Encomium in sanctum Stephanum
Standard abbreviation: Hom. Steph.
Other titles: Acts of Stephen, Historia Stephani Protomartyris
Clavis numbers: ECCA 494; CANT 302
Category: Apocryphal Acts
Related literature: not yet determined
Compiled by: Tony Burke, York University
Citing this resource (using Chicago Manual of Style): Burke, Tony. “Homily on Stephen by Theodosius of Jerusalem.” e-Clavis: Christian Apocrypha. Accessed DAY MONTH YEAR. https://www.nasscal.com/e-clavis-christian-apocrypha/homily-on-stephen-by-theodosius-of-jerusalem/.
Created April 2024.
1. SUMMARY
The beginning of Hom. Steph. is damaged, making authorship something of a mystery. However, Alin Suciu has argued that it was originally attributed to Theodosius of Jerusalem. No complete edition of the fragments has yet appeared, nor any substantial modern translation. It is not known how much of the text includes material that could be considered “apocryphal.”
2. RESOURCES
2.1 Web Sites and Other Online Resources
“Saint Stephen.” Wikipedia.
3. BIBLIOGRAPHY
3.1 Manuscripts and Editions
3.1.1 Coptic (BHO 1093; CC 0985; PAThs entry)
SIUD.AA, pp. 1–98 (?), 989/990 (see entry for editions)
London, British Library, Or. 7029 (olim Or. 6806B), fragments A1–17 (10th cent.) ~ papyrus fragments from the binding that are now lost; may represent more than one text on Stephen
Layton, Bentley. Catalogue of Coptic Literary Manuscripts in the British Library Acquired Since the Year 1906. London: British Library, 1987 (description of British Library, Or. 7029, pp. 196–99).
Uljas, Sami. “Lost Coptic Texts from Herbert Thompson Papers I: The ‘Acts of Stephen.’” JCoptS 17 (2015): 165–213 (British Library Or. 7029 fragments from transcription by Herbert Thompson with English translations, pp. 176–206).
3.2 Modern Translations
3.2.1 English
Uljas, Sami. “Lost Coptic Texts from Herbert Thompson Papers I: The ‘Acts of Stephen.’” JCoptS 17 (2015): 165–213 (British Library Or. 7029 fragments from transcription by Herbert Thompson with English translations, pp. 176–206).
3.3 General Works
Bovon, François. “The Dossier on Stephen, the First Martyr.” HTR 96.3 (2003): 279–315 (pp. 307–308).
Horn, Jürgen. “Der erste Märtyrer: Zu einem Topos der koptischen Märtyrerliteratur (mit zwei Anhängen).” Pages 31–55 in Studen zur spätantiken und frühchristlichen Kunst und Kultur des Orients. Edited by Guntram Koch. Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz, 1982.
Labadie, Damien. L’invention du protomartyr Étienne: sainteté, pouvoir et controverse dans l’antiquité (Ier-VIe s.). Judaïsme ancien et origines du christianisme 21. Turnhout: Brepols, 2021 (pp. 290, 498–99).
Suciu, Alin. “The Question of the Authoship of the Historia Stephani Protomartyris (BHO 1093; CANT 302; Clavis Coptica 0491): Theodosius of Jerusalem, Abba Isaiah, the Monk Romanus and Peter the Iberian.” AnBoll 134 (2016): 279–92.
Uljas, Sami. “Lost Coptic Texts from Herbert Thompson Papers I: The ‘Acts of Stephen.’” JCoptS 17 (2015): 165–213.