Coptic thread

Other Classical Languages Coptic Corner
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Once upon a time, my (Sahidic) Coptic reading skills were decent, but they now have somewhat deteriorated. In an attempt to reverse this downward trend, I’ll try to read rather extensively over at least the next couple of weeks. This thread will be a place for note-keeping and the like.

I have no definite plans yet, apart from reading more, but depending on how rusty I find myself to be, a quick run through Lambdin’s textbook may be in order. As a kind of sub-plot, I would also like to become more familiar with Bohairic, a dialect I’ve always neglected.

I think I remember some members here have studied Coptic, so this could turn into a Coptic reading group if several people are interested. And since it shouldn’t be too difficult to find texts that exists in both Coptic and Greek (and Latin as well), this could even become a multilingual reading group.

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So, no takers for a Coptic(-Greek-Latin) reading group? :slight_smile:

Yesterday I read the Life of Apa Cyrus, as published Budge’s Coptic Martyrdoms (1914). Despite the book’s title it is not a martyrdom, nor is it really a life. The text is rather short and allegedly written by Pambo of Scetis.

The texts starts with Pambo being instructed, through a vision, to go into the desert, in search of a very worthy anchorite. Pambo obeys and first meets with Apa Hierax, who has been living in a cave (katagion) in the desert for 18 years, eating only dates from a nearby tree.
Upon learning that there is monk further inside the desert, Pambo leaves and reaches the katagion of Apa Pamoun. He has been living there for 20 years, wearing only a thin garment, which (contrary to what Pambo may think) is enough to keep him warm during winter and cool during summer. He tells Pambo there is someone else living further in the desert.
Pambo finally reaches the dwelling-place of Apa Cyrus, just in time to see him being visited by Jesus and dying the next day.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pambo
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saint_Karas

I have read the text in a rather intensive manner and the good news is that my reading skills are not as rusty as I thought they’d be. The bad news is that my vocab seems to have atrophied quite a bit.
I ended up taking notes of every word I looked up. Most of these are words I half-remembered but still checked in order to help me remembering them more easily in the near future.

Budge divides Coptic words into very small grammatical units. It makes reading a bit akward at times but nothing too troublesome. It may make things slightly more difficult for a beginner though.

Some extracts in Budge’s translation (not always reliable, but I haven’t checked it carefully here).

And the blessed elder Apa Pambo rose up and went into the desert, and he came to the cell of a monk, and he stood still and knocked at the door for a considerable space of time, and he cried out three times, according to the rules of the monkish brethren, saying, ‘Bless me!’ And whilst I, Pambo, was standing at the door, the brother made answer to me inside, saying, ‘Hail, Pambo, the elder of the church of Shiet, thou mighty ship that sailest over the desert that is without water. Behold, I have eagerly desired to see thee for a very long time! Behold, God hath fulfilled for me my wish this day! Come in, O blessed man!’ And Apa Pambo answered, saying, ‘Hail thou, Apa Hierax, who hast become a companion of the angels of God by reason of thy purity.’ And Apa Hierax opened the door, and brought in Apa Pambo, and they sat down together.

(…)

And he said, ‘Cyrus is my name. I am the brother of the Emperor Theodosius, and I was reared and fed at the same table as Arcadius and Honorius. And, indeed, many, many times hath Honorius said unto me, “Take me with thee into the desert, and I will become a monk”; but I did not wish to take him with me, because he is a son of the Emperor. And when we saw that oppression (or, violence) had multiplied, and that the Emperors were committing’ sin, and that the rulers were robbing the poor, and that every one was turning out of the straight road, and making corrupt his path before God, I rose up, and I set out and I came to this desert, and I took up my abode therein because of the multitude of my sins. May God forgive me these!’

