4th INTERNATIONAL CONGRESS OF COPTIC STUDIES
                   Louvain-la-Neuve, 5-10 September 1988


                               Tito ORLANDI

                The Study of Coptic Literature, 1976-1988.




          My 1976 Report.

             During  the  1st  International  Congress  of Coptic
          Studies (Cairo, Dec. 1976), I had the honor to  read  a
          paper  on 'The Future of Studies in Coptic Biblical and
          Ecclesiastical  Literature'  (Orlandi  0006).  Let   me
          briefly  review the main points of that paper, as a way
          to introduce the observations which I am going to  make
          now  on  the progress of the study of Coptic literature
          in the period 1976-1988.

             (a) The mere existence of a real literature  in  the
          Coptic  language  had been called into question by some
          scholars; and in any case it seemed difficult to define
          the  boundaries  of  this  literarture. Fortunately, it
          seems that this kind of question has now  been  settled
          in  a  positive  way. But there remains a somewhat dis-
          torted approach to  the  study  of  Coptic  literature,
          which  I shall try to describe in the first part of the
          present paper.

             (b) A satisfactory history of Coptic literature  was
          still  a desideratum. I made some suggestions regarding
          the problems of the periodization and the character  of
          the  texts.   The  situation has not changed much since
          1976, and also my suggestions (later developed in a se-
          ries  of articles) have not been discussed. In this pa-
          per I shall try to explain the reasons for this lack of
          progress and to propose new ways to fill this gap.

             (c)  I  emphasized the necessity to produce editions
          of texts, and to facilitate access  to  the  manuscript
          collections.   I  made  a  list  of the collections for
          which there existed catalogues, and of those for  which
          there  did  not;  and I made some proposals on the best
          way to produce editions.   The  problems  still  exist,
          though they are rather different, and therefore I shall
          return to them in a later part of this paper.



          The general history of the Coptic Literature.

             I shall begin with a preliminary  consideration,  in
          that  --  so  far  as  the subject of the present paper
          within the organization of this congress  is  concerned
          --  Coptic  literature  is  defined rather by exclusion
          than by the linguistic and formal character of what  is
          included. Obviously it is agreed that Coptic literature
          includes written texts  in  the  Coptic  language;  but
          within  this  very  broad  definition, one excludes the
          following: the Gnostic texts, the Manichaean texts, the
          biblical  texts,  the  monastic  texts,  the liturgical
          texts, which are the subject of other  papers  at  this
          congress,  because  these texts are considered as some-
          thing apart; and of course the texts written  for  non-
          literary purposes are also excluded, with magical texts
          as borderline material.

             These exclusions are not simply the  result  of  the
          practical  organization  of  the  reports solicited for
          this congress, but rather they reflect the conventional
          scholarly  assumption with regard to this subject. As a
          consequence of this assumption, the scholars  who  deal
          with  biblical  or  Gnostic  or Manichaean texts do not
          generally feel obliged  to  link  their  investigations
          with the problems raised inside other fields, or inside
          the study of Coptic literature as a whole. Another con-
          sequence of this assumption is that such investigations
          generally lack historical soundness, but this is not my
          concern at the moment.

             My  concern is rather, what is left to define Coptic
          literature (without further qualifications)  after  the
          exclusions  mentioned above? And does what is left have
          some interesting character which  makes  it  worthwhile
          studying  in  depth,  and not just for the language, or
          worthwhile publishing for something more than mere doc-
          umentation?  I pose this question because this seems to
          be the trend in studies in Coptic literature:  as  soon
          as  a part of the texts reveals some individual charac-
          ter of its own -- generally a link  between  that  part
          and literary documents in other languages -- it is made
          the subject of a particular  discipline  or  sub-disci-
          pline,  and lost forever for the appreciation of Coptic
          literature as a unitary phenomenon  with  a  consistent
          historical development that is peculiarly its own.

             This is today the main reason why no general history
          of Coptic literature has yet been written,  and  indeed
          nobody seems really to care. It is true that during the
          Rome Congress of IACS in 1980, two scholars promised to
          publish such a history, C. D. G. Muller and myself.  In
          fact none has yet been published, though I should  men-
          tion  here  the excellent article of M. Krause 1891 for
          the Lexikon der Aegyptologie, and a contribution of  M.
          Roncaglia 0807.

