Papyrus 20915 - English Translation

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davidmartin
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Papyrus 20915 - English Translation

Post by davidmartin »

My one gift to this forum, see the attached translation of this 2nd century Coptic work from German into English
Done by a gifted scholar I know Eugenia (PM for contact details)

It contains quotes from the Preaching of Peter, many old testament quotes and so on, some gospel quotes

The work is rather bleak and unfortunately fragmentary but surely someone can mine it for some clues?

I had hoped it would be more interesting but if someone can pull even one significant thing out then i'll call it a success!
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Ben C. Smith
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Re: Papyrus 20915 - English Translation

Post by Ben C. Smith »

davidmartin wrote: Thu Apr 15, 2021 4:11 am My one gift to this forum, see the attached translation of this 2nd century Coptic work from German into English
Done by a gifted scholar I know Eugenia (PM for contact details)

It contains quotes from the Preaching of Peter, many old testament quotes and so on, some gospel quotes

The work is rather bleak and unfortunately fragmentary but surely someone can mine it for some clues?

I had hoped it would be more interesting but if someone can pull even one significant thing out then i'll call it a success!
Thanks, David! Good on you for following through.

Do you happen to have a list comparing the possible fragments of the Preaching of Peter in this manuscript to the fragments we have from Clement and Origen?
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Re: Papyrus 20915 - English Translation

Post by davidmartin »

It is quite interesting Ben I guess. Eugenia said that some of the scripture quotes contain unusual readings she did do an amazing job of this
Would look forward to what you make of it!

Here's the suspected Preaching of Peter references, some are more certain than others
It appears the author accepted it as scripture, and the Shepherd of Hermas is quoted (and Sibylline Oracles)
I don't know why the 'Book of Annunciation' is thought to be the same work though
I'm not sure if what is here is certain enough to connect to known Preaching fragments with any confidence and give insight into the character of the Preaching of Peter
listen [to] what the Scripture teaches us:
“God who created everything is the one who [also] created mankind and he is the one who [wants] that we serve him.”
Let us so [take] another evidence from the same Book of Annunciation that says: “But since at [the] beginning of the age, when God,
[who] is high above everything, created [mankind] [ ] with the shapes
[the] man [(to) ] should become
[ ] he became [ ]
[And] he placed him in Paradise.”
He has created heaven and [earth,] he has created the sun and the moon [and the stars,]
also <the> beginning and the end, [also] every single thing that there is [in the] world,
(and only) for the sake of man. You should also not [slander]
the mold of man [that] has [been] created.”
[also] from the Book of Annunciation. He says (it) using these
words (:) [“We know] that God [is] one, [the one who] has created [(all what)]
[(is visible ]
[ ] all what is invisible.
He at all is the [ ]
by fulfilling the All [with what] is not incomplete, while the All ...
[ ] Peter by [saying: ]
[ ] whereby he says: [ ]
[ ]
[ also to] the [time] where we
[(arrived)] into the human world.
[The] man received these. And instead of
[life] he ended up under the hand of death.
When he jumped from his [ ]
he lost the shape ...
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Re: Papyrus 20915 - English Translation

Post by robert j »

I haven't compared the suspected passages from the Preaching of Peter to those of Clement. I would be interested in what Ben or others think. But it would be great to have another attestation to the text from an Alexandrian source perhaps earlier than Clement.

But scrolling through the translation of 20915, I did notice in section 29 this apparent citation from a controversial passage in 1 Thessalonians ---

6 [revealed from] heaven against him. And Paul
7 [wrote it] in many passages. But he connects
8 [it (the wrath)] with God. When [he]
9 [says]: “It has come upon them
10 [the wrath] of God forever”,

11 [so he teaches] us. [For it is true that] when
12 God [wants] to make us aware of his wrath,
13 [then he reveals] his power.

Line 9 and following] citation from 1Thessalonians 2:16.


