Codex Montfortianus designated by 61 (on the list Gregory-Aland; Soden's δ 603), and known as ''Minuscule 61'' is a Greek

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

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 ...

on paper. Erasmus named it Codex Britannicus. Its completion is dated on the basis of its textual affinities to no earlier than the second decade of the 16th century, though a 15th-century date is possible on

palaeographic Palaeography ( UK) or paleography ( US; ultimately from grc-gre, , ''palaiós'', "old", and , ''gráphein'', "to write") is the study of historic writing systems and the deciphering and dating of historical manuscripts, including the analysi ...

grounds. The manuscript is famous for including a unique version of the

Comma Johanneum The Johannine Comma ( la, Comma Johanneum) is an interpolated phrase (comma) in verses of the First Epistle of John. The text (with the comma in italics and enclosed by square brackets) in the King James Bible reads: It became a touchpoint fo ...

. It has

marginalia Marginalia (or apostils) are marks made in the margins of a book or other document. They may be scribbles, comments, glosses (annotations), critiques, doodles, drolleries, or illuminations. Biblical manuscripts Biblical manuscripts have ...

Description

The codex contains the entire of the New Testament. The text is written in one column per page, 21 lines per page, on 455 paper leaves ().K. Aland, M. Welte, B. Köster, K. Junack, ''Kurzgefasste Liste der griechischen Handschriften des Neues Testaments'',

Walter de Gruyter Walter de Gruyter GmbH, known as De Gruyter (), is a German scholarly publishing house specializing in academic literature. History The roots of the company go back to 1749 when Frederick the Great granted the Königliche Realschule in Be ...

, Berlin, New York 1994, p. 50. The text is divided according to the (''chapters''), whose numbers are given at the margin, and their (''titles'') at the top of the pages. There is also another division according to the smaller Ammonian Sections, with references to the Eusebian Canons. It contains prolegomena, tables of the (''tables of contents'') before each book, and subscriptions at the end of each book, with numbers of . The titles of the sacred books were written in red ink. The order of books: Gospels, Pauline epistles, Acts, General epistles (James, Jude, 1-2 Peter, 1-3 John), and Book of Revelation. The order of General epistles is the same as in

Minuscule 326 Minuscule 326 (in the Gregory-Aland numbering), α 257 ( Soden), is a Greek minuscule manuscript of the New Testament, on parchment. Paleographically it has been assigned to the 10th century. Formerly it was labelled by 33a and 39p (Scrivener, ...

Text

The Greek text of the Gospels and Acts of this codex is a representative of the Byzantine text-type, Aland placed it in Category V. In the

Pauline epistles The Pauline epistles, also known as Epistles of Paul or Letters of Paul, are the thirteen books of the New Testament attributed to Paul the Apostle, although the authorship of some is in dispute. Among these epistles are some of the earliest extan ...

and

General epistles The catholic epistles (also called the general epistlesEncarta-encyclopedie Winkler Prins (1993–2002) s.v. "katholieke brieven". Microsoft Corporation/Het Spectrum.) are seven epistles of the New Testament. Listed in order of their appearance in ...

its text is mixed, and Aland placed it in Category III. In the

Book of Revelation The Book of Revelation is the final book of the New Testament (and consequently the final book of the Christian Bible). Its title is derived from the first word of the Koine Greek text: , meaning "unveiling" or "revelation". The Book of R ...

its text belongs to the Byzantine text-type but with a large number of unique textual variants, in a close relationship to

Uncial 046 Codex Vaticanus 2066, designed by 046 (in the Gregory-Aland numbering), α 1070 ( von Soden), formerly it was known also as ''Codex Basilianus'', previously it was designated by Br or B2. It is a Greek uncial manuscript of the New Testament writ ...

, and

Minuscule 69 Minuscule 69 (in the Biblical manuscript#Gregory-Aland, Gregory-Aland numbering of New Testament manuscripts), δ 505 (in the Biblical manuscript#Von Soden, von Soden numbering of New Testament manuscripts), known as the ''Codex Leicester'', or ...

Bruce M. Metzger Bruce Manning Metzger (February 9, 1914 – February 13, 2007) was an American biblical scholar, Bible translator and textual critic who was a longtime professor at Princeton Theological Seminary and Bible editor who served on the board of the A ...

