pachorn~an ko~nonla - Alin Suciu

8 Pachomian Koinonia 111
much to Horsiesios' usual line of thought. Its authenticity remains
somewhat doubtful.
B. Letters
Two letters from Horsiesios are found in a manuscript published
first by Amelinea~~~ and again by Lefo~t.~' Two more were discovered
among the Coptic codices of the Chester Beatty Library.
The last of these letters- all very rich in biblical quotations- is addressed
to Theodore. Several of the quotations are found in more
than one letter and again in the Testament of Horsiesios. The two
letters from the Dublin collection are still unpublished, but they
have been translated into French by A. de V~giie.~~ For our translation
of these two letters, we have used a transcription of the
manuscript made by Tito Orlandi, with his kind permission. We
were also able to check the text of the manuscript itself at the
Chester Beatty Library in Dublin.
C. Fragments
From Horsiesios, as in the case of Pachomius and Theodore, Le-
fort has published some texts from an unclassified folio, under the
title 'excerpta'. We have translated them under the title
t fragment^'.^'
D. Testament of Homesios
The 'Book of our father Horsiesios' (Lzber Orszeszz], also called
the 'Testament of Horsiesios', is certainly his most important
writing. It is also one of the most beautiful pieces of pachomian
literature, and a faithful and complete expression of pachomian
spirituality. It presupposes a situation of crisis similar to the one
caused by Apollonios that obliged Horsiesios to resign as superior
of the Koznonia But the end of the text leads us to think that it was
written towards the end of Horsiesios' life, and is really his spiritual
testament." It is a long call to conversion, to a total renunciation
of any form of personal property, in order to arrive at a perfect
communion with the brothers.
Introduction 9
Although we know this text only through Jerome's translati~n,~~
its authenticity was never put in doubt. A very good annotated
German translation was published by H. Bacht," who had written
another good study of the document several years ear lie^.'^ There
is also a French and a Spanish translation available." A few
chapters (7-18 and 39-40) have also been translated into German
by 0. Schule~.~~ As a basis for our own translation, we have used an
English version made by Philip Timko, with his kind permission.
At the end of his Oeuvres de s. Pachdme . . . L.T. Lefort has
published a kind of apocalyptic text from another disciple of Pachomius
called Caro~r.'~ We did not translate tbat text, first because
it is not representative of the pachomian spirit, and then because
its language is so colloquial that both Lefort and Cmm (consulted
by Lefort) were unable to find the meaning of a great
number of passages.
Neither did we translate the Monita Sancti Pachomiipublished
by A. Boon in his Pachomiana latina, because although Holstenius'
published them with the Rules, they are not from Jerome, and still
less from Pachomius.*'
This volume ends with a series of Indices that cover the three
volumes.
The Biblical Index, by far the most important, is arranged in
such a way tbat by looking at it the reader can know immediately
not only the volume and the page where a biblical quotation or
allusion is to be found, but also the document. This system did not
seem required for the other indices