Minuscule 700 (in the Gregory-Aland numbering of New Testament manuscripts), ε 133 (in the von Soden numbering of New Testament manuscripts), is a

Greek Greek may refer to: Greece Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group. *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family. **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...

New Testament The New Testament grc, Ἡ Καινὴ Διαθήκη, transl. ; la, Novum Testamentum. (NT) is the second division of the Christian biblical canon. It discusses the teachings and person of Jesus, as well as events in first-century Christ ...

minuscule Letter case is the distinction between the letters that are in larger uppercase or capitals (or more formally ''majuscule'') and smaller lowercase (or more formally ''minuscule'') in the written representation of certain languages. The writing ...

manuscript A manuscript (abbreviated MS for singular and MSS for plural) was, traditionally, any document written by hand – or, once practical typewriters became available, typewritten – as opposed to mechanically printing, printed or repr ...

of the

Gospel Gospel originally meant the Christian message ("the gospel"), but in the 2nd century it came to be used also for the books in which the message was set out. In this sense a gospel can be defined as a loose-knit, episodic narrative of the words an ...

s, written on

parchment Parchment is a writing material made from specially prepared untanned skins of animals—primarily sheep, calves, and goats. It has been used as a writing medium for over two millennia. Vellum is a finer quality parchment made from the skins of ...

. It was formerly labelled as 604 in all New Testament manuscript lists (such as that of textual critics Frederick H. A. Scrivener, and Hoskier), however textual critic

Caspar René Gregory Caspar René Gregory (November 6, 1846 – April 9, 1917) was an American-born German theologian. Life Gregory was born to Mary Jones and Henry Duval Gregory in Philadelphia. He was the brother of the American zoologist Emily Ray Gregory. After ...

gave it the number 700. Using the study of comparative writing styles (

palaeography Palaeography (American and British English spelling differences#ae and oe, UK) or paleography (American and British English spelling differences#ae and oe, US; ultimately from grc-gre, , ''palaiós'', "old", and , ''gráphein'', "to write") ...

), it has been dated to the 11th century. It is currently housed at the

British Library The British Library is the national library of the United Kingdom and is one of the largest libraries in the world. It is estimated to contain between 170 and 200 million items from many countries. As a legal deposit library, the British ...

(Egerton MS 2610) in

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

Description

The manuscript is a

codex The codex (plural codices ) was the historical ancestor of the modern book. Instead of being composed of sheets of paper, it used sheets of vellum, papyrus, or other materials. The term ''codex'' is often used for ancient manuscript books, with ...

(the forerunner to the modern book), containing the complete text of the

s on 297 parchment leaves (14.8 cm by 11.7 cm). The text is written in one column per page, 19 lines per page in minuscule letters, with around 30 letters on each line. The initial letters are in gold and blue ink, as well as the simple headpieces (titles to each Gospel) and tailpieces (ending to each Gospel).

Iota subscript The iota subscript is a diacritic mark in the Greek alphabet shaped like a small vertical stroke or miniature iota placed below the letter. It can occur with the vowel letters eta , omega , and alpha . It represents the former presence of an ...

(a small Greek letter ι (iota) written underneath vowels in certain words to indicate a change of

sound In physics, sound is a vibration that propagates as an acoustic wave, through a transmission medium such as a gas, liquid or solid. In human physiology and psychology, sound is the ''reception'' of such waves and their ''perception'' by the ...

) is never used by the initial copyist, however

iota adscript The iota subscript is a diacritic mark in the Greek alphabet shaped like a small vertical stroke or miniature iota placed below the letter. It can occur with the vowel letters eta , omega , and alpha . It represents the former presence of an ...

(where the ι is written as part of the main text with the same function as the iota subscript) is employed quite often, most frequently with substantives,

definite article An article is any member of a class of dedicated words that are used with noun phrases to mark the identifiability of the referents of the noun phrases. The category of articles constitutes a part of speech. In English, both "the" and "a(n)" ar ...

s, and

pronoun In linguistics and grammar, a pronoun (abbreviated ) is a word or a group of words that one may substitute for a noun or noun phrase. Pronouns have traditionally been regarded as one of the parts of speech, but some modern theorists would not co ...

s. The initial copyist however has used

erroneously very often: scholar and textual critic

Herman C. Hoskier Herman Charles Hoskier (1864–1938), was a biblical scholar, British textual critic, and son of a merchant banker, Herman Hoskier (1832–1904). Hoskier, as textual critic, generally but not entirely supported the Byzantine text-type against th ...

notes the copyist inserted iota adscript incorrectly 80 times in

Matthew Matthew may refer to: * Matthew (given name) * Matthew (surname) * ''Matthew'' (ship), the replica of the ship sailed by John Cabot in 1497 * ''Matthew'' (album), a 2000 album by rapper Kool Keith * Matthew (elm cultivar), a cultivar of the Ch ...

