Papyrus 45 (''P. Chester Beatty'' I), designated by

siglum Scribal abbreviations or sigla (singular: siglum) are abbreviations used by ancient and medieval scribes writing in various languages, including Latin, Greek, Old English and Old Norse. In modern manuscript editing (substantive and mechanica ...

(in the Gregory-Aland numbering of New Testament manuscripts), is an early Greek

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 ...

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 ...

written on

papyrus Papyrus ( ) is a material similar to thick paper that was used in ancient times as a writing surface. It was made from the pith of the papyrus plant, '' Cyperus papyrus'', a wetland sedge. ''Papyrus'' (plural: ''papyri'') can also refer to a ...

, and is one of the manuscripts comprising the

Chester Beatty Papyri The Chester Beatty Biblical Papyri or simply the Chester Beatty Papyri are a group of early papyrus manuscripts of biblical texts. The manuscripts are in Greek and are of Christian origin. There are eleven manuscripts in the group, seven con ...

, a group of early Christian manuscripts discovered in the 1930s, and purchased by business man and philanthropist,

Alfred Chester Beatty Sir Alfred Chester Beatty (7 February 1875 – 19 January 1968)Seanad 1985: "Chester Beatty died at the Princess Grace Clinic, Monte Carlo, on 19 January 1968, .. (some sources give this as 20 January). was an American-British mining magnate, p ...

. Beatty purchased the manuscript in the 1930s from an Egyptian book dealer, and it was subsequently published in ''The Chester Beatty Biblical Papyri, Descriptions and Texts of Twelve Manuscripts on Papyrus of the Greek Bible'' by palaeographer, biblical and classical scholar Frederic G. Kenyon in 1933. Manuscripts among the

have had several places of discovery associated with them, the most likely being the Faiyum in

Egypt Egypt ( ar, مصر , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a transcontinental country spanning the northeast corner of Africa and southwest corner of Asia via a land bridge formed by the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Mediter ...

(the dry sands of Egypt have been a haven for finding very early manuscripts since the late 1800s). 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 early 3rd century CE. This therefore makes it the earliest example of not only the four

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 contained in one volume, but also the

Acts of the Apostles The Acts of the Apostles ( grc-koi, Πράξεις Ἀποστόλων, ''Práxeis Apostólōn''; la, Actūs Apostolōrum) is the fifth book of the New Testament; it tells of the founding of the Christian Church and the spread of its messag ...

. It contains verses in fragmentary form from the texts of

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 ...

chapters 20-21 and 25-26;

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 * Fi ...

chapters 4-9 and 11-12;

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 ...

chapters 6-7 and 9-14;

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 * Second ...

chapters 4-5 and 10-11; and

Acts The Acts of the Apostles ( grc-koi, Πράξεις Ἀποστόλων, ''Práxeis Apostólōn''; la, Actūs Apostolōrum) is the fifth book of the New Testament; it tells of the founding of the Christian Church and the spread of its message ...

chapters 4-17. The manuscript is currently housed at the

Chester Beatty Library The Chester Beatty Library, now known as the Chester Beatty, is a museum and library in Dublin. It was established in Ireland in 1950, to house the collections of mining magnate, Sir Alfred Chester Beatty. The present museum, on the grounds of ...

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 ...

Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...

, except for one leaf containing Matt. 25:41-26:39 which is at the

Papyrus Collection of the Austrian National Library The Papyrus Collection of the Austrian National Library, also known as the Rainer Collection () and Vienna Papyrus Collection (), is a papyrus collection of the Austrian National Library at Hofburg palace in Vienna. It contains around 180,000 obj ...

Vienna en, Viennese , iso_code = AT-9 , registration_plate = W , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = , timezone = CET , utc_offset = +1 , timezone_DST ...

(''Pap. Vindob. G.'' 31974). In November 2020, 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 ...

in conjunction with

Hendrickson Publishers Hendrickson Publishers is an American academic and reference book house founded in 1980. It is based in Peabody, Massachusetts. History The company was established on 12 May 1980 and incorporated in Massachusetts. Apart from working as book publ ...

released a new 1:1 high-resolution imaged facsimile edition of on black and white backgrounds, along with and .

