Cover of: Narratives of Monastic Genealogy in Coptic Inscriptions
Malcolm Choat

Narratives of Monastic Genealogy in Coptic Inscriptions

Section: Articles
Volume 1 (2015) / Issue 3, pp. 403-430 (28)
Published 09.07.2018
DOI 10.1628/219944615X14448150487391
  • article PDF
  • Open Access
    CC BY-SA 4.0
  • 10.1628/219944615X14448150487391
Summary
Among the many Coptic inscriptions from late antique Egypt which preserve monastic funerary and commemorative texts, a subset present a type of »monastic genealogy«. These emplot the commemorated monk within the wider narrative of monasticism, as part of a lineage stretching from the contemporary community back to God. This paper surveys these texts, noting regional and formulaic variations, and explores the manner in which monastic communities express their collective identity and relationships with other communities though these inscriptions. It examines how these texts act to generate and maintain the collective memory of the community, and compares the traditions which lie behind these texts with the narratives constructed in various literary genres, to see how these parallel expressions of monastic memory illuminate the translocal construction and maintenance of Egyptian monastic identity.