(…)

And he also said unto me, ‘My beloved brother Pambo, I am sick this day. I beseech thee to do me the favour of praying for me until I journey over the road of fear and terror.’ And I said unto him, ‘My beloved father, art thou, even thou, afraid, notwithstanding all the multitude of ascetic labours which thou hast performed in this world?’ He said unto me, ‘I have performed a few of the ascetic labours which God appointed for me, it is true, but how is it possible for us not to be afraid of the things which have been indicated to us by very many witnesses, that is to say, the river of fire, and the appearance before the Judge? And as for that river, every one is bound to pass over it, whether he be a righteous man or whether he be a sinner, and it is right that thou shouldst pray on my behalf until I journey over that terrible road.’ And he spake unto me again, saying, ’ If a man’s life upon this earth were to consist of one day only, he would not be free from sin. And, moreover, all flesh shall be purged by the fire.’

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I’ll be following this thread with interest (who could ignore a guided tour through Coptic literature by a Coptic saint? :wink:), but alas have nothing to offer in terms of Coptic reading ability. Barry was working through Lambdin last year I believe but threads can get a bit lost down here so maybe he hasn’t noticed. Wishing you the best with this interesting project, Sean.

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I’ll be following too, if it gets off the ground, as I hope it will. I left Coptic behind years ago after studying it under the guidance of the lamented Michael Browne. I must admit the writings hold little appeal for me but this could be a chance to refresh my never better than shaky acquaintance with the language. How about old Nubian too?

Weep for Sudan.

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Thanks, seanjonesbw. I hope you’ll find some of the texts I’ll post about interesting enough.

I don’t remember why I chose “Shenoute” as my user name. It must have been done in the middle of a Coptic reading frenzy, and also, I’m always at at loss about these things. I kind of regret it now: Shenoute definitely is an interesting personality but he wasn’t exactly what I would call a nice person.


I can’t blame you for that. I like these stories of monks visiting one another and the often rather naive miracle stories but Coptic literature sure could do with a little more variety.

I flirted with Old Nubian at some point but the lack of a Old Nubian in 20 lessons and the small size of the corpus kept me from investing too much time in it. I’d be interested in getting back to it if some guided study takes place here.

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Yesterday I started reading the Life of Saints Eustathius and Theopiste and their two children, also in Budge’s Coptic Martyrdoms.

As with the Life of Apa Cyrus, I’m checking and taking note of every word I don’t known or feel even vaguely unsure about. It’s time consuming and often not really needed for understanding what I read, but I feel it is a good way to make these half-remembered words stick.
There are some obvious (and not so obvious) typos in Budge’s edition. He published a lot, and quickly, so this is not entirely unexpected. Still, I’m grateful he did since the British Museum manuscripts he published have generally not been reedited since, nor have they been scanned yet.

This Life differs slightly from most of the others I have read in that it involves a whole family, children included, and takes place under Trajan. Most martyrdoms I’ve read in Coptic have Diocletian’s Great Persecution as their background. The trauma caused by this event was so important in Egypt that the Coptic Church still numbers the years according the the “Era of the Martyrs”, which takes the year 284 AD (the beginning of Diocletian’s reign) as its year 0.

I’ve read about a third of the Life so far. Enough to see pagan-but-kindhearted general Plakêtas become Eustathius through after God showed him a crucifix between the horns of the deer he was chasing.

And when a considerable time had passed, during which Plaketas had been looking at the stag, and marvelling at its great size and very fine appearance, and thinking out the means whereby he might capture it, the Lord gave him the following sign; and He made him able to see it, and it appeared unto him in the following form. There was a figure of a cross between the stag’s horns, and it shone more brightly than the sun, and there was, moreover, between his horns a similitude like unto the body wherein God arrayed Himself in the womb of the Virgin; now He clothed Himself in this body for our salvation. And He cried out to Plaketas from the animal with the voice of a man, saying, 'O Plaketas, why dost thou hunt Me? (…)

This reminded me, mutatis mutandis, of the story of Angulimala chasing after the Buddha in a forest to cut his finger, and thus complete his finger-necklace, only to be converted by him.

7

I finished reading the Life of Eustathius (and his family).
Shortly after his baptism, God tells him he is going to face hardships (“be a new Job”) and that sure happened fast. Eustathius lost his servants/slaves to the plague, his domestic animals died, and he leaves the place with his wife and two children. Upon arriving on the Egyptian coast, the captain of the boat kidnaps his wife and Eustathius is left alone with his two sons. Shortly after, one is taken away by a lion, the other by a wolf. Eustathius ends up doing a menial job in a village.
In the end, the family is reunited through sheer luck (=divine providence), just in time for Eustathius to won a last victory as general of the Roman armies and for the whole family to be sentenced to death by emperor Hadrian as Christians.

