The Canons attributed to Basil of Caesarea in the context of the canonical literature preserved in Coptic

The Canons attributed to Basil of Caesarea were known so far through a number of Arabic manuscripts, one of which was translated in German by Riedel, but not edited; a quotation of Canon 1 in a Coptic liturgical manuscript of paper (published by J. Dresher); a number of fragments belonging to different Coptic codices, edited and inedited, and in particular two leaves from a lost papyrus codex coming from Deir Bala’izah (n. 31), with the text of Canon 36 (published by P.E. Kahle); some Chester Beatty leaves (ms 819C, ff. 1-8) from a parchment codex (Canons 48-96) likely deriving from the White Monastery (inedited); the Turin Codex XIII, which is constituted by a good number of fragmentary leaves partially edited by F. Rossi. To these textual witnesses a new entire codex has been added, now preserved in Cairo, Coptic Museum. The aim of this contribution is to offer an updating about the edition of the Canons and to place them in the context of the Coptic literature, in particular the circulation of the canonical literature in this language and the intellectual milieus that promoted it.