, 27 times in

Mark Mark may refer to: Currency * Bosnia and Herzegovina convertible mark, the currency of Bosnia and Herzegovina * East German mark, the currency of the German Democratic Republic * Estonian mark, the currency of Estonia between 1918 and 1927 * F ...

, 19 times in

Luke People *Luke (given name), a masculine given name (including a list of people and characters with the name) *Luke (surname) (including a list of people and characters with the name) *Luke the Evangelist, author of the Gospel of Luke. Also known as ...

, and 23 times in

John John is a common English name and surname: * John (given name) * John (surname) John may also refer to: New Testament Works * Gospel of John, a title often shortened to John * First Epistle of John, often shortened to 1 John * Secon ...

. The text of the Gospels is divided according to the chapters (known as / ''kephalaia''), whose numbers are placed in the margin of the text, with the titles of the chapters given at the top of the pages, with gold and red ink. The tables of content lists are placed before each Gospel (Matthew, Mark, Luke). The chapters to Matthew contains only 17 entries, with the list being left unfinished. There is also a division into smaller sections, the Ammonian sections with references to the

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 d ...

(an early system of dividing the four Gospels into different sections), although this is done in

very rarely. It contains the

Epistula ad Carpianum The ''Epistula ad Carpianum'' ("Letter to Carpian") or Letter of Eusebius is the title traditionally given to a letter from Eusebius of Caesarea to a Christian named Carpianus. In this letter, Eusebius explains his ingenious system of gospel harmo ...

(a letter from the early church writer

Eusebius of Caesarea Eusebius of Caesarea (; grc-gre, Εὐσέβιος ; 260/265 – 30 May 339), also known as Eusebius Pamphilus (from the grc-gre, Εὐσέβιος τοῦ Παμφίλου), was a Greek historian of Christianity, exegete, and Christia ...

, outlying his gospel harmony system, his chapter divisions of the four gospels, and their purpose); Eusebian Canon tables (list of chapters) at the beginning of the codex; subscriptions (end titles) at the close of each Gospel; illustrations of the evangelists; and lectionary markings (to indicate what verse was to be read on a specific day in the churches yearly calendar) in the margin, written in gold ink. The initial copyist left space between the weekly readings for insertion of the ἀρχ(η) (''beginning'') and τελ(ος) (''end'') markings, however they were left unfinished. The original copyist didn't add any to the Gospels of Matthew and Mark, but a few were inserted by a later copyist. The initial copyist did however insert a few in the Gospels of Luke (Luke 6:17; 10:16, 21, 22, 25, 37, 38; 12:16, 32) and John (John 1:17/18, 52/2:1), in gold ink. Quotations from the

Old Testament The Old Testament (often abbreviated OT) is the first division of the Christian biblical canon, which is based primarily upon the 24 books of the Hebrew Bible or Tanakh, a collection of ancient religious Hebrew writings by the Israelites. The ...

are sometimes marked in the margin by a ''diplai'' (>), written in gold ink. These are found at Matthew 1:23; 2:6, 15, 18; 4:6, 7, 15, 16; Luke 3:4-6; 4:10, 11, 18; 10:27; John 19:24, 37. There are none in Mark.

Accents Accent may refer to: Speech and language * Accent (sociolinguistics), way of pronunciation particular to a speaker or group of speakers * Accent (phonetics), prominence given to a particular syllable in a word, or a word in a phrase ** Pitch acce ...

(used to indicate voiced pitch changes) and breathing marks (utilised to designate vowel emphasis) are utilised throughout. Three forms of the round stops (above, middle, and below the line), the

comma The comma is a punctuation mark that appears in several variants in different languages. It has the same shape as an apostrophe or single closing quotation mark () in many typefaces, but it differs from them in being placed on the baseline ...

, (applied to show the end of phrases/sentences) and the semicolon (used to mark a question has been asked) are employed. The three stops and comma are partially applied, although incorrectly in many instances. The semicolon is only used sparingly, and mostly neglected where the end of a question is.