I think I’ll spend some time, today and tomorrow, quickly rereading these two Lives. Hopefully, that will help in remembering most of the vocab I have jotted down.


Since this is a short post, here is a list of useful lexicographical tools:

  • Crum, Coptic Dictionary. Published in 1939 (some complements by Kasser in 1964) and constantly reedited since. Words are listed in alphabetical order according to their consonants first, and vowels second, which is convenient given the nature of Coptic verbs, and the variability of vowels between dialects. Words of Greek origin are not included.
  • Lambdin, Introduction to Sahidic Coptic, includes a very useful and user-friendly lexicon (for Sahidic only obviously). Contrary to Crum, words are listed in the way they would be in an English dictionary. This probably makes it easier to handle for a beginner at first but also means it it may be harder to find forms with a different vocalism than the one used as the base form. Lambdin kind of solved the problem by adding a list of non-obvious derived forms at the end of each section of the lexicon. Of course, it cannot (and wasn’t intended to) compete with Crum in wide and depth.
  • Föster, Wörterbuch der griechischen Wörter in den koptischen dokumentarischen Texten (2002). Often very useful since words of Greek origin are not included in Coptic dictionaries. Comes with many examples. Limited to documentary texts, so you won’t always find what you’re looking for when reading literary texts
  • LSJ and Lampe, Patristic Lexicon. Greek words in Coptic may have seen their meaning evolve slightly at times but Ancient Greek dictionaries remain of course very useful.
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Hi, Shenoute,

How much time do you think it would take to complete Lambdin’s course and how difficult would be to do it alone?
Thanks.

9

Hi tico,

I guess a lot would depend on the student’s background. Someone who has already learnt another ancient language on his own for instance will be better equiped than someone tackling Coptic as his first linguistic endeavour. And if you already know another stage of Ancient Egyptian, a lot will be familiar. Knowing Greek will also help with the script and vocabulary of course.

Coptic doesn’t have the complex verbal and nominal morphology that Latin or Greek have, so that should make it easier overall. The syntax is also less convoluted, most of the time at least.
It will probably feel more foreign at times, though. In my experience, that slows down some people, while others are able to take these things in stride.

Overall, I think the average student should be able to work through Lambdin at the pace of something like, maybe 3-4h per lesson (including reading, taking notes, and doing all the exercices)?

So, yes, a difficult question to answer, but I think that, whatever the time frame, it’s definitely doable on your own. Especially since there’s a Key to the exercises online and youtube videos of people working through the course. And I’m also always happy to answer questions, to the extent of my ability.

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I have finished rereading the Life of Apa Cyrus and the Life of Eustathius. More work would be needed to make all the vocabulary stick but that would kill all the fun. For the moment, I’ll trust to seeing the most common of these words again and again in other texts.

I also read the Life of Hilaria over the last two days. The text has been edited and translated in Drescher, Three Coptic Legends (1947), which can be downloaded here. Like the Life of Cyrus, this work is attributed to Pambo of Scetis. Actually the Life of Cyrus takes up things right after Pambo buried Hilaria:

And it came to pass in the time of Apa Pambo, the elder of the church of Scetis, after he had protected (> skepaze> ) the body of the blessed woman Hilaria, the daughter of the Emperor Zeno, that a vision was shown to him, (…)

