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Oratio I

Pseudo-Cyprian · ogl-csel

BothSourceEnglish
JSON Dossier
machine-draft · no human review 3 passages · 531 words

Work dossier · summary and historical context

Summary

Oratio I, attributed to Pseudo-Cyprian, is a late antique Latin homily or exhortation aimed at a general Christian audience. Its elevated but non-technical rhetoric suggests a liturgical or paraenetic setting. Modern scholarship rejects Cyprianic authorship, placing the work in the late 4th or early 5th century, possibly in North Africa or Italy. The text survives in a single early medieval manuscript, indicating limited circulation. It contains hapax legomena and syntactical ambiguities, and the edition's punctuation and paragraph divisions are editorial conjectures. No critical edition of the full manuscript tradition exists, and the work's influence is minimal outside manuscript studies.

Oratio I matters as a witness to late antique Latin Christian rhetoric and piety, offering insights into non-technical theological expression and liturgical echoes. Its attribution to Pseudo-Cyprian underscores the fluidity of authorship in manuscript traditions. The work's hapax legomena and syntactical ambiguities make it a valuable case study for textual criticism and the challenges of editing single-witness texts. It relates to broader traditions of Logos theology and early Christian prayer forms, such as those in the Apostolic Constitutions.

Historical context

Oratio I was composed in Latin, likely in the late 4th or early 5th century, a period of theological consolidation and liturgical development in the Latin West. The work's community is uncertain but may have been a North African or Italian Christian congregation. Its genre—a homily or exhortation—reflects the catechetical and pastoral needs of the post-Nicene church. The text's transmission is limited to a single early medieval copy, suggesting it never achieved wide circulation or liturgical adoption. It was included in early modern editions of Cyprian's works, but its attribution to Cyprian of Carthage is now rejected. The work's doctrinal features, such as Logos theology reminiscent of Justin Martyr and Tertullian, and its use of the triple 'Hagios' echoing the Sanctus of the Latin Mass, place it within the broader stream of Latin patristic literature. Its survival in the Ogl-CSEL edition highlights its value for manuscript studies, though its textual history remains obscure.

Apparatus · what the pipeline recorded

Annotation and terms

18 commentary units 5 scripture3 structure3 background2 term2 reception2 caution1 parallel 2 derived notes 4 open questions 3 narrative
What the kinds mean

Pipeline notes

  • coverageNo English translation could be identified: a language model asked twice could not name one, though it could not rule one out either. That is not proof that none exists — translations in dissertations, recent books and other modern languages are easily missed.
  • limitThe English is a machine draft produced passage by passage from the transcribed Coptic; no human has verified it. The commentary is model-written and cites only keys the pipeline could resolve.
  • registerRegister: other in Latin; the English keeps the liturgical formulae and the vocatives rather than normalising them.
  • structurePassages: 3 narrative.
  • caution2 passage(s) are fragmentary in the source; the English bridges each break and says so in the note.
  • sourceSource edition: ogl-csel — Available under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License