             For  my  part,  I have had a change of heart, in the
          sense that I now believe a conventional history of lit-
          erature  is  not a good choice today, because new tech-
          nologies for storing and disseminating information (no-
          tably data base management systems and desktop publish-
          ing) seem to offer more convenient ways  of  giving  to
          scholars  the equivalent of a history of Coptic litera-
          ture. Of course, the general ideas about the birth, de-
          velopment, character, value, and death of Coptic liter-
          ature are and will remain  important  matters.  I  have
          published  some  articles on these subjects, but I have
          left the enormous quantity of details and all the rele-
          vant documentary evidence for electronic processing.

             But  one  point  must  be clear: it is often assumed
          that the time is not ripe for the conception of a  his-
          tory of Coptic literature, because many texts which are
          in fragments not yet  identified,  or  in  inaccessible
          codices,  are  not yet known. In my opinion this is far
          from true. We know a lot of Coptic literary texts,  and
          they are sufficient to indicate at least the main lines
          of development of the literature, if they are  properly
          studied and evaluated. One often forgets that the clas-
          sical literatures too are known to us only from a small
          quantity  of  texts,  in comparison to those which have
          existed and are now lost, but nobody thinks  that  this
          prevents  us  from  having ideas about their historical
          development.

             In this regard, it is also worth mentioning some ar-
          ticles which, though centered upon collateral subjects,
          touch on some questions of great relevance  for  under-
          standing  Coptic  literature, its beginning and its de-
          velopment. Alexander Bohlig 1638  treats  --  with  his
          well  known  competence and discernment -- the national
          consciousness of the Christian Egyptians, which is  es-
          sential  to an understanding of the character of Coptic
          literature. The studies of E. A. E. Reymond 2025 on De-
          motic literature, and of Lichtheim 2147, are a starting
          point for the difficult problems  of  the  relation  of
          Coptic  with  Demotic literature. The completion of the
          Clavis Patrum Graecorum of M. Geerard 2088, an  instru-
          ment of great importance also for Coptologists (it con-
          sistently reports on Coptic documents), reminds us  how
          tight  are  the  connections  of Coptic literature with
          Greek Patrology.



          Scholars and the media.

             Turning now to studies on specific subjects, I  have
          assembled a list of circa 300 titles relating to Coptic
          literature between 1976 and  1988.   Their  number  may
          seem considerable at first glance, but considering that
          they are distributed across a period of  twelve  years,
          and  that  our choice has been intentionally large (in-
          cluding marginal subjects), they represent a  very  un-
          satisfactory  situation, being mostly the sparse result
          of incidental studies of many people whose main  inter-
          ests  are elsewhere. It is possible (but I warn against
          errors contained in all such statistics) to  make  some
          calculations, and to state that only nine scholars have
          produced five titles or more  during  the  past  twelve
          years  (Aranda  5, Browne 11, Coquin 14, Devos 12, Kuhn
          5, Lafontaine 7, Lucchesi 25, Orlandi 19, Shisha-Halevy
          7),  though seven other scholars have produced at least
          one book (Alcock, Poirier,  Horn,  Pietersma,  Buchler,
          Gawdat Gabra).

             Of  these  scholars, those who come nearest to being
          full-time students of Coptic literature (I do  not  say
          Coptology  at  large),  or in any case have diversified
          interests in that field, are Coquin, Kuhn,  Lafontaine,
          Lucchesi, and Orlandi. This situation needs no comment.

             It may also be convenient, at this point, to make  a
          survey  of  the  'media'  in  which most of the work of
          those who study Coptic literature is  published.  First
          of  all,  there are the series, many of which have been
          established for long time  and  therefore  are  presti-
          gious;  though  generally  not devoted specially to the
          edition of Coptic texts, they have at least a  specific
          section  for  it.  The  Corpus Scriptorum Christianorum
          Orientalium has published two books (Johnson  1284,  in
          1980;  and  Kuhn  0583,  in 1978).  The Subsidia Hagio-
          graphica of the Soci]t] des Bollandistes and the  Texts
          and  Translations  of Scholars Press have published one
          book each (Poirier-Lucchesi 2163,  of  1984;  Pietersma
          1524, of 1979).  Patrologia Orientalis, the Bilioth}que
          d'Etudes Coptes of the IFAO, and the  Textes  et  Docu-
          ments of the Soci]t] d'Arch]ologie Copte have published
          no texts or monographs on  Coptic  literature  at  all.
          The  only  very  active series have been those more re-
          cently established: that of the Corpus dei  Manoscritti
          Copti Letterari (formerly Testi e Documenti per lo Stu-
          dio dell'Antichit{) with five books; Papyrologica  Cas-
          troctaviana,  with  one book (Browne 1390, of 1979; but
          also others relating to the New  Testament  and  Nubian
          texts);  the Cahiers d'Orientalisme with one book (Luc-
          chesi 4640; but also a facsimile edition of  Manichaean
          codices).  The Series Apocryphorum of the Corpus Chris-
          tianorum will include the relevant  Coptic  texts,  and
          has  already published those of the Acts of John (Junod
          2059, of 1983).

