Codex Bezae Explained

The Codex Bezae Cantabrigiensis, designated by siglum D or 05 (in the Gregory-Aland numbering of New Testament manuscripts), δ 5 (in the von Soden numbering of New Testament manuscripts), is a bi-lingual Greek and Latin manuscript of the New Testament written in an uncial hand on parchment. It contains most of the four Gospels and Acts, with a small fragment of 3 John. Using the study of comparative writing styles (palaeography), it is currently dated to the 5th century. A digital facsimile of the codex is available from Cambridge University Library, which holds the manuscript.[1]

Description

The manuscript is a codex (precursor to the modern book), containing 406 extant parchment leaves, from perhaps an original 534 (26 x 21.5 cm), written one column per page with the Greek text on the left face and the Latin text on the right.[2] The text is written colometrically and is full of hiatus. The first three lines of each book are in red letters, and black and red ink alternate the title of books. As many as eleven correctors (G, A, C, B, D, E, H, F, J, L, K) have amended the text of the manuscript between the sixth and twelfth centuries. The Greek text of the codex has some copying errors, e.g., errors of metathesis (the transposition of sounds or syllables in a word): in 1:3 KJV, Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: ΕΓΕΝΕΤΟ (egeneto) was changed into Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: ΕΝΕΓΕΤΟ (enegeto); in 1:9 KJV, Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: ΥΠΕΛΑΒΕΝ (hypelaben) into Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: ΥΠΕΒΑΛΕΝ (hypebalen).

The following nomina sacra (sacred names/words considered sacred in Christianity) are employed in the manuscript (the ones cited here are only nominative case (subject case) examples): (Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: Ιησους, Iēsous 'Jesus'), (Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: Χριστος, Christos 'Christ'), (Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: πατηρ, patēr 'Father'), (Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: σταυρωθη, staurōthē '[he] was crucified'). Other words which usually feature among the nomina sacra are written out in full: Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: μητερ, υιος, σωτηρ, ανθρωπος, ουρανος, δαυιδ, Ισραηλ, Ιηρουσαλημ (mēter 'Mother', huios 'Son', sōter 'savior', anthrōpos 'man', ouranos 'sky, David, Israēl, Iērousalēm).[3]

Codex contents

The manuscript presents the gospels in the so-called Western order of Matthew, John, Luke and Mark, of which only Luke is complete; after some missing pages the manuscript picks up with the Third Epistle of John (in Latin) and contains part of Acts.

Lacunae:
  • Matthew 1:1–20, 6:20–9:2, 27:2–12; John 1:16–3:26; Acts 8:29–10:14, 21:2–10, 21:16–18, 22:10–20, 22:29–end
    Omitted verses:
  • Matthew 5:20; 5:30; 9:34; 10:37b; 10:41b; 21:44; 23:14
  • Mark 15:28
  • Luke 5:39; 2 Luke; 2 Luke; 12:21; 19:25; 23:34; 24:5; 24:12; 24:40
  • John 5:4
    Supplementations (by a later hand):
  • Matthew 3:7–16; Mark 16:15–20; John 18:14–20:13

    Text type

    The Greek text is unique, with many interpolations found in no other manuscript. It has several remarkable omissions, and a capricious tendency to rephrase sentences. Aside from this one Greek manuscript, the type of text is found in Old Latin (pre-Vulgate) versions - as seen in the Latin here - and in Syriac, and Armenian versions. Bezae is the principal Greek representative of the Western text-type.

    There is no consensus on the many problems the Greek text presents. Since the Latin text occasionally agrees with Codices Bobiensis and Vercellensis against all others, it "preserves an ancient form of the Old Latin", and is a witness to a text which was current no later than 250 CE. Issues of conformity have dogged the usage of the codex in biblical scholarship. "In general the Greek text is treated as an unreliable witness," but it is "an important corroborating witness wherever it agrees with other early manuscripts."[4]

    Some of the outstanding features: is present and not marked as doubtful or spurious. One of the longer endings of Mark is given. Luke 22:43f and Pericope de adultera are present and not marked as spurious or doubtful. John 5:4 is omitted, and the text of Acts is nearly 8% longer than the generally received text. It also includes a story of a man working on the Sabbath placed after Luke 6:4 which is not found in any other manuscript.[5]

    Acts in Codex Bezae differs quite considerably from other manuscripts, which some argue possibly represents an earlier version directly from Luke.[6]

    Notable readings

    See main article: Textual variants in the New Testament.

    Codex Bezae Cantabrigiensis contains some extraordinary readings.[7] Below is a selection of some of the more notable or unsupported readings, with text and translation.

    History

    The codex's place of origin is still disputed; both Gaul (current France) and southern Italy have been suggested.[8] [9] Other proposed places of origin include Egypt, Palestine and Beirut.

    The manuscript is believed to have been repaired at Lyon (France) in the ninth century, as revealed by a distinctive ink used for supplementary pages. It was closely guarded for many centuries in the monastic library of St Irenaeus at Lyon. The manuscript was consulted, perhaps in Italy, for disputed readings at the Council of Trent, and was at about the same time collated for Stephanus's edition of the Greek New Testament. During the upheavals of the Wars of Religion in the 16th century, when textual analysis had a new urgency among the Reformation's Protestants, the manuscript was stolen from the monastic library in Lyon when French Huguenots ransacked the library in 1562. It was delivered to the Protestant scholar Theodore Beza,[10] the friend and successor of Calvin, who gave it in 1581 to the University of Cambridge, in the comparative security of England, which accounts for its double name. It remains in the Cambridge University Library (Nn. II 41).[11] [12]

    Scholar John Mill collated and biblical scholar Johann Jakob Wettstein transcribed (in 1716) the text of the codex. Both did their editions of the Greek Testament, but both did their work carelessly. A much better collation was made about 1732 by John Dickinson.

