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| A sample of the Greek text of 064 (under the Syriac text, which has been digitally removed from this image.) |
Although the Greek text on this palimpsest is
partly obscured by the Syriac writing that was written on top of it, most of it
can be read without much difficulty once the pages are rotated and magnified
onscreen. The text is formatted in two
narrow columns on each page, with 25 lines of text per page. In this respect it corresponds to the
description that J. Rendel Harris gave to several pages which he identified as
Fragment #10 in the 1890 book Biblical Fragments from Mount Sinai.
The pages that
were described and transcribed by Harris as Fragment 10 constitute the uncial 074,
which turned out to be part of the same manuscript identified as Codex 064,
which consists of two parchment leaves with text from Matthew 27:7-30. Making things a little more complicated, 064
and 074 are from the same manuscript as the pages which constitute Codex 090,
which consists of several pages with text from Matthew 26:59-70, 27:44-46, and
Mark 1:32-2:12. To restate: 064 (at Kiev , Ukraine ), 074 (at St. Catherine’s Monastery),
and 090 (at the National Library of Russia ,
in Saint Petersburg
Now the
surviving part of that codex is known to be a little more substantial. The other day, after I replicated the lower writing on a page from Syriac 7, I asked Elijah Hixson for his impression of the Greek text. He mentioned that it reminded him of the manuscript at St. Catherine's Monastery that J. Rendel Harris had discovered back in 1890 - 064. And with a little more investigation, I confirmed that that is exactly what these pages are from.
The text on
one page of Codex 090 ends at Matthew 26:70.
So what we have in the page in Syriac 7 – 72r – that contains Matthew
26:70-27:7 is the page that came immediately after that page of 090.
The text on
another page of Codex 090 begins at Matthew 27:44. So what we have in the page in Syriac 7/Greek 064 that contains Matthew 27:30-43 – 71r – is the page that came
immediately before that page from the portion known as Codex 090.
The text in
the newly discovered pages of Codex 064 is
interesting – more Byzantine than anything else, but with significant
variation. Here are some examples of its
readings:
26:70 – At
the end of the verse, 064 reads -σταμαι τι λεγεις – a reading which looks like an agreement with D, Δ, and f1,
but with a transposition.
26:72 –
After ορκου, 064 reads λεγων, a reading shared by Codex D.
26:73 –
After Μετα μικρον δε, 064 reads παλιν, an agreement with f1.
26:73 –
After και γαρ, 064 reads Γαλιλαιος ει και, an agreement with C*.
26:73 –
After λαλια, 064 has προ between σου and δηλόν.
27:33 – 064 has the word-order κρανιου τοπος λεγομενος, agreeing with À B L
1 1582.
27:34 – 064 has οξος, agreeing with Byz A W.
27:34 – 064 has ηθέλησεν, agreeing with À* B D f1.
27:35 – 064 does not have ινα πληρωθη το ρηθεν δια του προφήτου διεμέρισαντο τα ιμάτια
μου εαυτοις και επι τον ιματισμον μου εβαλον κληρον. Κληρον is followed immediately by και (beginning
v. 26) on the same line.
27:41 –
After Ομοιως, 064 reads και, but δε is not present.
27:41 –
Between εμπαίζοντες and μετα, one line of text is filled by προς αλληλους (a harmonization with Mark
15:31).
27:41 – 064 includes και Φαρισαίων (agreeing with Byz K Π) and this reading fills
exactly one line of text, following another line that also ends in –ων.
27:42 – At
the end of the verse, 064 reads
πιστευσωμεν αυτω.
27:43 – At
the very beginning of the verse, 064 reads Ει before πέποιθεν, agreeing with
D f1.
27:43 – 064 does not have νυν after ρυσάσθω, agreeing with A Y Π 157 565.
Hopefully a full transcription of the pages of Codex 064 in Syriac 7 will be available soon.
Readers are invited to double-check the data in this post.
Hopefully a full transcription of the pages of Codex 064 in Syriac 7 will be available soon.
Readers are invited to double-check the data in this post.
