Primary source · Greek (with Coptic)
The Sotas Dossier (Oxyrhynchus papyri)
Sotas of Oxyrhynchus and correspondents · c. AD 260–280
What this text is
The little archive of letters naming bishop Sotas — recommendations for travelers, a note on receiving catechumens — the earliest documentary (non-literary) evidence of a named local bishop at work.
Profile of Sotas of Oxyrhynchus →
Public-domain translations
Working translation (from the Greek papyri)
Greet the brethren with you; receive our brother in the Lord... — the formulae of Sotas's letters of peace, by which travelers passed from church to church.
Manuscript witnesses
P.Oxy. XII 1492, PSI III 208, PSI IX 1041 and related papyri
3rd c. (originals)These ARE the originals — autograph letters on papyrus, not copies; scattered today among the Oxyrhynchus collections.
Provenance
Oxyrhynchus, Egypt — documentary papyri from the city's rubbish mounds
Editions & scholarship
Critical editions and standard translations behind the text above.
- Greetings in the Lord: Early Christians and the Oxyrhynchus PapyriAnneMarie Luijendijk, 2008The standard study and edition of the Sotas dossier.
- Christian Oxyrhynchus: Texts, Documents, and SourcesLincoln H. Blumell & Thomas A. Wayment, 2015Comprehensive sourcebook of the city's Christian papyri.