             Then there are the journals. Given the character  of
          the  contributions relating to Coptic literature (brief
          and narrowly focused), journals are the  most  frequent
          vehicle for publication. They are numerous, well estab-
          lished, and prestigious; there are also  some  of  more
          recent  birth like Enchoria, Orientalia Lovaniensia Pe-
          riodica, and Vetera Christianorum. Most are devoted  to
          Orientalism  at  large (Mus]on, Orientalia, Palestinski
          Sbornik,  Oriens  Christianus),  others  to  Egyptology
          (Zeitschrift  fur  Aegyptische  Sprache, Enchoria, Bul-
          letin de l'IFAO), others to Patrology (Analecta Bollan-
          diana,  Augustinianum,  Vetera  Christianorum, Vigiliae
          Christianae).  The most active journals in this  decade
          were  Analecta Bollandiana (30 articles) and Orientalia
          Lovaniensia Periodica (7 articles).  One hopes that the
          birth  of  an  'ad  hoc' journal may concentrate Coptic
          publications, though on the other hand it  would  be  a
          pity  to  see  the journals mentioned above deprived of
          Coptic material.

             Congresses are occasions for  presenting  (and  then
          publishing)  studies on various subjects in Coptic lit-
          erature.  Three relevant congresses are  periodic,  and
          are  centered  on Coptic Studies: that of the IACS, the
          Koptologische  Arbeitskonferenz  of  Halle,   and   the
          Journ]e  d'Etudes Coptes of Strasbourg.  Others are pe-
          riodic, but only  collaterally  treat  Coptic  Studies:
          that of the Society of Egyptologists, that of the Soci-
          ety of Nubian Studies, the Patristic Conference of  Ox-
          ford, and the Incontro di studiosi dell'antichit{ cris-
          tiana of Rome. Among special congresses relevant to our
          subject,  I shall mention that on the Roots of Egyptian
          Christianity (Claremont, 1983), and that  in  honor  of
          Mirrit Boutros Ghali (Cairo, 1979).

             The  ongoing  encyclopedias should provide occasions
          to cover subjects previously neglected, and  to  modify
          old  opinions.  Unfortunately,  this  is  often not the
          case: many articles on patristic authors systematically
          neglect  the  oriental  translations. But I can mention
          also  some  fundamental  contributions,  like  that  of
          Krause 1891 in the Lexikon fur Aegyptologie.



          The collections of manuscripts.

             The  irreplaceable  source  for  all study of Coptic
          literature remains the collections of manuscripts,  be-
          cause  many  of  them are not published, and their con-
          tents can be known only through direct  access.  There-
          fore  it is important that this paper give some indica-
          tion as to the situation of the studies  and  organiza-
          tion relating to them.

             We  all  know  the  numerous important contributions
          published in the first decades of this century, in  the
          form  of  huge and very detailed catalogues, which were
          the descendants of such pioneering works as Zoega's  or
          Mingarelli's  masterworks  at the end of the eighteenth
          century. Their main feature is that they  are  centered
          upon individual modern collections, though the necessi-
          ty to link the manuscripts in one collection to  others
          of  the  same  origin but kept in different collections
          was generally acknowledged.

             One question concerning similar  undertakings,  when
          they  are  renewed  today,  is whether it is advisable,
          given today's facilities of technique (i.e.,  photogra-
          phy)  and  of  personal mobility, to center one's study
          upon modern rather then ancient (original) 'bibliologi-
          cal  units'.   During the period covered by the present
          contribution, the rare studies dedicated to  this  sub-
          ject  have followed the traditional scheme, in two dif-
          ferent ways: the more extensive, intentionally  exhaus-
          tive  one (Layton 2336), and the simple list with a few
          remarks (Beltz 4632, Orlandi 0718, 4713, Lucchesi 4640,
          Coquin  4716).   But I may note that in some comparable
          cases, like the Nag Hammadi Codices (Robinson 5037) and
          also  the  Bodmer papyri (Robinson 2411), the method of
          focusing on the ancient 'bibliological units' has  been
          followed.

