Minuscule 40

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Minuscule 40

New Testament manuscript

Text Gospels †
Date 11th century
Script Greek
Now at Bibliothèque nationale de France
Size 30 cm by 22 cm
Type Byzantine text-type
Category V
Note marginalia

Minuscule 40 (in the Gregory-Aland numbering), A155 (Von Soden) [1] is a Greek minuscule manuscript of the New Testament. Paleographically it has been assigned to the 11th century. It is written on vellum and has marginalia.

Greek language language spoken in Greece, Cyprus and Southern Albania

Greek is an independent branch of the Indo-European family of languages, native to Greece, Cyprus and other parts of the Eastern Mediterranean and the Black Sea. It has the longest documented history of any living Indo-European language, spanning more than 3000 years of written records. Its writing system has been the Greek alphabet for the major part of its history; other systems, such as Linear B and the Cypriot syllabary, were used previously. The alphabet arose from the Phoenician script and was in turn the basis of the Latin, Cyrillic, Armenian, Coptic, Gothic, and many other writing systems.

Manuscript document written by hand

A manuscript was, traditionally, any document that is written by hand -- or, once practical typewriters became available, typewritten -- as opposed to being mechanically printed or reproduced in some indirect or automated way. More recently, the term has come to be understood to further include any written, typed, or word-processed copy of an author's work, as distinguished from its rendition as a printed version of the same. Before the arrival of printing, all documents and books were manuscripts. Manuscripts are not defined by their contents, which may combine writing with mathematical calculations, maps, explanatory figures or illustrations. Manuscripts may be in book form, scrolls or in codex format. Illuminated manuscripts are enriched with pictures, border decorations, elaborately embossed initial letters or full-page illustrations. A document should be at least 75 years old to be considered a manuscript.

New Testament Second division of the Christian biblical canon

The New Testament is the second part of the Christian biblical canon, the first part being the Old Testament, based on the Hebrew Bible. The New Testament discusses the teachings and person of Jesus, as well as events in first-century Christianity. Christians regard both the Old and New Testaments together as sacred scripture. The New Testament has frequently accompanied the spread of Christianity around the world. It reflects and serves as a source for Christian theology and morality. Extended readings and phrases directly from the New Testament are incorporated into the various Christian liturgies. The New Testament has influenced religious, philosophical, and political movements in Christendom and left an indelible mark on literature, art, and music.

Contents

Description

The codex contains almost complete text of the four Gospels on 312 parchment leaves (30 cm by 22 cm), [2] [3] with only two lacunae (Luke 21:21-23:32; John 20:25-21:25). [4]

Gospel description of the life of Jesus, canonical or apocryphal

Gospel originally meant the Christian message itself, but in the 2nd century it came to be used for the books in which the message was set out. The four canonical gospels — Matthew, Mark, Luke and John — were probably written between AD 66 and 110, building on older sources and traditions, and each gospel has its own distinctive understanding of Jesus and his divine role. All four are anonymous, and it is almost certain that none were written by an eyewitness. They are the main source of information on the life of Jesus as searched for in the quest for the historical Jesus. Modern scholars are cautious of relying on them unquestioningly, but critical study attempts to distinguish the original ideas of Jesus from those of the later authors. Many non-canonical gospels were also written, all later than the four, and all, like them, advocating the particular theological views of their authors.

Lacuna (manuscripts) gap in a manuscript, inscription, text, painting, or a musical work

A lacuna is a gap in a manuscript, inscription, text, painting, or a musical work. A manuscript, text, or section suffering from gaps is said to be "lacunose" or "lacunulose". Some books intentionally add lacunas to be filled in by the owner, often as a game or to encourage children to create their own stories.

The text is written in 1 column per page (11.9 by 10.7 cm), biblical text in 18 lines per page, text of commentary in 48 lines per page (24.6 by 17.4 cm). The initial letters in red; iota subscriptum. [4]

Iota subscript diacritical mark

The iota subscript is a diacritic mark in the Greek alphabet shaped like a small vertical stroke or miniature iota ⟨ι⟩ placed below the letter. It can occur with the vowel letters eta ⟨η⟩, omega ⟨ω⟩, and alpha ⟨α⟩. It represents the former presence of an offglide after the vowel, forming a so‐called "long diphthong". Such diphthongs —phonologically distinct from the corresponding normal or "short" diphthongs —were a feature of ancient Greek in the pre-classical and classical eras.

The text is divided according to the κεφαλαια (chapters), whose numbers are given at the margin, with their τιτλοι (titles of chapters) at the top of the pages. There is also another division according to the Ammonian Sections (in Mark 233, the last section in 16:8), with references to the Eusebian Canons. [4]

Eusebian Canons

Eusebian canons, Eusebian sections or Eusebian apparatus, also known as Ammonian sections, are the system of dividing the four Gospels used between late Antiquity and the Middle Ages. The divisions into chapters and verses used in modern texts date only from the 13th and 16th centuries, respectively. The sections are indicated in the margin of nearly all Greek and Latin manuscripts of the Bible, and usually summarized in Canon Tables at the start of the Gospels. There are about 1165 sections: 355 for Matthew, 235 for Mark, 343 for Luke, and 232 for John; the numbers, however, vary slightly in different manuscripts.

