieków, ed. A. Barciak, 2021
Gerichtsdokumente aus dem neu gefundenen Dossier der Gemeinde Bogucice (Bogutschütz) Der Artikel... more Gerichtsdokumente aus dem neu gefundenen Dossier der Gemeinde Bogucice (Bogutschütz)
Der Artikel enthält eine Übersicht der Sammelmappe aus dem Archiv der Pfarrgemeinde St. Stephan in Bogucice - Bogutschütz (Katowice - Kattowitz). Die Aktensammlung enthält größtenteils unveröffentlichte Dokumente über die Gemeinde in Bogucice aus den Jahren von
1414 bis 1820. Die Dokumente beziehen sich meistens auf Eigentumsfragen, insbesondere die Rechte der Gemeinde auf Grund, Leistungen und bewegliche Sachen. Die Mappe besteht aus
einer Bestandsaufnahme des Inhalts in deutscher Sprache und aus den Dokumenten selbst. Man muss betonen, dass sich derzeit nicht alle im Inventar angegebenen Dokumente in der Mappe befnden. Das Dossier wurde wohl in der ersten Hälfte des 19. Jahrhunderts zusammengebracht. Der Grund war wahrscheinlich die Verlegung laut Bulle De salute animarum (Über das Heil der Seelen) der Pfarrei Bogucice von der Krakauer Diözese in die Breslauer Diözese im Jahre 1821. Die Anhänge des Artikels beinhalten die Liste aller Dokumente laut Inventar zusammen mit den Daten und Orten der Ausstellung. In diesen Anhängen befndet sich auch die Ausstellungsbestätigung von zwei Bescheinigungen aus dem Jahr 1697 über den den Brynower Gutshof betreffenden Zehntenstreit zwischen dem Bogutschützer Pfarrer und dem Erben des Brynower Gutshofes. Der Autor der ersten Bescheinigung ist Jan Franciszek Kamieński aus Świętochłowice (Schwientochlowitz), die zweite Bescheinigung stammt von Wacław Rupniewski, dem Bevollmächtigten von Jan Kamieński (Vater von Jan Franciszek) in den Gerichtsverfahren um den oben genannten Zehntenstreit.
![Research paper thumbnail of Dyrektor ogrodów miejskich Paul Sallmann i ogrodnictwo miejskie w międzywojennych Katowicach [Direktor der städtischen Gärten Paull Sallmann und Stadtgartenbau in Kattowitz der Zwischenkriegszeit]](https://attachments.academia-assets.com/65344142/thumbnails/1.jpg)
](Katowice w II Rzeczypospolitej, red. A. Barciak, Studio Noa, Katowice, 2015
Promenada na Południe. Historia ulicy Kościuszki w Katowicach, ed. M. Chmiel, 2019
(PL) Artykuł jest elementem szerszego projektu realizowanego przez Medialab w Katowicach. Zawiera... more (PL) Artykuł jest elementem szerszego projektu realizowanego przez Medialab w Katowicach. Zawiera zarówno ujęcie ogólne, jak i szczegółowe dane własnościowe na temat kilkudziesięciu kamienic przy ul. Kościuszki (dawna Beatestr.) w Katowicach. materiały na temat książki na stronie https://www.flickr.com/photos/medialabkatowice/albums/72157712086780973
(EN) The article is a part of a wider project carried on by Medialab in Katowice. It contains both a general survey and detailed ownership data about several dozen tenement houses at Kościuszki Street (former Beatestr.) in Katowice. More about the book at the site https://www.flickr.com/photos/medialabkatowice/albums/72157712086780973
![Research paper thumbnail of Zabudowa i wyposażenie folwarków ordynacji mysłowickiej w świetle inwentarza z 1769 r. [Die Bebauung und Ausstattung des Guthöfe des Myslowitzer Familienfideikomisses im Licht des Inventar von 1769.]](https://attachments.academia-assets.com/60703173/thumbnails/1.jpg)
](Życie codzienne na terenie współczesnych Katowic w minionych epokach, ed. A. Barciak, 2019
