The Cappadocian Text

Lectionary 181, written
in uncial script.

            Lectionary 181, in the British Library, catalogued as Add. MS 39602, is one of the few Greek manuscripts of the Gospels that features a colophon, or note from the copyist, mentioning when it was made:  6,488 years from the beginning of the world.  Greek scribes generally thought the world began in 5508 B.C., so this implies that Lectionary 181 was made in A.D. 980.  The copyist also helpfully mentioned who he was working for:  bishop Stephen of Circissa, a town in Cappadocia, about 35 miles from Caesarea-in-Cappadocia (not the Caesarea in Israel); this Caesarea is now the city of Kayseri in the middle of Turkey. 

            This manuscript also features a second colophon, which also includes a date – 6557 Anno Mundo, or A.D. 1049 – and which confirms that the manuscript was at Circissa.  We thus have here a very rare thing:  a New Testament manuscript which contains explicit statements about when and where it was made and used.

            While Lectionary 181 was being made, another manuscript – the opulently illustrated Menologion of Basil II – was being produced for the emperor of the Byzantine Empire in Constantinople, about 470 miles away from Caesarea-in-Cappadocia.  It provides information about saints were honored in September, October, November, and December.  (The distance between the two cities is comparable to the distance between Cleveland, Ohio and New York City.)

            By sifting through the Menologion-section of Lectionary 181, we may be able to discern which particular saints were honored in Cappadocia in the year 980, and thus we might have the basis on which to isolate a particular class of lectionaries – those which share the same (or very similar) collection of saints to be honored.

            Here are some meta-textual features of Lectionary 181 in its Menologion for September, October, November, and December which may set it apart from other lectionaries, or which seem notable for other reasons.  (The Menologion-section begins on f. 143v).  

The beginning of the lection
for September 20, honoring
Saint Eustace and his
fellow-martyrs.

SEPTEMBER

15 – Acacius (born in Cappadocia) is honored as well as Nikita and the fathers at Nicea.

16 –  Symeon and the brothers of the Lord are commemorated; so is the martyr Euphemia.

17 – Eulampius, Pantoleon, and their companions are commemorated.

18 – Instead of Ariadne of Phrygia, Theodora is honored; two lections are provided (the second is offered as a reading for Sept. 16).  The first is the account of the repentant woman that begins at Luke 7:36.  The second – prefaced in Lectionary 181 by αλλο της αυτ. αγιας, Εκ τ. Κατ. Ιωαννων (another for this saint, from [the Gospel] according to John) – is John 8:3-11.  This lection has some unusual readings in Lectionary 181, including:

            8:4 – λεγουσιν τω Ιυ διδασκαλε

            8:4 – κατηληπται 

            8:5 – Και εν τω νομω ημων Μωσης

            8:6 – λιθαζεσθαι

            8:6 – αυτον is omitted but is supplied in the margin

            8:6 – ινα σχωσιν

            8:9 – μονος is not present

            8:10 – Ανακυψας δε ο Ις ειπεν αυτη, Γυναι

            8:11 – includes απο του νυν

21 – The various saints usually commemorated on this date are not mentioned; instead it is dedicated to the Theotokos (God-bearer, i.e., Mary) εν τη πετρα (in the rock).  (Via this phrase a comparison is intended between the conception of Mary in the womb of her previously childless mother Anna, and the production of water from the rock in the days of Moses.)  Here and elsewhere in this manuscript where Mary is referred to as the Theotokos, the word is written as a contracted nomina sacra.

25 – The lection for this date commemorates an earthquake in the Kampos, a borough of Constantinople.  (The prolonged earthquake happened in 447.)

OCTOBER

4 – Instead of Hierotheos or the other saints usually commemorated on this date, Lect. 181 honors Peter of Capetolias (cruelly martyred by Muslims in 715). 

8 – Though not unusual, it seems worth mentioning that Lectionary 181 commemorates Saint Pelagia on this date, and assigns to it the same lections as are assigned to Saint Theodora on September 18; after beginning the lection from Luke 7:36, the second lection is introduced as ετερα εις τ. αυτ. αγιας (another [lection] for this saint) and then follows the incipit-phrase and the first part of John 8:3.

17 – Lect. 181 honors Isidora and Neophytus.

19 – Instead of Amphilochius, Lectionary 181 honors Mnason (a very early bishop on Cyprus) and Modestus of Jerusalem (who served in the early 600s).  (Amphilochius’feast-day is transferred to December 10.)

