The Text of the Gospels: Library of Congress

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Saturday, September 9, 2017

Versional Manuscripts at the Library of Congress

The website of the Library of Congress provides page-views of dozens and dozens of Greek New Testament manuscripts, to which I provided links in earlier posts. It also contains quite an impressive assortment of versional New Testament manuscripts – Arabic, Armenian, Ethiopic, Georgian, Slavonic, and Syriac are all represented.

The members of the 1949-1950 expedition that photographed these manuscripts must have worked in a preternatural energetic flurry in order to collect all these page-views. The manuscripts listed here represent just a fraction of the work involved; a total of 1,073 manuscripts were photographed. They included not only manuscripts of Scripture but also patristic and liturgical works. Some of the compositions fall into such obscure categories that one might need a jargon-dictionary to sort it all out. Such a resource is provided at the Library of Congress’ website, helping viewers to know the difference between a Sticherarion and a Synaxarion. Also provided at the Library of Congress’ archives: a tour of Saint Catherine’s monastery in pictures! It’s like visiting the monastery as it existed seventy years ago, minus the sand.

Without further ado, here is a list of 163 versional New Testament manuscripts at Jerusalem and Sinai, consisting of 56 Arabic manuscripts (this is not all of them!), 20 Armenian manuscripts, 1 Ethiopic manuscript, 27 Georgian manuscripts, 6 Slavonic manuscripts, and 53 Syriac manuscripts:

Arabic New Testament Manuscripts at Jerusalem:

A page from Arabic MS
68 at St. Catherine's.

Arabic 6 (Persian) – Evangelion (Made in 1791)

Arabic 11 – Evangelion with Commentary (Made in 1500)

Arabic 15 – Evangelion (Made in 1700s)

Arabic 18 – Evangelion (Made in 1500s)

Arabic 22 – Evangelion for Sundays and Feast-days (Made in 1736)

Arabic 27 – Evangelion with Commentary (Made in 1646)

Arabic 28 – Evangelion with Commentary (1300s)

Arabic 29 – Apostolos (Made in 1642)

Arabic 30 – Evangelion (Made in 1405)

Arabic 36 – Four Gospels (1300s)

Arabic 39 – Evangelion (1500s)

Arabic 60 – Evangelion (Made in 1615)

Arabic 67 – Evangelion with Commentary (1300s)

Arabic 71 – Apostolos (Made in 1764)

Arabic 72 – Evangelion (1300s)

Arabic 87 – Evangelio-Apostolos (Made in 1771)

Arabic 90 – Evangelion for Sundays (Made in 1762)

Arabic 103 – Four Gospels (1100s/1200s)

Arabic 104 – Apostolos (1700s)

Arabic 124 – Evangelion (1700s)

Arabic 125 – Evangelion, Sermons, etc. (1600s/1700s)

Arabic 135 – Four Gospels (Made in 1618)

Arabic 194 – Four Gospels (Made in 1689)

Arabic 207 – Four Gospels (Made in 1793)

Arabic 208 – Evangelion (Made in 1669)

Arabic 213 – Four Gospels (1400s)

Arabic 220 – Four Gospels (Made in 1322)

Arabic 222 – Evangelion (Made in 1666)

Arabic 226 – Apostolos (Made in 1764)

Arabic 234 – Evangelion (1800s)

Arabic 235 – Four Gospels (1700s)

Arabic 236 – Evangelion (Made in 1738)

Some Arabic New Testament Manuscripts at St. Catherine’s:

Arabic MS 74, page-view 68,
at Saint Catherine's.

Arabic Manuscripts 54 – Four Gospels – Four Gospels (900s)

Arabic Manuscripts 68 – Four Gospels (1300s), a decorated copy

Arabic Manuscripts 69 – Four Gospels (made in 1065)
Arabic Manuscripts 70 – Four Gospels (from the 800s)

Arabic Manuscripts 71 – Four Gospels (900s)

Arabic Manuscripts 72 – Four Gospels (made in 897)

Arabic Manuscripts 73 – Epistles of Paul (800s)

Arabic Manuscripts 74 – Four Gospels (800s)

Arabic Manuscripts 75 – Four Gospels (c. 800)

Arabic Manuscripts 76 – Four Gospels (1200s)

Arabic Manuscripts 80 – Four Gospels (made in 1479)

Arabic Manuscripts 84 – Four Gospels (made in 1262)

Arabic Manuscripts 85 – Revelation (1200s-1300s)

Arabic Manuscripts 90 – Four Gospels (made in 1281)

Arabic Manuscripts 106 – Four Gospels (made in 1056)

Arabic Manuscripts 112 – Four Gospels (made in 1259)

Arabic Manuscripts 117 – Gospels-lectionary (made in 1203)

Arabic Manuscripts 138 – Gospels-lectionary (made in 1117)

Arabic Manuscripts 144 – Gospels-lectionary (made in 1052)

Arabic Manuscripts 151 – Epistles and Acts (made in 867) Unusual formatting of the text.

