On and beyond duty: Christian clergy at Oxyrhynchus (c. 250 – 400)*

This paper presents a case-study of Christian clergy in the middle-Egyptian city of Oxyrhynchus in the transitional period from mid-third to late fourth century, based on literary and documentary (papyrological) sources. Whereas in literary texts members of the clergy, mainly bishops, usually appear in connection with heresiological disputes, documentary papyri frequently show them ‘ beyond duty ’ , for example engaged in business or travel. The papyri widen our historical understanding by preserving data on lower-ranking religious specialists, such as presbyters, readers, nuns and monks, who would otherwise remain quite unknown. They also provide evidence for the extension of the Christian order into the agrarian hinterland of the city.

knowledge.Inthe documents we observeparts of the activities of clergythatare less apparent in our literary sources. But since papyri onlyd ocument activities that require writing,a spects of the duties of clergyt hat do not involvew riting (for instance,pastoral care), remain almost invisible in the papyrologicalrecord.⁷ In onlyafew instances do the papyrus documents offer ag limpse of what rituals or religious practicest hese expertsa re actuallyp erforming.B ut this is not true onlyo fp apyri; ancient writers also provide little information on ritual practices.A sS usan Guettel Cole has pointed out: "The details of ritual practice weren ot ac oncern to historians or even to poets; we know onlyt he barest outline of the rituals actuallyp erformed. We can tell from the epigraphical record, however,that practice was shaped by discussion, details wered ecided by legislative procedures, and disputes weresubjected to the scrutinyofexpertsappointed to oversee public ritual".⁸ The absence of descriptions of ritual in our ancient sources is thus shared among different genres and has botht od ow ith the fact that ritual does not necessarilyrequire writing and also with the nature of ritual.⁹

Compilingacatalogueo fC hristian clergy
No single document from Oxyrhynchus lists the entire staff of ac hurch in the city at ag iven moment.¹⁰ The data Ip rovide here have been assembled from both literary sources and papyrological documents for the period from the mid-thirdt hrough to the end of the fourth century.I nc ollectingt his evidence, one faces problems with sources thatmake it at times difficult to decidewhether agiven individual is amemberofthe clergy.¹¹ Agenerous count yieldedwell over thirty different Christian clerics, includingm onastics, for Oxyrhynchus in this period. In several cases, however,t he hagiographical character of the literary sources renders them unreliable for this type of historical research. So the longer list includes severalf igures of dubioush istoricity,s uch as aM iletius,O xyrhynchite bishop during the Great Persecution, mentioned in the Acta Sancto-  Schmelz (2002, 2).  Cole, (2008, 57).  See esp. Bell (2009).  Later documents from Oxyrhynchus,s uch as POxy.1 1.1357a nd 67.4617, contain lists of churches or their inventory( see Blumell and Wayment [2015]). Several scholars have compiled lists of bishopst hat include those fromt he city,e .g. Timm (1984); Fedalto (1988, vol. 2);W orp (1994); Papaconstantinou (1996b); Benaissa (2007); Blumell (2014).  On this problem, see Papaconstantinou (1996,1 77).
On and beyond duty: Christian clergy at  rum,¹² and an anonymous Oxyrhynchite presbyter from the Apophthegmata Patrum.¹³ On astricter count,Iconsider 29 persons in all as more or less historical, namely: at least eleven bishops,¹⁴ four presbyters,a tl east four nuns,¹⁵ perhaps five monks, four readers, and one deacon. Before Iturn to the different groups of clergy in more detail, let me offer some general comments on this list of Oxyrhynchite clergy.
widening the lens and preservinge verydayd ata on non-elite or lower-ranking members of society.

