The Oxyrhynchus Papyri, Part 60

hints of dialogue structure. The precise sequence remains unclear. We may assume that in 5-6 Jesus is speaking. In 13 Jesus is addressed: we may guess from the Recto that the speaker is the first person narrator, Peter. But it is difficult to be sure where the speaker changes (9-10?), and whether it changes again after 13.

2 ]ψϵγ[ possible.

4 E.g., sy de but you: new clause. But there is a patch of damage after the apparent sigma, so that ο (e.g., oude nor) may not be excluded.

5 paresch- provided/offered. Perhaps a first person singular (of Jesus), then tw prosel||thonti m[oi to the one who approached me. A reconstruction exempli gratia for example, based on Matt. 8.21-2/Luke 9.59-60: "I have not even thapsai patera buried my father | paresch||eka tw prosel||thonti m[oi offered to the one who approached me."

8 oti that. If aphei is to be read, one thinks of a part of aphiemi I remit/forgive, cf. 13. The next letter was overwritten by way of correction; given the weight of ink, it seems likely that α was the final version, written over a rounded letter that could be c, or perhaps (since it is rather small) o. If we accept α, apheiasin they remit is a possibility; if we accept ο or ς, apheiomen, apheiousin etc., apheis remitting (or an itacistic spelling of aphes remit/forgive)? This assumes that the suprascript ε is an addition to, not a replacement of, ι (i.e., aphes).

If this verb is recognized, one could think of hamartias sins, hamartemata sins/transgressions in the next line; before that, if λ is rightly read, palai long ago, cf. 2 Peter 1.9? But e.g., en Galilaia math-etes in Galilee disciple is equally possible.

10 autw to him projects into the left-hand margin. Presumably the ecthesis indentation marks a new section, or a new speech. Since autw itself cannot begin a clause, the break must come in the line before.

11-12 en (tw) onomati in the name?

13 Apparently apheis or apheis, cf. 8; then k(yri)e Lord, an address to Jesus (probably by Peter, unless it belongs to quoted direct speech). 11-13 might be combined in some such sense as 'Lord, do you remit sins in the name of God?'; but clearly other meanings of aphienai ('allow', 'let go') are available.

14 k[o]louth. [ possible, a part of akolouthein to follow or the like?

D. Lührmann—P. J. Parsons

4010. PATER WITH INTRODUCTORY PRAYER

20 3B.36/H(1-3)a 11.5 x 15 cm Fourth century

This prayer has been copied in a handsome hand, with ample margins (to the left and below) of c. 3 cm. The writing runs with the fibers; the back is blank. Since the text ends, or could end, with the last line, we are probably dealing with a single column on an individual sheet, rather than with the beginning or continuation of a roll.

The script is a version of the Severe Style, written upright with a thickish pen and some attempt at differential shading, to be assigned to the fourth century. No lectional signs, except for the suprascript stroke in nomina sacra sacred names. There is some tendency to separate words; and short blanks were used to separate clauses (12 etc.). The scribe, though a competent penman, was careless enough to omit a clause in 13, and to duplicate one in 19.

The Pater Noster Our Father (Lord's Prayer) (11 ff.) is introduced by a preliminary prayer. For other examples of the Pater circulating separately on papyrus, parchment, and other materials see van Haelst nos. 345-9 and PKöln IV 171. Many of these have been thought to be amulets; the physical size of 4010 seems to make that unlikely (there are no clear signs of folding).