Arabic Manuscripts 154 – Acts and Epistles (700s-800s)

Arabic Manuscripts 155 – Sirach and the Pauline Epistles (c. 900)

Arabic Manuscripts 159 – Acts and Epistles (made in 1199)

Arabic Manuscripts 310 – Epistles of Paul (late 900s) Neatly written.

Armenian New Testament Manuscripts:

A page from the
King Gagek Gospels.

Armenian 251 – Four Gospels (A.D. 1260)

Armenian 1796 – Four Gospels (A.D. 1287)

Armenian 1924 – Four Gospels (A.D. 1064) braided cross frontispiece

Armenian 1935 – Four Gospels (A.D 1746)

Armenian 1938 – Four Gospels (A.D. 1611)

Armenian 1944 – Four Gospels (A.D. 1589)

Armenian 1949 – Four Gospels (A.D. 1312)

Armenian 1950 – Four Gospels (A.D. 1316)

Armenian 1956 – Four Gospels (A.D. 1265)

Armenian 1973 – Four Gospels (A.D. 1346)

Armenian 2360 – Four Gospels (A.D. 1331)

Armenian 2555 – Four Gospels (1000s)

Armenian 2556 (Treasury 1) King Gagek Gospels (1000s)

Armenian 2562 (Treasury 7) – Four Gospels (1000s)

Armenian 2563 – Queen Keran Gospels (A.D. 1272)

Armenian 2568 (Treasury 13) Prince Vassak Gospels (1200s)

Armenian 2625 (Treasury 70) – Four Gospels (A.D. 1612)

Armenian 2649 – The “Miracle Gospels” (A.D. 1332)

Armenian 2650 (Treasury 95) – Four Gospels (A.D. 1424)

Armenian 2660 (Treasury 105) – Four Gospels (A.D. 1262)

Ethiopic New Testament Manuscript:

Saint John in Ethiopic MS 11,
at Jerusalem.

Ethiopic 11 – Evangelion, Gospel of John (1600s) (at Jerusalem)

Georgian New Testament Manuscripts at St. Catherine’s:

Georgian 10 – Praxapostolos (c. 1000)

Georgian 15 – Four Gospels (A.D. 978)

Braided cross page.

Georgian 16 – Four Gospels (900s)

Georgian 19 – Four Gospels (A.D. 1074)

Georgian 30 – Four Gospels (900s)

Georgian 37 – Apostolo-Evangelion (c. 1000)

Georgian 38 – Luke and John (A.D. 979)

Georgian 39 – Acts and Epistles (A.D. 974)

Georgian 60 – Apostolos fragment (A.D. 977)

Georgian 81 – Four Gospels (c. 1200)

Georgian New Testament Manuscripts at Jerusalem:

A page from Georgian MS
102 at Jerusalem.

Georgian 19 – Praxapostolos (1100s/1200s)

Georgian 28 – Evangelion (1400s/1500s)

Georgian 29 – Evangelion (1400s/1500s

Georgian 49 – Four Gospels (1000s)

Georgian 76 – Apostolos (1500s)

Georgian 82 – Apostolos (1000s/1100s)

Georgian 93 – Four Gospels (1200s-1400s)

Georgian 95 – Apostolos and Euchologion (1500s)

Georgian 102 – Four Gospels (1100s-1300s)

Georgian 103 – Four Gospels (1100s-1300s)

Georgian 109 – Apostolos (1100-1300s)

Georgian 115 – Praxapostolos (Made in 1755)

Georgian 116 – Apostolos (1200s-1300s)

Georgian 122 – Four Gospels (1200s/1300s)

Georgian 129 – Praxapostolos (1300s/1400s)

Georgian 153 – Four Gospels (1100s)

Georgian 160 – Four Gospels (1600s/1700s)

Also notable:

Georgian 6 – Ephrem Syrus: Commentary on Epistles (1100s)

Slavonic New Testament Manuscripts:

Slavonic (Slavic) Manuscripts 1 – Four Gospels (at St. Catherine’s) (production-date unknown)

Slavonic (Slavic) Manuscripts 2 – Four Gospels (at St. Catherine’s) (Made in 1532)

Slavonic (Slavic) Manuscripts 3 – Four Gospels (at St. Catherine’s) (production-date unknown)

Slavonic (Slavic) Manuscripts 4 – Acts and Epistles (at St. Catherine’s)

Slavonic (Slavic) 39 – Apostolos (production-date unknown)

Slavonic Abraam 3 – Four Gospels (at Jerusalem) (1200s)

The beginning of Matthew
in Slavonic MS Abraam 3.