             Many  points  should  be  considered  and discussed:
          whether codicology, paleography, contents,  history  of
          acquisition, bibliography, should really form the scope
          of a single work; whether the often changing conditions
          of  a collection can be the subject of immobile (print-
          ed) descriptions; whether  the  attention  of  scholars
          should  rather  be  drawn to the ancient libraries from
          which the manuscripts ultimately derive, even with  all
          the uncertainties that this approach involves.

             On  the  one  hand,  I think that we are rather well
          equipped to know the contents of collections that still
          lack  catalogues  (contrary  to my own opinion of 1976;
          cf. Paris, New York, etc., which  have  no  catalogues,
          but for which there are useful lists of various kinds).
          On the other hand, I think that it is possible, and ad-
          visable,  to identify the ancient 'bibliological units'
          and for scholarly efforts to concentrate on  them.  Let
          me briefly review the most important ones.

             The  ancient  library  of the White Monastery is the
          richest treasurer of Coptic literary (also biblical and
          liturgical)  works,  dispersed in a multitude of modern
          collections, and has been investigated for a long time,
          though we are far from a final settlement. The CMCL now
          has a complete list of the identified fragments and re-
          constructed  codices, and photographs of almost all the
          manuscripts, therefore a good basis on which to contin-
          ue the work.

             The  ancient library of the monastery of St. Michael
          at Sopehes (Hamuli) is  on  the  whole  well  preserved
          (mainly  in  New York, Cairo, and London), and the task
          is simply that of publishing the texts that  are  still
          unpublished.

             The  intact  codices  of  the ancient library of the
          monastery of St. Macarius are already published more or
          less  satisfactorily;  but  the  work  on the fragments
          (similar to that of the White Monastery) remains to  be
          done.

             Other  'bibliological  units'  are  also entirely or
          mostly published, but in such a way that a new publica-
          tion  is  desirable.  These  are:  the  library  of the
          monastery of St. Mercurius near Edfu  (London  and  New
          York);  the  library  of  the  monastery  of  St.  John
          (Turin); the fragments of the collection  Des  Rivi}res
          (London);  the fragments of the Amherst collection (New
          York: see the wonderful work by Pearson 0983 on one  of
          the items).



          Editions of texts.

             I  come  now  to the actual work of the scholars who
          have treated different parts of Coptic literature,  and
          I  shall  try  to give an idea of the main trends which
          their articles or monographs form. Fortunately, an  im-
          portant part of these articles is devoted to the publi-
          cation of texts, because one  great  necessity  in  the
          field  of  Coptic literature is that of giving scholars
          easy ways to know the content and main peculiarities of
          the texts, many of which still lie unpublished.

             For this reason, and because it was clear that speed
          in publishing the manuscripts was necessary if  an  as-
          sessment  of the history of Coptic literature was to be
          attained, an enterprise (which later took the  name  of
          Corpus  dei Manoscritti Copti Letterari, at the Univer-
          sity of Rome) was started, and produced the publication
          of many manuscripts, in a relatively short time (Orlan-
          di 0106, 0112, 1393, 2248; Campagnano 0111, 0113).

             The quality of these publications originated a  more
          or  less  open  controversy,  which  is worth reviewing
          here, because it may shed some light  on  many  method-
          ological  questions, which are often ignored. The speed
          in publication is obtained at the cost of  the  quality
          of  printing:  the  possibility  of more misprints than
          usual; incompleteness of apparatus and indexes; a  cer-
          tain  freedom  in translating (attention to the general
          sense rather than to  the  peculiarities  of  the  lan-
          guage).

