Journal of Theological Studies, NS, Vol.

57, Pt 1, April 2006

P. RY L . I I I . 4 7 1 : A B A P T I S M A L ANOINTING FORMULA USED AS AN AMULET

Abstract
This essay identifies the inscription on P. Ryl. III.471Holy oil of gladness against every hostile power and for the grafting of your good olive tree of the catholic and apostolic church of God. Amenas a pre-immersion formula of anointing that was introduced into Eastern baptismal liturgies in the late fourth century. Each element of the inscription is discussed in the light of the earliest witnesses to this formula in patristic writings and liturgical texts. Certain peculiarities suggest that the writer of the papyrus was drawing on a Coptic liturgical tradition. The papyrus thus provides evidence of the early incorporation of the formula into the baptismal rite in Egypt, as well as evidence of the role of the liturgy and clergy of the church in the provision of amulets.

I. Papyrus III.471 Papyrus III.471 in the John Rylands collection is one of a number of papyrus fragments acquired in 1920 by Bernard P. Grenfell, the British papyrologist long associated with the excavations and nds of the Egypt Exploration Society at Oxyrynchus. When it was published in 1938,1 its editor, C. H. Roberts, dated it to the fth century and introduced it as follows:
It is fairly clear that this brief prayer, written across the bres of a small piece of papyrus in a large cursive hand, was used as an amulet; the papyrus was twice folded so that it could easily be worn or carried on the person, and although it diVers from most amulets in being less specic and personal . . ., the language leaves little doubt of the purpose for which it was intended.

The text, as edited and translated by Roberts, reads: Agion eleon2 agall[i]asew kata pash antikeimenh energia3 kai4 pro egkentrismon
1 C. H. Roberts (ed), Catalogue of the Greek and Latin Papyri in the John Rylands Library, Manchester, iii: Theological and Literary Texts (Nos. 457551) (Manchester: At the University Press, 1938), pp. 478. I wish to thank the John Rylands University Library of Manchester for kindly providing me with a photograph of the papyrus. 2 Read: 7 laion. 3 Read: 2nerge0 a. 4 Roberts neglected to note that this is an expansion of an abbreviation: k(ai).

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th kallieleau5 sou kaqolikh54 k(ai) apostolikh54 ekklhsia54 efte6 amhn

The holy oil of gladness against every adverse Power and for the grafting of thy good olive tree of the catholic and apostolic church . . . Amen.

Roberts noted the allusion to Romans 11:24For if you have been cut from what is by nature a wild olive tree (2griela0 ou) and grafted (2nekentr0 sqh), contrary to nature, into a more cultivated olive tree (kalliela0 on), how much more will these natural branches be grafted back into their own olive tree (NRSV)and concluded that the prayer was one for the extension of the Church by the grafting of the Gentiles (2gri0 laio) onto the good olive tree (kalli0 laion) of the Church.7 It escaped Robertss notice, however, that the wording of the prayer is that of a pre-immersion formula of anointing found in the baptismal liturgies of Palestine, Syria, and Egypt. The parallel has also gone unnoticed in studies of the evolution of these liturgies8 and of the introduction of this particular formula of anointing into the baptismal rite.9 II. Witnesses to the Formula The earliest, albeit indirect, evidence of this particular formula of anointing is found in the Mystagogical Catecheses, lectures given in the week after Easter to recently baptized Christians in
Read: kalliela0 ou. On the meaning of efte, of which Roberts was uncertain, see below. Catalogue, iii. 48. 8 For surveys of recent scholarship on early Eastern baptismal rites, see P. F. Bradshaw, Baptismal Practice in the Alexandrian Tradition, Eastern or Western?, in P. F. Bradshaw (ed.), Essays in Early Eastern Initiation (Bramcote: Grove Books, 1988), pp. 517, esp. pp. 1214; R. A. Meyers, The Structure of the Syrian Baptismal Rite, ibid. pp. 3143, esp. pp. 402; M. E. Johnson, Liturgy in Early Christian Egypt (Cambridge: Grove Books, 1995), pp. 716; A. J. Doval, Cyril of Jerusalem, Mystagogue: The Authorship of the Mystagogic Catecheses (Washington, DC: The Catholic University of America Press, 2001), pp. 11043. Comprehensive treatments of early Christian rites of initiation include G. Kretschmar, Die Geschichte des Taufgottesdienstes in der alten Kirche, in K. F. Mu ller and W. Blankenburg (eds.), Leiturgia: Handbuch des evangelischen Gottesdienstes, v: Der Taufgottesdienst (Kassel: Johannes Stauda, 1970), pp. 1348; B. Kleinheyer, Sakramentaliche Feiern, i: Die Feiern der Engliederung in die Kirche (Regensburg: Friedrich Pustet, 1989), pp. 3595. 9 On pre-baptismal formulae of anointing, see, inter alia, E. J. Lengeling, Vom Sinn der pra langes liturgiques oVerts au R. P . Dom baptismalen Salbung, in Me Bernard Botte O. S. B. (Louvain: Abbaye du Mont Ce sar, 1972), pp. 32757.
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96 T H E O D O R E D E B RU Y N Jerusalem towards the end of the fourth century.10 The second lecture describes how prior to baptism the candidates disrobed and were anointed with oil from head to toe. By this total unction, the author explains,
you became partakers of the cultivated olive (t8 kalliela0 ou), Jesus Christ. Cut oV from the wild olive (t8 2griela0 ou), you were grafted into (2nekentr0 zesqe) the cultivated olive, and became partakers of the abundance of the true olive. The exorcized oil (2porkist1n 7 laion) was thus a symbol of the participation in the abundance of Christ, having put to ight every trace of hostile power (pant1 4 cnou 2ntikeim0 nh 2nerge0 a).11

