Codex Koridethi, also named ''Codex Coridethianus'', is a

Greek Greek may refer to: 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 of all kno ...

uncial Uncial is a majuscule script (written entirely in capital letters) commonly used from the 4th to 8th centuries AD by Latin and Greek scribes. Uncial letters were used to write Greek and Latin, as well as Gothic, and are the current style for ...

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

Gospel Gospel originally meant the Christianity, Christian message ("the gospel"), but in the second century Anno domino, AD the term (, from which the English word originated as a calque) came to be used also for the books in which the message w ...

s, written on parchment. It is designated by the

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 mecha ...

Θ or 038 in the Gregory-Aland numbering of

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 ...

manuscripts, and as ε050 in the Soden numbering of New Testament manuscripts. 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 , , 'old', and , , 'to write') is the study and academic disciplin ...

), it has been assigned to the 9th century CE. The manuscript has several gaps. It has been considered by scholars as a leading member of the Caesarean text-type in the

Gospel of Mark The Gospel of Mark is the second of the four canonical Gospels and one of the three synoptic Gospels, synoptic Gospels. It tells of the ministry of Jesus from baptism of Jesus, his baptism by John the Baptist to his death, the Burial of Jesus, ...

Description

The manuscript is a

codex The codex (: codices ) was the historical ancestor format of the modern book. Technically, the vast majority of modern books use the codex format of a stack of pages bound at one edge, along the side of the text. But the term ''codex'' is now r ...

(precursor to the modern book), containing an almost complete text of the four

s written on 249 parchment leaves (size 29 cm by 24 cm), with the following gaps: Matthew 1:1–9, 1:21–4:4, and 4:17–5:4. The text is written in two columns per page, with 19-32 lines per column. The letters are written in a rough, inelegant hand in blackish-brown ink. Greek accents (used to indicate voiced pitch changes) are written, but breathing marks (utilised to designate vowel emphasis) are rarely included. The scribe who wrote the text is believed to have been unfamiliar with Greek. The manuscript includes the Ammonian sections, but not always 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 of the Bible, chapters ...

, both early systems of dividing the four Gospels into different sections. Lectionary (weekly church reading portions) beginning (αρχη / ''arche'') and ending (τελος / ''telos'') marks are also written. Quotations from the

Old Testament The Old Testament (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 and occasionally Aramaic writings by the Isr ...

are marked. The tables of contents (known as κεφαλαια / ''kephalaia'') are included before the gospels of Mark, Luke, and John (unable to know whether there was a contents-table before Matthew, as the manuscript is missing up to Matt 1:9). A brief subscription is written after the Gospel of John ends.

Text of the codex

The Greek text of the Gospel of Matthew chapters 1-14, and the whole of the Gospel of Luke and Gospel of John is considered to be more or less a representative of the

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

, while the text of the Gospel of Mark has been considered to be a representative of the Caesarean text-type. 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 known as the Eastern Roman Empire, was the continuation of the Roman Empire centred on Constantinople during late antiquity and the Middle Ages. Having survived the events that caused the fall of the Western Roman E ...

. The Caesarean text-type, initially identified by biblical scholar Burnett Hillman Streeter, has been contested by several text-critics, such as Kurt and Barbara Aland. The text of Matthew chapters 14-28 has been considered to be a representative of the Alexandrian text-type. Aland placed it in Category II of his New Testament manuscript classification system. Category II manuscripts are described as being manuscripts "of a special quality, i.e., manuscripts with a considerable proportion of the early text, but which are marked by alien influences. These influences are usually of smoother, improved readings, and in later periods by infiltration by the Byzantine text." It lacks the text of the Pericope Adulterae ( John 7:53- 8:11). ; Caesarean text-type? ''(See main article the Caesarean text-type)'' Streeter based his identification of a new text-type primarily on the readings found on this codex in the Gospel of Mark, and their corresponding appearances in the biblical citations in the writings of the early church father,

Origen Origen of Alexandria (), also known as Origen Adamantius, was an Early Christianity, early Christian scholar, Asceticism#Christianity, ascetic, and Christian theology, theologian who was born and spent the first half of his career in Early cent ...

