R. Dekker

Episcopal Networks and Authority in Late Antique Egypt R. Dekker

In this book the author examines how two bishops in the Theban region
contributed to the rise of a new, anti-Chalcedonian church hierarchy,
which became the forerunner of the Coptic Orthodox Church. Abraham of
Hermonthis (ca. 590-621) and Pesynthius of Koptos (599-632) are
exceptional, since a large number of their professional documents
(mostly in Coptic) is preserved. By applying Social Network Analysis to
these documents, the author reconstructed their individual social
networks and linked them to a wider regional network that was centered
on monastic communities in Western Thebes (west of modern Luxor), but
also included a large number of civil officials, clergymen and lay men
and women. In addition, a social model of episcopal authority was
adopted, in order to evaluate how the bishops used their authority and
to explain what made Pesynthius so extraordinary that he is still
remembered as a saint by the Coptic Orthodox Church.