This is apparently the rst time that Romans 11:24 is associated specically with pre-immersion anointing.12 The prevailing hypothesis is that the formula was a late fourth-century innovation of the baptismal rite in Jerusalem that was subsequently incorporated into baptismal rites in neighbouring western Syria, whence it travelled to Egypt.13 I will consider comparable formulae from these two regions in turn. Sebastian Brock and Baby Varghese have examined the location, rubrics, and formulae associated with the several
10 The authorship and date of these lectures, attributed both to Cyril, bishop of Jerusalem from approximately 351 to 387 ce, and to his successor John, have been a subject of ongoing debate: see W. J. Swaans, A propos des Cate che ` ses Mystagogiques attribue on 55 (1942), es a ` S. Cyrille de Je rusalem, Le Muse pp. 143; F. L. Cross, St Cyril of Jerusalems Lectures on the Christian Sacraments (London: SPCK, 1951), pp. xxxvixxxix; A. Pie dagnel, Introduction and `ses mystagogiques (SC 126 bis; Appendice I, in Cyrille de Je rusalem: Cate che ditions du Cerf, 1988), pp. 1840, 17787; E. Yarnold, The Paris: Les E Authorship of the Mystagogic Catecheses Attributed to Cyril of Jerusalem, Heythrop Journal 19 (1978), pp. 14361; P. T. Camelot, Note sur la the ologie baptismale des cate che ` ses attribue es a ` saint Cyrille de Je rusalem, in P. Graneld and J. A. Jungmann (eds.), Kyriakon: Festschrift Johannes Quasten, vol. 2 (Mu nster: AschendorV, 1970), pp. 7249; B. Varghese, Les Onctions baptismales dans la tradition syrienne (Leuven: Peeters, 1989), pp. 7880. After a systematic review of the evidence, Doval, Cyril of Jerusalem, concludes that the lectures are the work of Cyril and were delivered towards the end of his episcopate. 11 Catech. myst. 2.3, ed. Pie dagnel, pp. 1068. 12 Kretschmar, Die Geschichte des Taufgottesdienstes, p. 201; S. P. Brock, Studies in the Early History of the Syrian Orthodox Baptismal Liturgy, Journal of Theological Studies, ns 23 (1972), p. 38. 13 See G. Kretschmar, Beitra ge zur Geschichte der Liturgie, insbesondere gypten, Jahrbuch fu der Tauiturgie, in A r Liturgik und Hymnologie 8 (1963), pp. 154, esp. pp. 38, 438; E. C. RatcliV, The Old Syrian Baptismal Tradition and its Resettlement under the Inuence of Jerusalem in the Fourth Century, in G. J. Cuming (ed.), Studies in Church History, vol. 2 (London: Nelson, 1965), pp. 1973; Kretschmar, Die Geschichte des Taufgottesdienstes, pp. 2012; Brock, Studies, pp. 389; Bradshaw, Baptismal Practice, p. 13.

A BAPTISMAL ANOINTING FORMULA 97 anointingstwo before immersion, one after14in the baptismal rite of the Syrian Orthodox Church. Their sources include printed texts, manuscripts in the British Library dating from the eighth to the eleventh century, manuscripts in the Bibliothe ` que Nationale de Paris dating from the thirteenth to the seventeenth centuries, and commentaries on the baptismal service.15 In many sources the formula accompanying the anointing of the forehead prior to the consecration of the water reads as follows:

m; some sources read: sealed, htm) with the oil of gladness N is signed (rs (some sources add: to be armed) against every working of the adversary, and for a grafting into (literally: of ) the good olive of the holy, catholic and apostolic church.16 [A]

However, not all sources reproduce the formula with this wording or at this anointing. In several early manuscripts the formula accompanies the anointing of the body immediately prior to immersion:
h) with the oil of gladness so that he may be armed N is anointed (ms with it against every working of the adversary, for the grafting into (literally: of) the good olive, (namely) the holy and catholic church of God.17 [B]