Now the wrath has come upon them to the utmost. (1 Thessalonians 2:16)

ETA: Now the wrath has come upon them to the utmost (εἰς τέλος, to the end). (1 Thessalonians 2:16)
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Re: Papyrus 20915 - English Translation

Post by rakovsky »

This Papyrus is discussed in:

"THE BERLIN “COPTIC BOOK” (P 20915): A RESTORED EARLY CHRISTIAN THEOLOGICAL TREATISE" by Gesine Robinson
A so-called Coptic Book, a fourth century papyrus codex belonging to the papyrus collection of the Egyptian Museum of Berlin, has finally been published, complete with digital images of the papyrus leaves themselves.
https://www.arabwestreport.info/en/year ... l-treatise

"Papyrus Berolinensis 20915 in the Context of Other Early Christian Writings from Egypt" by A. Van Den Hock
January 2003
In book: Origeniana octava. Origen and the Alexandrian Tradition - Origene e la tradizione alessandrina. Papers of the 8th International Origen Congress, Pisa, 27-31 August 2001. Volume I (pp.75-92)Publisher: Leuven University PressEditors: L. Perrone
https://www.researchgate.net/publicatio ... from_Egypt

Hock's, Schenke's and Robinson's publications about this Papyrus are listed on pages 67-68 of Nag Hammadi Bibliography: 1995 - 2006 by David M. Scholer
https://books.google.com/books?id=t0M3a ... 15&f=false
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Re: Papyrus 20915 - English Translation

Post by rakovsky »

davidmartin wrote: Thu Apr 15, 2021 6:40 am It is quite interesting Ben I guess. Eugenia said that some of the scripture quotes contain unusual readings she did do an amazing job of this
Would look forward to what you make of it!

Here's the suspected Preaching of Peter references, some are more certain than others
It appears the author accepted it as scripture, and the Shepherd of Hermas is quoted (and Sibylline Oracles)
I don't know why the 'Book of Annunciation' is thought to be the same work though
I'm not sure if what is here is certain enough to connect to known Preaching fragments with any confidence and give insight into the character of the Preaching of Peter
David,

Thanks for providing the text. Based on the possible quotes related to Peter or the Preaching of Peter, Quote #6 in my list below, ascribed by the Papyrus to the Book of Anunciation, looks like it could be a Coptic reformulation of a quote from the Preaching of Peter (without me knowing where else these keywords show up outside the Preaching of Peter.). The Papyrus also gives a few other quotes that it ascribes to "Peter," but doesn't specify what writings the author got Peter's statements from. Nor do the quotes that the Papyrus ascribes to the Book of Anunciation are also ascribed to Peter by the Papyrus.

First, do you know what basis is being used by your colleague to consider those quotations in the Papyrus to be from Preaching of Peter?

Second, out of your quotations, only the last quotation refers to Peter explicitly, whereas the others are about "the scripture" and the "Book of Annunciation". My normal assumption would be that the Book of Annunciation is not the Preaching of Peter. Origen and Clement both title the latter "The Preaching of Peter." ("...the book entitled The Preaching of Peter..." ~ Origen, on John, xiii. 17)

Third, what the Papyrus has about Peter that you potentially connected to the Preaching of Peter goes:
Peter by saying: ...whereby he says: ... ... ... ... [missing lines][also to] the [time] where we
[(arrived)] into the human world. [The] man received these. And instead of [life] he ended up under the hand of death. When he jumped from his... he lost the shape
When I look carefully at that quote, considering the multiple missing lines that are in the ...., it's not clear whether the part in blue is part of the quote spoken by Peter in the Papyrus. In other words, it's not clear whether the Papyrus first gives a quote spoken by Peter that is now missing and then gives a separate commentary in Blue. The commentary in Blue is about The man jumping from his (original state? original aeon? original realm?) into the human world and ending up under the hand of death. This part in Blue comes across to me as sounding like Gnosticism, wherein people exist in some heavenly, spiritual, or immaterial realm and then when they enter the material world they incur death and suffering. I don't know if you can find some Christian non-Gnostic "Proto-Gnostic" or Platonic texts that express this same idea. The Gospel of Thomas has a some Platonic idea about pre-existent images, but I don't remember it having the same idea that I quoted in Blue.