PapasS otas,t he earliest known Bishop of Oxyrhynchus
Christians first appear in the documentary recordf or Oxyrhynchus in the midthird century.³¹ The earliest known Christian cleric there is papas Sotas,b ishop of the growingC hristian congregation in the city duringt he third quarter of the third century.Adossier of six papyrus letters and areference in abishop-list preserved in Ethiopic translation show Sotas at work.³² He is thus the best-documented figure of all those discussed here, yett his is not so much an indication of historical importance compared to other bishops as of the vagaries of survival in the rubbish-dumps. Nevertheless,S otasi sn ot at otallyi nsignificant historical figure. He occupied the episcopal see in am ajor Egyptian city and his presencei ndicates that the Oxyrhynchite church at this time wasl arge enough to have ab ishop. Moreover,for this period, between the Decian and the Great Persecution, the so-called Little Peace, we have very little evidence of church leaders and their activities. The humble dossier on Sotast hus fills ag ap.F urthermore, whereas what surviveso ft he work of other bishops is heavilyt heological, we find Sotas engaged in everydaya ctivities that his colleagues were no doubta lso involved in but do not appear in literary sources.
On and beyond duty: Christian clergy at Oxyrhynchus (c. 250 -400) earlier evidence.³³ The papyrological data for Sotasi nO xyrhynchus thus fill an important lacuna, attestingt ot he activities of Christian officials roughly half ac entury earlier than had been suspected. The letters from and to Sotas show the Oxyrhynchite bishop engagedi nn etworkingw ith colleagues in other places,teaching,fund-raising for the church, and perhaps also in copyingscripture. One letter places Sotasa tA ntioch,p erhaps to participate in the synod about Paul of Samosata. If so, this reveals an involvement in doctrinal disputes. But Sotas is mentioned in this letter not in relation to the synod (which is not mentioned in the letter)b ut because the sender had asked him to bring back as ubstantial amount of money.H erew ee ncounter the bishop involved in matters beyond his regular church duty.
The various letters of recommendation written to and sent by this provincial bishop give us ag limpse of al argerC hristian network, not just among the big names of history,but also among thosewhose names, were it not for accidental preservation and discovery in an ancientgarbage heap, would have been lost to us. The question is how to contextualise and interpret this network. Viewed against the broad changes of the religious landscape in this period, the emphasis on networkinginSotas' dossier turns out to be significant in alargerperspective. JanB remmer has observed that, in contrast to Christian clergy, pagan priests lacked at rans-local network. In the long term, he argues, this contributed to the demise of their cults.³⁴ Accordingt oS ozomen's Church History,the Emperor Julian appreciated the Christian custom of letters of recommendation thatp rovided an international network of hospitality and sought to introduce it also among pagans.³⁵ Accordingt oB rent Nongbri, however,C hristian networking practices can be more fruitfullycompared to civic networking, just as Romanofficials kept up their connections through their correspondence, which of course included letters of recommendation. This fits also with Christian self-understanding,where titles for Christian officials (episkopos,presbyteros, and the self-designation as an ekklesia,are terms derivedfrom world of government.³⁶ The papyri  Worp (2014, 283) reasoned: "This span of time has been suggestedb yt he fact that therei s little chancet hat aG reek papyrus from Egypt written before3 25 CE would mention aC hristian bishop (in general, thereisnot much information about bishops in the Egyptian χώρα beforethe Council of Nicaea)".Inview of the lack of material for the earlier period, GeorgS chmelz began his examination of the papyrological evidencefor Christian clergy in Egypt onlywith the fourthcentury material (Schmelz 2002 indicate thatC hristians profitablya dopted practices from civica dministration rather than from the world of cult-officials. But papyri onlyp reservec ertain kinds of information, as the next case illustrates.

Clergy and aC hurch crisis
It is at ruism that the genre of the surviving sources determines the boundaries of our historicalknowledge.Acrisisinthe Oxyrhynchite church in the middle of the fourth century (ca. 357-361) forms ac asei np oint.The situation can be reconstructed from aLatinpetition, the Libellus precum,submitted around the year 383t ot he emperors Valentinian, Theodosius and Arcadiusb yt wo Luciferian priests, Marcellinus and Faustinus.³⁷ Apparently, ag roup of Christians at Oxyrhynchush ad withdrawnf rom communion in protest against their bishop Theodorus, who had been re-ordained by George, the Arianpatriarch of Alexandria. It seems that eventuallyn ol ess than threeb ishops werec ompeting against one another: Theodorus, Heracleidas and Apollonius. According to the Libellus precum,T heodorus and his supporters ("am ultitude of clerics")w ent far beyond duty and actuallyd emolished Heracleidas' church building.³⁸ This conflict must have had considerable repercussions among the Christian population of Oxyrhynchus.