Itacism Iotacism ( el, ιωτακισμός, ''iotakismos'') or itacism is the process of vowel shift by which a number of vowels and diphthongs converged towards the pronunciation in post-classical Greek and Modern Greek. The term "iotacism" refers to ...

(spelling errors due to similar sounding letters) mistakes are witnessed, however not as many as in other codices, with Hoskier noting a total of 205 (33 in Matthew; 32 in Mark; 102 in Luke; and 38 in John). Some cases of

homoeoteleuton Homeoteleuton, also spelled homoeoteleuton and homoioteleuton (from the Greek ,Silva Rhetoricae (2006)Rhetorical Figures for Shakespeare and the Scriptures/ref> ''homoioteleuton'', "like ending"), is the repetition of endings in words. Homeoteleuto ...

are noticed, but very rarely (this being the omission of words/phrases which finish with either similar letters, or the same word). Most of the conventional

nomina sacra In Christian scribal practice, nomina sacra (singular: ''nomen sacrum'' from Latin ''sacred name'') is the abbreviation of several frequently occurring divine names or titles, especially in Greek manuscripts of the Bible. A nomen sacrum consists ...

(special names/words considered sacred in

Christianity Christianity is an Abrahamic monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth. It is the world's largest and most widespread religion with roughly 2.38 billion followers representing one-third of the global pop ...

- usually the first and last letters of the name/word in question are written, followed by an overline; sometimes other letters from within the word are used as well) are employed throughout (the following list is for

nominative case In grammar, the nominative case (abbreviated ), subjective case, straight case or upright case is one of the grammatical cases of a noun or other part of speech, which generally marks the subject of a verb or (in Latin and formal variants of Engl ...

(''subject'') forms): ( / ''Jesus''); ( / ''Christ''); ( / ''God''); ( / ''Lord''); ( / ''Spirit''); ( / ''David''); ( / ''Israel''); ( / ''father''); ( / ''mother''); ( / ''saviour''); ( / ''salvation''); ( / ''salvation''); ( / ''heaven''); ( / ''heavenly''); ( / ''man''); ( / ''cross''). The

nomen sacrum In Christian scribal practice, nomina sacra (singular: ''nomen sacrum'' from Latin ''sacred name'') is the abbreviation of several frequently occurring divine names or titles, especially in Greek manuscripts of the Bible. A nomen sacrum consists ...

(singular of ''nomina sacra'') for (''son'' / ) is seen in Matthew 1:23, 3:17, 17:15; Mark 10:47; Luke 1:13, 31, 3:2. The

for (''Jerusalem'' / ) is seen in Matthew 23:37; Luke 2:25, 38, 41, 43, 5:17, 6:17, 9:31, 53, 10:30, 13:4, 22, 23, 34, 19:11, 23:28, 24:13, 18, 33, 47, 49, 52.

Text

The Greek text of the codex has been considered as a representative of the

Caesarean text-type In textual criticism of the New Testament, Caesarean text-type is the term proposed by certain scholars to denote a consistent pattern of variant readings that is claimed to be apparent in certain Koine Greek manuscripts of the four Gospels, but wh ...

. The text-types are groups of different New Testament manuscripts which share specific or generally related readings, which then differ from each other group, and thus the conflicting readings can separate out the groups. These are then used to determine the original text as published; there are three main groups with names: Alexandrian,

Western Western may refer to: Places *Western, Nebraska, a village in the US *Western, New York, a town in the US *Western Creek, Tasmania, a locality in Australia *Western Junction, Tasmania, a locality in Australia *Western world, countries that id ...

, and

Byzantine The Byzantine Empire, also referred to as the Eastern Roman Empire or Byzantium, was the continuation of the Roman Empire primarily in its eastern provinces during Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages, when its capital city was Constantinopl ...

. The Caesarean text-type however (initially identified by biblical scholar

Burnett Hillman Streeter Burnett Hillman Streeter (1874–1937) was an English Anglican theologian, biblical scholar, and textual critic. Life Streeter was born in Croydon, London, on 17 November 1874 and educated at The Queen's College, Oxford. He was ordained in 1 ...

