This paper offers for the first time an edition of all the preserved fragments of the Coptic text of Severus of Antioch’s «Cathedral Homily LX» in honour of the prophet Elijah the Thezbite. After a brief introduction in which the author describes the manuscript tradition, the linguistic features and the content of this Coptic text, as well as gives the comparative study between the Coptic and Syriac translations and the guidelines of this edition, the author offers the first complete edition of the Coptic text, based on the only manuscript of the White Monastery preserved in three European libraries. This edition is also accompanied by a Russian translation of this text.

The article is examines the «Monody on the wise teacher George Gemistos» compiled by the monk Gregory, Plethon’s student. The content of the monody is analyzed by comparison with the works of Plethon himself, which Gregory used, and with historical and biographical information known from other sources. Monody seems to confirm that Plethon died in 1454, and not two years earlier, and confirms some of the features of his appearance described in the 1756 revision of the remains of Gemistos, located in the Tempio Malatestiano in Rimini. Compiling the praise for Gemistos and describing his life and virtues, Gregory polemicizes with the Palamites: he calls their attitude towards secular wisdom and the knowledge of God through the created world erroneous and argues that the true way of pleasing God is the combination of «divine and human knowledge», a conjunction of spiritual improvement with the pursuit of secular sciences and comprehension of the surrounding world. Describing the virtues of Gemistos, Gregory follows the outline from Plethon’s work «On Virtues», and when discussing the immortality of the soul, he reproduces the argument from the funerary orations on on Cleopa Malatesta and Helena Palaiologina compiled by Gemistos. Gregory shows himself formally to be a Christian, but in reality he is rather a Platonist, a follower of Plethon, for his loyalty to whose teachings after the death of the philosopher he was apparently persecuted by the zealots of Orthodoxy. Arguing that in virtue and wisdom Gemistos was superior not only to the ancient sages, but also to Christian saints and hesychast monks, Gregory presents his teacher as an ideal example, the idea of a philosopher.

This publication is the first translation from Ancient Greek into Russian of Origen’s Homily on Psalm 74, preceded by an introduction. In this introduction, the author of the translation briefly outlines the main themes as well as compositional and stylistic features of the text. The translation is supplemented by a commentary and a translation of the critical apparatus.

Theodore of Mopsuestia, for apologetic purposes in the 5th century, reexamined the traditional messianic interpretation of the prophetic texts of the Old Testament. The tools for this work were the fundamental principles of philological and historical analysis known at that time. The attempt to resolve the contradictions and problems in the area of messianic prophecy in the Old Testament led to a radical reduction of the messianic reading of most prophetic texts. A striking example of this is Micah 4, 1–7. Theodore’s commentary on this passage clearly shows his hermeneutical strategy, its strengths and weaknesses. When considering the interpreter’s arguments, it becomes obvious that the proponent of a precise literal interpretation of the Scriptures is forced to sacrifice the literal meaning of significant structures of the text in order to justify a narrow historical understanding of the prophetic text.

The article explores the literal-historical and messianic fulfilment of Isaiah’s prophecy about Cush and Egypt (Is. 18 – 20). On the one hand, the prophetic words are considered in a cultural-historical context in the VIII–VII centuries B. C. According to extra-biblical ancient Eastern sources, this period was marked by the spread of Assyria’s power to the east as far as Palestine and the border with Egypt, the consequence of which was a long Egyptian-Assyrian military confrontation that had a significant impact on the inhabitants of the kingdom of Judah. All these processes were directly or indirectly connected with the partial fulfilment of Isaiah’s prophecy already before the eyes of his contemporaries, when the Israelites and Jews who had migrated to Egypt founded there temples dedicated to the Lord, the God of Israel. On the other hand, archaeological and historical research in recent decades has shed light on the social and religious changes that were taking place in Egypt in the 1st–4th centuries A. D. and that became the context for the messianic fulfilment of prophecy associated with the spread of Christianity. The paper concludes that the Jewish temples were prototypes of the temples of the Christian and New Testament Church. «Canaanite language» mentioned in the prophecy is identified with the Coptic language, which among Egyptian Christians became the language of faith in the Lord.

The third part of the 2021 review of publications in Coptic studies presents five new monographs and catalogues. The first of these, edited by Dominique Bénazeth, is a collection dedicated to the excavations of the Church of Archangel Michael in the monastic complex of Bawit, Egypt. The second monograph, authored by Håkon Fian Teigen, explores the religious practices of the Manichaean community in the ancient settlement of Kellis, Egypt. The third publication, by Theodore C. Petersen and Francisco H. Trujillo, covers Coptic bookbindings in the Pierpont Morgan Library, detailing the techniques of their creation and decorative elements. The fourth work, by Lothar Störk, is a catalogue of Coptic liturgical manuscripts from the Berlin State Library. Concluding the review is the second volume of a catalogue by Stephen J. Davis, which includes Arabic commentaries and canons from the Dayr al-Suryan monastery.