159-160, no. 7 (ph., dr.) (ed. pr.) | |
112-113, no. 152, fig. 21 (ph.) |
SEG 40 (1990): 1499
CIIP IV.1 (2018): 3142 (ph., dr.)
Findspot: In the mosaic pavement of the "Chapel of the Three Priests" (in the southeast wing of the monastery), opposite the apse.
Pres. loc.: In situ.
Four lines of script, separated by three rows of red tesserae, within an elaborately decorated tabula ansata. The text begins and ends with a palm leaf. Abbreviated words, stigmas, horizontal strokes over sacred names, ligatures.
(palm leaf) Κ(ύρι)ε ὁ Θ(εὸ)ς ἡμῶν μνήσθητι ἐν τῆ
βασιλείᾳ σου Ἐλπιδίου Ιωάννου
Γεωργίου τῶν πρεσβ(υτέρων) κ(αὶ) πάσης
τῆς ἐν Χ(ριστ)ῷ αὐτῶν συνοδίας. (palm leaf)
O Lord our God remember in Thy kingdom Elpidius, John, and George the priests, and all their community in Christ.
Invocation, in the mosaic pavement in the southeast wing of the monastery.
Though the formula "remember in Thy kingdom" is used in inscription 5 in a funerary context, here it is by no means certain that the three priests were honored after death, since "their community in Christ" was obviously composed of living men. It is therefore conceivable that the chapel was built under the care, and perhaps with the financial help of, the three priests mentioned in the invocation.