Syriac New Testament Manuscripts at St. Catherine’s:

Syriac MS 1 – Lectionary (A.D. 1127)

Syriac MS 2 – Four Gospels (500s)

Syriac MS 3 – Epistles of Paul (c. 600) – An important manuscript.

Syriac MS 5 – Epistles and Acts (c. 500)

Syriac MS 6 – Gospels lectionary (A.D. 1178)

Syriac MS 7 – Gospels lectionary (1100s)

Syriac MS 11 – Four Gospels (c. 800)

Syriac MS 12 – Lectionary and Gospel of Luke (c. 600)

Syriac MS 13 – Gospels lectionary and Epistles lectionary (1000s)

Syriac MS 15 – Acts and Epistles (c. 700)

Syriac MS 17 – New Testament (c. 800)

Syriac MS 20 – Gospels lectionary (A.D. 1015)

Syriac MS 21 – New Testament lectionary (1000s)

Syriac MS 30 – Gospels (late 300s/early 400s) This is the Sinaitic Syriac palimpsest. The upper writing consists of biographies and martyrologies of female saints. The lower writing is the Gospels text.

Syriac MS 32 – Lectionary for Gospels and Epistles (1000s)

Syriac MS 42 – New Testament lectionary and Euchologion (1100s)

Syriac MS 45 – Apostolos (A.D. 1043)

Syriac MS 54 – New Testament (without Revelation) (c. 700)

Syriac MS 65 – Gospels lectionary and Kanonarion (1000s)

Syriac MS 74 – Four Gospels (1200s)

Syriac MS 75 – Acts lectionary and Epistles lectionary (A.D. 1295)

Two pages from Syriac MS
159 at St. Catherine's.

Syriac MS 76 – Gospels lectionary (1200s-1300s)

Syriac MS 81 – Epistles lectionary (A.D. 1232)

Syriac MS 92 – Praxapostolos (A.D. 1291)

Syriac MS 100 – Acts lectionary and Epistles lectionary (1200s)

Syriac MS 120 – Acts lectionary and Epistles lectionary (1100s-1300s)

Syriac MS 134 – Gospels of Matthew and Mark (1200s)

Syriac MS 135 – Four Gospels (1100s-1200s)

Syriac MS 145 – Four Gospels (A.D. 1188)

Syriac MS 159 – Gospels of Matthew and John (A.D. 1260)

Syriac MS 161 – New Testament lectionary (1300s-1400s)

Syriac MS 205 – Four Gospels (1300s)

Syriac MS 214 – Acts lectionary and Epistles lectionary (1200s)

Syriac MS 215 – Praxapostolos (A.D. 1219)

Syriac MS 216 – Praxapostolos (1200s)

Syriac MS 217 – Gospels lectionary (A.D. 1297)

Syriac MS 218 – Praxapostolos (1200s)

Syriac MS 219 – Gospels lectionary (1200s)

Syriac MS 222 – Praxapostolos (A.D. 1267)

Syriac MS 227 – Praxapostolos (A.D. 1293)

Syriac MS 229 – Praxapostolos (1200s)

Syriac MS 231 – Four Gospels (1200s-1300s)

Syriac MS 235 – Praxapostolos (A.D. 1215)

Syriac MS 236 – Gospels lectionary (A.D. 1294)

Syriac MS 238 – Gospels lectionary (1200s)

Syriac MS 259 – Gospels of Luke and John (1200s)

Syriac MS 269 – Gospels lectionary (1100s-1200s)

Syriac MS 271 – Gospels lectionary (A.D. 1288)

Syriac MS 272 – Four Gospels (A.D. 1297)

Also notable:

Syriac MS 59 – Homilies on John (c. 800)

Syriac MS 19 – Homilies on Song of Songs (c. 700)

Syriac New Testament Manuscripts at Jerusalem:

Syriac 1 – Evangelion (Made in 1679)

Syriac 9 – New Testament (Made in 1261)

Syriac 33 – New Testament (Made in 1608)

Syriac-Arabic, St. James 1 – Evangelion (Made in 1591)

That is a lot of versional New Testament manuscripts!