27 – Lect. 181 honors Artemidorus and his companions, usually assigned (when included) to October 26.     

28 – Lect. 181 honors the martyrs Stephen, Peter, and Andrew.  (These are not the New Testament characters, but much later monks.)  

29 – Lect. 181 honors Saba and Aretha (Aretha is also honored on Oct. 24.)

NOVEMBER

4 – Lect. 181 honors Theodotus. 

9 – Lect. 181 honors Christopher.

10 – Lect. 181 honors Orestes of Cappadocia (sometimes honored Nov. 9, with others).

15 – Lect. 181 honors Thomas the Patriarch.

20 – Lect. 181 honors Maximian and Gennadius.

22 – Lect. 181 honors Cecilia.

26 – Lect. 181 honors the holy apostle Silas.  (Silas of Persia may be meant, rather than Paul’s fellow missionary.)

29 – Lect. 181 honors Theodoulos of Cyprus.

DECEMBER   

3 – Lect. 181 honors Indus, Seleucus, and Agapius.

8 – Lect. 181 honors Sophronius, bishop of Constantia in Cyprus.

10 – Lect. 181 honors Amphilochius.

17 – Lect. 181 honors the confessor John, bishop of Sardis.

21 – Lect. 181 honors Julian.

28 – Lect. 181 honors Theodore of Constantinople.

            Thus, over 20% of the lection-dedications in these four months in Lectionary 181 are unusual in some way – mainly by overlooking popular saints and/or focusing on lesser-known saints.  If this particular array of lection-dedications were to be found in another lectionary, or in a table of lection-dedications embedded in a manuscript, it seems safe to say that a historical connection exists between the two.

            But what about its text?  It would be an oversimplification to consider Lectionary 181 as merely another lectionary on the pile of medieval lectionaries.  Although its text is essentially Byzantine, this lectionary has some peculiarities in its Gospels-text.  In 1859, F. H. Scrivener took the effort of collating it, and he presented the result – along with collations of 49 other witnesses – in the lengthy and detailed An Exact Transcript of the Codex Augiensis to Which Is Added a Full Collation of Fifty Manuscripts.  Scrivener describes Lectionary 181 on pages 50-52 of his Introduction (printed as pp. l-lii).  In the collation, it is identified as witness “P.”  Sifting through Scrivener’s work, beginning on page 289, here is a selection of readings from a few sample chapters of the text that was read from this Gospels-lectionary in Cappadocia in the late 900s:  Matthew 2, 5, and 17, Mark 9 and 15, Luke 6 and 16, and John 7 and 14:

Matthew 2

2:3 – ο βασιλευς is absent in the text, and supplied in the margin.

2:11 – ϊδον (instead of ειδον or ευρον)

2:15 – Αιγυπτου (instead of Αιγυπτον)

2:18 – Ραχιηλ instead of Ραχηλ

Matthew 5

11 – εσται (instead of εστε)

20 – περισσευη (instead of περισσευση)

22 – εργαζομενος (instead of οργιζομενος)

25 – Ισθη instead of Ισθι

29 – εκβαλε instead of βαλε

32 – πας ο απολυων (not ος αν απολυση)

33 – τοις ορκοις (instead of τους ορκους)

47 – φιλους (instead of αδελφους)

Matthew 17

1 – αυτον (instead of αυτους)

2 – αυτον (instead of αυτους)

2 – εγενοντο (instead of εγενετο)

3 – ωφθησαν (instead of ωφθη)

4 – συ (instead of σοι)

5 – adds δε after ετι)

5 – ηυδοκησα (instead of ευδοκησα)

9 – εωσ σου (instead of εωσ ου)

19 – υμεις (instead of ημεις)

24 – διδραγμα (instead of διδραχμα) (twice)

27 – omits την

27 – αναβαινοντα (instead of αναβαντα)

Mark 9

1 – γευσονται (instead of γευσωνται)

18 – αυτω (instead of αυτο)

25 – πνι τω αλωλω (instead of πνα το αλαλον)

36 – omits εν μεσω αυτων (supplied in margin)

38 – omits και εκωλυσαμεν αυτον οτι ουκ ακολουθει ημιν (supplied in margin) (A good example of parablepsis due to homoeoteleuton)

Mark 15

7 – δεδεμενων instead of δεδεμενος

9 – omits ο δε Πιλατος απεκριθη αυτοις (h.t., αυτοις/αυτοις)

10 – παρεδωκαν instead of παραδεδώκεισαν

14 – εκραζον instead of εκραζαν

16 – (after εσω) εις της αυλην του Καϊαφα instead of της αυλην

18 – ο βασιλευς

21 – Σιμονα instead of Σιμωνα

28 – this verse is omitted.

