Church/Monastery name:
Jerusalem (Mount of Olives) - Cave of Gethsemane
Inscription number:
2
Selected bibliography:
134-135, no. 43, fig. 3 (ed. pr.) | |
22n10, figs. 27-28 (phs.) | |
III, 248-251 |
Epigraphical corpora:
CIIP I.2 (2012): 903 (ph.)
Inscription type:
commemorative
grafitto
invocation/prayer
Location:
Findspot: On the vault of the Cave of Gethsemane, in the northwestern corner.
Pres. loc.: Not found.
Physical description :
Graffito consisting of seven lines within a roughly square frame. Careless, irregular letters, with a few cursive features. Lunate sigma and w-shaped omega.
Text:
☩ ˹Ὑ˺πὲρ μνήμης
κὲ ἀφέσεως
ἁμαρτηῶν
Σαμουὴλ
˹ὑ˺πομένον-
τ˹ο˺ς.
Κ(ύρι)ε ἐλέ[η]σον.
Translation:
For the memory and remission of the sins of long-suffering(?) Samuel. Lord, have mercy.
Date:
earlier than 7th-8th cent.
Summary:
Graffito for the memory of Samuel, on the vault of the cave.
Epigraphical Abbreviations:
horizontal over nomen sacrum
Bagatti interpreted ὑπομένοντος in the sense of “suffering” or “patiently bearing”, recalling I Cor 13,7; Jas 1,12; 5,13. However, it could also mean “submissive”, “humble”, especially if the writer was not proficient in Greek, as seems to be the case from his spelling. The writing is careless but clearly earlier than CIIP I/2 no. 904 (7th-8th cent.).