Description

The manuscript is heavily damaged and fragmented. The papyrus was bound in 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), which may have consisted of 220 pages, however only 30 survive (two of Matthew, six of Mark, seven of Luke, two of John, and thirteen of Acts). It was made up of quires of two leaves (four pages) only, which were formed by folding a single sheet of papyrus in half, with the horizontal fibres (due to how papyrus is made from strips of the papyrus plant) facing each other on the inside pages, while the outsides had the vertical fibres. The order of fibres in the quire may thus be designated V-H-H-V, and this sequence is a vital factor in the reconstruction of the manuscript. All of the pages have

gaps Gaps is a member of the Montana group of Patience games, where the goal is to arrange all the cards in suit from Deuce (a Two card) to King. Other solitaire games in this family include Spaces, Addiction, Vacancies, Clown Solitaire, Paganini, ...

, with very few lines complete. The leaves of Matthew and John are only extant in small fragments, which have to be pieced together in order to make up a page. The original pages were roughly 10 inches by 8 inches. Unlike many of the other surviving manuscripts from the 3rd century which usually contained just the Gospels, or just the Catholic letters, or just the Pauline epistles, this manuscript possibly contained more than one grouping of New Testament texts. This hypothesis is attributed to the use of gatherings of two leaves, known as a single- quire, whereas most other codices were made from multiple pages in a single quire (all pages put on top of each other, then folded in the middle to make a single block), or of multiple pages split into several quires (groups of 8-10 pages laid on top of each other, then folded in half to make separate blocks), which were then stitched together to make a full volume. It is unknown whether the codex was enclosed in a leather cover or one of another material. Despite the fragmentary nature, the codex has evidence of the following verses from the New Testament:

Textual character

Because of the extent of the damage, determining the text's relationship to the standard text-type groups has been difficult for scholars (the text-types are groups of different 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, which 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 ...

). Kenyon identified the text of the Gospel of Mark in the manuscript as represting 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 ...

, following the definition of the group 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 ...

. Reverend Hollis Huston criticized Kenyon's transcription of various partially surviving words, and concluded that chapters 6 and 11 of Mark in could not neatly fit into one of the established textual groupings, especially not Caesarean, due to the manuscript predating the distinctive texts for each type from the 4th and 5th centuries. This is due to the definition of a "text-type" being based on readings found in manuscripts dating to after the

Edict of Milan The Edict of Milan ( la, Edictum Mediolanense; el, Διάταγμα τῶν Μεδιολάνων, ''Diatagma tōn Mediolanōn'') was the February 313 AD agreement to treat Christians benevolently within the Roman Empire. Frend, W. H. C. ( ...

(313) by the

Emperor Constantine Constantine I ( , ; la, Flavius Valerius Constantinus, ; ; 27 February 22 May 337), also known as Constantine the Great, was Roman emperor from AD 306 to 337, the first one to convert to Christianity. Born in Naissus, Dacia Mediterranea ...

, which stopped the persecution of Christians in the Roman Empire, thus allowing them to make copies of the New and Old Testaments freely, under the auspices of an official copying process. Therefore, these manuscripts were made under a controlled setting, whereas the early papyri weren't, hence the specific text-type groups could be established. The manuscript has a great number of unique (known as ''singular'') readings (this being words/phrases not found in other manuscripts of the New Testament in specific verses). On the origin of these singular readings, E. C. Colwell comments: : "As an editor the scribe of wielded a sharp axe. The most striking aspect of his style is its conciseness. The dispensable word is dispensed with. He omits adverbs, adjectives, nouns, participles, verbs, personal pronouns—without any compensating habit of addition. He frequently omits phrases and clauses. He prefers the simple to the compound word. In short, he favors brevity. He shortens the text in at least fifty places in singular readings alone. But he does not drop syllables or letters. His shortened text is readable."

Textual relationship with other New Testament manuscripts

has a relatively close statistical relationship with Codex Washingtonianus (W) in Mark (this being their unique readings shared with each other, albeit not with other manuscripts), and to a lesser extent those manuscripts within the textual-family group

Family 13 Family 13, also known as the Ferrar Group (''ƒ'', von Soden calls the group I), is a group of Greek Gospel manuscripts, dating from the 11th to the 15th centuries, which share a distinctive pattern of variant readings — especially placing the pa ...

. Citing biblical scholar Larry Hurtado's study, ''Text-Critical Methodology and the Pre-Caesarean Text: Codex W in the Gospel of Mark,'' text-critic Eldon Jay Epp has agreed that there is no connection to a Caesarean or pre-Caesarean text in Mark. There is also no strong connection to the Alexandrian text as seen in Codex Vaticanus (B), the Western text as evidenced by Codex Bezae (D), or the

Byzantine text In the textual criticism of the New Testament, the Byzantine text-type (also called Majority Text, Traditional Text, Ecclesiastical Text, Constantinopolitan Text, Antiocheian Text, or Syrian Text) is one of the main Textual criticism#New Testamen ...

as witnessed by 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 ...