29 – καταλυον instead of καταλυων

32 – includes αυτω after πιστεύσωμεν

Luke 6

1 – omits δυτεροπρωτω (reads τοις σαββασιν at the beginning of the lection)

4 – μονον instead of μονους

6 – omits from εγενετο to διδασκειν

33 – χαρις υμιν εστιν (transposition)

33 – αυτω instead of αυτο

35 – χριστος instead of χρηστος

36 – omits και

Luke 16

15 – υψϊλον instead of υψηλον

24 – φλογη instead of φλογι

25 – omits συ after απελαβες

26 – omits προς ημας

31 – adds των before νεκρων

31 – πιστευθησεται instead of πεισθήσονται

John 7

8 – ου instead of ουπω

8 – καταβαινω instead of αναβαινω

9 – omits δε

14 – omits Ηδη δε (adjusting the beginning of a lection)

14 – omits εις το ιερον

26 – αυτον (instead of αυτω)

37 – omits δε (adjusting the beginning of a lection)

39 – ημελλον instead of εμελλον

40 – adds αυτου after λογον (later hand)

46 – adds αυτοις after Απεκριθησαν

50 – Νικοδιμος instead of Νικοδημος

John 14

2 – υμιν τοπον (transposition)

3 – ετοιμασαι

10 – υμην instead of υμιν

10 – μαινων instead of μενων

12 – omits και μειζονα τουτων ποιησει (h.t., ποιησει/ ποιησει)

14 – includes με after αιτησητε

15 – μου instead of τας εμας

17 – omits Υμεις δε γινωσκετε αυτο (h.t., αυτο/ αυτο) (supplied in margin)

21 – omits ο δε αγαπων με (h.t., αγαπων με/ αγαπων με) (supplied in margin)

21 – αυτο instead of αυτω

28 – omits εγω

            To some extent, these readings – particularly the parableptic omissions – merely show how a specific copyist handled the text.  Yet many of these unusual readings in Lectionary 181 (and many more minute variations not listed here) have allies in Scrivener’s collation.  Just as Lectionary 181’s Menologion’s selection of saints seems somewhat localized, it may be that its text is localized too.  When the singular mistakes of the scribe of Lectionary 181 are filtered out, the remainder of the variants in this lectionary’s text may constitute the Cappadocian Text.  At the very least, we have historical confirmation that this text was used in Cappadocia in the late 900s.

Meet Lectionary 261

          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.          

In John 2:15, P75 agrees
with the Byzantine Text and
disagrees with Codex Vaticanus.

            Another thing worth noticing:  the Byzantine reading at the end of verse 15 – ανεστρεψεν – 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.

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 8:12a 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.]  

Greek Manuscripts in the K. W. Clark Collection (Duke University)

            The Kenneth W. Clark Collection of Greek Manuscripts, at Duke University in Durham, North Carolina (USA), is among the most impressive collections of New Testament manuscripts in the United States.  It currently contains 106 Greek manuscripts – almost half of which have been digitized.  Over a dozen of these digitized manuscripts contain text from the New Testament.  (An introduction to the Kenneth W. Clark Collection can be found online at the website of the Rubenstein Library at Duke University.)    

 

Below the headpiece and title of the Gospel of Matthew
in GA 1780, the initial letter Beta is zoomorphic,
resembling a fox and snake in combat.

            Here is a list of embedded links to digital images of the New Testament manuscripts in the Kenneth W. Clark Collection that have been digitized.  Some of the other volumes are also listed.  Digitized Gospel-manuscripts are indexed with embedded links to the beginning of each book. 

MS 1 is GA 1780 (Codex Branscombius, from c. 1200), which is especially notable because it contains all 27 books of the New Testament.  (See this earlier post for a description and basic index of digital page-views of 1780.)

MS 2 is GA Lect 1619, a very late (1600’s) Gospels-lectionary, with many blank pages.

MS 3 is GA 2423, a manuscript of Acts and the Epistles, from the 1200’s.  It is not yet digitized.  Hebrews is between Second Thessalonians and First Timothy.

