Marek Dospěl: The text was found inscribed on a piece of parchment excavated a hundred years ago at the site of ancient Oxyrhynchus in Egypt. Dating to the sixth or seventh century and measuring about 2 1/3 by 4 1/3 inches, the scrap—first published in 1911 (as P. Oxy. 8.1077)—is a Christian amulet.
Relying on the healing powers of a sacred text, this sixth-century Christian amulet from the Robert C. Horn Papyri Collection contains a redacted version of Matthew 4:23–24, where Jesus is described as “healing every disease and every sickness.” For added effect, the gospel text is inscribed in five columns arranged in the form of crosses and is accompanied by a human bust of uncertain meaning. The cut-out rectangles and notched edges are doubtless intentional, too.
Egyptian man sentenced to death over Islamic State church attack https://t.co/xvLdlgatWv— The Times of Israel (@TimesofIsrael) May 12, 2019
At St. Catherine's Monastery at the foot of #Egypt's #MountSinai, the silence in the library is broken only by low electrical humming, as an early manuscript is bathed in green light. https://t.co/veCpqu664D— The Jerusalem Post (@Jerusalem_Post) April 17, 2019
ASIA/HOLY LAND - Monastery of Deir el Sultan, tension rises between Coptic Church and Orthodox Church of Ethiopia https://t.co/kAlMysPHcO pic.twitter.com/g21Picy1FZ— Fides News Agency (@FidesNewsAgency) October 30, 2018
Coptic Church Gears Up for a New Fight at Jerusalem's Holy Sepulchrehttps://t.co/8RijhoKM5Y— Haaretz.com (@haaretzcom) October 31, 2018