This post is presented in memory of Vickey Rose McCorkle, cherished sister in Christ.

“She has been a helper of many, and of myself also.”

Thursday, September 7, 2017

The Photios Manuscripts and More

Among the Greek manuscripts overseen by the Jerusalem Patriarchate, there are a few small collections which were included in the group that was photographed by Kenneth Clark’s expedition in 1949-1950, with the larger Saba and Stavros collections. Here is a list of Greek New Testament manuscripts in the smaller collections, with embedded links to page-views at the website of the Library of Congress. Some of these manuscripts are very late, post-dating the invention of printing, but K. W. Clark and his colleagues went through the trouble of photographing them and I did not want their work to be ignored.

A simple case of homoeoarcton:
in GA 1364, in Mark 4:39, the copyist’s
line of sight drifted from και to και,
skipping the letters in between
(consisting of the phrase, “and there
was a great calm”). A correction has
been added in the margin.

GA 1364: Photios 23 – Four Gospels (1100’s)

Matthew. Mark. Luke. John.

GA 1365: Photios 28 – Four Gospels (1100’s)

Matthew. Mark. Luke. John.

The zoomorphic initials at the beginning of Mark and John have a Western European style.

Photios 1 – Evangelion (1000’s/1100’s(?))
Photios 2 – Evangelion (1100’s)

Photios 29 – Psalter with Odes (800’s/900’s) Magnificat (Luke 1:46-55).

Photios 53 – Evangelion (1200’s/1300’s)

I am not sure where the Photios collection was before it was transferred to the care of the Jerusalem Patriarchate. Perhaps these manuscripts were in the care of Archimandrite Photios in the early 1880’s, shortly before several collections were combined. Also photographed in 1949-1950 were New Testament manuscripts in the care of the Jerusalem Patriarchate from the following collections:

● The Naos Anastaseos collection:

GA 1358 – Naos Anastaseos 15 – Four Gospels (c. 1000)

Matthew. Mark. Luke. John.

Naos Anastaseos 9 – Evangelion (made in 1152). The Gospels-text in this lectionary appears to be closely related to the text in Codex Tischendorfianus III (Λ, 039), at least in John 8:1-11, as described in an earlier post.

Naos Anastaseos 1 – Evangelion (made in 1647?)

Naos Anastaseos 2 – Evangelion (made in 1610)

Naos Anastaseos 3 – Evangelion (made in 1633) Two dragons form the initial ε of John 1:1.

Naos Anastaseos 5 – Evangelion (made in 1596)

Naos Anastaseos 6 – Evangelion (made in 1599)

Naos Anastaseos 8 – Evangelion (1400’s)

Naos Anastaseos 10 – Evangelion (1500’s)

Naos Anastaseos 11 – Evangelion (1200’s)

● The Epiphanios Collection

Heavily damaged but recognizable,
a picture of the Evangelists precedes
the text in Megale Panagia 1.

Epiphanios 1 – Apostolos (1300’s)

Epiphanios 6 – Apostolos (1300’s)

Epiphanios 7 – Apostolos (1400’s)

● The Megale Panagia Collection

Megale Panagia 1 – Evangelion (made in 1061) (Was this lectionary previously at the Megale Panagia Monastery on the island of Samos?)

● The Naos Abraam Collection

Naos Abraam 55 – Sylloge and Four Gospels (1600’s)

● The Treasury Collection

Treasury 1 – Evangelion (1500’s)

Treasury 2 – Evangelion (made in 1616)

Treasury 3 – Evangelion (1600’s)

Perhaps some readers, even with the newly accessible page-views of all these manuscripts from the Library of Congress, may be thinking, “But I want more lectionaries to study!” For those rare souls I commend the collection of links at the website of Princeton University where one can find links to digital presentations of very many Greek lectionary-manuscripts, not least of which are GA Lect 1957 (Chester Beatty Library W 138), GA Lect 1627 (Lutheran School of Theology at Chicago Gruber 124), the fragmentary Cod. Suppl. Gr. 122 Han, and the palimpsest Bodleian Library Barocci 206.