             All  this was readily understood by the scholars who
          studied these publications, but they had different  re-
          actions. The substantially favorable judgments of Devos
          (AB 94, 1976, p. 194-5; p. 425-8), Quecke  (who  stated
          the  matter  best,  in  Orientalia 46, 1977, p. 489: Es
          sollen in einfachen  und  billigen  Ausgaben  moglichst
          schnell  koptische  Texte zuganglich gemacht werden die
          sonst allzu lange unbekannt oder  unerreichbar  in  un-
          seren Bibliotheken und Museen schlummern wurden.... Ich
          kann das Unternehmen nur uneingeschrankt begrussen, was
          zunachst  das  Grudsatzliche  betrifft.   Aber auch die
          konkrete Durchfuhrung bei den beiden schon vorliegenden
          Banden kann in meinen Augen bestehen, obwohl man einige
          Wunsche, besonders  fur  grossere  Genauigkeit  in  den
          Ubersetzung,  vorbringen  konnte), Coquin (BO 34, 1977,
          p. 322-5), and others, was matched by  the  punctilious
          (and  in some cases, I feel obliged to say, superfluous
          and also erroneous) remarks and the  adverse  judgments
          of  others,  notably  Brunsch (Enchoria 6, 1976, 143-9;
          8.2, 1978, 83-90), Godron 1944, and Lucchesi (RHR  200,
          1983,  p. 202-4, though reviewing a book of a different
          kind).
             It is obvious that an  edition  without  errors  and
          definitive will never exist; but the problem is to find
          the point at which the imperfections of a quick  publi-
          cation  do not prevent it from being useful. This prob-
          lem is worth discussing, and I shall try here to clari-
          fy  some parts of it.  The idea of a definitively accu-
          rate edition is that of a masterwork which should  rep-
          resent the obvious means through which the study of the
          text in question and also of the manuscripts is  subse-
          quently  done  by  scholars  in related fields. Such an
          edition should reproduce  exactly  and  completely  the
          manuscript  (when  there  are more than one manuscript,
          they should be separately printed or written in  paral-
          lel  lines or columns); the contents of the text should
          be understood and translated in all details;  the  lan-
          guage  should  be  described; etc., etc. Aiming at this
          ideal of what an edition should be are, e.g., those  of
          Kuhn 0583, Johnson 1284, and Alcock 1965.

             It  seems  to me that there really exists no scholar
          equally specialized in paleography, linguistics, histo-
          ry  of  literature,  etc. Classical philology adopted a
          long time ago a degree of  specialization,  and  conse-
          quently  a  distribution of tasks. No editor would note
          different or wrong accents, breathings, and other signs
          in  the  manuscripts,  unless they are of special rele-
          vance. The editor is rarely also the  translator.  Fur-
          thermore,  the  possibility to reproduce the manuscript
          in facsimile should lead the editor to treat  the  text
          with  more  attention  to  the contents and less to the
          form.

             The result of the actual situation in Coptic litera-
          ture is that nobody really studies the published texts,
          because what one needs first is a general idea  of  the
          existing  documents, not just a few examples which can-
          not be historically placed. But no general idea can  be
          given,  because there is almost no full-time scholar in
          this field -- given the slight reputation of  Coptology
          --  and even those few who do work in this field cannot
          produce enough accurate editions. But  conversely,  the
          inaccurate editions of Budge and Am]lineau have been as
          useful as the accurate editions  of  Crum  and  Lefort.
          And  the  same  is  true for the problem of how best to
          construct a critical apparatus: I know now that in Cop-
          tic  it is a question of revisions of texts, not of me-
          chanical transmission; to see this, it is not necessary
          to have a complete apparatus, but something like what I
          give in my editions. It is wrong  to  assume  that  one
          should  be able to reconstruct every codex from the ap-
          paratus of one edition.

             What really matters is the honesty and  the  clarity
          of  an  edition.   The  editor  should make clear which
          problems he has tried to solve, and which he has devot-
          ed  less  attention  to, and the edition should be used
          according to such declarations. The other problems must
          certainly  not be neglected, but they will assume a mi-
          nor importance, and be  left  for  further  study.  If,
          e.g.,  an edition is prepared for the sake of the study
          of Coptic literature, not of the Coptic language,  what
          is  important  is  (a) that the text is copied directly
          from the manuscript, with a certain degree of  accuracy
          (if some mistakes are left -- say, one per page -- this
          will not prevent the reader  from  having  a  generally
          correct  idea  of  the content and also of the literary
          form); and (b) that the translation gives a fairly  ac-
          curate  idea of the text; here it is important that the
          sense of the sentences is exactly  reproduced,  but  if
          the translation does not reproduce some of the grammat-
          ical or structural peculiarities of Coptic, this should
          not be considered to be a serious darwback.

