4. Date of Versions.— The earliest evidence for the existence of a Coptic version is usually said to be afforded by the Life of St. Antony, com- monly attributed to St. Athanasius. We are there
de I-ndoU Versionit Novi TestameTiti Sahidicce^ Copenhagen, 1789, p. 78 ff.). Maspero has published Mt 5M-61»«.
a Bouriant, Mhnoire« de Vl-nstUut ^g^rptien, vol. 11. (Cairo, 1889), p. 5fi7 S. The Gospel fragTuents are parts of Mt 13. 14, and of Mk 8. 9. The dithculty of drawing a sharp line of dis- tinction between the various forms of the M.E. dialect is shown by the fact that Headlam is inclined to regard two parts of one MS of the Gospels as belonging to separate versions and dialects (see Ueadlam, op, cit. u. p. 141 f. ; cf. Hyvemat, op. cit. 1S90, No. 4, p. 666a,),
^ Rudiinenia Lingxux Cpp((B (Rome, 1778), p, 448.
y (^u.atremferej op. e\t. p. 228 ff.
i Crum, op. at. p. 1 f. Cf. also the fragments of the Bong of Moses and the Song of the Three Children on p, 12 ff.
I Ov. «(. U.-iii. p. 69 a. In i, p. 60 he gives quotations in this dialect from Mt 11", Ps 148*.
{ MittHaegyptuche Bi^ei/ra/jmcnte, ^tudtt ArcAiotogiquet hirujuistiqu^g et HitAoriques ciidUet d M. U Dr. C. Leemans, Leyden, 1885.
n Old M.E. is often called Akhmimio, because most of kbe fragments of it come from Akmim.
(y Mihftoires MU$. A rch. \. p. 246 ff.
/ Krall op. ct<. u.-iii. (1887) p. 265 ff. A list of the verses will be found in Hyvernat, op. at. (1896), No. 4, p. 668, under the title ' Version Akhmlmienne.'
• lb. iv. p. 143 f.
A Recuext de Travaux, xix. (1897) p. 1 ft. ; c<. also tUL 0886) p. 181 ff.
M Crum, op. cit. p. 2ff.
. QMatuorEniTuji-lia in Dial, ifmiph. (Leipzig, 1848-7).
£ Acta Apott. Coptice, Episl Novi Tett. Coptiee (Halle, 1852).
« Xov. Tett. ^jivptium vulgo Copticum (Oxford, 1718).
•■ Qriinqti^ libn Mm/tit Prophetce (London, 1731).
^ Her I'eTUati*uch KoptisrJi (Leipzig, 18*17).
» t'ruphcliT jWa /ore* (Oxford, 1S,'S2) ; Diwd. Propk. ifin. Libr. (Oxford, 1S:!M ; The Ancient Coptic Veraion of the Book of Job (London, ISKi).
T Ptalterium in Dialectum Mcmph. trantlatum (Leipzig, 1S43). V r «..
u Pgatleni Vergio MemphHica (Oottingen, 1876). ^ l)i Alcuni Manugcritti Copti (Turin, 1893).
told that he was an Egyptian, that his parents were Cliristians, and that as a cliikl he went with them to church, and ' gave attendance to the read ings' {i.e. from the Scripturesj.a When about 20 years of age ' he went into the church, and it happened that the Gospel was then being read.';3 Ue heard a text which influenced him profoundly. On other occasions, also, he heard passages read, and ' he gave such attendance to the reading that none of those things which were written fell from him to the ground, but he retained all, and thereafter his memory served him for books.' 7 From these passages it has been argued that, since we further know that St. Antony as a boy refused to learn letters, 5 and was unable through- out life to speak Greek, e there must have been in his boyhood a translation of the Scriptures in the Egyptian tongue. This, it is m.aintained, is confirmed by other passages in his Life, especially bj' the discourse which begins at c. xvi. We are there told that he spoke to the monks in the Egyptian tongue, saying, ' The Scriptures are sufficient for teaching ; but it is good for us to exhort one another in the faith, and encourage with words.' f In the discourse which follows there are quotations from, or allusions to, texts from various parts of the Bible. Since Antony, shortly before his death in A.D. 356, said, ' I am well- nigh one hundred and five years old,'ij he must have been bom about A. D. 250. Therefore there must have been a translation of the Bible into Egyptian about the middle of the 3rd century. But such reasoning is not conclusive. This Life never speaks of Antony as reading the Bible. He only hears it read. The Coptic translation which he heard might well have been made at the time by au interpreter. The need of a written translation in the 8er\'ice8 of the Church would not at once l>e felt. 9 The Gospel would first be read in Greek, and then the Greek would be rendered into Coptic, i as at a later date the Coptic was rendered into Arabic by ' anj-one who had the gift of speaking, so that he could interpret aright. ' « In so far as Antony was in the habit of repeating texts in his discourses, he was enabled to do so by his remark- able memory. For we have no reason to suppose that he had a Bible of his o>vn. But the speeches put into the mouth of the hermit cannot be used as evidence in such a case. For, even if we admit the historical character of the biography, it does not in the least follow that the discourses are verbatim reports.X On the authority, therefore, of this Life alone it is unsafe to base any conclusion as to the existence of a Coptic version of the Bible in the 3rd century.
There is, however, good ground for believing that a version existed in the 4th cent. It was at the beginning of this century that St. Pachomius first gathered solitary ascetics together in the south of Egypt under a common rule. If we may trust the