Among the images recently posted online at the Chester Beatty Library are a number of copies of the writings of the Egyptian monk Pahom (usually called by his Latinized name, Pachomius) and his followers. Pachomius established a monastery near Faw Qibli (ancient Pbow) in the 330s. The letters of Pachomius himself have long been known in the form of a Latin translation made by Jerome early in the fifth century, which was transmitted through the centuries and survives in several manuscripts, the oldest of which comes from the ninth century. But in the 1950s, copies of the letters of Pachomius and his followers preserved in Coptic (and occasionally Greek) surfaced on the antiquities market. The manuscripts are generally assigned to a much earlier period (some perhaps as late as the seventh century but one possibly as early as the late fourth century). These manuscripts are notable for their curious formats. Some are copied on oddly shaped strips of parchment; others are copied on long narrow rolls of parchment, while others are written in very broad columns on papyrus rolls.
These items have been rather challenging to study because of a lack of access of good images. This has now changed. Continue reading
As I compiled stories of discoveries of early Christian manuscripts for my book, 
Variant Readings 