 |
The beginning of Matthew
in Dumbarton Oaks MS 5
(GA 678) |
In
Washington, D.C.,
just a 15-minute drive from the Museum of the Bible, there is a place called
Dumbarton Oaks.
Besides having a beautiful
garden
and a very impressive collection of
antiquities
of all sorts (especially
Byzantine
objects, some of which are displayed in a gallery), Dumbarton Oaks –
founded by
Robert
and Mildred Bliss, and now affiliated with Harvard University – is home to
several Greek New Testament manuscripts:
● Dumbarton
Oaks MS 1 (Gospel Lectionary) is also known as
GA Lect 2139.
It contains readings from the Gospels as they
were arranged for public reading in church-services throughout the year.
This manuscript can be dated precisely to a
specific place and time, thanks to an inscription stating that it was presented
by Empress Catherine Camnene to the Holy Trinity Monastery of
Chalki
in the year 6571 (i.e., 1063).
After the
first 42 folios, the format of the text shifts to a cruciform shape.
In addition to this rare feature, the
manuscript features many small illustrations, often related to the subject of
the excerpts they accompany.
Page-by-page
views of the entire manuscript can be downloaded for free, and can also be viewed
online.
●
Dumbarton Oaks MS
2 is not one of the Greek manuscripts I mentioned.
It was written in Georgian sometime around
the year 1000.
It is a Menaion, a
liturgical book, providing the accounts of saints’ lives to read on their annual
feast-days; this Menaeon includes the saints’ testimonies for December,
January, and February.
●
Dumbarton
Oaks MS 3, also known as GA 1521, contains the Psalms (with Odes), the four Gospels, Acts, the
General Epistles, the Epistles of Paul, and an assortment of prayers.
Like MS 1, this manuscript
can be viewed online page-by-page, and it can be downloaded in its entirety. The book of Psalms begins on fol. 6, with a
headpiece picturing David composing songs.
Illustrations sporadically appear, and at about page 150 they begin to
occur more frequently. A portrait of
Christ appears on fol. 39r. Page 168
features an unusual illustration which combines the Annunciation with a picture
of Mary contemplating the Scriptures, accompanying the text of the
Magnificat. Some pages feature
cruciform text, such as 82r and 85r. Eusebius’
letter
Ad Carpianus begins on 88r,
followed by simple red Canon-tables.
A rather
full lectionary-apparatus accompanies the Gospels-text throughout (and
continued through Acts and the Epistles).
Titloi appear in the upper
margins, at the appropriate places, written in gold or gold-like pigment.
The text of
the Gospel of Matthew begins on page 197, with a large headpiece depicting the
evangelist (framed in blue), an elaborate initial, and marginal
illustrations.
Mark begins
similarly, and with a similar format, on page 265.
Luke begins on page 309, and ends on fol.
186v.
The opening pages of John are not
present; according to a digitally added note they are extant in the
Tretjakov Gallery in
Moscow
as #2580.
The text of John begins on
page 385 in John 1:26.
On 192r, John 5:4
is included in the text.
On 19v, John
7:53 follows 7:52, with a red “Jump ahead” symbol in between; the
pericope adulterae is in the text;
verses 3-11 are accompanied by red “>” marks in the outer margin.
A “Resume here” symbol appears in the margin
beside 8:12.
John ends on 213v.
On 214r
there is a list of the New Testament books in the rest of the manuscript: Acts, the General Epistles, and the Epistles
of Paul (Hebrews is listed between the letters to the Thessalonians and the
letters to Timothy). On 214v the summary
of the book of Acts appears in a cruciform format.
Acts begins
on 215v; Luke and his readers are depicted in a headpiece, framed in blue.
James
begins on 250r; in the headpiece James sits below a canopy, or baldachin.
On fol.
253v the summary of Peter’s epistles is formatted in cruciform text beginning
with an initial E depicting Saint Luke; in
the online images
one can zoom in to see its artistic details.
A digital note then informs readers that the next folio of the
manuscript resides at the Cleveland Museum of Art where it has accession number
50.154.
On 255r the
text resumes in First Peter 1:21. Second
Peter begins (after a book-summary) on 258r.