Das Inventar des Myslowitzer Familienfdeikommisses von 1769 erlaubt den Zustand und die Entwicklu... more Das Inventar des Myslowitzer Familienfdeikommisses von 1769 erlaubt den Zustand und die Entwicklungsrichtungen der dortigen Landwirtschaft in der Verwaltungszeit des Besitzers Józef Mieroszewski (gestorben 1768) einzuschätzen. Dies ermöglicht besonders die Zusammenstellung mit früheren Inventaren der Gutshöfe des Familienfdeikommisses und den Inventaren anderer Güter der Familie Mieroszewski. In den Jahren 1755-1769 wurde die landwirtschaftliche Produktion aus den östlichen Gutshöfen: Schloss Mysłowice (Myslowitz), Janów (Janow), Brzęczkowice (Brzenskowitz), in die nördlichen Gutshöfe verlagert – in Bogucice (Bogutschütz) und Rozdzień (Rosdzin) wurden Milchkühe gezüchtet und die Milchproduktion entwickelt und in Szopienice (Schoppinitz) fand die Schafzucht statt. Es wurden auch moderne technische Lösungen verwendet. Das alles führte zu einem höheren Wissen über Ackerbau- und Zuchtkultur unter den Bauern, welche die Hauptarbeitskraft in den Gutshöfen bildeten. Diese Erfahrungen wurden dann in der Zeit der Bauernbefreiung in die individuelle Bauernwirtschaft eingesetzt.
Einige Abschnitte meiner Monographie über Bogutschütz (Bogucice) und Kossutken (Koszutka), zur Ze... more Einige Abschnitte meiner Monographie über Bogutschütz (Bogucice) und Kossutken (Koszutka), zur Zeit beide die Stadtbezirke Kattowitz (Katowice)
Założyciele miast oraz mecenasi kultury i sztuki w dziejach Katowic, red. A. Barciak, 2017
[Der Beitrag auf Polnisch]
Półtora wieku dziejów Katowic - przywracanie historycznej pamięci, red. A. Barciak, 2016
[Der Artikel auf Polnisch]
![Research paper thumbnail of Materialny wymiar błogosławieństwa w religijności świeckich chrześcijan w późnoantycznym Egipcie [Material blessings in the lay Christian religiosity of late antique Egypt]](https://attachments.academia-assets.com/116346097/thumbnails/1.jpg)
](Slides to the paper delivered at the Seventh International Congress on Studies of Religion, Gdyni... more Slides to the paper delivered at the Seventh International Congress on Studies of Religion, Gdynia 19-21.06.2024
Slides to the paper presented at The International Biblical Conference “Bible and the Biblical Ap... more Slides to the paper presented at The International Biblical Conference “Bible and the Biblical Apocrypha. Translations, Interpretations and Reception”, Ostrów Wielkopolski- Odolanów, 16-17 Mai, 2024
Slides presented at the 20th Annual Conference of the EASR, Vilnius 4–8 September 2023.
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Prezentacja do referatu zaprezentowanego na konferencji "Świat antyczny a my. Współczesne badania... more Prezentacja do referatu zaprezentowanego na konferencji "Świat antyczny a my. Współczesne badania nad cywilizacjami starożytnymi", Zielona Góra 13-15 września 2023
A handout to the paper delivered at the conference "(Anti-)Apocalypticism throughout Antiquity – ... more A handout to the paper delivered at the conference "(Anti-)Apocalypticism throughout Antiquity – An Interdisciplinary Conference", Monte Verità, Ascona, 16 – 19. July 2023. The handout contains a survey of MSS with Apocalyptic Texts in Coptic.
The slides to the paper delivered at the conference "(Anti-)Apocalypticism throughout Antiquity –... more The slides to the paper delivered at the conference "(Anti-)Apocalypticism throughout Antiquity – An Interdisciplinary Conference", Monte Verità, Ascona, 16 – 19. July 2023
The presentation to the paper delivered at the 6th EuARe Annual Conference, St Andrews 2023.