Friday, September 1, 2017

Seventy-seven Manuscripts from Jerusalem

The Mar Saba Monastery

In the year 483, a monk named Sabbas founded a monastery about eight miles east of Bethlehem in the rugged Kidron Valley. This monastery – the Holy Lavra of Saint Sabbas the Sanctified – gradually grew into a highly influential theological center. John of Damascus worked there, and his tomb is there. Although the premises were temporarily abandoned in the 1400’s due to constant raids by nearby nomadic tribes, it was reactivated, and in 1625 formally joined the Greek Orthodox Patriarchate of Jerusalem.

Much of the manuscript collection of the Saint Sabbas Monastery is presently housed in Jerusalem. In 1949-1950, an expedition led by Kenneth W. Clark visited the collections overseen by the Jerusalem Patriarchate, and photographed almost all of their manuscripts. The Library of Congress recently released the photographs of these images online, making them freely available. Many of these manuscripts consist of copies of the Psalms, saints’ biographies, history books, patristic compositions, liturgical texts, and even an occasional work by an ancient Greek author, such as Aristotle. The collections also include some New Testament manuscripts.

The New Testament manuscripts from the Saint Sabbas Collection are listed here, with embedded links to images of each manuscript.

GA 1328: Hagios Sabas 101 - Four Gospels and Revelation

GA 1329: Hagios Sabas 166 - Four Gospels

GA 1330: Hagios Sabas 200 - Four Gospels and Commentary on Paul

GA 1331: Hagios Sabas 201 - Four Gospels (with other material)

GA 1332: Hagios Sabas 232 - Commentary on Four Gospels (with Gospels-text)

GA 1333: Hagios Sabas 243 - Four Gospels

GA 1334: Hagios Sabas 244 - Four Gospels

The headpiece of Matthew
in GA 1335 (Sabas 248)

GA 1335: Hagios Sabas 248 - Four Gospels (The Gospel of Matthew in this manuscript has one of the strangest headpieces I have ever seen.)

GA 1336: Hagios Sabas 262 – Four Gospels (Theophylact Commentary)

GA 1337: Hagios Sabas 263 – Matthew and Mark (Theophylact Commentary)

GA 1338: Hagios Sabas 357 - Four Gospels

GA 1339: Hagios Sabas 358 - Four Gospels

GA 1340: Hagios Sabas 359 - Four Gospels

GA 1341: Hagios Sabas 410 - Four Gospels

GA 1342: Hagios Sabas 411 - Four Gospels

GA 1343: Hagios Sabas 412 - Four Gospels

GA 1345: Hagios Sabas 572 - Four Gospels

GA 1346: Hagios Sabas 606 - Four Gospels

GA 1347: Hagios Sabas 644 - Four Gospels

GA 1348: Hagios Sabas 645 - Four Gospels

GA 2302: Hagios Sabas 537 Revelation with Andreas Commentary

GA 2303: Hagios Sabas 605 - Four Gospels and Acts, etc.

GA 2926: Hagios Sabas 676 - Revelation and Praxapostolos (This was catalogued as a Praxapostolos manuscript, but it begins with the continuous text of Revelation; Acts begins after that.)

In addition to those 23 continuous-text manuscripts, the collection from the Saint Sabbas Monastery includes the following lectionaries:

The first and last page
of Revelation in GA 2926

Hagios Sabas 12 - Evangelion

Hagios Sabas 18 - Synaxarion

Hagios Sabas 23 - Evangelion

Hagios Sabas 40 - Evangelion

Hagios Sabas 58 - Evangelion

Hagios Sabas 64 - Evangelion

Hagios Sabas 82 - Evangelion (1027 A.D.)

Hagios Sabas 84 - Evangelion

Hagios Sabas 85 - Evangelion

Hagios Sabas 104 - Evangelion

Hagios Sabas 107 - Praxapostolos

Hagios Sabas 144 - Evangelion (1019 A.D.)

Hagios Sabas 145 - Apostolos (1556 A.D.)

Hagios Sabas 152 - Evangelion

Hagios Sabas 153 - Evangelion
Hagios Sabas 178 Evangelion

Hagios Sabas 179 - Synaxarion

Hagios Sabas 188 Evangelion

Hagios Sabas 202 - Evangelion

Hagios Sabas 203 - Praxapostolos (made in 1624)

Hagios Sabas 204 - Praxapostolos

Hagios Sabas 205 - Apostolos-Evangelion

Hagios Sabas 222 - Apostolos

Hagios Sabas 235 - Evangelion

Hagios Sabas 236 Evangelion

Hagios Sabas 242 - Synaxarion

Hagios Sabas 245 - Evangelion

Hagios Sabas 246 - Evangelion

Hagios Sabas 266 - Apostolos

Hagios Sabas 296 - Evangelion

Hagios Sabas 333 - Synaxarion

Hagios Sabas 356 - Evangelion

Hagios Sabas 360 - Evangelion (Weird script in the preface – stylized Georgian?)