Brock suggests that when the formula was introduced into the Antiochene baptismal rite from Jerusalem (where it accompanied the anointing of the entire body), it was attached to the second pre-immersion anointing (likewise an anointing of the entire body).18 The formula was later transferred to the rst preimmersion anointing (an anointing of the forehead). When we turn to the evidence from Egypt, we have several ancient witnesses in addition to printed texts of the Coptic rite of baptism. One is the collection of prayers, or Euchologion, attributed to Sarapion, which dates from the mid-fourth century
Prior to these anointings there is a consignation without oil, but it is not necessary to consider it here; cf. Brock, Studies, pp. 228; Varghese, Onctions baptismales, pp. 2867. 15 See Brock, Studies, pp. 1721; Varghese, Onctions baptismales, pp. 2834; cf. S. P. Brock, Some Early Syriac Baptismal Commentaries, Orientalia Christiana Periodica 46 (1980), pp. 2061. For an overview of the four major groups of Syriac baptismal liturgies and their respective sources, see S. P. Brock, The Holy Spirit in the Syrian Baptismal Tradition (Kottayam: Deepika Book Stall, 1979), pp. 1936. 16 Cf. Brock, Studies, p. 30; Varghese, Onctions baptismales, pp. 28990. 17 British Library Add. 14494, BL Add. 14495, BL Add. 14499, and BL Add. 17128; see Brock, Studies, p. 30. 18 Brock, Studies, pp. 389.
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98 T H E O D O R E D E B RU Y N but incorporates more ancient material.19 Another is a baptismal rite interpolated into an Ethiopic version of the Apostolic Tradition.20 A third is a sixth-century baptismal rite interpolated into an Arabic version of the Testament of Our Lord.21 I will present the relevant texts and then discuss their relationships. The Euchologion includes three prayers for the consecration of oil: one for the oil for those who are about to be baptized (Prayer 15), one for the chrism for those who have been baptized (Prayer 16), and one for the oil for the sick (Prayer 17).22 Although Prayer 15 is not itself a formula of anointing, it is nevertheless valuable as a point of comparison with such formulae. It reads in part:
And we anoint with this oil those who approach this divine rebirth, imploring that our Lord Christ Jesus may work in it and reveal healing and strength-producing power through this oil (tJ 2le0 mmati), and may heal their soul, body, spirit from every sign of sin and lawlessness or satanic taint, and by his own grace may grant forgiveness to them so that, having no part in sin, they will live in righteousness. And, when
The date, authorship, and integrity of the prayers attributed to Sarapion matters of considerable debatehave been thoroughly examined by M. E. Johnson, The Prayers of Sarapion of Thmuis: A Literary, Liturgical, and Theological Analysis (Rome: Ponticio Istituto Orientale, 1995); cf. id., The Archaic Nature of the Sanctus, Institution Narrative, and Epiclesis of the Logos in the Anaphora Ascribed to Sarapion of Thmuis, in P. F. Bradshaw (ed.), Essays on Early Eastern Eucharistic Prayers (Collegeville, Minn.: The Liturgical Press, 1997), pp. 73107. For convenience, I will refer to this text as Sarapions Euchologion. 20 The Ethiopian version of the Apostolic Tradition was rst edited, with an English translation, by G. Horner, The Statutes of the Apostles or Canones Ecclesiastici (London: Williams and Norgate, 1904). A superior edition, with a German translation, was prepared by H. Duensing, Der aethiopische Text der Kirchenordnung des Hippolyt (Go ttingen: Vandenhoek & Ruprecht, 1946). Subsequently a French study and translation of the interpolated baptismal `me (SC 59; order(s) was published by A. Salles, Trois antiques rituels du bapte ditions du Cerf, 1958). On the authorship, provenance, and versions Paris: Les E of the Apostolic Tradition, see now P. F. Bradshaw, M. E. Johnson, and L. E. Phillips, The Apostolic Tradition (Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 2002), pp. 111. 21 A. Baumstark, Eine aegyptische Mess- und Tauiturgie vermutlich des 6 Jahrhunderts, Oriens Christianus 1 (1901), pp. 145. The Arabic manuscript, which Baumstark knew as Borgia K IV 24, was subsequently catalogued as Borg. syr. 60 and is now known as Borg. ar. 22. On the date and provenance of the baptismal rite found in this manuscript, see Baumstark, pp. 16. On the date, provenance, and transmission of the Testament of Our Lordoriginally written in Greek in Syria in the fth century and preserved in Syriac, Arabic, dition and Ethiopian versionssee R. Beylot, Testamentum Domini e thiopien: E et traduction (Leuven: Peeters, 1984), p. vi. 22 Johnson, Prayers of Sarapion, pp. 626.
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they have been molded again through this oil and puried through the bath and renewed in the Spirit, they will be strong enough to conquer against other opposing works (2ntikeim0 na 2nerge0 a) and deceits of this life which come near them, and so be bound and united to the ock of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ and inherit the promises to the saints.23 [C]

The Ethiopic rite, which is in fact a compilation of several rites, has two instances of a formula for pre-immersion anointing. The rst, according to the sequence in the compilation,24 reads as follows:
I anoint you by the holy anointing against every work of the adversary and for the planting into the beautiful olive tree of your church. And do the good!25 [D]

The second reads:

Anointing with the holy oil against every work of the adversary and for the planting of the faith into the vigorous and26 beautiful olive tree of your church which is universal. And do the good!27 [E]

The Arabic baptismal rite opens with a prayer over the candidates, which is followed by the prayer over the oil. The candidates are then anointed with the words:
The oil putting to ight every work of the adversary and planting those who are anointed with it in the holy universal church.28 [F]