But so far no papyrological documentation so much as mentions this crisis.³⁹ Indeed, all we have is apurelyincidental reference to bishop Theodorus' boat.In contrast to the documentation from Sotas, this is not adocument thatTheodorus dictated (or wrote with his own hand);h ei sm entioned in passing as the ship's owner (POxy.3 4.2729).⁴⁰ Ships weree xpensive:R oger Bagnall concluded that boat owners belonged among "the municipal aristocracy,h igh-ranking imperial officials, and the upper clergy, the major holders of all forms of wealth and power in society".⁴¹ So, if we have nothing on the crisis of church government,  Faustinus and Marcellinus, Supplique aux empereurs,1 98 -211( ch. 93 -101). Latin texta nd English transl.: Blumell and Wayment (2015,6 24-631, no. 164 Overthrowing it,h ed emolished the walls on all sides so that he destroyed the altar of God with axes. Nevertheless, the people of ad ifferent part of the upright and unblemished faith from the city still sustained the bishop [i. e. Heracleidas]".S ee also Blumell (2012a, 151-153).  See also Blumell (2012a, 283).  See Blumell and Wayment (2015,5 43 -550,n o. 146) and literaturec itedt here.  Bagnall (1996,3 6-37).G onis 2003,1 65 concludes that the ship owners in fourth-century Oxyrhynchus consisted mostlyo f" the municipale litea nd the imperial officialdom" (rather On and beyond duty: Christian clergy at  we do have adocument that locates abishop among the upperclasses of society. It is ar ecurringt heme in this research that clergy frequentlyappear in business documentation, which thus reveals different aspects of their work and sources of income.⁴² This is also what we shall see in the next section on presbyters.

Presbyters
If most evidence about the Oxyrhynchite clergy relates to bishops, what do the papyri reveal about the activities and duties of other members of the clergy? In the entire Oxyrhynchited ocumentation for this 150-yearp eriod, we find onlyf our presbyters.T hree of them are known by name:L eon, Heracles, and Ammon. Id iscuss them here individuallys ince each document reveals ad ifferent aspect of the duties of presbyters.(So far no femalepresbyters are documented for Oxyrhynchus,⁴³ but this of course does not necessarilym ean thatt here weren one. All we can sayi st hat we do not see them in these sources.⁴⁴) Af ourth-century presbyter named Leon⁴⁵ is known from al etter of recommendation (POxy.8 .1162).⁴⁶ It is noteworthyt hatn ot onlyb ishops, such as Sotas, engaged in this form of Christian networkingb ut also presbyters.L eon did not address particular individuals as Sotas did, but writes more generally to "the presbyters and deacons who share the local service, beloved brothers in the Lord".I nstead of the standard greetingi np apyrus letters, χαίρειν, 'greetings' (lit.: [says] 'hallo'), this letter reads χαρᾷ χα[ί]ρειν, "greetings with joy",an allusion to John 3:29.⁴⁷ The biblical allusion reveals familiarity with scripture, as is fitting for aC hristian presbyter.Y et am oderne dition cannot express the joy that jumps from the pagea st he writerp ennedt hese twow ords in large letters, almosttwice the size of the letters in the bodyofthe text.This letter,with its exuthan clergy). See also POxy.3 4.2729 and comments by Blumell and Wayment (2015,5 43 -50 no. 146).  On this topic, Eck (1980); Schmelz (2002, chapterV I). This practice led to criticism, see Dockter (2013,106 -111, §3 .6: 'SäkulareD iensteu nd Nebenerwerb').  Fore videncef or presbyterai elsewhere, see Eisen (1996,112-137).  On the (in)visibilityo fw omen, see Johnson-DeBaufre (2010).  In POxy.8 .1162L eont erms himself presbyteros, 'elder'.Alettero fr ecommendation from bishop Sotas, PSI 9.1041, mentions ac atechumen named Leon. It cannot be decided whether this is the same man at an earlier stageo fh is life, because the name is fairlyc ommon.  Perhapsalso from an acephalous letter, POxy.56.3857,whose phraseology is similar,cf. Blumell and Wayment (2015,5 59 -563, no. 149).  In this letter, Paul frequentlye xhorts the Philippians to 'rejoice',e.g.: 1:18;2:17-18;3:1;4 :4, 4:10. berant penmanship, is ag ood example of the kind of document that reveals Christian clergy on duty.
