SSCN Voumes 1-10, 1994-2004

& ST. SHENOUDA COPTIC NEWSLETTER

SUBSCRIBER'S EDITION Quarterly Newsletter Published by the St. Shenouda Center for Coptic Studies

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January, 2001

Volume 7(N.S. 4), No. 2

In This Issue: The Seventh International Congress of Coptic Studies (2) by Hany N. Takla ........ 1 The Third St. Shenouda Coptic Conference (1) by Hany N. Takla .......................... 7 Early Codices of the Bible - 3. Codex Alexandrinus by Hany N. Takla ................... 8 Among the Copts - Book Review by Maged S. A. Mikhail ........................................ 10 News by Hany N. Takla ................................................................................................. 12 The Seventh International Congress of Coptic Studies (2) (August 27 - September 2, 2000 - Leiden University, The Netherlands) (by Hany N. Takla)

are numbered as P.Leid.Inv. 62, 198, 238-240, 242, 700-9 (Papyri); and O.Leid.Inv.1, 2+O.Deir el- Gizaz inv.41, 40, 48-53 (Ostraca). Papyri Inv. 62, 198, 238-240, and 242 were acquired in Egypt in 1938-1939 by B. A. van Groningen. The rest of the papyri and the ostraca were acquired in 1971 in a purchase from the Dutch publisher Hakkert. Their contents are mostly documentary material. The institute has recently acquired some Coptic papyri fragments which has not been fully catalogued yet. The ostraca material is mostly written on ribbed pottery potsherds, also containing documentary material. The meager size of Coptic section in the LUL collection testifies to the fact that it never actively engaged in collecting Coptic manuscripts. In over four centuries, only 14 items were accumulated. These items were displayed at the exhibit. They have the following inventory items: Or 243, Or. 431B, Or. 908, Or. 1507, Or. 1595, Or 4997, Or. 8819, Or. 12330, Or. 14331, Or 14404, Or 14544, Or. 17084, Or. 18139, Or. 25478-Or. 25479. All manuscripts contain Coptic except for the AD 1265 Lectionary Index (Or. 243) which is in Greek and

Manuscript Exhibit at the Leiden University Library: During the congress, an exhibit was arranged of the Coptic manuscript material in the possession of two Leiden institutions. The first is in the collection of the Papyrological Institute at the University of Leiden (PIL), and the second is the one kept in the Leiden University Library (LUL). Itmes from both collections were exhibited in multiple display cases on the first floor of the Leiden University Library during the convening period of the Congress from August 27 to September 2, 2000. A handlist of such items from two collections was published in one, small-format, 16-page pamphlet that was distributed as part of the registration packet for the participants in the Congress. This handlist was compiled by Nico Kruit (PIL collection) and Jan Just Witkam (LUL collection), under the title, "A list of Coptic manuscripts materials in the Papyrological Institute Leiden and in the Library of the University of Leiden". The PIL collection consists of Coptic papyri and ostraca, numbering 15 and 10 respectively. They

St. Shenouda Coptic Newsletter

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