Posted on 07/23/2019 9:37:41 AM PDT by SeekAndFind
A 1700-year-old letter that was recently discovered is said to reveal the way Christians actually lived centuries ago.
The Papyrus P.Bas. 2.43 was written by a man named Arrianus to his brother Paulus, who was believed to be named after the apostle Paul. The letter has been dated to 230s AD and is thus older than all previously known Christian documentary evidence from Roman Egypt.
It describes day-to-day family matters and provides insight into the world of the first Christians in the Roman Empire.
“The earliest Christians in the Roman Empire are usually portrayed as eccentrics who withdrew from the world and were threatened by persecution. This is countered by the contents of the Basel papyrus letter,” said Sabine Huebner, professor of ancient history at the University of Basel in Switzerland.
The letter was concluded by the phrase: “I pray that you farewell ‘in the Lord.” This statement is their proof that the writer was actually a Christian.
“The use of this abbreviation – known as a nomen sacrum in this context – leaves no doubt about the Christian beliefs of the letter writer,” Sabine added. “It is an exclusively Christian formula that we are familiar with from New Testament manuscripts.”
The University of Basel has been holding onto the 1700-year-old letter for the past 100 years. It originated in the village of Theadelphia in central Egypt and belongs to the Heronius archive. The Heronius archive is the largest papyrus archive from the Roman Times.
Arrianus and Paulus were the sons of the local elite, landowners and public official. The letter discusses politics, food, and faith during those times.
“Greetings, my lord, my incomparable brother Paulus. I, Arrianus, salute you, praying that all is as well as possible in your life.
“[Since] Menibios was going to you, I thought it necessary to salute you as well as our lord father. Now, I remind you about the gymnasiarch, so that we are not troubled here. Heracleides would be unable to take care of it: he has been named to the city council. Find thus an opportunity that you buy the two [–] arouras.
“But send me the fish liver sauce too, whichever you think is good. Our lady mother is well and salutes you as well as your wives and sweetest children and our brothers and all our people. Salute our brothers [-]genes and Xydes. All our people salute you.
“I pray that you fare well in the Lord.”
What a miracle that we are still digging up more and more artifacts dating back to the time of Christ!
Neither is it written in the official King James vernacular.
Bkmrk.
Bookmark
Much more info than I expected, thanks.
The math doesn't work.
Jesus was born about 1 AD and died about 33 AD. The church started pretty soon after that and it wasn't very long before Saul began persecuting it. So by the 30's AD, Saul was already an adult.
I seriously doubt he lived another 200 years.
I wonder how Twitter will be viewed 1700 years from now.
Wrong again.
2 Timothy 3:14-17 But as for you, continue in what you have learned and have firmly believed, knowing from whom you learned it and how from childhood you have been acquainted with the sacred writings, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.
All: Before responding to posts with a serious rebuttal, make sure the post isn’t making a wisecrack.
The letter is addressed to his brother Paulus and at one point it says: “Our lady mother is well and salutes you as well as your wives and sweetest children”
Wives??? Is he speaking of Paulus as having more than one wife???
“It describes day-to-day family matters...”
I do believe that the comment was meant are sarcasm.
divorced? Was that possible among Christians of that time?
You make odd statements.
“Neither is Sola Scriptura.”
It would be odd if it did, since that was the common and unquestioned understanding of scriptures in the first few centuries. Why state the obvious? Conversely, if there had been a pope between the writer and the Lord, you’d think he would pay homage. But you probably know the history of that human invention.
What a miracle that we are still digging up more and more artifacts dating back to the time of Christ!
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better get um before the caliphate destroys um
I’m having headline problems and I feel misplaced in time somewhere.
“your wives”?
“your wives”?
Joseph Smith?
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