Ap resbyter named Heracles is mentioned four times in al ist of people (POxy.6 3.4372,3 41-399 CE).⁴⁸ The document is significant for the social status of the presbyter,b ut does not reveal anya ctivities, ritual or secular.H eracles supposedlyo wned ap lot of land on which he paid taxes or receivedr ent (the exact function of the document remains unclear).⁴⁹ The papyrus listsas eries of personal names, followed by am arker of identity,m ost often ap rofession, and then indicates amounts of grain. Someo ft he other professions mentioned are smith, vinedresser,t enant farmer,a nd overseer( φροντιστής).⁵⁰ Age, provenance, alias, or ap atronym are the personal identification markers given. This indicatest hatH eracles was recognised as ap resbyter in his community.H ea ppears among craftsmen and farmers, that is, among the middle and lower classes of society.Int erms of the amountsmentioned in this list,Heracles falls roughly in the middle,d elivering more thant he vinedressers and lesst han the smith. Christian clergycommonlyfollowed other callings, and for the great majority ritual duties werenot their main sources of income.⁵¹ So, though he was apresbyter,Heracles' main sourceoflivelihood was some kind of labour,probablyfarming.⁵² But presbyter wasc onsidered the more honourable occupation.
On and beyond duty: Christian clergy at  the bishop and Heracles the presbyter,A mmon combines his ecclesial duties with business activities. Hereagain, the ecclesiastical title is used for identification and as an honorific title. Besides being presbyter,A mmon is ναυκληροκυβερνήτης,ship'scaptain.⁵⁴ If he alsoowned the ship, he mayhavebeen relatively well-off, albeit not as wealthya sb ishop Theodorus, for he still worked on board himself.
The fourth presbyter,whose name is lost,served as "presbyter of the catholic [church]" in Paneuei, avillageinthe Western toparchyofthe Oxyrhynchite nome while acertain Flavius Macrobius wassenator,c.360 -380.⁵⁵ The caseisintriguing:Two brothers,A urelius Orsentius and Aurelius Panaclius, accused the presbyter of stealing their property afterthey had either fled or been exiled.⁵⁶ Whereas in other cases in this period people begin to approach clergy to settle disputes,⁵⁷ in this case ac omplaint is filed against ap resbyter.Aplausible scenario is that the brothers had receivedp ardon so that they could return from exile. As Daniel Washburn observes, from the 360s onward, emperors grant indulgentiae to show theirmagnanimity and createg oodwill among the population around Lent and Easter.⁵⁸ The brothers mayr efer to this when they preface their sentence with the phrase: "because of your honourable and good administration".Ifso, the brothers would have expected the restitution of their property  The term occurs in six papyri of fourth-century date, all but one of them fromH ermopolis.  PWash.1 .20; 2.7-8. See also Blumell and Wayment (2015,4 50 -452, no. 126) and literature mentioned there.A ccording to Wipszycka (1996,1 72-173), in this and other cases, the epithet 'catholic' indicates that the Christian congregation placed under the care of the bishop forms part of the universal church (see also p. 116 below).  The situation is unclear.The meaningo ft he Greek term φυγή ranges from 'flight in battle, […]e scape, avoidance' to 'banishment, exile' (LSJ s.v.), so we cannot tell whether the brothers fled or weree xiled. Blumell and Wayment (2015,452 n.6) provide illustrations of the word'ss emantic rangeinpapyri. Washburn (2012,3)notes: "when an ancient Greek source comments that individuals went into φυγή,i nt he absenceo fo ther information, we would have little wayo f knowingwhether such persons went into aforeign land by their own decision or official decree. The ancient author'sunderlyingconviction seems to be that both those formallysentenced and those whom we would now call 'refugees' shared in the experience of exsilium or φυγή." See also ibid. 29,o nc onfusion in the papyri over legal particulars. Roman lawd istinguished between deportatio and relegatio,a nd defined the conditions under which these forms of punishment might involvec onfiscation of property (ibid. 17-18). As ap unishment, "banishment […] carried an elaborate mix of chastisement,humiliation, propaganda, and spectacle. But through it all, banishment was primarilyapunishment that used relocation to cut social ties" (ibid. 35).  