Fourth, you can read the quotes that we have from the Preaching of Peter that came to us via Clement of Alexandria and Origen here:
http://www.earlychristianwritings.com/t ... peter.html

I didn't see anything there corresponding to the quote that I put in Blue. The only place where those quotes in Clement and Origen use the term man or human (one of the keywords in the quote in Blue) is much different substantially ("Be ashamed to keep things that belong to others. Imitate the fairness (equality) of God, and no man will be poor.") I also didn't find what was quoted by Clement or Origen to be Gnostic like the quote in Blue seems to be.

Fifth, I notice that the document that you attached with the Papyrus text does quote the NT 1 Peter 1:24, so foreseeably whatever quotes that the Papyrus has from Peter can be from another source besides the Preaching of Peter. If we didn't have any direct quotes from the Preaching of Peter turning up in the Papyrus that match what we have in Clement or Origen, or using the title "Preaching of Peter," I would guess that those quotes ascribed to Peter are not from the Preaching of Peter because we have lots of other writings by the 4th century that quote Peter, like Peter's 1st Epistle cited in the Papyrus.

1 Peter 1:24-25 has:
24 For,

“All people are like grass,
and all their glory is like the flowers of the field;
the grass withers and the flowers fall,
25 but the word of the Lord endures forever.”[a]

And this is the word that was preached to you.
--------------------------------------------------------------
[a] ... Isaiah 40:6-8 (see Septuagint)
Sixth, here is another quote from the Papyrus that mentions Peter:
but Peter (?) [ ]
4 [ ] him of the woman
5 [ ] and the thinking
6 [ ] from the souls.
7 [When they] connect to each other, [they will]
8 [become] a [one] and only soul.
This also sounds like it is probably making some kind of Gnostic type formulation, thus being of a different variety than the Preaching of Peter comes across in the quotes from Clement and Origen.

Seventh, lets look at the Editor's notes and compare them with what we have from Clement and Origen.

1. The grass and the flowers
The] body disports itself [in fact in its]
29 youth, but it withers in [its]
30 seniority. “For all flesh”, [he said,]
31 “is like grass, and [its]
32 glory like the flower [of]
1 [the grass.] The [grass] withers,
2 [and] the flower fades.
3 But the word of the Lord endures
4 forever.”

Lines 30 and following] citation from 1 Peter 1:24
Lines 1-4] continuation of citation from 1 Peter 1:24 (or Isaiah 40:6-8).
This is not in Preaching of Peter. The use of 1 Peter 1 suggests that quotes from Peter could be from a source other than Preaching of Peter.

2. A man's and woman's relationship. Connecting and becoming one soul
3 but Peter (?) [ ]
4 [ ] him of the woman
5 [ ] and the thinking
6 [ ] from the souls.
7 [When they] connect to each other, [they will]
8 [become] a [one] and only soul. As
9 [ (so)] (the) work will be given to her
10 [ either] he loves her from
11 [his] own [ ] or also
12 only from [ ] or (from) the excess
13 [ ] a part
14 [ ] of the man.
This is not in what we have from Preaching of Peter. The idea of man and woman becoming one flesh shows up repeatedly in the Bible:
Genesis 2:24, Matthew 19:5, Mark 10:8, Ephesians 5:31
I suppose that if you take a purely spiritual, anti-Materialist Gnostic POV and take out the flesh aspect but still see the man-woman union as positive, you end up with the idea of the man and woman becoming in some sense one spirit or one soul or a united spirit-soul.

3. God made mankind and wants that we serve him, according to the Book of Annunciation.
7 It is [also this way] that you serve him
8 [in the robe,] which is brighter than these. [They]
9 [have already been revealed,] so that you can listen
10 [to] what the Scripture teaches us:
11 “God who created everything
12 is the one who [also] created mankind
13 and he is the one who
14 [wants] that we serve him.” And
15 [these are things] that, in fact, suffice us
16 [but listen to what] he said about the self-
17 [ they] followed (?)
18 [ ] of man.
19 [ ] on the contrary so that
20 [ ] [he] created a
21 [man ] other
22 [ ]
23 [ ] they (?).

----------------------------
EDITOR's Footnote: Lines 11-14] perhaps a citation from The Preaching of Peter.
The quote above apparently gives two quotes, one about God making man and wanting that we serve him, and another where someone talks about the "self..." and about another creative act.
Later, in Lines 24-25, the Papyrus says that this quote in lines 11-14 comes from the Book of Annunciation. The implication of Line 10 is that the Papyrus is calling the Book of Annunciation "Scripture." The quote doesn't show up in our quotes from the Preaching of Peter.