MS 4 is GA 2268, a leaf from the Gospel of Mark, from c. 1300.  It contains text from Mark 1:1-14.  A portrait of Mark is in the headpiece. 

The beginning of the Gospel of Mark
in Clark MS 4 (GA 2268).

MS 5 is GA 2612, a manuscript of the Gospels (1200’s).  It is not yet digitized.  The order of the Gospels is said to be highly unusual:  Mark, Luke, John, Matthew. 

MS 6 is GA 2613, a manuscript of the Gospels from the 1000’s.  The pericope adulterae does not appear in the text of John (though a note in the margin mentions it), but it appears at the very end of the manuscript, following a lectionary-table that occupies several pages after the end of John 21. 

Matthew:  9.  Mark:  183.  Luke:  297. John:  485.   

 

MS 7 is GA 2614, a manuscript of the Gospels from the 1200’s.   Matthew:  21.  Mark: 200.  Luke:  325.  John:  518.     

MS 10 is GA Lect 1965, a Gospels-lectionary from the 1100’s.  The text is formatted in two columns per page.  The Heothinon-series is included.  A PDF describing this manuscript, prepared by John Lawrence Sharpe III, is available online.

MS 12 is GA Lect 1966, a Gospels-lectionary from c. 1100.  The text is formatted in two columns per page.  The lection for Saint Pelagia’s Day (October 8), from John 8:3-11, begins on page 365.

MS 15 is GA 2615, a manuscript of the Gospels from the 1100’s.  Matthew:  5 (missing the opening page).  Mark:  145.  Luke:  233.  John:  382.  This manuscript was obtained by Kenneth W. Clark himself in 1950 in Egypt during a trip to Egypt and St. Catherine’s Monastery.  In Luke 24:42 its text includes the phrase, “and the rest He gave to them.”  A PDF describing this manuscript, prepared by John Lawrence Sharpe III, is available online.  The pericope adulterae begins (in the text of John) on 421. 

            Some pages of GA 2615 are missing at the end; the text of John breaks off in 19:12 at the end of a page.  Curiously, after the chapter-list for the Gospel of Mark and before the beginning of the text of Mark (perhaps inserted out of order by an ancient repairer of the manuscript), page 138 contains only text from John 20:30b-31.       

MS 16 is GA 2616,  a manuscript of the Gospels from the 1100’s.  Matthew:  5.  Mark: 167.  Luke:  271.  John:  443.  A PDF describing this manuscript, prepared by John Lawrence Sharpe III, is available online. 

MS 17 is a Psalter from the 1100’s. with some braided and/or colored initials.  It includes most of the Odes at the end, including the Magnificat, extracted from Luke 1:46ff.

MS 22 is GA 2491, a fragment from c. 1050.  It is not yet digitized.  It is a single leaf with text from Matthew 22:31-23:10.

MS 24 is GA Lect 1967, from the 1000’s.  It is not yet digitized.

MS 25 is GA 1813, a manuscript of the Gospels, from c. 1100.  Matthew:  19.  Mark:  145.  Luke:  225.  John:  367.   A PDF describing this manuscript, prepared by John Lawrence Sharpe III, is available online.  The copyist, Hierotheos, mentioned himself in a colophon at the end of the book.

MS 28 is GA Lect 648.  It is not yet digitized.

MS 31 is GA 2766, a manuscript of the Gospels, from the 1200’s.  It is not yet digitized.  It has pictures of the Evangelists.  A PDF describing this manuscript, prepared by John Lawrence Sharpe III, is available online.  

MS 38 is GA 2757, a manuscript of the Gospels, from c. 1100.  Matthew:  25 (Pigment from the picture of Matthew on the opposite page has severely damaged most of the text on this page.)  Mark:  165.  Luke:  261. (The headpiece to the Gospel of Luke contains the wrong title – Ευαγγέλϊον Κατὰ Μάρκον – as if the artist did not realize where he was at in the book.)  John: 421.  A PDF describing this manuscript, prepared by John Lawrence Sharpe III, is available online.          

MS 39 is GA Lect 2138, a very late Gospel-lectionary, from 1627.  The text is formatted in two columns per page.  A PDF describing this manuscript, prepared by John Lawrence Sharpe III, is available online.  The Synaxarion, Heothinon, Menologion are all included.  The copyist was Lucas Buzau, a prolific scribe whose manuscripts have reached multiple monasteries and museums.  

