La Passio etiopica di Sofia e delle sue figlie Pistis, Elpis e Agape: tradizione manoscritta e ipotesi di Vorlage

This article aims at offering a comprehensive picture of the Greek and Oriental traditions of the Passio of Sofia and her three daughters Pistis, Elpis and Agape, with particular emphasis on the Ethiopic version. Little historical reliability is acknowledged to these martyrs, whose legend was originally composed in Greek, probably in the 4th century in Constantinople. The Ethiopic dossier consists of a Passio transmitted within the hagiographical collection Gädlä Säma‘tat, and several entries in the Synaxarium. After providing a list of the witnesses of the Ethiopic Passio attested so far, the article investigates a number of loci critici in order to explore the mutual relationship among the several versions of the text. A repertory of peculiar renderings and mistranslations supports a direct Greek dependence and, within the Greek tradition, shows evidence of a certain proximity to the so-called “Ambrosian” recension (BHG 1637x). Accordingly, the text would have been translated into Gé‘éz in the Aksumite age (4th-7th cent.). Nevertheless, a conclusive assessment of the Vorlage of the Ethiopic text will be possible only after critical editions of the Gé‘éz and Arabic versions are available.