4. God who "is high above everything created man" ... with shapes and put him in Paradise
23 Let us
24 so [take] another evidence from the same
25 Book of Annunciation
26 that says: “But since at
27 [the] beginning of the age, when God,
28 [who] is high above everything,
29 created [mankind] [ ] with the shapes
30 [the] man [(to) ] should become
31 [ ] he became [ ]
32 [And] he placed him in Paradise.”
33 For [not] between the Logos [and] the creators (?)
34 (is) [the] creation of mankind, on the contrary they have
35 prayed (?) God with reference to [the] Logos, so that [ ]
36 [ ] gives the soul and [ ]
37 [ at the same time.] The [ ]
-----------------------------------------------------------
Modern Editor's Note: Lines 26-32] perhaps a citation from The Preaching of Peter
This is not in our known quotes from the Preaching of Peter.

5. God created the sun, moon, stars, etc. for man and you should not slander man's mold.
2 [ ] justifies [ the]
3 [creator] by the [creatures.]
4 He has created heaven and [earth,]
5 he has created the sun and the moon [and the stars,]
6 also <the> beginning and the end, [also]
7 every single thing that there is [in the] world,
8 (and only) for the sake of man. You should also not [slander]
9 the mold of man [that] has [been] created.”
Lines 1-10] another citation from The Preaching of Peter?
This is not in our quotes from the Preaching of Peter.

6. God created all that is visible and invisible. He is at All and fulfills the All with what is not incomplete:
And (this emerges) [also] from the Book of
25 Annunciation. He says (it)
26 using these
27 words (:) [“We know] that God
28 [is] one, [the one who] has created [(all what)]
29 [(is visible ]
30 [ ] all what is invisible.
31 He at all is the [ ]
32 by fulfilling the All [with what]
33 is not incomplete, while the All [ ]
34 [ ] by remaining [ ]
35 [ ] he was straightened up as [ ]
36 [ ] for them
Lines 27 and following] probably a reference from The Preaching of Peter.
This has some resemblance to elements in the Preaching of Peter, but is different. Clement of Alex. in Miscellanies VI writes:
Peter says in his Preaching: Know ye then that there is one God who made the beginning of all things and hath power over their end; and: The invisible who seeth all things, uncontainable, who containeth all, having need of nought, of whom all things stand in need and for whose sake they exist, incomprehensible, perpetual, incorruptible, uncreated, who made all things by the word of his power. . . .that is, the Son.

FOOTNOTE:
In vi. 7. 58 he repeats a clause of this:
For there is in very deed one God, who made the beginning of all things: meaning his first begotten Son; thus Peter writes, understanding rightly the words: In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.
One problem with equating the Papyrus' quotation from The Book of Annunciation here to the Preaching of Peter is that both the Papyrus and Clement of A. appear to be quoting their respective sources explicitly, whereas the two quotations that they give are in fact each different:
Papyrus' quotation:
We know that God is one, has created all that is visible and invisible. He at All is _____ by fulfilling the All (with what) is not incomplete, while the All... by remaining... he was straightened up as ... for them
Clement's quotation:
Know ye then that there is one God who made the beginning of all things and hath power over their end; and: The invisible who seeth all things, uncontainable, who containeth all, having need of nought, of whom all things stand in need and for whose sake they exist, incomprehensible, perpetual, incorruptible, uncreated, who made all things by the word of his power. . . .that is, the Son.

Each of the colors in the Papyrus quote above seems to possibly relate to the corresponding colored section of Clement of A's quote. At the same time, there are substantial differences that are enough to make them different statements. For example, the Papyrus quote begins by saying that "We know that God is one," whereas Clement of A's quote instructs the reader to "Know you then that there is one God." These are related statements but are still a bit different. Conceivably they can be paraphrases of a Hebrew original statement, like how the Shema of Judaism can be translated differently by different people.
Next, the Papyrus quote says something along the lines of God having "created all that is visible and invisible." This is not exactly the same as saying that God "made the beginning of all things," although they can be considered reformulations of the same idea.
Whereas the Papyrus says that God made all that is visible and "invisible," Clement's quote says that God is "The Invisible." This is a substantially different statement, although one of the statements could give the author of the other statement the idea for the latter.