MS 43 is GA Lect 2145, a leaf from a Gospels-lectionary from the 1200’s, containing text from Luke 1:59-80 and Matthew 16:13-18.  It is not yet digitized.

MS 60 is GA 1423, Codex Daltonianus, a manuscript of the Gospels from c. 1000, with marginal commentary-material.  It is not yet digitized.  A PDF describing this manuscript, prepared by John Lawrence Sharpe III, is available online.    

MS 64 is GA 2757, a manuscript of the Gospels from c. 1300.  It is not yet digitized.  A PDF describing this manuscript, prepared by John Lawrence Sharpe III, is available online.

MS 65 is GA Lect 1839, a Gospels-lectionary from the 1000’s.  It is not yet digitized.

MS 82 is GA Lect 1623, a Gospels-lectionary from c. 1200.  It is not yet digitized.

MS 83 is GA Lect 302, a Gospels-lectionary from c. 1450.  It is not yet digitized. 

MS 84 is a manuscript of the Gospels from c. 1150.  It is not yet digitized. 

In Clark MS 106, on this page, in the second column,
an account of the life of Gregory, missionary to
Armenia, begins (for September 30).

MS 85 is GA Lect 451, a Gospels-lectionary from 1052.  It is not yet digitized.  The copyist’s name was Clement.

MS 89 is a fragment from a Gospels-lectionary from the 1100’s.  It is not yet digitized.  It contains text from Matthew 8:31-9:3.

MS 92 is a Gospels-lectionary from the 1100’s.  It is not yet digitized.

MS 93 is a Gospels-lectionary from the 1100’s.  It is not yet digitized. 

MS 100 is a manuscript of the Gospels and Revelation from c. 1000.  It is not yet digitized. 

MS 104 is a late lectionary (c. 1530?) with readings from the Gospels, Acts, and Epistles.  It is not yet digitized.

MS 106 has been described as a Menologion, but is a Menaion (containing saints’ biographies) for the month of September.  The text is formatted in two columns per page.  (This manuscript has been returned to Mount Athos.) 

John 7:53-8:11 - Why It Was Never a Floating Anecdote

John 7:53-8:11 -
Not a Floating Anecdote

          In this video, I summarize several earlier blog-posts in the course of a brief lecture, explaining why the vague footnotes about John 7:53-8:11’s placement after before John 7:37 (in two medieval manuscripts), and before John 7:45 (in three Georgian copies), and after John 21:25 (in family-1), and after Luke 21:38 (in family-13) do not mean that it was the textual equivalent of a butterfly, fluttering from one place to another.
          I recommend watching this video-lecture on a desktop computer, so that you can read the annotations.
          (Note:  six minutes and 54 seconds into the lecture, I said “7:53” where I meant “7:52.”)
          The link is https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5WrPjEGYDpQ .

Resurrection Readings: The Heothina and How They Developed

          In addition to manuscripts of the Gospels in which one book follows another, textual critics also consult Evangelistiaries, or Gospel lectionaries – books in which selections of the Gospels are arranged in the order in which they were read in the church-services annually.  This simplified the job of the lectors, or public readers, who read for the congregations.  Passages read during Holy-Week were conveniently collected together at the beginning of the cycle of lections, or readings, starting the liturgical year on Easter Sunday (the reading for which began at John 1:1).  Other selections were to be read a specific number of days and weeks after Easter; thus, while major feast-days had names assigned to them, most readings were identified in terms of how long after Easter they were to be read – for example, “for the fifth day of the sixth week” after Easter.  Because the date of Easter changed from year to year, all the other days changed with it (though retaining their sequence); for this reason, these days are called the “movable feasts” and a lectionary containing the lections for the movable feasts is called a Synaxarion. 

          In many lectionary-manuscripts, the Synaxarion is accompanied by the Menologion – the month-by-month collection of Scripture-readings assigned to specific calendar-days set aside to honor specific saints and specific events.  These feasts were generally observed on the same day of the year, and for this reason they are called the “fixed feasts” or “immovable feasts,” running in sequence from year to year (beginning on September 1).   (The term “Menologion” has also come to refer to collections of the stories of saints’ lives which were told on their feast-days, but this does not pertain directly to today’s subject.)  In manuscripts containing both the Synaxarion and Menologion, it is not uncommon, when a passage occurs in both, to find that in the Menologion there is only a reference to where the passage can be found in the Synaxarion, rather than a repetition of the passage itself.