Handout do referatu do referatu wygłoszonego podczas konferencji naukowej "Od Księgi Henocha do 4... more Handout do referatu do referatu wygłoszonego podczas konferencji naukowej "Od Księgi Henocha do 4 Księgi Sybillińskiej. Sympozjum upamiętniające życie i pracę naukową ks. prof. Ryszarda Rubinkiewicza", Lublin, KUL 23-24 listopada 2022
Prezentacja i handout do referatu wygłoszonego podczas konferencji naukowej "Od Księgi Henocha do... more Prezentacja i handout do referatu wygłoszonego podczas konferencji naukowej "Od Księgi Henocha do 4 Księgi Sybillińskiej. Sympozjum upamiętniające życie i pracę naukową ks. prof. Ryszarda Rubinkiewicza", Lublin, KUL 23-24 listopada 2022
A presentation to the paper delivered at the International Workshop on the Miracles of St Menas, ... more A presentation to the paper delivered at the International Workshop on the Miracles of St Menas, Katowice, 28 October 2022.
A presentation to the paper delivered at the 4th International Patristic Conference: Christians o... more A presentation to the paper delivered at the 4th International Patristic Conference: Christians of the Patristic Period in Relation to the Nature, Lublin 18-20 2022
Slides to the paper delivered at the 12th International Congress of Coptic Studies, Bruxelles 12 ... more Slides to the paper delivered at the 12th International Congress of Coptic Studies, Bruxelles 12 July 2022.
A presentation given at the EASR conference, University College Cork 27 June 2022
A handout distributed at the EASR conference, University College Cork 27 June 2022
The handout to the talk delivered 12 December 2021 at the Leibniz-Seminar, Polyphonie des spätant... more The handout to the talk delivered 12 December 2021 at the Leibniz-Seminar, Polyphonie des spätantiken Christentums
Presentation to the paper delivered at the conference Marea ad Aegyptum. New research season 2019... more Presentation to the paper delivered at the conference Marea ad Aegyptum. New research season 2019), Uniwersytet Warszawski (on-line), 7 IX 2020.
Presentation to the paper delivered at Epiphanies of the saints in late-antique literature, Warsz... more Presentation to the paper delivered at Epiphanies of the saints in late-antique literature, Warszawa 21 May 2021
Presentation to the paper delivered at the IMC 2021, Leeds – 8 July 2001, in the panel "Changing ... more Presentation to the paper delivered at the IMC 2021, Leeds – 8 July 2001, in the panel "Changing Winds and Great Storms: The Dynamics of Speech Communities and Forms of Their Linguistic Self-Expression in the Eastern Mediterranean, 324-1204"
Presentation to the paper delivered at the 18th Annual Conference of the European Association for... more Presentation to the paper delivered at the 18th Annual Conference of the European Association for the Study of Religions Pisa, 30 August – 3 September 2021
The paper delivered at the XVIII International Conference on Patristics Studies, Oxford, 20 Augus... more The paper delivered at the XVIII International Conference on Patristics Studies, Oxford, 20 August 2019 in the framework of the workshop "Ordering Knowledge and Modes of Knowing in Ascetic Theory and Practice"
Introduction into the project "Across centuries, languages, and cultures: The Miracles of Saint M... more Introduction into the project "Across centuries, languages, and cultures: The Miracles of Saint Menas as a historical source, literary composition" founded by National Science Centre, Poland (2021/41/B/HS1/00550) (in Polish)
Programme of the Workshop (organized in the framework of the project granted by the National Scie... more Programme of the Workshop (organized in the framework of the project granted by the National Science Centre, Poland 2021/41/B/HS1/00550)
![Research paper thumbnail of Poza klerem - religijność świeckich w późnym antyku [Beyond Clerus: Lay Religiosity in Late Antiquity]](https://attachments.academia-assets.com/105759625/thumbnails/1.jpg)
](Tekst referatu wygłoszonego na konferencji "Świat antyczny a my. Współczesne badania nad cywiliza... more Tekst referatu wygłoszonego na konferencji "Świat antyczny a my. Współczesne badania nad cywilizacjami starożytnymi", Zielona Góra, 13-15 IX 2023.
Paper delivered at the conference "Świat antyczny a my. Współczesne badania nad cywilizacjami starożytnymi", Zielona Góra, 13-15 IX 2023.