The relationship between these two sets of quotations in the Papyrus and in Clement of A. remind me a bit of how the Gospel of Thomas exists in Greek and Coptic, with the Coptic verses seemingly being different "versions" or "takes" on the Greek verses.
As a result, conceivably the author of the Book of Annunciation could have read the Preaching of Peter and then used the statement in the Preaching (as quoted by Clement of A.) and then made his own version of it for his Book of Annunciation.

My question for you is if this quote above from the Papyrus ("We know that God is one... etc.) sounds like anything else in Jewish or ancient Christian writings?


7. He built on the rock a spiritual house, a holy priesthood and a tribe.
[he] built on the rock [some]
5 living, similar, im[mortal]
6 [stones] into a spiritual house,
7 [into a] holy priesthood
8 [ ] that has caducity (?)
9 [ that] are visible [ ]
10 [ the] tribe [
Footnote:
[Line 4-7] compare Matthew 7:24; 1Peter 2:5-9; The Epistle of Paul to the Ephesians 2:21. Lines 16 and following] compare 2 Kings 2:11.
This shows up in 1 Peter 2:5-9:
5. you also, as living stones, are being built up a spiritual house, a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. 6. Therefore it is also contained in the Scripture,

“Behold, I lay in Zion
A chief cornerstone, elect, precious,
And he who believes on Him will by no means be put to shame.”

7. Therefore, to you who believe, He is precious; but to those who 2are disobedient,

“The stone which the builders rejected
Has become the chief cornerstone,”

8. and

“A stone of stumbling
And a rock of offense.”

They stumble, being disobedient to the word, to which they also were appointed.

9. But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His own special people, that you may proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light;
So here the Papyrus is using these ideas in 1 Peter 2 or perhaps other places mentioned in the footnote. So if the Papyrus ascribes a saying to Peter, it need not necessarily mean that the saying is in the Preaching of Peter.

8. We arrived into the human world. Instead of life, the man ended up under the hand of death.
[(The death is) our] inheritance. [For]
18 our ForeFather [Adam made]
19 [us] heirs of the death
20 [in the] disobedience through
21 [his death.] It was [the] primordial mother Eva
22 who opened up the way for us. When she
23 [ate the fruit, she found] death and
24 [not life. ] of the world.
25 [ ] evil of the [ ] and, in fact, [ ]
26 [ ] from a man. The beginning
27 [brought] death [in] the sin. And
28 because of [her] we will all [die.] And
29 [ ] Peter by [saying: ]
30 [ ] whereby he says: [ ]
31 [ ]
32 [ also to] the [time] where we
33 [(arrived)] into the human world.
34 [The] man received these. And instead of
35 [life] he ended up under the hand of death.

FOOTNOTE: Lines 29 and following] perhaps a citation from The Preaching of Peter.

1 When he jumped from his [ ]
2 he lost the shape [ the one]
3 who [ ] became [ ]
4 [ ]
5 [ ] in [him ]
6 [ ] and [ ]
7 [ ] his nests [
The ideas in Lines 29-35 don't show up in what we have from Preaching of Peter. It sounds kind of Gnostic, unlike what I get from the quotes from the Preaching of Peter in Clement of A and in Origen.
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Re: Papyrus 20915 - English Translation

Post by DCHindley »

It is a loooong document, but giving it a brief read through during lunch today it does not really come across to me as "Gnostic" (big G). I would say closer to the epistle to the Hebrews.

That citation of Revelation about the angel calling the birds of the air to come and eat the flesh of men, and other citations, suggest to me that what we have here is a kind of apocalypse, but instead of a blessed age that is dawning but rather an age of wrath. While it is not mentioned in the footnotes, the citation of Rev 19:17-18 is actually a paraphrase of Ezekiel 39:17–20, about the destruction of Gog.