Bishops: POxy.6 .903,a nd presbyters: POxy.5 0.3581 (fifth cent.). On women'si nteractions with clergy in both these texts,s ee Mathieson (2014, 150 -152).  Washburn (2012,150). on their return, as specified in the law.⁵⁹ Since this document offers onlyt he perspective of the plaintiffs, it remains unclear whether the presbyter was acting properlyornot.Isthis acasewhere the religious expert has abusedhis power,as the petition claims?⁶⁰ Or had he merelyc onfiscated their possessions on the church'sb ehalf aftert he brothers had left?⁶¹ Church canons and other texts document numerous cases of theft by clergy, especiallya lienation of church goods, such as liturgical vessels and other churchp roperty.⁶² On the other hand, the brothers mayh avee ntrustedt heir property to the presbyter during their enforced absence. An analogous case is known from aC opticp apyrus, in which af amily entrusts its property to ap resbyter while af amilym ember was away.⁶³ In this case, however,they took the precaution of documenting the transaction.

Deacon of the Church
One deacon appears in documentation relatingt oO xyrhynchus for this period: "Apphous, deacon of the church".⁶⁴ The tax document in which he occurs men- CTh 9.43.1.3 (14Sept.321): "The pardon […]shall be as effective for restitution as the sentence was for correction. As the very name of deportation itself involves the forfeitureofeverything, so shall the pardonp ermittingr eturn involvet he recovery of property and rank, in aword, everythingthat was forfeited" (transl. Pharr,Davidson, and Pharr [2001,264], cf. Washburn (2012,147;203n.13). Elsewhere (p.148) he comments that the very existenceofthis ruling "indicates that, in the earlyf ourth century,m assive confusion surrounded the topic".  Cf. Bagnall (1996,224): "The poweracquiredbythe pastoralofficehas always been susceptible to abuse, and by the time twog enerations of official recognition had gone by,priests were undoubtedlyw elle nough entrenched in villages to be significant factors in local matters".  Washburn (2012,41) notesthat "over the course of the fourth and fifth centuries,the institutional church became incorporated into virtuallyevery element of the process [of banishment]".  Dockter (2013,1 11-119). On pp.119 -129), he documentsaseries of church canons against legacy-huntingb yc lergy.  BKU III 400,o nw hich see MacCoull (1989,499).  The specification 'of the church' makesc lear that Apphous is aC hristian deacona nd not as ervant.The dearth of Oxyrhynchited eacons mayn ot resultf roml ack of evidenceb ut have ab iblical background, namelyt he limitation to seven in Acts 6:1-6. The city of Rome in the mid-thirdc entury was served by seven deacons( and manyo ther clergy): Euseb. Hist. eccl. 6.43.11( Letter of bishop Cornelius). The synod of Neocaesarea in 314( canon 15) appealed to that passage in recommending that even large cities should have onlys even deacons.S ee also Hübner (2005,5 1w ith n. 200).
On and beyond duty: Christian clergy at  tions him under the village of Mermertha (POxy.55.3787,.⁶⁵ The same document also lists ar eader (see p. 115 below).P apyrological evidence shows that "deacons wereactive and prominent figures in village affairs".⁶⁶ Thevillage of Mermertha seems to have had one church at this time. This is the earliest documented case of aChristian cleric paying the urban capitation tax, an imperial tax, presumablyoni ncome from outside activities.⁶⁷ Constantius II attempted to grant tax exemption for all clergya lthough this seems not to have been fullyi mplemented.⁶⁸ If little is known about male deacons from Oxyrhynchus, therei se venl ess information about female deacons.Indeed, some scholars have actuallydoubted that therew erea ny deaconesses in Egypt.⁶⁹ On the other hand, they occur frequentlyi nt he epigraphical evidence from Asia Minor,where, as Hübner notes, manyhad inscriptions setupintheir ownname.⁷⁰ The differenceingenre (papyrus documents versus epitaphs) explains the discrepancy in this respect.

