p.oxy.12.1592
[…]χαίρειν. ἐδεξάμην σου τὰ γράμματα, κύριέ μου πάτερ, καὶ πάνυ ἐμεγαλύνθην καὶ ἠγαλλίασα ὅτι τοιοῦτός μου πατὴρ τὴν μνήμην ποιεῖται. αὐτὰ γὰρ δεξαμένη τὸ ἱερόν σου πρόσωπον προσεκύνησα [… ? lines lost …]
One text, 2 sources · Trismegistos-Text 31771
Christian letter of a woman to her spiritual father TM 31771Oxyrhynchitesspätes III - frühes IV
The same ancient text or artifact as recorded by 2 records across 2 independent projects, recognised as one entity by its TM-Text identifier. View on Trismegistos →
The beginning of a Christian letter, probably from a woman, to a man she addresses as her lord father, likely a spiritual father or cleric. She says she rejoiced on receiving his letter and that he remembers her. It comes from the Oxyrhynchite nome and dates to the late 3rd or early 4th century AD.
In English machine translation
[…] greetings. I received your letter, my lord father, and I was greatly exalted and rejoiced that such a father as you keeps me in remembrance. For when I received it I did reverence to your holy [face (?)]
[… ? lines lost …]
The participle 'having received' is feminine, so the writer was a woman. The language ('I was exalted', 'rejoiced', 'holy face') echoes biblical phrasing, and 'father' probably means a spiritual father rather than a parent.
Working translation of the DDbDP edition, made with Claude Opus 5.5 from the edition and the catalogue records shown below (catalogued as Christian Letter). It has not been reviewed by a papyrologist: check the edition before citing. Restorations follow the edition; […] marks lost text and (?) an uncertain reading.