Finally, in later manuscripts of the Coptic baptismal rite, reproduced in Assemanis collection of Eastern liturgies, the formula of anointing prior to baptism is as follows:
You, N, are anointed with the oil of gladness, sealing against every working of the adversary, for grafting into the sweet olive tree of the holy, catholic, and apostolic church of God. Amen.29 [G]
The translation is that of Johnson, ibid. p. 63. See Salles, Trois antiques rituels, pp. 89; Kretschmar, Beitra ge, pp. 335. 25 I am indebted to my colleague Professor Pierluigi Piovanelli for this translation, based on Duensing, Der aethiopische Text, p. 102, ll. 911; cf. also Salles, Trois antiques rituels, p. 50. 26 Reading wa- instead of za-. 27 I am indebted to my colleague Professor Piovanelli for this translation, based on Duensing, Der aethiopische Text, p. 114, ll. 57; cf. also Salles, Trois antiques rituels, p. 50. 28 The translation is based on Baumstark, Eine aegyptische Mess- und Tauiturgie, p. 35 (Arabic text, p. 24, ll. 1819). I am grateful to Dr Adil alJadir and Dr Montasser Kamal for clarifying certain diYculties in the Arabic. 29 J. A. Assemani, Codex liturgicus ecclesiae universae, vol. 1 (Rome: Komarek, 1749), p. 163:
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100 T H E O D O R E D E B RU Y N Scholars have long noted the repetition of material sometimes twice, sometimes three timesin the Ethiopic rite, and have oVered diVering explanations of its redaction.30 Forty years ago Georg Kretschmar revisited the problem, comparing the Ethiopic compilation with Sarapions Euchologion and the Arabic baptismal rite.31 Kretschmar argued that the compilation combined material from two baptismal rites.32 He named the one Euchologion and the other Ritual. He observed that the order of events in the Euchologion paralleled that found in the Arabic rite, while the order in the Ritual paralleled that found in Sarapions Euchologion.33 He judged that the prayer of consecration of the oil for pre-immersion anointing in the Ritual was theologically less developed and therefore more primitive than the corresponding prayer in Sarapions Euchologion. Accordingly, he suggested that the Euchologion (which includes formula D) might date from the sixth century, but that the Ritual (which includes formula E) contained older material.34 Maxwell Johnson rened these purported relationships further in his study of Sarapions Euchologion. According to Johnson, the three prayers for the consecration of oil in the Euchologion (Prayers 1517) derive from a common source that is later in origin than the consecration prayers found in the Ritual of the Ethiopic compilation and the prayers for baptism found elsewhere in the Euchologion (Prayers 711).35 Prayers 1517 are theologically more developed and are therefore presumably later than the consecration prayers in the Ritual. Moreover, both these sourcesPrayers 1517 and the Ritualare later than Prayers 711 since they provide for anointing after baptisma development believed to have been introduced into Egypt, as in Syria, in the fourth centurywhereas Prayers 711 do not.36 III. Elements of the Formula in the Rylands Papyrus Comparison of phrases from all the above sourcesSarapions Euchologion, the Ritual and the Euchologion in the Ethiopic
E. F. von der Goltz, Die Taufgebete Hippolyts und andere Taufgebete der alten Kirche, Zeitschrift fu r Kirchengeschichte 27 (1906), pp. 151; Salles, Trois antiques rituels, pp. 736. 31 Kretschmar, Beitra ge, pp. 2538. 32 Ibid. pp. 257. 33 Ibid. pp. 336. 34 Ibid. pp. 356. 35 Johnson, Prayers of Sarapion, pp. 13747. 36 Ibid. pp. 12437, 1478.
30

A BAPTISMAL ANOINTING FORMULA 101 compilation, the Arabic baptismal rite, and the Coptic and Syrian Orthodox riteswith P. Ryl. III.471 is complicated by the fact that we are dealing not only with diVerent languages but also with translations of translations. It appears that the Ethiopic version of the Apostolic Tradition, into which the Ethiopic baptismal rite was inserted, was made from a faulty Arabic version which the translator corrected by referring to a Coptic version.37 Likewise, the Arabic version of the Testament of Our Lord preserved in Borg. ar. 22, one of three extant Arabic versions, is a copy of a translation of the work from Coptic into Arabic.38 This Coptic version, in turn, derives from one of three Greek archetypes, bears an aYnity to a Syriac version derived from that Greek archetype, and incorporates Egyptian material from an unrelated Coptic source.39 Nevertheless, there are several noteworthy parallels between the above sources and P. Ryl. III.471. To these I now turn, using a revised translation of the papyrus: Holy oil of gladness against every hostile power and for the grafting of your good olive tree of the catholic and apostolic church of God. Amen.

Holy oil of gladness The phrase the oil of gladness (without the qualication holy) appears in pre-immersion anointing formulae in the later Syrian and Coptic baptismal liturgical texts [A, B, G].40 However, as Gabriele Winkler has noted, the earliest Syrian and Armenian sources refer to the oil for pre-immersion anointing as simply oil or oil of anointing or holy oil.41 Similarly, as Paul Bradshaw has observed,42 the phrase the oil of gladness is not found in Egyptian sources of the rst ve centuries: Sarapions Euchologion refers simply to oil (4leimma) [C];43
Duensing, Der aethiopische Text, pp. 913. R.-G. Coquin, Le Testamentum Domini: Proble ` mes de tradition textuelle, Parole de lOrient 5 (1974), pp. 16588, esp. pp. 16970, 1734. 39 Ibid. pp. 1804. 40 On Coptic usage, cf. E. Hammerschmidt, Kultsymbolik der koptischen und der a thiopischen kirche, in E. Hammerschmidt, P. Hauptmann, P. Kru ger, L. Ouspensky, and H.-J. Schulz, Symbolik des orthodoxen und orientalischen Christentums (Stuttgart: Anton Hiersemann, 1962), p. 201. 41 G. Winkler, The Original Meaning of the Prebaptismal Anointing and its Implications, Worship 52 (1978), pp. 2445, esp. pp. 269; id., Das armenische Initiationsrituale: Entwicklungsgeschichtliche und liturgievergleichende Untersuchung der Quellen des 3. bis 10. Jahrhunderts (Rome: Ponticium Institutum Studiorum Orientalium, 1982), p. 410. 42 Baptismal Practice, p. 12; cf. Johnson, Liturgy, pp. 1112. 43 Cf. Johnson, Prayers of Sarapion, pp. 13841.
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102 T H E O D O R E D E B RU Y N the fourth- or fth-century Canonical Responses attributed to Timothy, bishop of Alexandra c.3815, speak only of the anointing of oil (t1n cr0 sin to'u 2la0 ou);44 and Cyril of Alexandria refers to chrism (t1 cr8 sma).45 The Mystagogical Catecheses do indeed use the phrase, but not to refer to the oil used to anoint the entire body just before immersion, which is called exorcized oil. Rather, the phrase appears in the third catechetical lecture on post-immersion anointing. There it refers only to the anointing of Christ with the Holy Spirit at his baptism. The author explains how the postimmersion anointing of the baptized, which is called chrism or chrismation (t1 cr8 sma),46 is the image of the anointing of Christ.47 The baptized are, like Christ, anointed with the Holy Spirit, but whereas Christ was anointed with the Holy Spirit itself, metaphorically called the oil of gladness,48 the baptized are anointed with myron, perfumed oil, that by the prayer of epiclesis conveys the power of divinity through the presence of the Holy Spirit.49 In reserving the phrase the oil of gladness for the anointing of Christ with the Holy Spirit, the Mystagogical Catecheses appears to reect a long-standing Christian tradition of biblical interpretation that asserted the unique nature of this event. The phrase the oil of gladness gures in, among other biblical passages, Ps. 44 : 78 LXX ( Ps. 45 : 67):
Your throne, O God, endures for ever and ever. Your royal sceptre is a sceptre of equity; you loved righteousness and hated wickedness. Therefore God, your God, has anointed you (7 cris0 n) with the oil of gladness (7 laion 2galli0sew) above your companions.

