British Library, Add MS 14467, is a
Syriac manuscript
A manuscript (abbreviated MS for singular and MSS for plural) was, traditionally, any document written by hand or typewritten, as opposed to mechanically printed or reproduced in some indirect or automated way. More recently, the term has ...
of the
New Testament
The New Testament (NT) is the second division of the Christian biblical canon. It discusses the teachings and person of Jesus in Christianity, Jesus, as well as events relating to Christianity in the 1st century, first-century Christianit ...
, according to the
Peshitta
The Peshitta ( ''or'' ') is the standard Syriac edition of the Bible for Syriac Christian churches and traditions that follow the liturgies of the Syriac Rites.
The Peshitta is originally and traditionally written in the Classical Syriac d ...
version, on parchment.
Palaeographic
Palaeography ( UK) or paleography ( US) (ultimately from , , 'old', and , , 'to write') is the study and academic discipline of historical writing systems. It encompasses the historicity of manuscripts and texts, subsuming deciphering and dati ...
analysis has dated the manuscript to the 10th century.
[William Wright, ''Catalogue of the Syriac manuscripts in the British Museum'' (1870, reprint: Gorgias Press 2002), p. 67.]
Description
The manuscript contains the fragments of
Gospel of Matthew
The Gospel of Matthew is the first book of the New Testament of the Bible and one of the three synoptic Gospels. It tells the story of who the author believes is Israel's messiah (Christ (title), Christ), Jesus, resurrection of Jesus, his res ...
(folios 1-8) and
Gospel of John
The Gospel of John () is the fourth of the New Testament's four canonical Gospels. It contains a highly schematic account of the ministry of Jesus, with seven "Book of Signs, signs" culminating in the raising of Lazarus (foreshadowing the ...
(folios 9-15), according to the Peshitta version, with Arabic translation, on 15 leaves (10 by 6¾ inches). The writing is in two columns per page, 26-37 lines per page. The Syriac column is written in Nestorian character, with occasional vowel-points and signs of punctuation, the Arabic column has a few diacritical points.
[
; Contents
: Matthew 7:22-11:1; 11:22-12:10; 16:21-17:13;
: John 8:59-10:18; 16:13-18:3; 19:27-20:25.
The larger sections are marked both in the Syriac and Arabic texts.][
The manuscript was brought from the covenant of St. Mary Deipara, in the ]Nitrian Desert
The Nitrian Desert is a desert region in northwestern Egypt, lying between Alexandria and Cairo west of the Nile Delta. It is known for its history of Christian monasticism."Nitrian Desert", in F. L. Cross and E. A. Livingstone, eds., ''The Oxfo ...
.[
The manuscript is housed at the ]British Library
The British Library is the national library of the United Kingdom. Based in London, it is one of the largest libraries in the world, with an estimated collection of between 170 and 200 million items from multiple countries. As a legal deposit li ...
(Add MS 14467) in London.[
]
See also
* List of the Syriac New Testament manuscripts
Syriac-language manuscripts of the New Testament include some of the earliest and most important witnesses for textual criticism of the New Testament. Over 350 Syriac manuscripts of the New Testament have survived into the 21st century. The majo ...
* Syriac versions of the Bible
Syriac is a dialect of Aramaic. Portions of the Old Testament were written in Aramaic and there are Aramaic phrases in the New Testament. Syriac translations of the New Testament were among the first and date from the 2nd century. The whole Bible ...
* Biblical manuscript
A biblical manuscript is any handwritten copy of a portion of the text of the Bible. Biblical manuscripts vary in size from tiny scrolls containing individual verses of the Jewish scriptures (see '' Tefillin'') to huge polyglot codices (multi- ...
* Codex Phillipps 1388
Codex Phillipps 1388, Syriac manuscript of the New Testament, on parchment. It contains the text of the four Gospels. Palaeographically it had been assigned to the 5th/6th centuries. It is one of the oldest manuscripts of Peshitta with some Old ...
* British Library, Add MS 14455
* British Library, Add MS 14459
* British Library, Add MS 14466
References
{{refend
Further reading
* William Wright
''Catalogue of the Syriac manuscripts in the British Museum''
(1870, reprint: Gorgias Press 2002), pp. 66-67.
Peshitta manuscripts
10th-century biblical manuscripts
Add. 14467