The story can be summarized as such:
Hilaria, the eldest daughter of emperor Zeno (c. 425-491), wants to become a monk, only she can’t do it in Constantinople because no monastery would take her in because of her parents. Like St. Anthony (and others), the watershed moment comes in church, when listening to readings that she feels support her desire. Shen then leaves the palace secretly, disguised as a guard (spatharios) and sails to Alexandria. From there, she reaches Scetis where Pambo tries to dissuade her from joining, since he thinks life there would be too harsh. Despite this, she remains in Scetis and leads a very ascetic life.
Three years later, Pambo is informed through a vision that she is a woman but he keeps this a secret. After nine years, the beardless Hilaria is known to her/his fellow monks as “Hilarion the Eunuch”.
One day, a demon enters in her sister, who is sent to Scetis in the hope that the monks there will be able to cure her. Hilaria recognizes her sister and stays with her for a week, praying, kissing her and sharing a bed, after which her sister is cured by the Lord. Back in Constantinople, she tells the whole story to her father, who is intrigued by the fact that a monk would behave in such a way with a woman. He invites Hilarion to Constantinople under the pretense of having him help in another cure. When Zeno questions the monk about his behaviour, Hilarion reveals that (s)he is Hilaria. After three months in Constantinople, she is back in her monastery and dies there twelve years later, without anyone (except Pambo) knowning she is a woman.

There is apparently no Greek version of the Life of Hilaria and some have proposed that it originated in the Ancient Egyptian story known through the Bentresh stela. Having read both, I must say the parallels between the two stories looks rather weak to me and only of a very general nature (basically, somebody cures someone). No need to postulate any kind of filiation there.

The text reads fairly well. It seems I jotted down less words than I did for the two previous ones. Maybe I’m getting less rusty, or maybe the text was less vocab rich. There are a few non-standard Sahidic features here and there (which is to be expected since the manuscript comes from 9th c. Fayum), but nothing crazy.

If you want to read more about Hilaria, you can check the entry devoted to her in the Coptic Encyclopedia (the CE is a good starting point for all your Coptic-related questions).

11

I’m about a third of the way through an encomium about Macarius of Tkow, an Egyptian bishop who died in the middle of the 5th c. for opposing the council of Chalcedon. The encomium is attributed to Dioscorus I, patriarch of Alexandria, who was banished by the emperor for opposing the council of Chalcedon.

According to the text, Dioscorus receives the news of Macarius’ death while in exile in Patmos/Gangra (manuscripts vary) and that’s what prompts him to reminisce about the man.

After praising Macarius’ virtues, Dioscorus remembers how Macarius boarded the same ship as himself, in Alexandria, with the goal of going to Constantinople and attending the council of Chalcedon. Probably sensing that things weren’t going to turn well for the Egyptian church, all the other Egyptian bishops bribed the emperor’s chamberlain (koubouklarios < Lat. cubicularius) in order to avoid having to go. As a result, Macarius alone goes with Disocorus.

Dioscorus then tells some of the deeds performed by Macarius on the boat, and some he was told by Macarius’ companion. The most striking of these is probably the story of Macarius bringing destruction on a pagan temple, staffed by pagans who murder Christian children in order to use their blood for libations, their intestines as harp strings, and their ashes as a device for treasure hunting:

There was a village on the west side of the river in which they worship an idol called Kothos which is mounted in the niches of their house. And when they go inside their doors, they are accustomed to bow down their head and worship him. (Circumstances) being thus then, the [Christian] priests of the village came and told my father [=Macarius] everything the pagans were doing, how they were seizing the children of the Christians and slaying them for their idol, Kothos. (…)
They seized some of them and handed them to the tribunal. They interrogated them and they revealed (the truth) without torture, saying: “We call out to the children of the Christians and deceive them and give them morsels of bread and little things to eat in order to shut them in hidden places so that no one outside would hear their voices. And in this way, we slay them and pour their blood upon the altar and take out their intestines and stretch them (to make) strings for our harps and we sing to our god on them. We also burn the rest of their bodies and reduce them to ashes. And everywhere we know there is treasure, we take a small quantity of their ashes and cast them upon it. And we sing on the harps with the little children’s intestines for strings. The treasure comes to light at once and we take what we want.”
(trad. Johnson)

You’d think that after being on the receiving end of such accusations for a couple of centuries, Christians would have learnt something about the credibility of such rumors…

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I have finished reading the second third of the Panegyric on Macarius of Tkow (edited by D. W. Johnson, CSCO, Scriptores Coptici, 1980).