. Another hypothesis is that comes from the Alexandrian tradition, but has many readings intended to "improve" the text stylistically, and a number of harmonizations. While still difficult to place historically in a category of texts, contrary to Kenyon, including as a representative of the

has been undermined. The textual relationship of the manuscript varies from book to book. In Mark, an analysis of the various readings noted in the textual apparatus of the United Bible Society's ''Greek New Testament'' (4th ed.) (a critical edition of the Greek New Testament which has, based on scientific principles, attempted to reconstruct the original text from available ancient manuscripts), places in a group which includes W (for chapters 5-16), Codex Koridethi (Θ), textual group

Family 1 Family 1 is a group of Greek Gospel manuscripts, varying in date from the 12th to the 15th century. The group takes its name from the minuscule codex 1, now in the Basel University Library, Switzerland. "Family 1" is also known as "the Lake Grou ...

, and the minuscules 28,

205 Year 205 ( CCV) was a common year starting on Tuesday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Aurelius and Geta (or, less frequently, year 958 '' Ab urbe condita' ...

, 565; the Sinaitic Syriac manuscript, Armenian manuscripts of the New Testament, and Georgian manuscript versions of the New Testament; and the quotations of the New Testament found in early church writer

Origen Origen of Alexandria, ''Ōrigénēs''; Origen's Greek name ''Ōrigénēs'' () probably means "child of Horus" (from , "Horus", and , "born"). ( 185 – 253), also known as Origen Adamantius, was an Early Christianity, early Christian scholar, ...

's works. This group corresponds to what Streeter called an "Eastern type" of the text. In Luke, an eleven-way PAM partition (a specific analytical-method) based on Greek manuscript data, associated with the

Institute for New Testament Textual Research The Institute for New Testament Textual Research (german: Institut für neutestamentliche Textforschung — INTF) at the University of Münster, Westphalia, Germany, is to research the textual history of the New Testament and to reconstruct its G ...

's (INTF) ''Parallel Pericopes'' volume places the manuscript in a group with Codex Ephraemi Rescriptus (C), Codex Regius (L), Codex Zacynthius (Ξ), and the minuscules 33, 892, and 1241. In Acts the Alexandrian text-type is its closest textual relationship. It is calculated that the codex omitted the

Pericope Adulterae Jesus and the woman taken in adultery (or the ) is a passage (pericope) found in John 7:53– 8:11 of the New Testament. It has been the subject of much scholarly discussion. In the passage, Jesus was teaching in the Second Temple after com ...

(John 7:53-8:11).

Some 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 ...

: (''rooster crows''): L ƒ 2886. : (''rooster has crowed''): B D W 33.

\mathfrak

: (''by hundreds and by fifties''): ::Omit. : sy sy ::Incl. : B D ( - L Θ ''ƒ'' ''ƒ'' 28. 565. 579. 700. 892. 1424.

\mathfrak

) : (''the loaves of bread''): ::Omit. : D W Θ ƒ 28. 565. 700. 2542 lat cop ::Incl. : A B L 33.

\mathfrak

(c) f sy bo : (''to the other side''): ::Omit. : W ƒ 118. it syr ::Incl. : Majority of manuscripts : (''I say to you''): ::Omit. : W ::Incl. (without ''ὑμῖν''): B L 892. ''pc'' ::Incl. (full): Majority of manuscripts : (''of the Herodians''): W Θ ƒ 28. 565. 1365. 2542 it cop sa

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 the ...

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 ...

: (''of Herod''): Majority of manuscripts : (''my, and''): ::Omit. : D 28. 700. it syr

::Incl. : Majority of manuscripts : (''and stood up''): ::Omit. : W it sy ::Incl. : Majority of manuscripts : (''because it had been well built''): B L W Ξ 33. 157. 579. 892. 1241. 1342. 2542 sy sa bo : (''for it had been built upon the rock''): A C D Θ Ψ ƒ 700. Byz latt syr cop bo

goth A Goth is a member of the Goths, a group of East Germanic tribes. Two major political entities of the Goths were: *Visigoths, prominent in Spanish history *Ostrogoths, prominent in Italian history Goth or Goths may also refer to: * Goth (surname) ...

:Omit. : 700.* syr : (''nor under a basket''): ::Omit. : L Γ Ξ 070 ƒ 22. 69. 700.* 788. 1241. 2542 syr cop

::Incl. : A B C D W Θ Ψ ƒ

\mathfrak

latt sy; ( Cl) : (''scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites!''): ::Omit. : B C L ƒ 33. 1241. 2542 it vg syr sa cop bo

::Incl. : A ( D) W Θ Ψ ƒ

\mathfrak

it sy bo : (''so they might catch him''): ::Omit. : B L 579. 892.* 1241. 2542 syr co ::Incl. : A C ( D) W Θ Ψ ƒ 33.