Quoted by the Letter to the Hebrews as a witness to the superiority of Christ (Heb. 1:89), these verses were later regularly cited as a testimony to the divinity of Christ. Verse 8
44 J.-B. Pitra (ed.), Iuris ecclesiastici graecorum historia et monumenta, vol. 1 (Rome: Typis Collegii Urbani, 1864), p. 640. 45 Jo. 7 fragmenta (on John 11:26), ed. P. E. Pusey, in Cyrilli archiepiscopi Alexandrini in d. Joannis evangelium, vol. 4 (186877; repr. Brussels: Culture et Civilisation, 1965), p. 276; cf. I. de la Poterie, LOnction du chre tien par la foi, Biblica 40 (1959), pp. 501. 46 `ses Cf. Pie che dagnel, SC 126 bis, p. 121, n. 1, citing J. Bouvet (trans.), Cate ditions du Soleil Levant, 1962), baptismales et mystagogiques (Namur: E p. 466, n. 1. 47 Catech. myst. 3.1, ed. Pie dagnel, pp. 1202. 48 Catech. myst. 3.2, ed. Pie dagnel, pp. 1224. 49 Catech. myst. 3.3, ed. Pie dagnel, p. 124.

103 A BAPTISMAL ANOINTING FORMULA was understood to speak of Christ being anointed by God with the Holy Spiritcalled the oil of gladnesswhen he was baptized by John the Baptist. Christian writers take pains to distinguish Christs anointing from those which pregured it in the history of Israel and from that which his followers receive in baptism.50 They circumscribe Christs receipt of the Holy Spirit with increasing specicity to counter what they hold to be erroneous views in the course of the theological and christological disputes of the fourth and fth centuries.51 To my knowledge, Ps. 44:8 is not cited in this literature in connection with the anointing of Christians in baptism.52 But then this
50 Among writers of eastern provenance see e.g. Justin Martyr, Dial. 86.3, in Iustini Martyris Dialogus cum Tryphone, ed. M. Marcovich (New York: Walter de Gruyter, 1997), p. 219; Irenaeus, Dem. praed. 47, trans. L. M. Froidevaux, SC 62, pp. 1078; Origen, Cels. 6.79, ed. M. Borret, SC 147, p. 378; Origen, Princ. 2.6.46, ed. H. Crouzel and M. Simonetti, SC 252, pp. 31622; Princ. 4.4.4, ed. H. Crouzel and M. Simonetti, SC 268, p. 410; Origen, Hom. 12 in Lev. 23, ed. M. Borret, SC 287, pp. 1704, 184; Eusebius of Caesarea, Dem. euang. 4.15, 5.23, ed. I. A. Heikel, GCS 23, pp. 17383, 21623; Dial. Ath. et Zacch. 589, in The Dialogues of Athansius and Zacchaeus and of Timothy and Aquila, ed. F. C. Conybeare (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1898), p. 36; Basil of Caesarea, Hom. in Ps. 44.8, PG 29, cols. 4045; Diodore of Tarsus, Ps. 45.8bc, ed. J.-M. Olivier, CCSG 6, p. 272; John Chrysostom, Exe. in Ps. 45.8, PG 55, col. 197; Theodore of Mopsuestia, Ps. 44.8c, in Le Commentaire de The odore de Mopsueste sur les Psaumes, ed. R. Devreesse (Vatican City: Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana, 1939), p. 290. Cf. M.-J. Rondeau, Les Commentaires patristiques du psautier (IIIeVe ` cles), vol. 2 (Rome: Ponticium Institutum Studiorum Orientalium, 1985), sie pp. 248, 10712, 184, 2947. An exception to this general pattern is found in Clement of Alexandrias advice on whether one should use oil or perfume; he identies the oil which Christs followers receive, namely the Spirit, with that which Christ received (Paed. 2.8.65.23, SC 108, p. 132). 51 Among writers of eastern provenance see e.g. Athanasius of Alexandria, Ar. 1.12.4652, PG 26, cols. 10521; Didymus of Alexandria, Ps. 44.3, in Didymus der Blinde Psalmenkommentar (Tura-Papyrus), ed. M. Gronewald, vol. 5 (Bonn: Rudolf Habelt, 1970), p. 224; id., Ps. 44.8, in Psalmenkommentare aus der Katenenu berlieferung, ed. E. Mu lenberg, vol. 1 (Berlin and New York: Walter de Gruyter, 1975), p. 338; Cyril of Alexandria, Jo. 11.10, ed. Pusey, vol. 4, pp. 7267; Cyril of Jerusalem, Catech. ad illum. 11.15, in S. patris nostri Cyrilli Hierosolymorum archiepiscopi opera quae supersunt omnia, ed. G. C. Reischl, vol. 1 (1848), p. 308; Gregory of Nyssa, Apoll. 52, in Gregorii Nysseni opera dogmatica minora, ed. F. Mueller, part 1 (Leiden: E. J. Brill, 1958), pp. 2201; Theodore of Mopsuestia, Ps. 44.8b, ed. Devreesse, pp. 28990; Theodoret of Cyrus, Ps. 44.8, PG 80, col. 1192; Haeret. fab. comp. 5.11, PG 83, cols. 4889. 52 The above review of patristic references to Ps. 44:78 was based on a search of the phrase 7 laion 2galli0sew in the database of Thesaurus Linguae Graecae, an examination of references to the passage noted in Biblia Patristica: Index des ditions citations et allusions bibliques dans la litte rature patristique, vols. 17 (Paris: E du Centre National de la Recherche Scientique, 19752000), and a selective perusal of fourth- and fth-century works by Syrian writers listed in Clavis Patrum Graecorum, ed. M. Geerard, vols. 23 (Turnhout: Brepols, 1974 and 1979).

