APOCRYPHA
The Fayyum Fragment
P. Vindob. G 2325: the prediction of Peter’s denial. A reading reconstruction after M. R. James, with two alternative endings.
The Russian translation was prepared by Priest Sergey Koudy for Life for God.
The English basis is M. R. James, The Apocryphal New Testament (1924), p. 25, in the public domain. The wording and the arrangement of both alternative endings were checked against the printed scan. Russian is translated from this English basis; no independent collation of the entire Greek papyrus is claimed. This is a reading reconstruction from a historical edition: its continuous sentences include supplements whose boundaries James does not mark here. They are not presented as wholly preserved manuscript lines.
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The Fayyum Fragment is the small Greek papyrus P. Vindob. G 2325 in the Vienna collection, first published by Gustav Bickell in 1885. Seven damaged lines survive on one side of a piece measuring about 3.5 × 4.3 cm. The manuscript is generally assigned to the third century; this does not date the composition. Its conventional name refers to its presumed Egyptian provenance, not a surviving ancient title. The passage predicts the disciples’ scattering and Peter’s denial. It closely parallels Mark 14:27–30 and Matthew 26:31–34. Its origin in an independent Gospel, an abridged retelling or a quotation in a homily remains uncertain. Its brevity and damage do not establish an author, a title or an identification with the Gospel of Peter.
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Section 1 contains the common opening; section 2 gives two mutually alternative endings after James. The four passage numbers are editorial reference aids, not the seven manuscript lines. Headings, alternative labels, the opening ellipsis and Russian punctuation are supplied by Life for God. The fragment follows the selected edition’s reconstruction; no diplomatic Greek transcription is offered.
Sources and reuse
- M. R. James — The Apocryphal New Testament (1924), p. 25 — Printed scan: the English source and basis for Russian. The entire passage and both alternative endings were checked.
- Theology on the Web — описание издания / edition record — Bibliographic record for James’s edition, explicitly marked Public domain.
- T. J. Kraus — P.Vindob.G 2325: The So-Called Fayûm-Gospel (2007), pp. 69–70 — Open publisher preview used for the physical description. No modern translation or reconstruction is reproduced.
- Vasileios D. Tzerpos — P. Vindob. G 2325, Θεολογία 83.3 (2012), pp. 253–264 — Open scholarly article consulted for the identifier, publication history and uncertain provenance. It is not the translation basis.
English translation: M. R. James, 1924, public domain. The Russian translation was prepared by Priest Sergey Koudy for Life for God. Introduction, separated alternatives and explanatory notes: Life for God, 2026. The website and PDFs use the same text.
Editorial explanation by Life for God. The following is James’s continuous reading, not a diplomatic transcription of the surviving papyrus letters. The opening is lost and the first line is especially uncertain. Section 2 gives two alternative continuations of the final phrase; they must not be read consecutively as two statements by Jesus.
1. The common reconstructed text
James prints these as alternative renderings of the same damaged passage. Labels A and B are supplied by Life for God; they do not identify two manuscripts or two successive events. Each continues “the Lord” in 1:2.
2. Two alternative endings
Translation notes
- 1:1 — Life for God. The conventional title is not ancient. P. Vindob. G 2325 is a collection identifier, not a chapter number. T. J. Kraus describes the dimensions and seven lines; the reverse is blank. This edition has four editorial passage units, not four ancient verses.
- 1:1 — Life for God. The opening ellipsis is supplied here to indicate the lost beginning; James starts with all ye in this. His translation does not individually bracket supplied letters or words. An absence of brackets therefore does not mean that an entire phrase survives. We do not invent new boundaries for the supplements.
- 1:1 — Life for God. The older English shall be offended means to stumble or fall away under trial, rather than merely to feel insulted. Compare Mark 14:27 and Matthew 26:31.
- 1:1 — Life for God. The shepherd saying recalls Zechariah 13:7 and its Gospel use. The passage lacks the promise of meeting in Galilee found in Mark 14:28 and Matthew 26:32. Omission alone does not prove priority to the canonical Gospels; the account may have been abridged, a possibility James already discusses.
- 1:2 — Life for God. In James, the words the Lord lead directly to the two alternative endings. The common sentence remains unfinished here so that either continuation can follow. Peter’s words parallel Mark 14:29 and Matthew 26:33.
- 2:1 — Life for God. The printed source interleaves the two endings and uses braces to group the alternatives. Reading its lines consecutively would create a misleading duplication. Here the alternatives are separated. James’s braces are typographical grouping marks, not characters on the papyrus.
- 2:1 — Life for God. First in James’s first reading places the denial before the specified cockcrow. The second states the temporal relationship explicitly with before. Neither reading is presented here as definitively established.
- 2:2 — Life for God. Twice corresponds to Mark 14:30; thrice counts Peter’s denials. Compare also Matthew 26:34, Luke 22:34 and John 13:38. To-day occurs in James’s second alternative, not his first, and is not imported into alternative A.
- 2:2 — Life for God. James notes that the Greek verb translated crow is literally associated with a cuckoo cry. The bird in this context is a cock; the translation retains the contextual sense rather than introducing a different bird.