Readers
Fort his period, the Oxyrhynchus papyri yield four readers.The earliest is Aurelius Ammonius, son of Copreus,r eader of the formerchurch of the villageC hysis (POxy.33.2673,304 CE).⁷¹ At the time the document was drawnup, his church no longer existed as aresultofthe imperial measures against Christians duringthe so-called Great Persecution. The document states that he is illiterate, which is of course common enough albeit somewhat unexpectedfor areader.⁷² He mayhave pretendedtobeilliterate as aform of subtle resistance or have been trulyilliterate but capable of memorising scriptural passages.⁷³ The second reader, Besarion,a lso worked in the countryside; he is listed as reader under the villageofTampetei, in the same tax document as the deacon Apphous from Mermertha (POxy.5 5.3787,c .313 -320). Just like Apphous and the presbyter Heracles, he held ad ay job besides his ecclesial position.
"had meanstoreplace the tree if necessary".⁷⁷ Morus thus appears to have been aman of some standing, probablywell situated in the middle class. This fitswith his (former)a bility to read.⁷⁸ The name of the fourth person, a "reader of the catholic church" is lost.We know onlythat in or after 377 he purchased part of ahouse from awoman called Serena, who, in turn,had bought it from amonk (whose name is also missing).⁷⁹ As Ewa Wipszycka has shown, the epithet 'catholic' in Egyptian papyri can signify either (1) the universal church or aparticular local congregation, (2)the selfpresumed OrthodoxChurch versus aso-considered heretical sect,or(3) the most importantchurchamong several in alocality.⁸⁰ Again, the papyrus showsglimpses of the social and economic status of the clergy -in this case, through the purchase of real estate -but not of their theological allegiances.

Monastics
The lack of female Christian leaders in Oxyrhynchite sources changes drastically by the end of the fourth century,when, accordingt ot he author of the Historia monachorum,t he city housedt wenty thousand nuns and tent housand monks. These numbers are of course greatlye xaggerated.⁸¹ Didyme and 'the sisters' have some claim to be the first known female monastics appearingi nt he Oxyrhynchite documentary record (POxy.14.1774 and SB 8.9746,c.340).⁸² Their business correspondence involves alarge network. Four (other)nuns appear in papyri from Oxyrhynchus.
Twoother female monastics, Aurelia Theodora and Aurelia Tauris, daughters of Silvanus, […]a potactic nuns,a lso house-owners,a ppear in al ease contract (POxy.44.3203,June -July 400). They rent out parts of their residencetoaJewish family, probablyt oprovide for their own livelihood. Annis, Theodoraand Tauris have all renounced marriage, but not their property.⁸⁴ Moreover the biological sisters Theodoraa nd Tauris have not renounced their (entire) familye ither. The samei st rue of the following case, the nun Athonis.