104 T H E O D O R E D E B RU Y N literature is concerned primarily with doctrinal disputes and not with liturgical developments. Where and when, then, was the phrase the oil of gladness introduced to designate the oil used prior to immersion? The earliest available evidence points to Syria in the late fourth century. One reference to the phrase is found in the Apostolic Constitutions, a compilation of regulations and practices that incorporates earlier documents, composed around 380, probably in Antioch.53 In its version of the third-century Syrian Didascalia, the Apostolic Constitutions mentions that deacons have been signed by the bishop with the oil of gladness and the myron of understanding (di oC 2sfrag0 sqhte 2la0 N 2galli0sew ka1 m0rN sun0 sew).54 The phrase, which is an addition to the text of the Didascalia,55 refers to two baptismal anointings: one before immersion, the other after.56 A second roughly contemporary reference is found in a baptismal sermon preached by John Chrysostom in Antioch sometime between 389 and 398 ce.57 While the Apostolic Constitutions refer to anointing before and after immersion,58 John Chrysostom knows only of the former. It consisted of two parts, a consignation on the forehead after the renunciation of Satan and the profession of faith, and an anointing of the entire body just prior to immersion.59 Chrysostom uses several phrases, including myron (which he is the rst to employ for this purpose), to refer to the oil used in
53 M. Metzger, Introduction, in Les Constitutions apostoliques (SC 320; Paris: ditions du Cerf, 1985), pp. 5461. Les E 54 Const. App. 2.32.3, ed. Metzger, p. 252. 55 Didasc. 9, ed. A. Vo o bus, CSCO 401, p. 109 (Syriac), CSCO 402, p. 104 (English); cf. Didascalia et Constitutiones Apostolorum, ed. F. X. Funk, vol. 1 (Paderborn: F. Schoeningh, 1905), p. 113; Doval, Cyril of Jerusalem, p. 125. 56 In Syrian sources the oil used to anoint candidates prior to baptism is called ha oil (Syriac: mes  ; Greek: 7 laion), whereas myron designates the oil applied after baptism; see Winkler, Original Meaning, pp. 269; Doval, Cyril of Jerusalem, pp. 11213; cf. Metzger, Introduction, in Les Constitutions apostoliques, pp. 925. 57 Catech. 3.9, ed. A. Wenger, SC 50, p. 156. On the date of the Stavronikita series of baptismal instructions, in which the reference is found, see Wenger, Introduction, SC 50, p. 65. 58 Varghese, Onctions baptismales, p. 106 holds that post-immersion anointing with myron rst appears in the Syrian tradition in the Apostolic Constitutions. He believes that the apparent reference to post-immersion anointing in Theodore of Mopsuestias homilies on baptism is an interpolation. 59 See e.g. T. M. Finn, The Liturgy of Baptism in the Baptismal Instruction of St. John Chrysostom (Washington, DC: Catholic University of America Press, 1967), pp. 11922; Meyers, Structure, pp. 402; S. P. Brock, The Transition to a Post-baptismal Anointing in the Antiochene Rite, in B. D. Spinks (ed.), The Sacrice of Praise (Rome: Edizioni liturgiche, 1981), pp. 21516.

A BAPTISMAL ANOINTING FORMULA 105 these anointings.60 In this particular sermon Chrysostom describes how Christ, by anointing Christians with the oil of gladness (7 laion 2galli0sew), takes their side in their combat with the devil.61 As to why the Syrian church might not have been as categorical as others in reserving the expression the oil of gladness for the anointing of Christ with the Holy Spirit, the answer may lie in the prominence and signicance of the anointing in the early Syrian baptismal tradition, which was strongly inuenced by the Jewish tradition of anointing.62 Anointing was central to the early Syrian rite and occurred only prior to baptism. It signied the moment when the Spirit was conferred on the Christian just as it was conferred on Jesus at his baptism in the appearance of the dove, thereby assimilating the Christian to the priesthood and kingship of Christ. It is possible that the earlier understanding of pre-immersion anointing persisted in the name given to the oil by John Chrysostom, the Apostolic Constitutions, and later rites, even as the newly introduced post-immerson anointing, derived from the Jerusalem rite, came to take on meanings previously ascribed to pre-immersion anointing.63