             If,  on the other hand, an edition is prepared espe-
          cially for linguistic and paleographical  purposes,  it
          is best to give a complete photographic reproduction of
          the manuscript, with an  appropriate  commentary  which
          facilitates  --  when  necessary  -- the reading of the
          text, and presents all the paleographical and  linguis-
          tic peculiarities against the background of the general
          Coptic tradition.  It often happens that the  so-called
          grammatical  peculiarities  are listed without any com-
          ment as to their significance and importance. This is a
          bad  habit,  because it gives non-specialized readers a
          false impression of the state of  linguistic  knowledge
          in  Coptology, and opens the way to less devoted schol-
          ars to present some mechanical observations as if  they
          were the product of intelligent study.

             As  to the content of the texts published, though it
          is difficult to trace some trends, I may note  the  ad-
          vances that have been made in the study of certain lit-
          erary genres. One of these  genres  is  the  Apocryphal
          Acts  of the Apostles, in connection with the extensive
          research promoted by the Swiss enterprise.  One  should
          always  remember  that  the historical problem concerns
          together the Sahidic, the Bohairic, and the Arabic col-
          lections, in relation to the much more dispersed origi-
          nal Greek evidence, and consequently also the Latin and
          Syriac traditions.

             Another  literary  group  is the Pachomian texts. We
          can now read the Coptic text of some of the Epistles of
          Pachomius,  and some Epistles by Theodore and Horsiesi,
          which together change our understanding of the earliest
          period  of  original  Coptic literature. Also new frag-
          ments of the Vitae have been  published  (Coquin  1617,
          2159).



          Identification of the manuscripts.

             Much  study has been dedicated to the identification
          of the contents of the manuscripts, which has been  the
          subject  of many articles (and parts of books), whether
          accompanied by the edition of the texts or not. This is
          an  important  field, because a great many Coptic frag-
          ments have not yet been identified,  and  even  partial
          remarks add useful material to our general knowledge of
          Coptic literature. What is lacking here  is  a  general
          tool of reference, which should permit us to insert the
          new findings at their proper place in this immense puz-
          zle. On of the aims of the Corpus dei Manoscritti Copti
          Letterari is to supply such a tool.

             Another problem is that of the style or the form  in
          which  articles  of this latter kind are conceived. One
          might suppose that it is of minor  importance,  but  on
          the contrary this is one of the elements which discour-
          ages the spread of such studies (which are badly  need-
          ed) and a right appreciation of them by scholars in re-
          lated fields. Often the announcements  convey  the  im-
          pression  that the so-called discoveries are especially
          fortunate rewards of years of deep study and great  ef-
          forts  in  the  continuous study of Coptic manuscripts.
          The reality is rather different. Because of  the  rela-
          tively  little  attention  given before to this kind of
          research and the great quantity of more or less unstud-
          ied  codices  and  fragments, continuous results may be
          obtained from any serious investigation of the  materi-
          al, if it is based on a good knowledge of the previous-
          ly identified manuscripts and of the historical  situa-
          tion of the collections.

             This  assertion  is proved by the contributions both
          of earlier scholars (Crum, Lefort, Till, Garitte, etc.)
          and  of  more  recent  scholars  (Kuhn,  Devos, Coquin,
          Morard; but especially Lucchesi and Orlandi).  But  un-
          fortunately  the  technical  information, which is what
          really matters, is often confused among other  observa-
          tions, such as descriptions of how the discoveries were
          made, or remarks on the importance of the  subject,  or
          detailed  descriptions of the mistakes of earlier stud-
          ies. All such material should be kept rigorously  sepa-
          rate from the essential data, and in any case the read-
          er should be able to understand immediately  (by  means
          of   clearly   arranged   lists)   (a)  which  are  the
          manuscripts in question; (b) what  new  information  is
          being given about them; and (c) how the new information
          fits into what is already known.



          The subjects studied.

             Finally, I shall list the subjects within the  study
          of  Coptic  literature which have been the most studied
          in these twelve years.  Perhaps the most important  de-
          velopments  have been in the Pachomian field, where new
          texts have been found (see above) and many translations
          published  (English:  Veilleux  1540;  French: Veilleux
          2257; Italian: Cremaschi 4095). Also, the  significance
          of the texts for many problems of the history of monas-
          ticism has been investigated (especially Ruppert  0421;
          Bacht  2044; Buchler 1637). One can say that after some
          years, much is changed  in  the  picture  of  Pachomian
          monasticism, in comparison with previous studies.