    In 1787, the University of Cambridge appointed Dr Thomas Kipling to edit a facsimile edition which appeared in two volumes in 1793.

    The English cleric Frederick H. A. Scrivener edited the text of the codex in 1864 (rewritten text of the codex)[13] and published a photographic facsimile in 1899.

    The importance of the manuscript is such that a colloquium held at Lunel, Hérault, in the south of France on 27–30 June 1994 was entirely devoted to it.[14] Papers discussed the many questions it poses to our understanding of the use of the Gospels and Acts in early Christianity, and of the text of the New Testament.

    See also

    Further reading

    External links

    Notes and References

    1. Web site: Codex Bezae facsimile at the Cambridge Digital Library .
    2. Book: Kurt . Aland . Kurt Aland . Barbara . Aland . Barbara Aland . Erroll F. Rhodes (trans.) . The Text of the New Testament: An Introduction to the Critical Editions and to the Theory and Practice of Modern Textual Criticism . 109–110 . 1995 . . Grand Rapids . 978-0-8028-4098-1 . limited.
    3. Book: Gregory, Caspar Rene . Textkritik des Neuen Testaments . 1 . 43 . 1900 . J.C. Hinrichs . Leipzig . April 8, 2010.
    4. Web site: Michael Marlowe . Bible Researcher . 2004-01-25 . https://web.archive.org/web/20070814042644/http://bible-researcher.com/codex-d1.html . 2007-08-14 . dead .
    5. Web site: Christian Works: Codex Bezae . Cambridge Digital Library . 2024-01-19.
    6. Book: Wilson . J. M. . The Acts of the Apostles, translated from the Codex Bezae with an Introduction on its Lucan origin and Importance . 1923 . The Macmillan Co. . New York and Toronto . 978-1-61097-123-2.
    7. Book: Epp, Eldon Jay . The Theological Tendency of Codex Bezae Cantebrigiensis in Acts . 34 . 2005 . . New York . 978-0-521-02047-3.
    8. Book: Birdsall, James Neville . Wolfgang . Schrage . The Geographical and Cultural Origin of the Codex Bezae Cantabrigiensis: A Survey of the Status Quaestionis, mainly from the Palaeographical Standpoint . Studien zum Text und zur Ethik des Neuen Testaments: Festschrift zum 80. Geburtstag von Heinrich Greeven . 102-114 . 1986 . De Gruyter . Berlin; Boston . 9783110850154 . 10.1515/9783110850154-008.
    9. Book: Parker, David Charles . David C. Parker . Codex Bezae: An Early Christian Manuscript and its Text . 1992 . Cambridge University Press . Cambridge . 978-0-521-07236-6 .
    10. Web site: Kevin . Knight . Codex Bezae . 2017 . www.newadvent.org . New Advent . July 22, 2018 . Beza wrote in the letter accompanying his gift that the manuscript was obtained from the monastery of St. Irenæus in Lyons, during the war in 1562. Lyons was sacked by the Huguenots in that year and this manuscript was probably part of the loot. The reformer said it had lain in the monastery for long ages, neglected and covered with dust; but his statement is rejected by most modern scholars. It is claimed, in fact, that this codex is the one which was used at the Council of Trent in 1546 by William Dupré (English writers persist in calling this Frenchman a Prato), Bishop of Clermont in Auvergne, to confirm a Latin reading of John 21, si eum volo manere, which is found only in the Greek of this codex. Moreover, it is usually identified with Codex beta, whose peculiar readings were collated in 1546 for Stephens' edition of the Greek Testament by friends of his in Italy. Beza himself, after having first denominated his codex Lugdunensis, later called it Claromontanus, as if it came not from Lyons, but from Clermont (near Beauvais, not Clermont of Auvergne). All this, throwing Beza's original statement into doubt, indicates that the manuscript was in Italy in the middle of the sixteenth century, and has some bearing upon the locality of the production..
    11. Web site: Liste Handschriften . Institute for New Testament Textual Research . Münster . 16 March 2013 .
    12. Book: Bruce Manning . Metzger . Bruce M. Metzger . Bart D. . Ehrman . Bart D. Ehrman . The Text of the New Testament: Its Transmission, Corruption and Restoration . 4 . 2005 . Oxford University Press . New York; Oxford . 978-0-19-516122-9 . limited.
    13. Book: Scrivener, Frederick Henry Ambrose . Frederick Henry Ambrose Scrivener . Bezae Codex Cantabrigiensis: Being an exact Copy, in ordinary Type, of the celebrated Uncial Graeco-Latin Manuscript of the Four Gospels and Acts of the Apostles . 1864 . Bell and Daldy . London .
    14. The story of the colloquium has been chronicled by one of the participants: J.-M. Auwers, "Le colloque international sur le Codex Bezae", Revue Théologique de Louvain 26 (1995), 405–412. See also: Book: David Charles . Parker . David C. Parker . Christian . Amphoux . Christian Amphoux . Codex Bezae, Studies from the Lunel Colloquium . 1996 . Brill . Leiden. .

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