Against every hostile power The phrase against every hostile [literally: opposing] power or work or activity, like the phrase the oil of gladness, nds its earliest parallels in liturgical sources dating from the mid- to late fourth century. As Roberts noted in his edition of P. Ryl. III.471,64 it appears in Prayer 15 of Sarapions Euchologion: And, when they have been molded again through this oil and puried through the bath and renewed in the Spirit, they will be strong enough to conquer against other opposing works
60 Varghese, Onctions baptismales, p. 84; Finn, Liturgy of Baptism, pp. 1302. Finn, p. 130, n. 49, lists a second reference to the phrase oil of gladness at Catech. 11.27, the third sermon in the Papadopoulos series of baptismal instructions preached by Chrysostom in Antioch in 388. However, the phrase does not appear there; see Jean Chrysostom: Trois catecheses baptismales, ed. A. Pie dagnel ditions du Cerf, 1990), p. 236. and L. Doutreleau (SC 366; Paris: Les E 61 Catech. 3.9, ed. A. Wenger, p. 156. 62 Winkler, Original Meaning, 2939; C. Munier, Initiation chre tienne et rites donction (iieiiie sie ` cles), Revue des sciences religieuses 64 (1990), pp. 11525; C. Munier, Rites donction, bapte me chre me de Je tien et bapte sus, Revue des sciences religieuses 64 (1990), pp. 21734; Varghese, Onctions baptismales, passim. 63 Brock, Transition, pp. 21525. 64 Roberts, Catalogue, p. 47, n. 2.

106 T H E O D O R E D E B RU Y N (2ntikeim0 na 2nerge0 a) and deceits of this life which come near them [C].65 It also appears in the Mystagogical Catecheses, both in the explanation of pre-immersion anointingthe exorcized oil . . . [puts] to ight every trace of hostile power (2ntikeim0 nh 2nerge0 a)66and in the explanation of post-immersion anointingso too you, after the holy baptism and the mystic chrismation . . . withstand the hostile power (t1n 2ntikeim0 nhn 2n0 rgeian).67 These early parallels are the closest ones. The later liturgical textsSyriac [A, B], Ethiopic [D, E], Arabic [F], and Coptic [G]refer instead to every work or working of the adversary (literally, the opposing one or the one who opposes), namely, Satan or the devil.68 The two expressions are, evidently, close in meaning. But the similarity in wording between the Rylands inscription and the earlier sources is all the more striking, given the relative consistency of the liturgical texts at this point. The idea that pre-immersion anointing served to protect one against the forces of the devil becomes more prominent in the East in the fourth century. We nd it not only in Sarapions Euchologion and the Mystagogical Catecheses, but also in Ephrem, John Chrysostom (as we have seen), and Theodore of Mopsuestia,69 marking a departure from the older Syrian interpretation of pre-immersion anointing.70 The idea also gures in the later Coptic and Ethiopian baptismal rites, where the prayers for the consecration of the oil used in pre-immersion anointing invoke power to protect against all the works of the devil.71 (The prayer introducing pre-immersion anointing in the Syrian
Johnson, Prayers of Sarapion, p. 63. Catech. myst. 2.3, ed. Pie dagnel, p. 108. 67 Catech. myst. 3.4, ed. Pie dagnel, p. 126. 68 See e.g. Catech. ad illum. 2.4, ed. Reischl, p. 42; Catech. myst. 3.4, ed. Pie dagnel, p. 126; cf. G. W. H. Lampe, A Patristic Greek Lexicon (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1961), s.v. 2nt0 keimai, b, d. 69 Ephrem, Epiph. 3.20, 5.11, ed. E. Beck, CSCO 186 (text), pp. 150, 159, CSCO 187 (translation), pp. 138, 146; John Chrysostom, Catech. 2.24, ed. Wenger, p. 147; Theodore of Mopsuestia, Catech. 12.18, ed. R. Tonneau and R. Devreese, Les Home lies cate che tiques de The odore de Mopsueste (Vatican City: Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana, 1949), p. 399. The idea is especially prominent in John Chrysostom; cf. Varghese, Onctions baptismales, pp. 512, 818, 94. 70 See Winkler, Original Meaning, pp. 3942; Brock, Transition, pp. 21718. 71 See Lengeling, Vom Sinn der pra baptismalen Salbung, pp. 3557; cf. H. Denzinger, Ritus orientalium Coptorum, Syrorum et Armenorum in administrandis sacramentis, vol. 1 (Graz: Akademische Druck- und Verlagsanstalt, 1961), pp. 1945, cf. p. 215; Salles, Trois antiques rituels, pp. 4750; Baumstark, Eine aegyptische Mess- und Tauiturgie, pp. 345.
66 65

A BAPTISMAL ANOINTING FORMULA 107 baptismal rites preserves themes associated with the older Syrian interpretation of pre-baptismal anointing.72) Given the view that baptismal oil protects against evil forces, it is not surprising that the formula of anointing would have been used as an amulet. One can only speculate whether the inscription of the Rylands papyrus was recited while the person to be protected by the amulet was anointed with consecrated oil.