(Peter appears in the initial.) First
John begins on 261r, with John depicted in a headpiece (framed in green); John
also appears within the initial. (First
John 4:7, without the Comma Johanneum,
is in the text on 264r.) Second John begins on 264v. Third John begins and ends on 265v. 266r contains the summary of the Epistle of
Jude, in cruciform format. Jude begins
on 266v; Jude is depicted in a headpiece, framed in leafy green. Jesus Christ and Saint James make cameos in
the margin. A few pages are then used to
introduce Paul and the book of Romans before the text of Romans begins on 269v. The headpiece is exceptional; it features
Paul in the act of writing while two companions (Phoebe and Timothy?) look on. Each epistle is preface by its summary, each
of which has its own title.
First
Corinthians begins on 282v. As at the
beginning of Romans, the initial “Π” has been turned into a picture of Jesus
Christ teaching Paul; small red titles have survived to identify the figures.
 |
In Dumbarton Oaks MS 3,
the initial "Pi" at the start of
each Pauline Epistle depicts
Jesus Christ and Saint Paul. |
Second
Corinthians begins on 294v; again the initial is a depiction of Christ teaching
Paul.
Galatians
begins on 303r.
Ephesians
begins on 307r.
Philippians
begins on 311v. The initial, which
previous consisted of Jesus teaching Paul, is here a depiction of Jesus
teaching Paul and Timothy.
Colossians
begins on 315r.
First
Thessalonians begins on 318r.
Second
Thessalonians begins on 321.
First
Timothy begins on 323r.
Second Timothy begins on 326v.
Titus
begins on 329r.
Philemon
begins on 330v.
Hebrews
begins on 331v. At the center of the bottom
of the page, a small group of individuals is pictured, representing the
Hebrews.
On 341r, there is a distinct change
in the handwriting; a different scribe has written Hebrews 13:20b to the end of the book.
After the
conclusion of Hebrews, there are several pages of lectionary-related lists and
other materials.
The
Easter-tables in this manuscript begin with the year 1084, and it may be
deduced that the manuscript was made around that time.
● Dumbarton
Oaks MS 4, also known as GA 706, contains the Gospels of Luke and John, on 254
leaves.
Like Dumbarton Oaks MSS 1 and 3,
this
manuscript can be viewed online and
the
entire manuscript can be downloaded.
Compared to MS 3, the text of MS 4 is rather plainly presented.
There are full-page miniatures of Luke (on
4v) and John (on 150v), but these might be secondary.
There is no lectionary apparatus (other than
some sporadic notes by a later hand); headpieces are in plain red; initials are
also in red.
There are no
titloi, even the Eusebian Canon-numbers
and Section-numbers are absent.
John 5:4
is on 170v.
On 190v, John 7:53 follows
7:52 (και απηλθεν εκαστος . . .) and the rest of the
pericope adulterae is included before 8:12.
●
Dumbarton
Oaks MS 5, known as GA 678, formerly known as
Phillips
MS 3886, is a well-executed Gospels-manuscript, written on single-column
pages of 20 lines each.
In 2016, in Volume
70 of
Dumbarton Oaks Papers, Nadezhda
Kavrus-Hoffmann described this manuscript very thoroughly in the article
A Newly Acquired Gospel Manuscript at
Dumbarton Oaks (DO MS 5): Codicological and Paleographic Description and
Analysis.
This article is available
at
Academia.edu .
This manuscript from the 1000s
has 327 leaves; each page contains 20 lines of text in single columns.
The decorations for the Eusebian Canons are
so ornate that one might think an Armenian artist was involved in their
production.
After ten pages of
spectacularly embellished Canon-tables,
Ad
Carpianus, the
kephalaia
(chapters-list) for Matthew, followed by a full-page picture of Christ
enthroned (somewhat damaged, perhaps by kisses), and a full-page picture of
Matthew.
The text of
the Gospel of Matthew begins on 14r, with a sumptuously ornate headpiece. Titloi
appear at the tops of pages, and a lectionary-apparatus (in red) appears above
that, supplemented by notes, symbols and other markings in the text and
margins. Occasionally the lectionary
apparatus appears at the foot of the page.