             Shenute  has  received  less  attention  than he de-
          serves, but new important  texts  have  been  published
          (Orlandi 2248; Shisha-Halevy 0700; Young 1525 and 1986;
          Kuhn 2097; Layton 2030; Lucchesi 0780), and  an  exten-
          sive bibliography (Frandsen 1622).

             The work of the ]quipe for the Greek edition of Gre-
          gory of Nazianzus has promoted the study of the  Coptic
          texts  attributed to him (Lafontaine 0366, 1585, 2108).
          The other Gregory, of Nyssa, has on  the  contrary  en-
          joyed  the  happy  coincidence  of two identifications:
          fragments of his  De  anima  et  resurrectione  (Coquin
          1607), and extensive fragments of his Commentary on Ec-
          clesiastes (Orlandi 1905; Lucchesi 1960).



          Conclusion.

             Let me conclude this paper with  some  observations.
          The  number of contributions touching on Coptic litera-
          ture published in the years 1976-1988 is in itself  re-
          markable, but from the point of view of the understand-
          ing of Coptic literature as a cultural phenomenon,  the
          ensemble of those contributions cannot be considered as
          satisfactory. Most of them concern only some very  par-
          ticular aspects of Coptic literature; often they simply
          signal the existence of one text, without trying to as-
          sess  its significance for the entire complex of Coptic
          literature. There is more: one gets the impression (not
          only  from  the recent contributions, but also from the
          older ones) that even the editors of the texts read on-
          ly  the  texts  published  by them, and nothing else --
          save the Bible -- or in any case, what they have  read,
          they have read only from a linguistic point of view.

             All  this reveals the scarce interest in Coptic lit-
          erature as such, even among those who deal with  Coptic
          texts.  Therefore it is not surprising to note the same
          scarcity of interest among scholars in related  fields,
          and  consequently the lack of a market for publications
          of Coptic texts, which of course discourages  even  the
          specialized  publishers from trying to foster this kind
          of publication. But one should also consider that  this
          situation has not been formed in recent years alone (on
          the contrary, we may find a slight improvement  recent-
          ly);  that it will probably last for much time to come;
          and that such as it is, it even  makes  some  sense.  I
          have  been  dealing  with  Coptic authors, translators,
          redactors, and scribes for many years now, and  I  have
          come to understand and appreciate some of them (or so I
          think). But when I ask myself, who might have an inter-
          est  in studying them, the answer is: only a handful of
          enthusiasts, like those who are in fact working  today.
          Such being the situation, it will take rather much time
          before Coptic literature may claim its  rightful  place
          among  the  other  ancient  and medieval literatures of
          more fortunate peoples.

             There should be an exception, namely the Copts them-
          selves,  and also the Egyptians for their national cul-
          ture, who should find in one of their  ancient  litera-
          tures,  together  with the literatures in the Greek and
          Arabic languages, much more  than  in  the  archeology,
          etc.,  the  roots of what they are today. This is why I
          hope that they will accept the help that  non-Egyptian,
          western scholars can give them, but also that they will
          go farther on in what is their own task: to  link  past
          and  present,  with an open mind, without prejudices or
          fear.

          _______________________________

          BIBLIOGRAPHY

          (Due to restrictions of space, only some of the  publi-
          cations  are  listed.  For  the other publications, the
          numbers refer to the Coptic Bibliography,  VI  edition,
          Roma, CIM, 1987).

          0006 Tito ORLANDI, The Future of Studies in Coptic Bib-
          lical and
             Ecclesiastical Literature, in: R. McL. WILSON (ed.),
          The Future of
             Coptic  Studies, p. 1-22, Leiden, Brill, 1978, "Cop-
          tic Studies" 1

          0106 T. ORLANDI - S. DI GIUSEPPE, Passione  e  miracoli
          di S. Mercurio,
             Milano, Cisalpino-Goliardica, 1976, 136 p., "Testi e
          Documenti,
             Serie copta", 54

          0111 A. CAMPAGNANO, A.  MARESCA,  T.  ORLANDI,  Quattro
          omelie copte,
             Vita di Giovanni Crisostomo, Encomi dei 24 Vegliardi
          (ps. Proclo
             e Anonimo), Encomio di Michele Arcangelo di Eustazio
          di Tracia,
             "Testi e Documenti per lo Studio dell'Antichit{, Se-
          rie Copta",
             60, Milano, Cisalpino-Goliardica, 1977