) has been contested by several text-critics, such as Kurt and Barbara Aland. Aland placed it in Category III of his New Testament manuscript text classification system. Category III manuscripts are described as having "a small but not a negligible proportion of early readings, with a considerable encroachment of yzantinereadings, and significant readings from other sources as yet unidentified." Among Aland's test collation passages (a specific list of verses in the New Testament which have been determined to show to which text-type a manuscript belongs), the codex has 153 variants in agreement with the Byzantine text, 81 with the Byzantine and Nestle-Aland texts, 35 with the Nestle-Aland text, and 58 distinctive readings. According to the

Claremont Profile Method 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 classif ...

(a specific analysis method of textual data), it has a mixed textual relationship in Luke 1, accords to the Alexandrian text-type in Luke 10, and represents the textual family K in Luke 20. It belongs to the textual family subgroup 35. In it has the famous textual variant "" (''Jesus Barabbas''). This variant is found in Codex Koridethi (Θ), and manuscripts of textual group Family 1 (ƒ). It lacks Mark 11:26. (NA26) Together with minuscule 162, it contains the remarkable reading in the Gospel of : (''May your Holy Spirit come upon us and cleanse us''), instead of ελθετω η βασιλεια σου (''May your kingdom come'') in the

Lord's Prayer The Lord's Prayer, also called the Our Father or Pater Noster, is a central Christian prayer which Jesus taught as the way to pray. Two versions of this prayer are recorded in the gospels: a longer form within the Sermon on the Mount in the Gosp ...

. This peculiar reading does not appear in any other manuscript, but it was derived from a very old archetype, because it is present in

Marcion Marcion of Sinope (; grc, Μαρκίων ; ) was an early Christian theologian in early Christianity. Marcion preached that God had sent Jesus Christ who was an entirely new, alien god, distinct from the vengeful God of Israel who had created ...

's text of the third Gospel (Marcion was an early

gnostic Gnosticism (from grc, γνωστικός, gnōstikós, , 'having knowledge') is a collection of religious ideas and systems which coalesced in the late 1st century AD among Jewish and early Christian sects. These various groups emphasized pe ...

, considered a heretic by contemporary and later

Christians Christians () are people who follow or adhere to Christianity, a monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus Christ. The words ''Christ'' and ''Christian'' derive from the Koine Greek title ''Christós'' (Χρι ...

), and is also attested by the church father

Gregory of Nyssa Gregory of Nyssa, also known as Gregory Nyssen ( grc-gre, Γρηγόριος Νύσσης; c. 335 – c. 395), was Bishop of Nyssa in Cappadocia from 372 to 376 and from 378 until his death in 395. He is venerated as a saint in Catholici ...

in his quotations of the Gospel of Luke in his writings. Hoskier's collation (a comparison of a manuscript's text with that of another, and differences between them recorded) notes 2724 variations from the

Textus Receptus ''Textus Receptus'' (Latin: "received text") refers to all printed editions of the Greek New Testament from Erasmus's ''Novum Instrumentum omne'' (1516) to the 1633 Elzevir edition. It was the most commonly used text type for Protestant denomi ...

(before the 1900s, this was the most common printed Greek New Testament): of these 791 are omissions; 353 are additions; and 270 textual variants have not been found in any other manuscript. ; Notable readings Below are some readings of the manuscript which agree or disagree with variant readings in other Greek manuscripts, or with varying ancient translations of the New Testament. See the main article

Textual variants in the New Testament Textual variants in the New Testament manuscripts arise when a copyist makes deliberate or inadvertent alterations to the text that is being reproduced. Textual criticism of the New Testament has included study of its textual variants. Most of t ...

. : (''he answered, saying'') — 700 E 565 : (''he answered'') — D it : (''he said to him'') — Majority of manuscripts :- : (''my name is Legion'') — 700* B C L Δ 579 : (''Legeon'') — 700 * B* A W Θ ƒ ƒ Byz : (''do not defraud'') ::omit — 700 B K W Ψ ƒ ƒ 28 1010 1079 1242 1546 2148 ℓ ''10'' ℓ ''950'' ℓ ''1642'' ℓ ''1761'' sy

arm In human anatomy, the arm refers to the upper limb in common usage, although academically the term specifically means the upper arm between the glenohumeral joint (shoulder joint) and the elbow joint. The distal part of the upper limb between th ...

geo Geo- is a prefix derived from the Greek word ''γη'' or ''γαια'', meaning "earth", usually in the sense of "ground or land”. GEO or Geo may also refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media * ''GEO'' (magazine), a popular scientific magazine ...