          In most Gospel-lectionaries, each segment is introduced by a title (such as “Taken from Matthew” or “Taken from Mark,” etc.) and usually its text begins with a brief introductory phrase, or “incipit,” introducing the narrative, such as, “And the Lord said,” or, “And at that time.” 

          With all that in mind, we come to today’s subject:  a specific set of lections called the Heothina:  a series of eleven readings about Christ’s resurrection.  (Their full name is εὐαγγέλια ἑωθινὰ ἀναστάσιμα.)  Every Sunday at dawn, one of these lections was to be read.  These eleven readings are often provided separately in lectionaries: 

          (1)  Matthew 26:16-20 (The Great Commission)

          (2)  Mark 16:1-8  (The Myrrh-bearing Women at the Tomb)

          (3)  Mark 16:9-20  (Jesus’ Post-resurrection Appearances and Ascension)

          (4)  Luke 24:1-12  (The Women’s Visit to the Tomb)

          (5)  Luke 24:12-35  (The Appearance on the Road to Emmaus)

          (6)  Luke 24:36-53  (The Appearance to the Disciples)

          (7)  John 20:1-11  (Mary Magdalene at the Tomb)

          (8)  John 20:11-18   (The Appearance to Mary Magdalene)

          (9)  John 20:19-31  (The Appearances to the Ten Disciples, and to Thomas)

          (10)  John 21:1-14  (The Appearance at the Sea of Tiberias)

          (11)  John 21:15-25  (Jesus’ Instructions to Simon Peter)

Heothina apparatus at Matthew
28:16 in minuscule 2411.

          Let’s see if we can tell how far back this series of lections was used.  It is not uncommon at all to find, in medieval manuscripts of the Gospels, annotations in the margins that locate the beginnings and ends of lections, and often the names of the lections (i.e., a note stating upon which day of which week after Easter the passage is to be read).  One of the many manuscripts with this “lectionary apparatus” is minuscule 2411, from the 1100’s.  This manuscript – also known as the Tetragram Gospels – has the symbol αρχη (“start”) written at the beginning of Matthew 28:16.  In the margin, an abbreviated note (boxed in green) identifies this as the first Gospels-lection in the Heothina-series.  In minuscule 2411, as in most manuscripts with the lectionary apparatus, these annotations were written in red to ensure that readers would easily tell the difference between them and the text itself.

Heothina apparatus at Mark 16:1
in minuscule 2474.

          But we can go back earlier.  Minuscule 2474, produced in the 900’s, also has the lectionary apparatus.  Shown here, this manuscript – also known as the Elfleda Bond Goodspeed Gospels – has the symbol αρχη (“start”) in the margin beside the beginning of Mark 16:1, accompanied by an abbreviated note identifying this as the second lection in the series.  In the right margin, the symbol τελος (“stop” or “end”) can also be seen; it signified the end of the previous lection in Mark (which was not one of the Heothina). 

          But we can go back earlier.  Let’s turn to the important uncial Codex Cyprius (K, 017), produced in the 800’s.  Among the lectionary-related material that precedes the Gospels-text, a list of the locations of the eleven Heothina is provided.  The list displays the Eusebian Section-number where each lection is found, each lection’s opening phrase, and each lection’s closing words.

A list of the Heothina
in Codex Cyprius (K, 017).

          But perhaps we can go back yet earlier.  In about the year 350 – around the time when Codex Sinaiticus was produced, or slightly earlier – Cyril of Jerusalem undertook a series of Catechetical Lectures, the contents of which remain extant to this day.  In his Lecture #14, paragraph 24, Cyril made the following remarks:

          “The course of instruction in the faith would lead me to speak of the Ascension also, but the grace of God so ordered it, that you heard most fully concerning it, as far as our weakness allowed, yesterday, on the Lord’s day; since, by the providence of divine grace, the course of the Lessons in Church included the account of our Savior’s going up into the heavens.  And what was then said was spoken principally for the sake of all, and for the assembled body of the faithful – yet especially for thy sake.  But the question is, did you attend to what was said? . . . . I suppose then that you do indeed remember the exposition; yet I will now again briefly remind you of what was then said.” 