Contrary to the first part, these sections were mostly filled with Dioscorus narrating the bad deeds performed by Juvenal, the Chalcedonian bishop of Jerusalem after the council had ended. Juvenal is denied access to city by the inhabitants because of his Chalcedonian positions. He complains to the emperor who gives him a few hundreds soldiers. Juvenal soon puts them to good use by orchestrating a mass killing of anti-Chalcedonian Christians inside a church of the city.

He then sends the soldiers to every monastery, with orders to get all of them on board with the Tome of Leo. If not, they are to be put to death. Some of the soldiers reach the monastery of Apa Longinus in Lycia (Cod. Ham. B has the monastery in Enaton, near Alexandria, thus providing a more familiar, Egyptian, background to the story). Apa Longinus comes out with all his monks and agrees that he will subscribe to the Tome only if the elders of the monastery will. By “elders” he means the bones of the monks buried inside the monastery. They, of course, speak against accepting the Tome.

Early the next day, the holy man, Father Longinus, said to the soldiers: “How long will you persist in keeping us? Arise and let us ask the elder brothers who are in the monastery whether they will subscribe, and we too will subscribe. If they do not subscribe, we also will not subscribe. (…)” The decurion said: “The speech you have uttered is good. Let us go and ask them in accord with your proposal”. And the decurion followed him, and twenty soldiers also (went) with him. But the brothers kept entreating their father, saying: “Our father, is there another brother in this monastery besides us? Do not lie to the soldiers lest they become angry and kill us”. But the holy elder, this man the strands of the hair of whose head are like the trees of paradise, said to the brothers: “Be silent and go. It is possible for God to perform many wonders.” But many of the brothers found fault with the elder, saying: “The mind of this elder has been disturbed”. But he knew what he was doing. (…)

And the holy man, Father Longinus, took [the Tome] from [the decurion’s] hand and shoved it inside the tomb, saying: “My God-loving fathers who have already died in the orthodox Faith, do you command me to subscribe to this foolish Tome? If it is taken from me, you subscribe first and take the guilt from us. And do not say: ‘We have died and gone to our repose’ Believe me, if your bones do not answer us, yes or no, you will bear our condemnation and we will raise your bones and cast them out in desert places. Do you wish, then, to remain in your places? Tell us the truth quickly”.

And thus, as from as single mouth, the bones answered, since they heard everything, saying: “Anathema to the synod of Chalcedon. Anathema to the one who would say ‘Hail’ to them. Anathema to the one who would be in communion with them. Anathema to the one who would divide Emmanuel into two natures. Anathema to all God-less heretics. Anathema to those who would say that Mary is not a God-Bearer! Let everyone who does not understand the holy Faith be in the abyss at the last. The pit of the abyss will inherit those who will accept the faith of Chalcedon. O Longinus, throw away this document in your hand. Do not be defiled. Take it away from us also, lest we be defiled”.

(Translation by Johnson, slightly modified)

The decurion and the soldiers are so impressed by this miracle that they immediately choose to become monks in the monastery.

The text is not always an easy read and I have to look up quite a few words. At the same time, it is a good way for me to become more familiar with the events surrounding the Chalcedonian controversy and how it came to be viewed in the Coptic Church.
Beside the two main Sahidic witnesses (Pierpont Morgan M609 and Cod. Ham. B, both from Hamuli), there is also a Bohairic version of the text (Vat. Copt. 68). Maybe I’ll use it later, when devoting some time to become more familiar with this dialect.

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I’m enjoying reading this thread immensely and hope you keep posting. I’m curious about one thing in the post above: is the word translated as “Αnathema” Greek loaned into Coptic or is there a different Coptic word entirely here?

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Thanks, seanjonesbw! :smiley:

Yes, both Coptic manuscripts use anathema here. I think it’s the “normal” word in Coptic in this kind of context.

https://imgur.com/a/rnX5KlF

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Thank you! How interesting to see that “God-bearer” isn’t θεοτόκος (unless that’s cut off at the bottom?) so soon after Ephesus.