          0112 Tito ORLANDI, Il Dossier copto del Martire  Psote,
          "Testi e
             Documenti  per  lo Studio dell'Antichit{, Serie Cop-
          ta", 61,
             Milano, Cisalpino-Goliardica, 1978

          0113 Antonella CAMPAGNANO, Ps. Cirillo di  Gerusalemme,
          Omelie copte
             sulla Passione sulla Croce e sulla Vergine, "Testi e
          Documenti per
             lo Studio dell'Antichit{, Serie Copta", 65,  Milano,
          Cisalpino-Goliardica,
             1980

          0366 Guy LAFONTAINE, Une hom]lie copte sur le diable et
          sur Michel
             attribu]e a Gr]goire le  Th]ologien,  Le  Mus]on  92
          (1979) 37-60

          0583 K. Heinz KUHN, A Panegyric on Apollo Archimandrite
          of the
             Monastery of Isaac, by Stephen Bishop of Heracleopo-
          lis Magna,
             CSCO  394  395,  Louvain,  Secretariat du CorpusSCO,
          1978

          0700 Ariel SHISHA-HALEVY,  Unpublished  Shenoutiana  in
          the British
             Library, Enchoria 5 (1975) 53-108

          1284  Dwight W. JOHNSON, A Panegyric on Macarius Bishop
          of Tkow,
             Attributed to Dioscorus of Alexandria, CSCO 415 416,
          Louvain,
             Secretariat du CorpusSCO, 1980

          1390  Gerald  Michael  BROWNE,  Michigan  Coptic Texts,
          Barcelona,
             Papyrol. Castr., 1979, "Papyrologica Castroctaviana,
          Studia
             et Textus", 7

          1393  T. ORLANDI - B. A. PEARSON - H. A. DRAKE, Eudoxia
          and the Holy
             Sepulchre. A Constantinian Legend in Coptic,  "Testi
          e Docum.
             per  lo Studio dell'Antichit{, Serie Copta", 67, Mi-
          lano,
             Cisalpino-Goliardica, 1980

          1524 A. PIETERSMA, S. T. COMSTOCK, H. W. ATTRIDGE,  The
          Apocalypse
             of  Elijah,  Based  on P. Chester Beatty 2018, "Text
          and Translations",
             19, Chico CA., Scholars Press, 1979

          1540 Armand VEILLEUX, Pachomian Koinonia,  Life,  Rules
          and Other
             Writings of Saint Pachomius and his Disciples, Kala-
          mazoo MI,
             Cistercian Public., 1980-82, 3 Vols.

          1607 R.G. COQUIN, E. LUCCHESI, Une version copte du  De
          Anima et
             Resurrectione ("Macrinia") de Gr]goire de Nysse, OLP
          12 (1981) 161-201

          1622 P. J. FRANDSEN, E. RICHTER-AEROE, Shenoute: a Bib-
          liography,
             in:  D.W.  YOUNG  (ed.),  Studies  Presented to H.J.
          Polotsky, p. 147-176,
             Beacon Hill MS, Pirtle Polson, 1981

          1891 Martin KRAUSE, Koptische  Literatur,  Lexikon  der
          Agyptologie 3,
             col. 694-728, Wiesbaden, Harrassowitz, 1979

          1965  Antony  ALCOCK,  The  Life  of Samuel of Kalamun,
          Warminster, Aris
             Phillips, 1983

          2059 E. JUNOD, J. D. KAESTLI,  Acta  Iohannis,  "Corpus
          Christianorum, Series
             Apocryphorum"  1-2, Turnhout, Brepols, 1983, 2 Vols.

          2163 Paul-Hubert POIRIER, La version copte de la Predi-
          cation et du
             Martyr de Thomas, SH 67, Bruxelles, Soc. des Bollan-
          distes, 1984

          2248 Tito ORLANDI, Shenute  contra  Origenistas,  Roma,
          CIM, 1985

          2336  Bentley  LAYTON,  Catalogue  of  Coptic  Literary
          Manuscripts in
             the British Library Acquired Since  the  Year  1906,
          London, The
             British Library, 1987

          4640  Enzo  LUCCHESI,  Repertoire des manuscrits coptes
          (sahidiques)
             publi]s  de  la  Biblioth}que  Nationale  de  Paris,
          "Cahiers d'Orientalisme"
             1, Gen}ve, Cramer, 1981