Along with several other members of the family, Athonis receivesg reetings from her brother Philoxenus in al etter he senth ome (POxy.5 6.3862.19,4 th /5 th cent.). Although she is identifieda saμοναχή (nun), it appears from the letter that she livesw ith her parents and another sibling.L iteraryt extss pecify that such domestic virgins must lead amodest lifestyle of fasting and studying scripture and also that familymembers not abuse them as servants.⁸⁵ Thus although, if we mayb elievet he literarys ources, all these women attempted to stay out of public view,t hey appear in documents such as al ease and af amilyl etter,o r even doing business. In private correspondence and in official documents, familym embers and outsiders identified them as ascetics instead of (or in addition to)t heirp atronymic, thereby recognisinga nd respectingt he choice these women had made.⁸⁶ The earliest mention of am ale monastic in ap apyrus from Oxyrhynchusi s dated 373 -374C E( POxy.4 6.3311). Ac ertain apotaktikos named Ammonius,d eceased at the time of writing,i sm entioned in ap etition about an inheritance dispute initiatedbytwo illiterate women, Cyrilla and Martha. Ammonius had receivedaninheritance from his nephewGemellus,the women'scousin.⁸⁷ According to the women'sp etition, "Ammonius neither drew up aw ill nor designated heirs, and livedh is life to the end as am onk […]".OnA mmonius' death, ac ertain Ammon seized his property and possessions even though he was neither his son nor did he have the right to own land. The sisters request the logistês to compel Ammon to transferGemellus' property to them. Again, it is not in connection with religion that we hearo fA mmonius, but because he owned property.A nd,  Rémondon comparessuch nuns with the noble ladies from the east whocorresponded with Jerome. He adds: "Il faut,p our vivrea insi, en avoir les moyens" (1972,2 60).  Riedel and Crum (1904,6 2);L uijendijk 2015,6 2-63.  See also Luijendijk (2015,64).  This might even be the Gemellus of POxy.48.3397 verso, whom Ilist hereasapossible monk (see p. 120b elow).
On and beyondd uty: Christian clergy at  quite by the way, the document confirms that apotactic monks did not have to renouncet heir property.⁸⁸ The second monk, Philoxenus,appears in alist of payments written on abovine scapula: "by Philoxenus, monk, 229 myriads of denarii".⁸⁹ He is probably named after ap opularO xyrhynchite saint,whose shrine and cult are widelya ttested in the city.⁹⁰ The third monk, an anonymous,i sk nown from the real-estate transaction that alsof eatured the reader of the Catholic Church (SB 14.12021,a fter 377, see p. 118 above).⁹¹ The contracts tatest hat the monk, with his brother,h ad been the previous owner of the house.O nce again, therefore, am onkt urns up in a property transaction. It is not stated when the monk sold his share. Did he derive his income from rentingout the house,asdid the apotactic sisters Theodora and Tauris?Ordid he sell it on becomingamonk, donating the revenue to the poor?
Ad amaged wordi na na ccount on the verso of al etterf rom Papnuthis to Dorotheus (POxy.4 8.3397. 9, 330 -385C E) mayh ide af ourth monk, Gemellus. The entry reads: π(αρὰ) Γέμελλος σ̣ υ̣ [μμ]αχος (δηναρίων)(μυριάδες) ρν, 'from Gemellus,a ssistant,1 50 myriads of denarii'.A st he editor suggests, μ ̣ [ον]αχός (l. μοναχοῦ), 'monk' is ap ossibler econstruction.⁹² There is finally,atthe very end of our period, aslightlymorepalpable figure, Theon,who is portrayed by the Historia Monachorum in Aegypto as atight-lipped holym an, trilingual in Greek, Latin and Coptic, who dailyr eceivedv isitors in search for healing at his small cell.⁹³ Lincoln Blumell has argued that he is also attestedb yt hree bilingual Greek-Latin papyri.⁹⁴ Twoo ft his Theon'sl etters are addressed to ac ertain Pascentius,the third to am an named Apphous. (Iti s possiblet hat he is to be identified with Apphous, bishop of Oxyrhynchus at around the samet ime, but this cannot be proven.⁹⁵)I na ddition to being multilingual and composinghis letters in Latin and Greek, as at rue holym an Theon intercedes on behalf of an oldw oman and her son, appealingt oJob 36:19 ( POxy.1 8.2193). In the other letter to Pascentius,h eq uotes Sirach 12:2( POxy. 18.2194); in the letter to Apphous, Gen. 48:16a (PKöln 4.200). In addition, both letters to Pascentius open with aq uotation in Latinf rom am artyr act,t he Acta Apollonii.⁹⁶ Thus, of all the members of the Christian clergyr eviewed here, Theon is the one who in his correspondence is most on duty as ah oly man, quoting arangeofs criptural texts,i ntercedingfor the poor and encouraging others (the letters, of course, are not at est of his alleged taciturnity).

