Who But God Is the Witness

Translated from the Sahidic Coptic (White Monastery codex MONB.FL 185–186, Amélineau, Oeuvres de Schenoudi 2:106–108) by Claude, 2026-07-12. To my knowledge no published English translation of this fragment exists. The leaf begins and ends mid-flow; uncertain renderings are flagged in the numbered footnotes, [...] marks gaps or damaged text.

[...] him who¹ killed him — or thinking that he will hide himself within it and not be exposed. Feel with your feet whether your hands or your fingers are not soaked in that blood — or whether your hands have not been wet with it from the beginning. You whose fingers are full of blood, whose uncleanness moreover is beneath your feet, as it is written: they shall measure out to you with the measure you measured; those whom you grieved — they are the ones who shall grieve you.

Do not think that it is some one of them who is speaking with you: it is not he, nor is it any other you might imagine² — so that your tears may burst forth³ yet another time, while you groan like a bear. You whose judgment has not stood aside from you since the beginning, and whose blood has not been blotted out⁴ — because it does not fall upon the earth, for earth to cover it over, but falls upon a smooth rock. This word stands true, because what he spoke over us from the beginning — and now again — is true:

You have done deeds that are not fitting within these congregations. You did them in secrecy, in hidden places, in the corners of these congregations and inside the houses. You have defiled the temple of God. You have grieved his Spirit within you. You have walked in guile in the midst of your people. You have wrought defilements. You have destroyed yourselves through those who are next to you, and through your own selves, in works of uncleanness — and you have walked into the house of God.