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Licensed Unlicensed Requires Authentication Published by De Gruyter March 19, 2007

Die Anfänge des Geburtsfestes Jesu in Ägypten Neuedition von P. Vindob. G. 19.934

  • Hans Förster

Abstract

It is very common to assume that there is a more or less direct link between the feast of the Basilideans (according to Clemens of Alexandria str. I,XXI, 146,1f., some celebrating the baptism of Christ on 6th and others on 10th of January) and the Christian feast of Epiphany. A very interesting text on a papyrus in the collection of the Austrian National Library in Vienna raises the question of whether this is actually the case. The papyrus text was classifi ed as a “song for Christmas”. However, some allusions to Old Testament passages seem to point in a different direction. The article discusses whether the text on the papyrus was a song for Epiphany. This would, however, mean that in Egypt the Christian feast of Epiphany originally celebrated only the birth of Christ. This would in turn call into question the supposed link between the feast of the Basilideans and the Christian feast. If the birth of Christ was the original topic of Epiphany, it is even more improbable that a feast of a Gnostic group of the second century could have influenced in any way a feast of the Church celebrated from the fourth century onwards.

Published Online: 2007-03-19
Published in Print: 2007-06-19

© Walter de Gruyter

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