The "fall" of Adam & Eve is a Christian theme, maybe related to the Books of Adam & Eve that is sometimes included among the Pseudepigrapha. I know a scholarly treatment can be found in R H Charles' Apocrypha & Pseudepigrapha of the Old Testament volume 2 translated by L S A Wells as the "Books of Adam & Eve," and also translated as the "Life of Adam & Eve" by M D Johnson in the book Old Testament Pseudepigrapha, edited by Charlesworth. They both seem to think that the core of this document is Diasporic Judean, but I am not so sure. It also has parallels to 2 Enoch and 2nd Enoch has a parallel with Ep. of Barnabas. The date of origin proposed by these two translators are rather far apart from one another.

The building of the solid foundation sounds a little like the Shepherd of Hermas.

I'm not picking up "Sethian" vibes, though, except in fragment 128. I'm going to have to see what B. Pearson has to say on Schenke Robinson, G. (2000), Sethianism and the Doctrine of Creation in a Partially Restored Coptic Codex (Papyrus Berolinensis 20 915). Le Muséon, 113(3).

I have not been able to locate a copy of Gesine Schenke Robinson's article just yet, but I know that H-M Schenke published in the same circles. Is there a link between Gesine Schenke (Robinson) and Hans-Martin Schenke? I thought Gesine Schenke (Robinson) wrote about the Gospel of Judas, but there is quite a bibliography of her articles on this set of Coptic fragments, a special project I guess.

Just my quick take ... DCH
Last edited by DCHindley on Thu Apr 15, 2021 6:10 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Papyrus 20915 - English Translation

Post by Stuart »

Birds eating flesh could be some sort of reference to the burial practices of the Zoroastrians.

But we do know from the American Civil War that vultures in large packs followed the armies waiting for a battle. There are some similar reports from Europe throughout the ages. The behavior of vultures following armies likely isn't new, it's probably something they did for millennia. A very patient bird waiting for it's next meal.
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Re: Papyrus 20915 - English Translation

Post by davidmartin »

Hi Rakovsky interesting comments
Well, one things for sure - we know this papyrus is genuine because of how it raises more questions than answers!

i'm not sure what led to those selected quotes being associated to the Preaching except as a possible guess at a potential source
This part in Blue comes across to me as sounding like Gnosticism, wherein people exist in some heavenly, spiritual, or immateril realm and then when they enter the material world they incur death and suffering. I don't know if you can find some Christian non-Gnostic "Proto-Gnostic" or Platonic texts that express this same idea
I think "orthodoxy" using "gnostic" language does have some basis in surviving texts although it appears unusual i wonder if there's a case to re-evaluate that. i mean we have things in Colossians and Ephesians that look a little that way. Also I'm thinking of some of the stuff in the Clementine literature also associated with Peter. And some other texts i can't remember right now (i remember a commentary about a text that said it appeared to present orthadoxy in gnostic language. 3 corinthians?? my memory won't retrieve it)

What i mean is, perhaps when we see something that looks a little gnostic it might not actually be at all, just uses similar language or concepts

"To thee do we cry, poor banished children of Eve.. mourning and weeping in this vale of tears"

Another interesting thing your question reminded me of is the NHL letter of Peter to Phillip. This is gnostic for sure no doubt about that
It uses similar language to the Peter quote in the papyrus "he commissioned the powers within his authority to mold mortal bodies. And they came to be from a misrepresentation, from the semblance which had merged. Next concerning the pleroma: I am the one who was sent down in the body because of the seed which had fallen away. And I came down into their mortal mold"

No way is this a meaningful parallel but there's a vague similarity under Peter's name

Perhaps in the abundant texts circulating in Peter's name in those days there were those with a gnostic tinge on the orthodox side as well as the genuine gnostic side. I agree there's not much to go on here to connect these fragments to the Preaching
[When they] connect to each other, [they will]
8 [become] a [one] and only soul.
Reminds me of the NHL Exegesis of the Soul
"But once they unite with one another, they become a single life"
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Re: Papyrus 20915 - English Translation

Post by hakeem »

The Preaching of Peter mentions a character called Paul which means it is most likely a forgery and written no earlier than c 180 CE. Based on my research writings which mention Paul and the supposed Epistles are usually forgeries and have very little or no historical value.
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