In 1753, a French ambassador whose last name was Desalleurs – and who had been stationed at
Constantinople – presented
a gift to King Louis XV: a Greek
Gospels-lectionary, now known as
Lectionary 261. (At the National Library of France, where it
resides, it is known as Supplemental Greek manuscript 37.) This is no ordinary lectionary; it is finely
illustrated, not only with headpieces for each Evangelist, but with many other
small illustrations in the margins. It
contains Gospels-lections for both the Synaxarion – the calendar that is
annually reset at Easter – and for the Menologion – the feast-days that are
affixed to specific unchanging days of the calendar. According to Scrivener’s Plain Introduction,
fourth edition (1894), its pages measure 13 inches high and 10 and 7/8ths inches wide.
 |
A headpiece in Lectionary 261,
featuring the Evangelist Luke. |
Lectionary 261 has been assigned a production-date in the
1000’s or 1100’s (see, however, the detail about its colophon). Its text, written in
two columns on each page, appears to be an excellent representative of the
Byzantine Text. To give some idea of the
quality of its text, let’s have a quick round of hand-to-hand combat! –
Lectionary 261 versus Papyrus 75 in John 2:14-22; go!
Papyrus 75 deviates from the Nestle-Aland compilation at the
following points in Luke 2:14-22:
● 2:14 – P75 has τας before βοας (+3)
● 2:15 – P75 has ως after ποιησας (+2)
● 2:15 – P75 has
τα κερματα instead of το κερμα (+3, -1)
● 2:15 P75 has ανεστρεψεν (+1)
● 2: P75 has οτι (+3)
● 2: P75 does not
have υμιν (-4)
● 2: P75 uses an
underlined μ as a numeral instead of writing out τεσσερακοντα.
Setting aside the use of a numeral, that means that in John
2:14-22, Papyrus 75 has 12 non-original letters, and is missing 5 original
letters, for a total of 17 letters’ worth of textual corruption. (If we were to penalize P75 for using a
numeral, its total deviation from NA27’s text would consist of 30 letters’
worth of corruption. But we won’t.)
In comparison, the text of Lectionary 261 has the following
deviations from NA27:
● 2:15 – Lect 261
has ανεστρεψεν (+1)
● 2:16 – Lect 261
has πολουσι instead of πολουσιν (-1)
● 2:16 – Lect 261
has ποιητε instead of ποιετε (+1, -1)
● 2:17 – Lect 261
has δε after εμνήσθησαν (+2)
● 2:18 – Lect 261
has ειπον instead of ειπαν (+1, -1)
● 2:20 – Lect 261
has ειπον instead of ειπαν (+1, -1)
● 2:20 – Lect 261
has τεσσαρακοντα instead of τεσσερακοντα (+1, -1)
● 2:20 – Lect 261
has ωικοδομήθη instead of οικοδομήθη (+1, -1)
● 2:22 – Lect 261
has ω instead of ον (+1, -2)
Thus Lectionary 261 has 9 non-original letters in John
2:14-22, and is missing 8 original letters, for a total of 17 letters’ worth of
textual corruption – even when the orthographic variation involving τεσσαρακοντα is included (which isn’t quite
fair to Lectionary 261, because P75’s scribe did not spell out the word). This means that in this particular passage,
the text of Lectionary 261 is as accurate as the text of Papyrus 75. In addition, while in Lectionary 261’s
transmission-line the word δε was added in verse 17, and ω was substituted for ον
in verse 22, the alterations in the text of Papyrus 75 included the insertion
of three words, and the omission of one word.
Or to put it another way: based
on this small sample, the text from the ancient Egyptian papyrus looks like it
has been edited, whereas the text
from the medieval lectionary looks like it has only been subjected to very
minor orthographical and grammatical tweaking.
Another thing worth noticing: the Byzantine reading at the end of verse 15
– ανε
στρεψεν – is supported not only
by Lectionary 261 but also by Papyrus 75.
Is this ancient vindication of the Byzantine reading making an impact on
critically edited texts of the New Testament?
A little: ἀνέστρεψεν was adopted
by Michael Holmes for the
SBLGNT, but the recently released
Tyndale House GNT
still reads ἀνέτρεψεν, and this must have been deliberate, since the
starting-point for the Tyndale House edition was the compilation made in the
1800’s by Samuel Tregelles, who adopted ἀνέστρεψεν.
Lectionary 261 does not have the story of the adulteress in
its Synaxarion-section; the lection for Pentecost flows without interruption
from the end of John 7:53 to the beginning of John 8:12, with which it concludes. That is not unusual. In the Menologion-section, however, the
lection for Saint Pelagia’s day (October 8) is present, as John 8:3-11, with
κατείληπται in verse 4, and with Και at the beginning of verse 5, and with
ειπον εκπειράζοντες and εγραφεν in verse 6, and other unusual readings. Mark 16:9-20 is included as the third of
eleven readings in the Heothina-series, pertaining to Christ’s
resurrection. Luke 22:43-44 is not only
included but is accompanied by a small illustration depicting Christ praying
and being visited by the angel.
After the last page of the Menologion, which is sloppily
expanded by a later hand, a different scribe has added a lection from Matthew
14:1-13. This is followed by several
lines of some sort of colophon, with a date which someone seems to have calculated
as 1232.
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In a passage from Matthew 25,
Christ teaches about readiness. |
Lectionary 261’s text is by no means its only noteworthy
feature. Artistically, it is far above
average. Its copyist’s minuscule
script is a model of efficiency and neatness; corrections in the margin are
rare (one occurs in the text of Luke
8:47 where the copyist accidentally skipped from one αὐτῷ to the same word further along in the verse). Occasionally (and especially in titles in the Menologion) a half-uncial script is used. Many of the lection-headings appear to be written in gold, and in the first lection after the lection for Pentecost, following a large headpiece featuring the Evangelist Matthew, Matthew 18:10, 8:11, and 8:12
a are written in gold before the rest of the lection continues on the next page.
The Samaritan woman, Lazarus, Zacchaeus, the wise and
foolish virgins, and the rich young ruler are among the many characters who
appear in small illustrations in the margins throughout the Synaxarion-portion. Occasionally the colorful initials are
transformed into portraits of Christ. Some
Bible-readers prefer their text to be unadorned, and yet these bright initials
brings to mind a happy closing thought – that what began as letters on a page
may, when welcomed, implanted, and applied, end up as Christ in you.
[
A PDF of Lectionary 261 can be downloaded at the Gallica website.]
