The recensions of 2 Enoch

On occasion this blog has had cause to discuss the Slavonic cycle of Enoch. This exists in several versions, tied to two "recensions" - a long one and a short one. I mooted that the long one was postChristian in some Balkan / Pontic fashion. My muse was Maunder.

The short recension survives best in the manuscript dubbed "U" and - allied with it - "A". The earliest Slavonic copy of any version is, in fact, U. That recension's chapters "36-42" - corresponding to LR 36,39,37,40-2 - survive also in a Coptic language, likely Sahidic which was the official Church language in late-antiquity. This fragment parallels U and A. Orlov's online introduction dates to 2009, right before they'd found the Coptic MS.

Both recensions are in reaction to non-Enochian forms of Biblical religion. The short recension reacts to Judaism but might aim at the Temple cult, rather than at the rabbinical form. (There was no Temple in Enoch's day, and the Temple had become naught but an apocalyptic dream post 70 AD.)

BACKDATING 9/2 9:42 AM MST - because this is the needed background for the redemption-arc of the Tuesday comment.