Hagios Sabas 612 - Aposto-Evangelion

Hagios Sabas 617 - Praxapostolos

Hagios Sabas 665 - Praxapostolos

Hagios Sabas 704 - Evangelion with Liturgical Supplements

Another collection held at the Jerusalem Patriarchate is categorized as the Panagios Taphu collection, and it, too, includes some New Testament manuscripts, listed here with embedded links:

GA 1312: Panagios Taphu 25 - Four Gospels (1000’s)

GA 1313: Panagios Taphu 28 – Four Gospels with commentary (1000’s)

GA 1314: Panagios Taphu 31 - Four Gospels (1000’s)

GA 1315: Panagios Taphu 37 - New Testament (1000’s)

GA 1316: Panagios Taphu 41 - Four Gospels (1100’s)

GA 1317: Panagios Taphu 42 - Four Gospels (1000’s)

GA 1318: Panagios Taphu 46 - Four Gospels (Neatly written. Merits closer study.)

GA 1319: Panagios Taphu 47 - New Testament

GA 1320: Panagios Taphu 48 - Four Gospels

GA 1321: Panagios Taphu 49 - Four Gospels (Some pages from a lectionary at the beginning)

GA 1322: Panagios Taphu 56 - Four Gospels

GA 1323: Panagios Taphu 59 - Four Gospels

GA 1324: Panagios Taphu 60 Four Gospels (An imperial copy?)

GA 1325: Panagios Taphu 62 Four Gospels (Made in 1724 – Greek and Modern Turkish Greek)

GA 1326: Panagios Taphu 139 - Four Gospels

Besides the 15 continuous-text manuscripts listed above, the Panagios Taphu collection also includes the following nine lectionaries:

Panagios Taphu 33 - Evangelion (900’s/1000’s) (Elaborately executed)

Panagios Taphu 38 - Praxapostolos with Revelation and Theophylact Commentary (1000’s)

Panagios Taphu 43 - Praxapostolos (Damaged; text begins in Acts 12)

Panagios Taphu 105 - Evangelion (made in 1762!)
Hagios Taphu 161 - Evangelion (1600’s)

Panagios Taphu 285 - Apostolos

Panagios Taphu 462 - Praxapostolos
Panagios Taphu 526 - Evangelion (Made in 1502)

Panagios Taphu 530 - Evangelion (made in 1744 – Greek and modern Turkish Greek)

[A couple of manuscripts were in the Checklist of manuscripts in the Jerusalem Patriarchate’s holdings, but I could not find photographs of them: Hagios Sabas 413 (GA 1344, a manuscript of the Gospels) and Hagios Sabas 154 (an Evangelion).]

Thanks to the Library of Congress for making these images available. Thanks, too, to Peter Montero and Peter Gurry for sharing the news about their release.

Thursday, May 11, 2017

Syriac New Testament MSS at Saint Catherine's Monastery

The collection of page-views of manuscripts at Saint Catherine’s Monastery at Mount Sinai housed at the Library of Congress includes not only Greek manuscripts, and Georgian manuscripts, but also Syriac manuscripts. A series of links to the Syriac New Testament manuscripts in the collection is at the end of this post.

How important is Syriac evidence? Very important. To find out more about the Syriac Versions – the Old Syriac, the Peshitta, the Harklean Syriac, and more – here are links to a few resources:

The Bible in the Syriac Tradition, by Sebastian Brock

The Fourfold Gospels in the Writings of Ephrem, by Matthew Crawford.

Syriac Versions of the New Testament, by Peter Williams

ENTTC Entry: Syriac Versions, by Robert Waltz

1915 ISBE Entry: Syriac Versions, by Thomas Nicol

Two Memoirs on the Syriac Version, by John Gwynn

English Translations of the Peshitta Version, at Dukhrana.com

In addition, if you are hungry for additional Syriac resources:

Sebastian Brock has provided a collection of Syriac resources, including information on patristic writers such as Cyrillona and Isaac of Antioch, who are not even named in the list of cited authors in UBS4.

Hugoye: Journal of Syriac Studies, is crammed with articles keeping readers up to date about Syriac discoveries and research, especially regarding Syriac patristic writings.