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True. “Theotokos” is very much in use in Coptic texts but I guess the writer here wanted to emphasize the concrete aspect of things. Together with the indefinite article, it makes it clear that it’s not just about denying Mary a title, it’s the very fact that she could be ourefjpenoute, a god-begetter (Johnson went for the most widespread English translation but “god-begetter” is closer to the Coptic, and the Greek).

If I remember well, it’s Nestorius who opposed the use of Theotokos, on the grounds that Mary could only have given birth to Jesus’ human nature, not the divine one. If so, the bones of the elders are firing anathemas right and left, so to speak, at both Chalcedonians and Nestorius.

17

Ha! It’s a great little story and I love the slightly schlocky feel to it. Now, like the bones, I will return to watchful silence having made my feelings known.

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I finished reading Macarius’ Panegyric. The last part also switches back and forth between stories about Macarius himself and stories/miracles without a clear link with him.
Since scholars agree that the work is not Dioscorus’ and that it is not from a reliable eyewitness either, maybe the writer wanted to emulate a real discussion, with its constant change of topics. Or he simply put together anecdotes about Macarius and a few other stories that didn’t fit elsewhere.

Dioscorus’ moment of bravery in front of Marcian and Pulcheria:

Let us return now to the time when we were taken inside to the emperor, Marcian. And it happened (that), when we were taken inside, we sat down. And in there were Mark of Ephesus, Juvenal of Jerusalem, Anatolius of Constantinople, Stephen of Antioch, and the lowliest, I Dioscorus, as well as the emperor and she who is unworthy to be called by her name, Pulcheria. And Father Macarius came in with Pinution, his brother. He sat over apart by himself. But they are near us and the emperor, and what we say, they also hear. The emperor said to us: “Define the Faith for us that you may go to your homes”. I, Dioscorus, said to him: “In what is the faith of our fathers lacking that we should add to it in accord with your mind, O emperor?” (…) Flavian, who anticipated the emperor, answered: “Enough of you, O Dioscorus! The ancient ways have passed on. Behold, new people exist.” I myself, Dioscorus, answered, saying: “If I were to add to the things which my fathers built up at the synods which they attended, and if I destroyed these things, truly I would set up myself up as a traitor”.

Ibas motioned to the emperor to order the Tome of Leo to be read. When he had given the order, the clerck began to read. I, Dioscorus, responded: “What is this scroll which is being unrolled in our mist?” The clerk said: “It is the letter of Leo, the patriarch”. Immediately, I leapt up in the court, took the document and threw it away. I said: “Do not proclaim the blasphemous acts of that man in this place, (else) I shall leave the whole city of the [empire] under the interdict and we shall go”.

And the empress Pulcheria responded: “What is this delusion of yours which you reveal in the presence of the rulers? > My mother > brought low the neck of another boaster of your ilk, that is, John, the archbishop of this city, and he died in exile. Am I not able now, or do I not have the authority to treat you just like that man?” I answered and said to her: “See too how God smote you mother. Did not a sore break out on her buttocks and discharge worms? Now but for the fact that she visited the relics of the holy John, the worms would have consumed her entire body. Now if you were not afraid when you saw your mother’s humiliation, then do what you wish to me also. (…)”

(translation: Johnson)

Given the contents of the text, there is a generous serving of words coming from Latin, via Greek of course. Mostly court titles and positions but not only:
beretarios < veredarius
dikouriôn < decurio
kômis < comes
koubouklarios < cubicularius
lektikê < lectica
missa < missa?
notarios < notarius
ordinos < ordo
patrikios < patricius
prêmêkurios < primicerius
selentiarios < silentiarius
sekretarios < secretarius
skoubitôr < excubitor
skribôn < scriba?
fiblatôrion < fibulatorium

19

Today I read four short stories, miracles performed by Saint Menas, a popular figure among Coptic saints.

The first story is about an Isaurian being killed for his money; the second about a man being punished for offering the least of two silver plates to Menas’ sanctuary; the third about a woman about to be sexually assaulted by a soldier, only to be rescued by the saint; the last one deals with a Christian robbing a Jew from his goods, leading the Jew to appeal to the intercession of the saint.