Section-numbers and Canon-numbers appear in the side-margins (always on
the left of the text). There are a few
corrections to the text. On 99r, a lozenge-dot
symbol (⁘) accompanies the beginning
of Matthew 28:8 in the text, probably to signify the beginning of a
Resurrection Morning reading.
Mark’s text
begins (with an elaborate headpiece) on 103r.
Another ⁘ appears midway
through Mark 1:13, denoting a lection-break, and again at 3:28. On 126v, an asterisk-like mark (like ※ but empty in the center) appears at
the beginning of chapter 8; there appears to have been another asterisk to the
left of the text too, but it has been smudged.
On 129r, the scribe somehow wrote και μετα παρρησια in Mark 8:21b; a
later correction appears in the margin, introduced by the symbol ⁜ which also appears in the text where
the supplies words should be added.
The ⁘ symbol appears at Mark 9:10 (on
130v), at Mark 9:28 (on 132r), in Mark 9:34 (on 132v), in 10:11 (on 134v),
10:31 (at the first line on 136v), in 12:44 (on 144r), at 12:40 (on 144v), in
14:1 (on 147v), in 14:27 (on 149v), in 14:38 (on 150v), at 14:43 and 14:44
(both on 151r; the second ⁘ is
accompanied by another ⁘ in the left
margin), at 14:57 (on 152r), in 15:1 (on the last line of 153r), at 15:2 (with
another ⁘ in the side-margin) and at
15:7 (both on 153v), at 15:12 and 15:14 (on 154r), in 15:20 and 15:23 and 15:24
(on 154v), etc., etc. (I trust that future
researchers will avoid assuming, if they see a ⁘ before Mark 16:9, that this
signifies anything other than a lection-break or the beginning of a chapter.)
After
Luke’s kephalaia and full-page
portrait, the text of Luke begins on 162r. On 210v, asterisk-like marks (like ※
but empty in the center), one in the margin and one in the text, precede
12:16. Luke 22:43-44 is in the text, on
244v. The text of Luke ends on 254v.
After
John’s kephalaia and full-page
portrait, the text of John begins on 257r.
On 282r, an asterisk-like mark (like ※ but empty in the center) precedes
John 7:37, the lection for Pentecost-day.
On 283r, John 7:53 follows 7:52, with a “Jump ahead” symbol (ϒΠ) in
between. The pericope adulterae is in the text (και απηλθεν εκαστος . . . and
with μη προσποιούμενος in verse 6 and προτος in verse 7 and κατακρινω in verse
11); in verse 11 απο του νυν (“from now on”) is added above the line.
A large
asterisk-like mark (like ※ but empty in the center) appears in the margin on
302r, and another such mark appears in the text, before 13:1. This is the beginning of an Easter-time
sequence of lections for Good Friday. In
19:11, on 308v, the scribe did not write the word ουδεμιαν; it is supplied in
the side-margin, accompanied by ⁒ which appears in the margin and in the
text. John’s text ends on 326r.
● GA 669,
known as the
Benton
Gospels, now also known as Dumbarton Oaks MS 6, is assigned to the 900s.
It is missing almost all of the Gospel of
Matthew, but most of Mark (which begins with an interesting illustration – the
title of the Gospel of Mark sits like a king under a
baldachin – serving as a
headpiece), Luke, and John have survived.
Digital photographs of the pages of this
manuscript can be accessed at the
Center for the Study of New
Testament Manuscripts.
This
manuscript has traveled quite far; after being brought to the United States in
1844, it eventually found a home in Texas in the collection of
Charles C. Ryrie, until
Dumbarton Oaks purchased it in 2016.
It is not
every day that one can come into the possession of a digital replica of a Greek
New Testament manuscript – and the stewards of Dumbarton Oaks have provided us
with the means to view and download four of them! Thank you, Gudrun Bühl, James Carder, Jan
Ziolkowski, Susan Boyd, John Duffy, and the many others who had a role in
making these resources available. May these resources reap a harvest of new and revived
interest in the text of the New Testament on the part of everyone who studies
them.
Here are
some additional links to acquaint readers with the multi-faceted blessings a Dumbarton
Oaks:
Dumbarton Oaks Research Library and Collection is the copyright holder for the manuscripts’
page-views and derivatives of them.
Readers are invited to double-check the data in this post.