George al-Banna has a series of video lessons on how to read Syriac.

The Meltho font may be useful if you want to write Syriac electronically.

Here are links to the page-views of over 50 manuscripts in the collection at Saint Catherine’s Monastery. (If a date-assignment appears to be an estimate, it is.)

MS 1: Gospels-Lectionary (1127)

MS 2: Four Gospels (500’s) This is a very early copy of the Peshitta Gospels.

MS 3: Pauline Epistles (c. 500) This is the same manuscript as Schøyen MS 2530. Andreas Juckel has made a thorough analysis and full collation of this manuscript’s text.

MS 5: Epistles and Acts (500’s)

MS 6: Gospels-Lectionary (1178)

MS 7: Gospels-Lectionary (1100’s)

MS 11: Four Gospels (800’s)

MS 12: Lectionary and Gospel of Luke (600’s)

MS 13: Lectionary of Gospels and Epistles (1000)

MS 15: Acts and Epistles (700’s)

MS 17: Syriac New Testament (800’s)

MS 20: Gospels-Lectionary (1015)

MS 21: New Testament Lectionary (1000’s)

MS 30: Lives of Holy Women and Four Gospels (Sinaitic Syriac Palimpsest) (400) This is the famous (or infamous) Sinaitic Syriac palimpsest; its upper writing tells about events in the lives of some Christian ladies; the harder-to-see lower writing is the (incomplete) Gospels, from about 400. This manuscript’s Gospels-text is closely related to the text in the (also incomplete) Curetonian Syriac Gospels manuscript.

MS 32: Lectionary: Gospels and Epistles (1000’s)

MS 42: Lectionary (New Testament) and Euchologion (1100)

MS 45: Apostolos (1043)

MS 49: Lectionary (1100-1300)

MS 54: Syrian New Testament, without Revelation (700)

MS 65 Gospels-Lectionaryand Kanonarion (1000)

MS 74: Four Gospels (1200)

MS 75: Lectionary (Acts and Epistles) (1295)

MS 76: Lectionary(Gospels) (1200)

MS 81: Lectionary (Epistles) (1232)

MS 92: Praxapostolos (1291)

MS 100: Lectionary (Acts and Epistles) (1200)

MS 120: Lectionary(Acts and Epistles) (1100)

MS 134: Gospels (Matthew and Mark) (1200)

MS 135: Four Gospels (1100-1300)

MS 145: Four Gospels (1188)
MS 159: Gospels (Matthew and John) 1260

MS 161: Lectionary (New Testament) (1300-1500)

MS 205: Four Gospels (1300’s)
MS 214: Lectionary (Acts and Epistles) (1200’s)

MS 215: Praxapostolos (1219)

MS 216: Praxapostolos (1200)

MS 217: Lectionary (Gospels) (1297)

MS 218: Praxapostolos (1200)

MS 219: Lectionary (Gospels) (1200’s)

MS 222: Praxapostolos (1267)

MS 227: Praxapostolos (1293)

MS 229: Praxapostolos (1200’s)

MS 231: Four Gospels (1200’s)

MS 235: Praxapostolos (1215)

MS 236: Lectionary (Gospels) (1294)

MS 238: Lectionary (Gospels) (1200’s)
MS 259: Gospels (Luke and John) (1200’s)

MS 269: Lectionary (Gospels) (1100-1300)

MS 271: Lectionary (Gospels) (1288)

Image 105, with asterisks and rubrics

MS 272: Four Gospels (1296)

Also:

MS 16: Patristica and Profana (600’s)

MS 24: Works of Mar Isaac et al (900’s)

MS 28: Book of Kings (700’s)

MS 35: First Samuel (600’s)

MS 52: Works of Pseudo-Dionysius the Areopagite (600’s)

MS 56: Patristica,Works of John Climacus et al (700’s)

MS 59: Homilies on the Gospel of John (800)

MS 67: Works of Mar Ephrem (800’s)

And if that’s not enough, the contents of more Syriac manuscripts, from other places, can be accessed at MSS-Syriaques and at the Mingana Collection.

Wednesday, May 10, 2017

Georgian New Testament MSS at Saint Catherine's Monastery

Sinai Georgian MS 16 - Image 277.
from the Library of Congress
Collection of Manuscripts in
St. Catherine's Monastery, Mt. Sinai

The Georgian version of the New Testament is one of the least-researched areas in New Testament textual criticism. The Library of Congress recently released page-images of some important Georgian manuscripts that are housed at Saint Catherine’s Monastery; a list of some of them is included at the end of this post.