And for the grafting of your good olive tree of the catholic and apostolic church of God The metaphor of grafting, taken from Rom. 11:24, is not associated with baptism in texts prior to the mid-fourth century.73 The rst known instance of an association is an allusion to grafting in the Catecheses to Candidates for Baptism,74 which Cyril of Jerusalem delivered early in his episcopate to those about to be baptized (the authorship of these lectures is not disputed). The next instance, already noted, is the use of the metaphor in relation to pre-immersion anointing in the second lecture of the Mystagogical Catecheses. However, this passage speaks of the anointed being grafted into Christ, whereas the Rylands inscription speaks of them being grafted into the church, as do all the later liturgical texts [A, B, D, E, F, and G]. The liturgical texts diVer in their wording of this portion of the formula of anointing. The Rylands inscription follows none of them exactly. But it has some interesting similarities to the Coptic version [G].75 First, the adjectives and nouns in the phrase the catholic and apostolic church are in the nominative case; the nal sigmas in Roberts edition are supplied. This is irregular in Greek, where one expects genitive endings, but normal in Coptic. Second, the curious word efte, of whose meaning Roberts was unsure, appears to be a rendering in , a nomen sacrum for God in Bohairic Coptic.76 Greek of
72 73

See Brock, Studies, p. 29; Varghese, Onctions baptismales, p. 288. See n. 12. My own investigationa review of references to Rom. 11:24 noted in Biblia Patristica: Index des citations et allusions bibliques dans la ditions du Centre National de la litte rature patristique, vols. 17 (Paris: E Recherche Scientique, 19752000), supplemented by a search of kalli0 lai* in the database of Thesaurus Linguae Graecaeidentied no earlier passages. 74 Catech. ad illum. 1.4, ed. Reischl, vol. 1, p. 32. 75 See the text at n. 29. 76 See W. Vycichl, Dictionnaire e tymologique de la langue copte (Leuven: , ; W. E. Crum, A Coptic Dictionary Peeters, 1983), p. 145, s. v. . I am grateful to Professor (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1939), p. 230, s. v. Paul-Hubert Poirier of Universite Laval for bringing this to my attention, and

108 T H E O D O R E D E B RU Y N To represent (the Coptic monogram for t and i), efte substitutes e for i after t. The e which precedes fte would appear to be a late variant of the Coptic genitive particle or , thus yielding of God.77 While the substitution of e for i to represent has been noted in texts of certain dialects,78 it is not possible to isolate a dialect that might have yielded the Greek form efte, was used in regions where it did not in since the written form fact correspond to the pronunciation of the name of God.79 Nevertheless, there can be little doubt that efte in the Rylands . inscription is derived from the Coptic nomen sacrum The papyrus thus seems to attest to the presence of the preimmersion formula of anointing in Egypt in the fth century. How close the wording of the papyrus might have been to the wording of the Churchs baptismal liturgy is, of course, impossible to say. A papyrus that combines Greek and Coptic phraseology would not be out of place in the uneven bilingualism of the Christian Church in Egypt in the fourth and fth centuries.80 I would hazard that the writer was a Christian monk or priest with imperfect Greek, who preserved the peculiarities of Coptic usage familiar to him from liturgical or other texts.81 This would be consistent with what others have already observed: namely, that Christian clergy supplanted traditional Egyptian priests as purveyors of amulets and other forms of invocation, and that in so doing they drew on the sacred texts of their religion, including the liturgical books and rites of the Church.82 IV. Summary and Conclusions To sum up: P. Ryl. III.471 is, or is derived from, a preimmersion formula of anointing that was incorporated into Eastern baptismal liturgies in the later half of the fourth century.
for his advice and that of Professor Wolf-Peter Funk on whether the rendering in the Rylands inscription can be identied with a particular Coptic dialect. 77 See Crum, Coptic Dictionary, p. 215, s. v. . 78 See e.g. H. E. Winlock and W. E. Crum, The Monastery of Epiphanius at Thebes, vol. 1 (New York: Publications of the Metropolitan Museum of Art Egyptian Expedition, 1926), p. 238; W. H. Worrell, Coptic Sounds (Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 1934), p. 114. 79 Worrell, Coptic Sounds, p. 68. 80 See R. S. Bagnall, Egypt in Late Antiquity (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1993), pp. 2515. 81 See Bagnall, Egypt in Late Antiquity, pp. 24850. 82 See D. Frankfurter, Religion in Roman Egypt: Assimilation and Resistance (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1998), pp. 21416.

A BAPTISMAL ANOINTING FORMULA 109 Several elements of the Rylands inscription correspond closely to phraseology used by the earliest witnesses to this pre-immersion formula: the oil of gladness rst attested by John Chysostom and the Apostolic Constitutions; the hostile powers mentioned in Prayer 15 of Sarapions Euchologion and in the Mystagogical Catecheses; and the allusion to Rom. 11:24 which we rst nd associated with baptism in the Catecheses to Candidates for Baptism and the Mystagogical Catecheses. From the phrase the catholic and apostolic church of God it would appear that the writer of the inscription was drawing on a Coptic liturgical tradition, possibly from memory. In short, the Rylands papyrus provides early evidence for the use of the pre-immersion formula of anointing in Egypt, assuming that the fth-century date assigned by Roberts is correct. The presence of elements rst attested in Jerusalem and western Syria appears to conrm the view that the incorporation of the formula into the Egyptian baptismal rite was inuenced by usage in both these regions; at least, the Rylands papyrus does not contradict the hypothesis that the formula originated in Jerusalem and travelled to Egypt via Syria. It is not surprising that this particular formula would have been used as an amulet, given the protective eVect attributed to the anointing prior to immersion, particularly the anointing of the entire body. But it is noteworthy nevertheless. It shows how Christian ritual, and above all the liturgy of the Church, established new and authoritative means to invoke divine protection and deter demonic power in late antiquity.83 Theodore de Bruyn University of Ottawa tdebruyn@uottawa.ca

83 I discuss the role of Christian ritual in establishing eVective and acceptable means of invoking divine power in Greek papyri amulets in a paper presented at the Fourteenth International Patristics Conference, Oxford, 1823 August 2003, entitled The Use of the Sanctus in Christian Greek Papyrus Amulets.

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