It contains the Epistula ad Carpianum, Eusebian Canon tables, prolegomena, tables of the κεφαλαια (tables of contents) before each Gospel, and a commentary (Victor's in Mark). [5]

The Epistula ad Carpianum or Letter of Eusebius is the title traditionally given to a letter from Eusebius of Caesarea to a Christian named Carpianus.

Victorinus of Pettau Christian saint

Saint Victorinus of Pettau or of Poetovio was an Early Christian ecclesiastical writer who flourished about 270, and who was martyred during the persecutions of Emperor Diocletian. A Bishop of Poetovio in Pannonia, Victorinus is also known as Victorinus Petavionensis, Poetovionensis or Victorinus of Ptuj.

Text

The Greek text of the codex is a representative of the Byzantine text-type. Aland placed it in Category V. [6] It was not examined by the Claremont Profile Method. [7]

Byzantine text-type

The Byzantine text-type is one of several text-types used in textual criticism to describe the textual character of Greek New Testament manuscripts. It is the form found in the largest number of surviving manuscripts, though not in the oldest. The New Testament text of the Orthodox Church, the Patriarchal Text, as well as those utilized in the lectionaries, is based on this text-type. While considerably varying, it also underlies the Textus Receptus Greek text used for most Reformation-era translations of the New Testament into vernacular languages. Modern translations mainly use Eclectic editions that conform more often to the Alexandrian text-type.

Kurt Aland German Theologian

Kurt Aland, was a German theologian and biblical scholar who specialized in New Testament textual criticism. He founded the Institut für neutestamentliche Textforschung in Münster and served as its first director from 1959–83. He was one of the principal editors of Nestle-Aland – Novum Testamentum Graece for the Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft and The Greek New Testament for the United Bible Societies.

The Claremont Profile Method is a method for classifying ancient manuscripts of the Bible. It was elaborated by Ernest Cadman Colwell and his students. Professor Frederik Wisse attempted to establish an accurate and rapid procedure for the classification of the manuscript evidence of any ancient text with large manuscript attestation, and to present an adequate basis for the selection of balanced representatives of the whole tradition. The work of Wisse is limited only to three chapters in Luke: 1, 10, and 20.

History

The manuscript was dated by Gregory to the 11th or 12th century. [4] Currently it has been assigned by the INTF to the 11th century. [2] [3]

Formerly it belonged to the Stavronikita monastery on the Athos (as codex 34). [4] It was examined and described by Wettstein, Scholz, and Paulin Martin. [8]

The manuscript was added to the list of the New Testament manuscripts by Wettstein. C. R. Gregory saw the manuscript in 1885. [4]

It is currently housed at the Bibliothèque nationale de France (Coislin Gr. 22) at Paris. [2] [3]

See also

Related Research Articles

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Minuscule 20 (in the Gregory-Aland numbering), A138 (Soden). It is a Greek minuscule manuscript of the New Testament, dated paleographically to the 11th-century. The manuscript has complex contents and full marginalia. It was prepared for the church reading.

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References

  1. ↑ Gregory, Caspar René (1908). Die griechischen Handschriften des Neuen Testament. Leipzig: J. C. Hinrichs'sche Buchhandlung. p. 49.
  2. 1 2 3 K. Aland, M. Welte, B. Köster, K. Junack, "Kurzgefasste Liste der griechischen Handschriften des Neues Testaments", Walter de Gruyter , Berlin, New York 1994, p. 49.
  3. 1 2 3 "Liste Handschriften". Münster: Institute for New Testament Textual Research. Retrieved 2014-10-19.
  4. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Gregory, Caspar René (1900). Textkritik des Neuen Testamentes. 1. Leipzig: J.C. Hinrichs. p. 138.
  5. ↑ Scrivener, Frederick Henry Ambrose; Edward Miller (1894). A Plain Introduction to the Criticism of the New Testament . 1 (4 ed.). London: George Bell & Sons. p. 196.
  6. ↑ Aland, Kurt; Aland, Barbara (1995). The Text of the New Testament: An Introduction to the Critical Editions and to the Theory and Practice of Modern Textual Criticism. Erroll F. Rhodes (trans.). Grand Rapids: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company. p. 138. ISBN   978-0-8028-4098-1.
  7. ↑ Wisse, Frederik (1982). The Profile Method for the Classification and Evaluation of Manuscript Evidence, as Applied to the Continuous Greek Text of the Gospel of Luke. Grand Rapids: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company. p. 53. ISBN   0-8028-1918-4.
  8. ↑ Jean-Pierre-Paul Martin, Description technique des manuscrits grecs, relatif au Nouveau Testament, conservé dans les bibliothèques des Paris (Paris 1883), p. 49-50

Works


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