Coptic Text and Translations

Sayings of the Fathers: Apophthegmata Patrum

I typed these Coptic worksheets to use for writing my translations. The Coptic is taken from Introduction to Sahidic Coptic, by Thomas O. Lambdin, ISBN 0-86554-048-9, Apophthegmata Patrum (Sayings of the Fathers), pages 171 - 184.

Sayings 3 thru 9 text only (PDF)

Sayings 10 thru 19 text only (PDF)

Sayings 21 thru 28 text only (PDF)

Sayings 31 thru 124 text only (PDF)

Saying 141 text only (PDF)

Saying 175 text only (PDF)

Saying 240 text only (PDF)

The accompanying translations below are mine, and not authoritative. Since Lambdin doesn't give you any translations, these might help you if you get stuck.

Sayings 3 thru 9 with translation (PDF)

Sayings 10 thru 19 with translation (PDF)

Sayings 21 thru 28 with translation (PDF)

Sayings 31 thru 124 with translation (PDF)

Saying 141 with translation (PDF)

Saying 175 with translation (PDF)

Saying 240 with translation (PDF)

A good reference for translations of most of these is "The Desert Fathers, Sayings of the Early Chrisitan Monks" translated from Latin versions by Benedicta Ward. The copy I have is a Penguin Classics, published 2003. ISBN-13: 9780140447316.

Another edition is "The Sayings of the Desert Fathers: The Alphabetical Collection". Trans. Benedicta Ward, SLG. Kalamazoo, Michigan: Cistercian Publications Inc., 1984. ISBN-10: 0879079592, ISBN-13: 978-0879079598.

I translated these in 2006-8 with the help of a small study group that met at Stanford, where we learned to read Sahidic Coptic. The Sayings of the Desert Fathers are less like biblical moral tales and more like parables of Zen masters. Of interest to me was discovering that Christianity in its early years was fostered in the Egyptian desert by monastics and anchorites. For example, I never knew that Saint Anthony was an Egyptian!

An interesting direction to go from here would be to read the Coptic Nag Hammadi scrolls, which include Christian books that were not included in, and allegedly sometimes contradict, the New Testament.