(UBS3) : (''not lawful'') — 700 B ( D) N

lat Lat or LAT may refer to: Places * Lat, Fuman, village in Gilan Province, Iran * Lat, Rasht, village in Gilan Province, Iran * Lat, Mazandaran, village in Iran * Lat-e Disar, village in Mazandaran Province, Iran * Lat, Qazvin, village in I ...

sa bo

: (''not lawful to do'') - Majority of manuscripts : (''but deliver us from evil'') ::omit — 700 B L ƒ vg sy sa bo

::incl. — Majority of manuscripts : (''having looked up'') — 700 U Λ ƒ : (''having got up'') — Majority of manuscripts : (''the sins of each of them'') — 700 U (030) 73

331 __NOTOC__ Year 331 (Roman numerals, CCCXXXI) was a common year starting on Friday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Bassus and Ablabius (or, less frequent ...

364

658 __NOTOC__ Year 658 (Roman numerals, DCLVIII) was a common year starting on Monday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. The denomination 658 for this year has been used since the early medieval period, when the Anno Domi ...

782 __NOTOC__ Year 782 ( DCCLXXXII) was a common year starting on Tuesday of the Julian calendar. The denomination 782 for this year has been used since the early medieval period, when the Anno Domini calendar era became the prevalent method in ...

1592

(

652 __NOTOC__ Year 652 ( DCLII) was a leap year starting on Sunday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. The denomination 652 for this year has been used since the early medieval period, when the Anno Domini calendar era be ...

; 264 in )

History

The author of the codex is unknown. It was probably written in

Constantinople la, Constantinopolis ota, قسطنطينيه , alternate_name = Byzantion (earlier Greek name), Nova Roma ("New Rome"), Miklagard/Miklagarth (Old Norse), Tsargrad ( Slavic), Qustantiniya (Arabic), Basileuousa ("Queen of Cities"), Megalopolis (" ...

(modern day

Istanbul Istanbul ( , ; tr, İstanbul ), formerly known as Constantinople ( grc-gre, Κωνσταντινούπολις; la, Constantinopolis), is the List of largest cities and towns in Turkey, largest city in Turkey, serving as the country's economic, ...

Turkey Turkey ( tr, Türkiye ), officially the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti, links=no ), is a list of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country located mainly on the Anatolia, Anatolian Peninsula in Western Asia, with ...

). The codex was bought on the 28th April, 1882 for the

British Museum The British Museum is a public museum dedicated to human history, art and culture located in the Bloomsbury area of London. Its permanent collection of eight million works is among the largest and most comprehensive in existence. It docum ...

, through the auspices of

Edward Maunde Thompson Sir Edward Maunde Thompson (4 May 1840 – 14 September 1929) was a British palaeographer and Principal Librarian and first Director of the British Museum. He is noted for his handbook of Greek and Latin palaeography and for his study of Will ...

, the then Principal Keeper of manuscripts at the British Museum. The codex was previously in the hands of a German bookseller. It was examined by

Anglican Anglicanism is a Western Christian tradition that has developed from the practices, liturgy, and identity of the Church of England following the English Reformation, in the context of the Protestant Reformation in Europe. It is one of th ...

clergyman Clergy are formal leaders within established religions. Their roles and functions vary in different religious traditions, but usually involve presiding over specific rituals and teaching their religion's doctrines and practices. Some of the ter ...

Dean Burgon John William Burgon (21 August 18134 August 1888) was an English Anglican divine who became the Dean of Chichester Cathedral in 1876. He was known during his lifetime for his poetry and his defence of the historicity and Mosaic authorship of G ...

, and it was described and collated by scholar W. H. Simcox,

Scrivener A scrivener (or scribe) was a person who could read and write or who wrote letters to court and legal documents. Scriveners were people who made their living by writing or copying written material. This usually indicated secretarial and ad ...

, and Hoskier. The collation and comments of W. H. Simcox were severely criticised by Hoskier for its numerous mistakes. The manuscript is now located in the

(Egerton MS 2610).

References

External links

Minuscule 700
at the

.
Minuscule 700
at the ''Encyclopedia of Textual Criticism''.
700 (GA)
at the

CSNTM The Center for the Study of New Testament Manuscripts (CSNTM) is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization whose mission is to digitally preserve Greek New Testament manuscripts. Toward that end, CSNTM takes digital photographs of manuscripts at institu ...

. {{DEFAULTSORT:Minuscule 0700 Greek New Testament minuscules 11th-century biblical manuscripts Egerton collection

Description

Text

History

See also

References

Further reading

External links