On and beyond duty
This paper has presented glimpses of Christian officials 'on duty' in Oxyrhynchus: bishop Sotas and presbyter Leon each writing letters of recommendation, and Theon, the holyman, appealing to scripture to help the poor.Thisisasclose as the papyrological evidence comest op astoralw ork. Viewed against the both tedious and fascinating heresiological and christological debates of the period, most Christian clergy examined here appearedi nc ontexts that have nothing or onlyv ery little to do with theology. Individuals appear in connection with a legal dispute and an accusation of theft,b ut there are no explicit traces of church conflicts or Christian diversity in the papyri, although these did rage at the time, even in Oxyrhynchus itself.A sIhave noted, even explicit references to the 'catholic' church are not necessarilyindications of aperceivedtheological differencewith another group. AndTheodorus, the bishop who we know wasinvolved in amajor ecclesiastical crisis, is mentioned in apapyrus onlyinpassing as owner of aboat: for what gets documented in papyri are not the minutiae of theological dispute but quotidian interactions. It is characteristic of papyrological evidence that it confronts us with everydayi ssues thatf or whatever reason requiret ob ep ut into writing,j ust as it is the literarys ources that are prone to preservet heological conflicts.
In the papyri we encountered clergyf or the most part engaged in activities beyond theirecclesial duties.B ishops, presbyters,r eaders, deacons and monas-tics appear in business documents,c learlyi dentified with their clerical titles. As ship-captains and farmers, their dailyl ives differed little from those of their fellow workers.Inthis sense,the clerical position was an honorary one, beyond the regular duty of providing for their families. When we encounter in papyrus documents bishops or presbyters goingb eyond duty,i ti sw hen they are active in the mundane world 'beyond' the sacred. We know that Bishop Sotastravelled abroad, presumablyonsome work-related mission (although there is no mention whatever of this) onlyb ecause he was asked to carry backh omeasignificant sum of money.O therst urn up serendipitouslyi nt ax-registers and businessdocuments.
No doubt these persons became bishops, priest or monastics for religious motives. In addition to and independent of their social background, members of the clerus gained financial and social benefits by enteringt he calling:i tr eleased them from certain taxesa nd expensive obligatory services (munera) and it commanded them respect in their community.Yet despite this blendofreligious and social-economic motivesn one of these individuals,n ot even Bishop Sotas, drew attention explicitlyt ot heir clericalt itles. We know of them almost entirelyt hanks to the value for the administration of such social or status identifiers.
Not all clerical ranksa nd positions mentioned in literarys ources appear in papyri (at least not in our period). Compared to others ources, the evidence for Oxyrhynchus lacks references to deaconesses,a colytes, doorkeepers, exorcists and widows.⁹⁷ The explanation for this absenceisprobablythattheir inferior social status meant they had less to do with the bureaucracy.A part from several nuns, we know of no femalec lergy at Oxyrhynchus. This is especiallys triking by comparison with the epigraphic evidence for Asia Minor or Rome. Their non-appearance is thus surelyd ue to the bias of our sources.⁹⁸ The sameb ias means that we know nothing about Christian clergy in the chôra outside the city itself.
Presbyter Heracles receivesr ent or pays taxes in grain; another presbyter is accused of theft,p resbyter Ammon is as hip'sc aptain, the nuns Theodora and Tauris rent out rooms.I ne ngagingi nworldlym atters in addition to sacred ones, these Christian clerics resembled the magistrates that held Greek and Roman priesthoods -with the important difference that manyG reek and Roman priests actuallyp aid in one wayo ra nother for the honour accorded  Therea re five references to widows as agroup in papyri fromOxyrhynchus from alater period. All record donations of wine.  See n.82 above.
them. Prior to 250, public officials at Oxyrhynchus regularly style themselves priestso fG raeco-Roman deities because of the prestige traditionallya ssociated with these offices.Overthe period 250and 350CE, this practice becomes increasingly rare; by the mid fourth century,wefind administrative documents routinely referringt omembers of the Christian clergybyt heir several titles. Asea change has occurred in less thano ne hundred years.