Term index

CopticRenderingCountFirst
no glossary terms recorded
stoa0104p.stoa019.opp-lat1:1 · narrativemedium
Source
X. ORATIO I. Hagios, hagios, hagios, sancte sanctorum, pater patrum nostrorum, Deus Abraham, Deus Isaac, Deus Iacob, Deus prophetarum, Deus apostolorum, Deus uirginum, Deus bene uiuentium, Deus credentium, Deus et pater Domini nostri Iesu Christi filii tui: te inuocamus supplices pariter et deprecamur [fili unigenite], qui ex ore altissimi procreatus es ante mundi dispositionem et ex Mariae sanctae uirginis utero per mysterium editus: orantibus nobis desiderium animae, etiam integritatem cordis praestare dignare, ut lauacro salutari expiatum pectus delictis carnalibus incolume persistat. petimus fide inlibata, mente incorrupta, deuotione robusta, operatione seu dilectione continua, in tua ecclesia sancta semper nos florere permittas: quoniam tibi flectimus genua, curuamus ceruices, cui angeli archangeli milia milium martyrum. chorus apostolorum et prophetarum gloria exultant, cui omnes aues laudes canunt, linguae confitentur caelestium terrestrium et infernorum : tibi omnes aquae in caelo et sub caelo confitentur, te insensibilia sentiunt: tu es solus et praeter te nemo.
English
Holy, holy, holy, holy of holies, father of our fathers, God of Abraham, God of Isaac, God of Jacob, God of the prophets, God of the apostles, God of virgins, God of those who live well, God of the faithful, God and father of our Lord Jesus Christ your son: we invoke you, suppliants alike and we entreat [you, only-begotten son], who were begotten from the mouth of the Most High before the ordering of the world and brought forth from the womb of the holy virgin Mary through mystery: deign to grant to us who pray the desire of the soul, and also the integrity of the heart, so that the breast purified by the saving bath may remain unharmed by carnal sins. We ask that, with faith unimpaired, mind uncorrupted, devotion robust, and with continuous work or love, you always permit us to flourish in your holy church: because we bend the knee to you, we bow the neck, to you whom angels, archangels, thousands of thousands of martyrs, the chorus of apostles and prophets exult in glory, to whom all birds sing praises, tongues of heavenly, earthly, and infernal beings confess: to you all waters in heaven and under heaven confess, you insensible things perceive: you are alone and besides you no one.
stoa0104p.stoa019.opp-lat1:2 · narrativehigh
Source
te quaesumus, Domine pater omnipotens, qui soli filio conspectabilis es : angeli et archangeli obtemperant tibi Domine pater: te oramus, tribuas nobis mentem integram, innocentiam puram, sinceritatem deuotam, conscientiam sanctam [puram] sobriam castam, contra omnes insidias saeculi gloriosa fide degentem: contra diaboli minas et carnales inlecebras munitum pectus concedas, ne uiolenti et cruenti hostis letalibus laqueis implicemur, ut signum salutis aeternae incolume perferamus. arce a nobis omnem saeculi inluuiem omnemque diaboli persuasionem. laqueetur, concidat et separetur et amoueatur, sicut a Sarra famula tua Asmodaeus daemon nequissimus extinctus est per angelum tuum sanctum tuum Raphael. et sicut Tobiae adfuisti, ita mihi adesse digneris. et ut tribus pueris in camino et Danielo misericordiam praestitisti, sic circa nos tuos famulos facere digneris. qui mortuos suscitasti, caecos inluminasti, surdis auditum, mutis eloquium, claudis gressum, leprosis sanitatem dedisti: ita da famulis tuis, qui in te tota uirtute mentis credimus natum passum. uenturum iudicare uiuos et mortuos. adsiste nobis, sicut apostolis in uinculis, Teclae in ignibus, Paulo in persecutionibus, Petro in fluctibus.
English
We beseech you, Lord Father Almighty, who are visible to your Son alone: angels and archangels obey you, Lord Father. We pray you, grant us an undivided mind, pure innocence, sincere devotion, a holy, sober, and chaste conscience, living with glorious faith against all the snares of the world; grant a breast fortified against the threats of the devil and carnal allurements, that we may not be entangled in the deadly traps of the violent and bloody enemy, so that we may bear unharmed the sign of eternal salvation. Keep from us all the filth of the world and every persuasion of the devil. May it be ensnared, cut off, separated, and removed, just as the most wicked demon Asmodeus was destroyed from your handmaid Sarah by your holy angel Raphael. And as you were present to Tobias, so may you deign to be present to me. And as you granted mercy to the three youths in the furnace and to Daniel, so may you deign to act toward us, your servants. You who raised the dead, gave light to the blind, hearing to the deaf, speech to the mute, gait to the lame, health to lepers: so grant to your servants, who believe with all the strength of our mind in you, born, suffered, about to come to judge the living and the dead. Stand by us, as you stood by the apostles in chains, by Thecla in the fires, by Paul in persecutions, by Peter on the waves.
stoa0104p.stoa019.opp-lat1:3 · narrativemedium
Source
qui sedes super septem thronos ad dexteram patris, respice nos et libera de aeternae mortis interitu: unus in uno, pater in filio, filius in patre, spiritus sanctus, per quem et cum quo est tibi in sancta ecclesia honor uirtus claritas maiestas potestas benedictio inmortalitas nunc et in aeternum semper et in omnia saecula saeculorum. amen.
English
who sit upon seven thrones at the right hand of the Father, look upon us and deliver us from the destruction of eternal death: one in one, Father in Son, Son in Father, Holy Spirit, through whom and with whom is to you in the holy Church honor, virtue, glory, majesty, power, blessing, immortality, now and forever, always and for all ages of ages. Amen.
Citation. Tergwame, “Oratio I”, stoa0104p.stoa019.opp-lat1:1, machine-draft, 2026. https://naxiai.com/christian/works/stoa0104p.stoa019.opp-lat1#s1
Colophon. Source: ogl-csel · licence: Available under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License · model: deepseek/deepseek-v4-flash:floor · provider: Relace · cost: $0.0020 · generated 2026-11-15.