\mathfrak

lat vg sy :Omit. verse: it syr bo :Incl. verse: Majority of manuscripts : (''or prepared, or''): ::Omit. : ::Incl. : Majority of manuscripts : (''to the disciples''): ::Omit. : * it ::Incl. : A B D K Γ Δ L W Θ Ψ 0250 ƒ 𝑙844 ''al'' lat syr co ƒ 33.

\mathfrak

: (''and the life''): ::Omit. : it syr

Diatessaron The ''Diatessaron'' ( syr, ܐܘܢܓܠܝܘܢ ܕܡܚܠܛܐ, Ewangeliyôn Damhalltê; c. 160–175 AD) is the most prominent early gospel harmony, and was created by Tatian, an Assyrian early Christian apologist and ascetic. Tatian sought to comb ...

syr Cyprian ::Incl. : Majority of manuscripts : (''of that year''): ::Omit. : it syr ::Incl. : Majority of manuscripts : (''all''): ::Omit. : D it ::Incl. : Majority of manuscripts : (''the Holy''): ::Omit. : A B sa mae ::Incl. : A* C D E Ψ 33. 1739 Byz latt syr cop bo : (''Jesus''): ::Omit. :

\mathfrak

::Incl. : A B C E Ψ 33. 81. 323. 614. 945. 1175 1739 : (''those who heard''): ::Omit. : Ψ* ''pc'' ::Incl. : Majority of manuscripts : (''two men''): ::Omit. :

\mathfrak

::Incl. : A B C E Ψ 36 81. 323. 614. 945 1175 1739 latt syr co : (''became''): A B C 36. 81. 323. 453. 945. 1175. 1739.

: (''fell upon''): E Ψ 33. Byz latt syr : (''came''): : (''Peter''): ::Omit. : gig

Clement Clement or Clément may refer to: People * Clement (name), a given name and surname * Saint Clement (disambiguation)#People Places * Clément, French Guiana, a town * Clement, Missouri, U.S. * Clement Township, Michigan, U.S. Other uses * ...

Ambrose ::Incl. : Majority of manuscripts : (''immediately''): ::Omit. : 36. 453. 1175. 2818 it syr sa bo ::Incl. : A B C E 81. ''pc'' vg sy bo : (''again''): ( D) Ψ 33. 323. 614. 945. 1241. 1505. 1739

\mathfrak

p sy sa mae : (''Lord''): A B C E Ψ 81* 323. 614. 945 1175 1739 lat syr bo : (''God''): D Byz syr sa mae bo : (''making no distinction''): ::Omit. : D it syr ::Incl. : (*) A B ( E Ψ) 33. 81. 945. (1175). 1739 ''al'' : (''of the Lord''): A C Ψ 33. 1739 Byz gig vg sa mae : (''of God''): B D E 049 323. 453 sa bo : (''to God''): 614. syr ''pc'' : (''of the Lord''): ::Omit. : ''pc'' ::Incl. : Majority of manuscripts : (''from sexual immorality''): ::Omit. : ::Incl. : Majority of manuscripts : (''Lord''): A B D 33. 81. it vg sa : (''God''): C E Ψ 1739 Byz gig it vg syr bo : (''Lord''): A C ( D) E Ψ 33. 1739 Byz lat syr cop : (''God''): * B ''pc'' : (''and stirring up''): ::Omit. : E Byz ::Incl. : A B D(*) ( Ψ) 33. 36. 81. 323. 614. 945. 1175. 1505. 1739 ''al'' lat syr sa ( bo)

Notes and references

External links

* Robert B. Waltz

at ''The Encyclopedia of New Testament Textual Criticism''. Retrieved November 19, 2020.
Images
of at the Centre for the Study of New Testament Manuscripts.
Images
of the

Austrian National Library The Austrian National Library (german: Österreichische Nationalbibliothek) is the largest library in Austria, with more than 12 million items in its various collections. The library is located in the Neue Burg Wing of the Hofburg in center of V ...

portions of . {{DEFAULTSORT:Papyrus 0045 New Testament papyri 3rd-century biblical manuscripts Early Greek manuscripts of the New Testament Manuscripts in the Chester Beatty Library Gospel of Matthew papyri Gospel of Mark papyri Gospel of Luke papyri Gospel of John papyri Acts of the Apostles papyri