Ein neues Zeugnis des frühen Christentums. Der Papyrus PL III/633 der Biblioteca Medicea Laurenziana

The papyrus letters from an early Christian environment have always attracted the papyrologists’ attention. This paper presents a new, so far inedited piece from the Laurenziana Collection of Florence. Although the papyrus is badly mutilated and incomplete, besides the transcription, a partial and very hypothetical restoration of the content and the context can be attempted. According to my interpretation the writer gives an account of a speech held by the deacon Stephan, which may echo verses from the Letter of James (James 2.2–6). If its date based on paleographical considerations (3rd–4th c.) is correct, the papyrus might even refer to the city of Arkadia on Crete, although a dating into the 5th c. and an interpretation of the name as the eparchy of Arkadia in Egypt cannot be excluded. Despite all difficulties the papyrus represents a new, surely Christian letter with a possible Biblical echo. This paper, however, is not the critical edition of the text, which is to be prepared in a forthcoming article; its only intention is to present the papyrus with its problems and propose a possible reading of the text