What do we know about the Georgian version of the New Testament? A few brief points should be enough to convey the basics about what we know, and what we would like to know, about the Georgian version of the New Testament. If you would like more details, see Jeff Childers’ chapter on the Georgian version in The Text of the New Testament in Contemporary Research (1995).

● Like Greek, the Georgian language is written in different scripts. The script called asomt‘avruli is analogous to Greek uncials. The kut‘xovani (“angled”) script is analogous to Greek minuscule lettering. It is also called nuskhuri. In the Middle Ages, both of these scripts became antique as the military script, mxedruli, began to dominate, and it is still essentially the Georgian script in use today.

Also, though not particularly significant for New Testament research, there is another way to classify Georgian scripts: the Georgian letter xani was used as a prefix in the 300’s-600’s. This prefix was then replaced by the letter hae, h, until the 800’s, at which point it also fell into disuse. Georgian script that uses the xan-prefix is called xanmeti; script that uses the hae-prefix is called haemeti.

● Georgian New Testament manuscripts tend to be either manuscripts of the four Gospels or of Acts and the Epistles, and one should not assume that the different parts share the same text-type. Although it is generally agreed that the Georgian version was made sometime in the 400’s, we do not have very many substantial early Georgian manuscripts, so it is not easy to discern what kind of readings the earliest Georgian text contained. Only faint hints can be gained by consulting quotations that appear in Georgian literature, such as The Martyrdom of Saint Shushanik, a composition from the 400’s, probably. The best impression that the presently available evidence gives is that the Georgian version of the Gospels – like the Armenian version, in some respects – circulated in two forms not long after it was first created.

Sinai Georgian MS 16 - Image 322.
from the Library of Congress Collection of Manuscripts in
St. Catherine's Monastery, Mt. Sinai

● An assortment of linguistic clues (such as unusual renderings in Georgian that are explained as mistranslations of Armenian terms) has contributed to a consensus that the Georgian version of the Gospels was initially translated from Armenian, and that the Georgian text was then revised, reflecting the revision of the Armenian text. Between the representatives of the first form of the Armenian Gospels-text, and representatives of the first form of the Georgian Gospels-text, the Georgian remains are more substantial, and so, despite being a translation of a translation, the Georgian Gospels-text has something to offer that is text-critically interesting: echoes of whatever text (probably something in Syriac) was used in the early 400’s as the initial basis for the Armenian Gospels. The early Georgian version is also a major witness, albeit indirect, to the Greek Caesarean Gospels-text that was used after 430 to revise the Armenian text.

● It was once assumed that the Georgian text of the Epistles shared the same general pattern of Armenian-based development and revision, but that is probably not the case. Georgian monks came into contact with monasteries outside the borders of Georgia almost as soon as the Gospels were translated, if not sooner – and the Greek manuscripts at those monasteries were not ignored by the Georgians. Access to those texts apparently caused the early Georgian translators to adopt a distinctly different base-text for the Epistle (and probably also for Acts). Textually, the early Georgian version of the Epistles is related to the Greek text of Codex Coislinianus (H, 015).

● The Georgian text of the Gospels was repeatedly revised (sometimes, apparently, as little more than some monks’ isolated project) until the revisions that were undertaken in 1000’s. At that time, Euthymius the Athonite (so-named because he resided at Mount Athos, in northeastern Greece) attempted to systematically correct the text of the Gospels to Greek exemplars there. In addition, he translated the book of Revelation into Georgian, from a Greek base-text resembling what was circulated alongside the commentary of Andreas. After Euthymius, George (or Giorgi) the Athonite tidied up Euthymius’ work, favoring a Byzantine standard. Yet Giorgi’s revision-work was not quite definitive (although it eventually dominated all other revisions); another monk named Ephrem the Small brought the Georgian text even closer to a Byzantine standard in the late 1000’s.

Thus, the Georgian text of the Gospels should be considered stratified: in the 1000’s a Byzantine layer intruded upon and overwhelmed (mostly) the earlier levels, the better-represented of which is a strong Caesarean witness. The affinities of the less-attested early form are not altogether clear, but continued study of Old Georgian witnesses such as the Khanmeti Gospels Lectionary from the 700’s, as well as some palimpsests, may provide some more information about that.

Here are links to the collections of page-views of some of the microfilm images, from the Library of Congress, of Georgian manuscripts housed at Saint Catherine’s Monastery on Mount Sinai.