Cyril of Jerusalem

        Here Cyril explains why he is not going to go into detail about the ascension of Christ in his lecture:  the subject was already covered the previous day, which was a Sunday, the Lord’s Day.  In the typical Byzantine lection-series, Luke 24’s narrative about Christ’s ascension is assigned to Ascension-Day, the sixth Thursday after Easter.  It thus appears that Cyril was referring to one of the Heothinon-lections:  either Mark 16:9-20 (the second Heothinon) or Luke 24:36-53 (the sixth Heothinon).

          It seems safe to say more.  The Heothina series in the Byzantine lectionary probably developed from an earlier lection-cycle that was used in Jerusalem.  In the Byzantine lectionary, the resurrection-narratives are divided into 11 readings; in the Jerusalem lection-cycle, there are eight (at least, eight identifiable) lections.  Cyril was probably referring to a lection in this eight-part lection-cycle that was used at Jerusalem, where he taught and preached.    

          This is consistent with an observation recently made by Daniel Galadza (a professor at the University of Vienna) in a 2014 article, The Jerusalem Lectionary and the Byzantine Rite, which was published on pages 181-199 of Rites and Rituals of the Christian East, ed. B. Groen, D. Galadza, N. Glibetic, and G. Radle (Eastern Christian Studies 22, Leuven: Peeters, 2014) and is available at the Academia website:  before the Heothinon-series was adapted and adopted into the Byzantine lectionary, most of its components existed as readings for Bright Week (the week immediately following Easter) among the lection-cycles used in Jerusalem. 

          This idea receives confirmation via Galadza’s 2012 investigation of the contents of the eighth-century Greek lectionary Sin. Gr. 212, which contains 30 lections, mainly from the Gospels.  (For details see Galadza’s article Two Greek, Ninth-Century Sources of the Jerusalem Lectionary:  Sin. Gr. 212 and Sinai Gr. N.E. ΜΓ 11 on pages 79-111 of Bollettino della Badia Greca di Grottaferrata, series 3, Vol. 11 (2014).  In Sin. Gr. 212, which is written in Greek uncials, rubrics in the manuscript (with Arabic supplements) identify each lection, written in Greek.  The first eight lections correspond fairly closely to the contours of Heothina #1,2,3,4,5,7-8, and 10:

             

Resurrection-series in the Jerusalem Lectionary        Parallel Lection in the Heothina

First reading:  Matthew 28:1-9                                      (Mt. 28: 16-20 = Heothinon 1)

Second reading:  Mark 16:2-8                                       (Mk. 16:1-8 = Heothinon 2)

Third reading:  Luke 24:1-12                                        (Heothinon 4)

Fourth reading:  John 20:1-18                                       (Heothina 7 and 8)

Fifth reading:  Matthew 28:9b-20                                 (Mt. 28:16-20 = Heothinon 1)

Sixth reading:  Mark 16:9-20                                        (Mk. 16:9-20 = Heothinon 3)

Seventh reading:  Luke 24:13-35                                  (Lk. 24:12-35 = Heothinon 5)

Eighth reading:  John 21:1-14                                       (Heothinon 10)

          Galadza mentions the finding of another researcher, Sebastià Janeras.  Janeras has found that the same eight-part series is attested in four other manuscripts at, or from, from Saint Catherine’s:  one in Greek (Sinai Gr. 210, made in 861), one in Arabic (Sinai Ar. 116, made in 995), and two in Georgian (Sinai Geo. O. 38, made in 979, and Schøyen Collection MS 035 – also known as Codex Sinaiticus Zosimi Rescriptus – also made in 979). 

        It thus appears that eight of the components of the Heothina lection-series were known to Cyril of Jerusalem (not only as parts of Scripture, but as lections in a specific sequence), and thus that the churches in Jerusalem in the mid-300’s were using these eight lections.  Other than Cyril’s remark, I have found no evidence that the lections in the Jerusalem Lectionary for Bright Week were also read consecutively in the mid-300’s, but from that remark, it seems that this was the case.  (If anyone has a better explanation I would be glad to hear it.)    

          What can we deduce from this evidence?
          ● First, this data justifies the idea that if we possess a manuscript of Matthew 28, or Mark 16, or Luke 24, or John 20-21, and its marginalia contains the Byzantine lectionary apparatus, including notes that identify at least one Heothinon-reading, then even if the manuscript is fragmentary and none of the other chapters have survived, we may fairly deduce that when such a manuscript was in pristine condition, it contained all five of these chapters with those portions intact, inasmuch as one of the series would not be used without the others.   