Bart D. Ehrman Bart Denton Ehrman (born 1955) is an American New Testament scholar focusing on textual criticism of the New Testament, the historical Jesus, and the origins and development of early Christianity. He has written and edited 30 books, including t ...

, ''The Text of the New Testament: Its Transmission, Corruption and Restoration'', (Oxford University Press, 2005), p. 86. In the Gospels it is close to the manuscripts 56, 58, and in the Acts and Epistles to

326 {{M1 year in topic __NOTOC__ Year 326 ( CCCXXVI) was a common year starting on Saturday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Constantinus and Constantinus (or, ...

. Marginal readings in the first hand of Revelation are clearly derived from the 1516 edition of Erasmus. It was not examined by 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 ...

. In 1 John 5:6 it has textual variant δι' ὕδατος καὶ αἵματος καὶ πνεύματος ἁγίου (''through water and blood and the Holy Spirit'') together with the manuscripts: 39,

1837 Events January–March * January 1 – The destructive Galilee earthquake causes 6,000–7,000 casualties in Ottoman Syria. * January 26 – Michigan becomes the 26th state admitted to the United States. * February – Charles Dickens's ...

.For other variants of this verse see: Textual variants in the First Epistle of John.

identified this reading as an Orthodox corrupt reading. It contains a late-Vulgate-based version of the

as an integral part of the text. An engraved facsimile of the relevant page can be seen in Thomas Hartwell Horne, ''An Introduction to the Critical Study and Knowledge of the Holy Scriptures'' (London: Cadell and Davies, 1818), vol. 2.2, p. 118.

History

It was the first Greek manuscript discovered to contain any version of the

in 1 John chapter 5. It was copied from an earlier manuscript that did not have the ''Comma''. The ''Comma'' was translated from the Latin. Its earliest known owner was Froy, a Franciscan friar, then Thomas Clement (1569), then William Chark (1582), then Thomas Montfort (from whom it derives its present name), then

Archbishop Ussher James Ussher (or Usher; 4 January 1581 – 21 March 1656) was the Church of Ireland Archbishop of Armagh and Primate of All Ireland between 1625 and 1656. He was a prolific scholar and church leader, who today is most famous for his ident ...

, who caused the collation to be made which appears in Walton's Polyglott (Matthew 1:1; Acts 22:29; Romans 1), and presented the manuscript to Trinity College.

Erasmus Desiderius Erasmus Roterodamus (; ; English: Erasmus of Rotterdam or Erasmus;''Erasmus'' was his baptismal name, given after St. Erasmus of Formiae. ''Desiderius'' was an adopted additional name, which he used from 1496. The ''Roterodamus'' wa ...

cited this manuscript ''Codex Britannicus'' as his source for his (slightly modified) ''Comma'' in his third edition of Novum Testamentum (1522). Erasmus misprinted εμαις for εν αις in Apocalypse 2:13. It was described by

Wettstein Wettstein is a Swiss surname. Bearers of the name include: * Carla Wettstein (born 1946), Swiss and Australian chess master *Fritz von Wettstein (1895–1945), Austrian botanist *Johann Jakob Wettstein (1693–1754), Swiss theologian * Johann Rudol ...

and Orlando Dobbin.

C. R. Gregory C. or c. may refer to: * Century, sometimes abbreviated as ''c.'' or ''C.'', a period of 100 years * Cent (currency), abbreviated ''c.'' or ''¢'', a monetary unit that equals of the basic unit of many currencies * Caius or Gaius, abbreviated as ...

saw it in 1883. The codex now is located at

Trinity College Trinity College may refer to: Australia * Trinity Anglican College, an Anglican coeducational primary and secondary school in , New South Wales * Trinity Catholic College, Auburn, a coeducational school in the inner-western suburbs of Sydney, New ...

(Ms. 30) in

Dublin Dublin (; , or ) is the capital and largest city of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. On a bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster, bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, a part of th ...

Notes

References

External links

* R. Waltz

at the ''Encyclopedia of Textual Criticism'' (2007)
Digital images of the manuscript online
at Trinity College Dublin. {{DEFAULTSORT:Minuscule 0061 Greek New Testament minuscules 16th-century biblical manuscripts