The version I have read is known to us through the (incomplete) manuscript Ifao Copte Inv. 315-322, edited by Seÿna Bacot in 2011 (article available here, first three miracles) and Paul Devos in the Analecta Bollandiana 78 (1960, using another manuscript for the end of the story which is missing the IFAO manuscript).

You can find another version of three of these miracles in Drescher, Apa Mena (1946), as well as other texts about the saint and a study of his cult, shrine, etc. The texts published in Drescher come from various manuscripts of the Hamouli collection.

Here is my translation of the beginning of the first miracle in Bacot’s article (=Drescher p. 13-17 and 112-114):

There was an Isaurian who was very wealthy. This man came to the city of Rakote (=Alexandria) for his affairs. He heard about the honor the holy Saint Apa Menas was held in and about his power. He said: “I wish to go and venerate the body of the holy martyr Apa Mena, and to give some gifts from my merchandise to his sanctuary, so that God straighten the way I walk in.” He remembered the words our Saviour said in the Gospel: “Let your charity happen in secret and your Father who looks at you in secret will reward you.”

And so, he rose up, took the > raktos > of gold, went to the lake, boarded a ship, and went down in the harbour of Philoxanita. As the night came while he was walking on the road, he made for a storehouse and said to one of the men in that place: “Brother, will you be kind enough to take me in with you until the morning? Because I am afraid to walk alone in the desert.” The man said to him: “Come in here near me. Stay until the morning, because there is one here, but I live here on my own.”

The man went in and stayed with him. And he prepared him some bread and made him eat, and he made him drink wine. He prepared a resting place for him.
He saw the gold belonging to the man. And so Satan filled his whole body. [The man] left him until [the Isaurian] fell asleep. He rose above him, killed him, and said to himself: "I will carry his body and throw it into the lake while the people of the harbour sleep. And as he was having these thoughts, behold, a great light spread forth in that place until the light was all over. When the light came out, the man feared that the men were coming in and would find about the envy (ⲫⲑⲟⲛⲟⲥ) he had done.

And so, he rose up, dismembered him, and put it in a jar, saying to himself: “If I get the opportunity, I will carry it and throw it in the water.” While he was turning [the Isaurian’s] head in order to strike it with the knife, lo! the holy martyr Apa Mena took his spiritual horse, while two angels walked with him, looking like soldiers. They knocked at the door of the storehouse. The man was frightened because the head of the man was in his hand. Quickly, he put it in a leather bag (ⲡⲩⲣⲁ=πήρα?) and hung it in the middle of the house. Immediately after, he made haste and opened the door of the house.

Apa Mena rushed in and took hold of the man, saying: “Make haste and attend to me and my servants”. Then the man said to him: “I declare to you, my lord, that there is no one here with me to serve you, Sir (> ⲕⲩⲣⲉⲓ ⲙⲁⲅⲓⲥⲧⲱⲣ> )”. Apa Mena said to him: “Sit and be patient. We will find the one we came for”.
The man saw the face of Apa Mena being glorified, and also the angels who walked with him, and he was thinking in himself that the comes had sent after him because of the envy (ⲫⲑⲟⲛⲟⲥ) he had done.

(…)

I don’t know what ϩⲣⲁⲕⲧⲟⲥ stands for here. It appears a second time as ϩⲣⲁⲕⲕⲟⲥ. Bacot links it to Greek ῥάκος and translates it as “sac (bag)”.
It looks like ⲫⲑⲟⲛⲟⲥ “envy” should be ⲫⲟⲛⲟⲥ “murder” (Bacot: “crime”) but both Coptic versions have ⲫⲑⲟⲛⲟⲥ. I guess the text still kind of makes sense as is: “the envy/ill-will I have shown”.
I’m not sure about ⲡⲩⲣⲁ=πήρα. The spelling of words of Greek origin in Coptic shows much variation, reflecting (at least partially, I guess) the evolution of pronounciation, with ⲩ and ⲏ for instance often being used interchangeably. Bacot translates it as “panier (basket)” which agrees with Drescher’s witness (ⲃⲓⲣ).

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@Shenoute, is there anything in this thread that you would have an objection to being moved out of the Academy Google-shielded zone over to the new “Coptic Corner” subforum?