          ● Second, we may tentatively consider Cyril of Jerusalem’s remark in Catechetical Lecture #14 to refer to Mark’s account of Christ’s resurrection (in Mark 16:19) rather than to the account in Luke 24:51.  The reason for this is that the eight-part cycle of lections in the early Jerusalem Lectionary (as represented in Sin. Gr. 212 and other manuscripts) includes Mark 16:9-19 as a lection, but no text from Luke 24 beyond verse 35 is part of the eight-part series of resurrection-related lections, possibly because Luke 24:41-53 was assigned to Ascension-Day.    

  

Free Manuscript Downloads from the Walters Art Museum

          The Walters Art Museum, in Baltimore, Maryland, is famous for its world-class art exhibits, but its manuscript collections are also of considerable significance.   In 2004, a catalogue of the Walters Art Museum’s Greek manuscripts was prepared by Georgi R. Parpulov.  Among the 19 Greek manuscripts in the collection are six copies of the four Gospels, two copies of Acts and the Epistles, and two Gospels-lectionaries, along with some fragments.    

          Most of these manuscripts can be viewed page-by-page at the Walters Art Museum’s website.  If that had been the only contribution that the Walters Art Museum had made to the field of New Testament textual criticism, it would be sufficient to deserve high praise.  But there is more:  each of the following manuscripts can be downloaded for free as a PDF:  

W. 520, a lectionary
written in Greek uncial script.

        

Walters 520 (GA Lect 1629):  Gospels lectionary, 900’s.  PDF of W. 520.

Walters 521:  The Imperial Menologion.  PDF of W. 521.         

Walters 522 (GA 2370):  Gospels, 1000’s/1100’s.  PDF of W. 522.             

Walters 523 (GA 2369):  Gospels, 900’s (with replacement-pages).  PDF of W. 523.

Walters 524 (GA 2373):  Gospels, 900’s.  PDF of W. 524.           

Walters 525 (GA 2374):  Gospels, Acts, and Epistles, c. 1300.  PDF of W. 525.            

Walters 528 (GA 2372):  Gospels, early 1200’s.  PDF of W. 528.            

Walters 531 (GA 2375):  Gospels, c. 1150.  The Trebizond Gospels.  PDF of W. 531. 

Walters 533 (GA 1022):  Acts and Epistles, early 1100’s.  PDF of W. 533.          

Walters 535 (GA Lect 1029):  late (1594) lectionary copied by Luke the Cypriot, with many illustrations.  PDF of W. 535.

            

          Details about the contents and special features of these manuscripts can be found in the catalogue prepared by Georgi R. Parpulov.  Many more manuscripts – including the Reichenau Gospels, the Freising Gospels, and the Claricia Psalter – are at the Walters Art Museum’s website; I have not mentioned many other exquisite manuscripts, so as to encourage readers to visit the website directly and enjoy exploring it for themselves.  

W. 47 features a large illustration
of the assassination
of Thomas Becket.

          Some other Greek manuscripts are too fragile to digitize at present; these include Walters 532 (GA 1346, a Gospels manuscript from c. 1100) and Walters 529 (GA 647 and 2371), the latter of which is formatted similarly to GA 1175.  Among the fragments which consist of only one or two images, are Walters 530A (a miniature of Mark), Walters 530C (GA 2191) (with text from John 21).  Walters 526 (GA 1531, from the late 1200’s) and Walters 527 (GA 2368) are more substantial, but full digital views of these Gospels-copies are not yet available:             

          An abundance of versional manuscripts resides in the Walters Art Museum’s collection, including Walters 537, the oldest substantial Armenian Gospels-manuscript in North America.  (PDF of Walters 537.)  Other interesting non-Greek manuscripts include the following:

Walters 836, an Ethiopic Gospels from the 1300’s.  PDF of Walters 836.   

Walters 751, the Corvey Gospel Fragment (Latin, 950-975). 

Walters 592, an illustrated Arabic Gospels made in 1684.  PDF of W. 592.   

Walters 739, a Coptic fragment of Exodus (with text from chapters 21 & 23).

Walters 47, the Psalter-Hours of Brother Guimier (Latin, late 1200’s).

          Congratulations and thanks are extended to the staff of, and donors to, the Walters Art Museum for making these tremendous resources available!