. He also grouped the manuscripts of ƒ, ƒ, and the minuscules 28, 565 and 700 along with Codex Koridethi, initially designating them as ''fam. Θ''. His reasonings were developed further by biblical scholars

Kirsopp Lake Kirsopp Lake (7 April 187210 November 1946) was an English New Testament Biblical scholar, scholar, Church history, Church historian, Palaeography#Greek Palaeography, Greek palaeographer, and Winn Professor of Ecclesiastical History at Harvard ...

, Robert Blake and Silva New, resulting in this ''fam. Θ'' being designated the ''Caesarean Text-type'' in their joint publication, ''The Caesarean text of the Gospel of Mark'', with Codex Koridethi being considered the Caesarean Text's chief representative. Though further publications sought to establish the ''Caesarean Text'' as a definitive text-type, by the end of the 20th century this notion had failed to convince the majority of scholars. ; Witness to the Byzantine text-type? In 2007, the German Bible Society edited ''The Gospel According to John in the Byzantine Tradition''. Codex Koridethi is cited in the apparatus, and it says: "Manuscript 038 (Θ) represents a text on the boundary of what might reasonably be considered a manuscript of the Byzantine tradition in John". ; Some readings : (''Josiah fathered Jehoiakim; Jehoiakim fathered Jeconiah'') - Θ M ƒ 33 258 478 661 791 ℓ ''54'' ''al'' : (''Josiah fathered Jeconiah'') - Majority of manuscripts (UBS3) : (''and when the centurion returned to the house in that hour, he found the slave well'') - Θ C ( N) 0250 ƒ g, sy :omit - Majority of manuscripts (NA26) : (''saying, 'Peace to this house.) - Θ * D L W ƒ 1010 (1424) it vg : (''this'') - Majority of manuscripts : (''But those tenants, looking on as he arrived'') - Θ ƒ 28 1071 : (''and be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with'') ::omit - Θ B D L Z 085 ƒ ƒ it sy sa ::incl. - Majority of manuscripts : (''Jesus Barabbas'') - Θ 700 ƒ : (''Jesus'') - Majority of manuscripts : (''my clothes for themselves, and they cast lots for my cloak'') — Θ Δ 0250 ƒ ƒ 537 1424 : (''for everything shall be consumed by fire'') - Θ (singular reading) : (''for everything shall be seasoned with fire'')- Majority of manuscripts : (''donkey, son, or ox'') - Θ (singular reading) : (''son or ox'') - Majority of manuscripts :ὁ δὲ Ἰησοῦς ἔλεγεν Πάτερ ἄφες αὐτοῖς· οὐ γὰρ οἴδασιν τί ποιοῦσιν (''And Jesus said: Father forgive them, they know not what they do.'') ::omit - Θ B D* W 0124 1241 a d sy sa bo ::incl. - Majority of manuscripts : (''the sea of Galilee in the region of Tiberius'') – Θ D 892 1009 1230 1253 : (''from Kariot'') - Θ ƒ syr : (''Iscariot'') - Majority of manuscripts : (''for everyone who takes the sword shall be destroyed by the sword'') – Θ (singular reading)

History

It is commonly believed the manuscript is named after the town in which it was discovered; however, this is not correct. The first publication of the entire manuscript by Beermann and Gregory states: Kala/Caucasia: :In the year 1853 a certain Bartholomeé visited a long abandoned monastery in Kala, a little village in the Caucasian mountains near the Georgian/Russian border (some miles south east of the 5600m high Elbrus). There, in an old church, far off every civilisation, he discovered the MS. The MS rested there probably for several hundred years (Beermann: ca. 1300–1869). (as 1360) Koridethi: :Before this time the MS was in a town called Koridethi. This was a village near the

Black Sea The Black Sea is a marginal sea, marginal Mediterranean sea (oceanography), mediterranean sea lying between Europe and Asia, east of the Balkans, south of the East European Plain, west of the Caucasus, and north of Anatolia. It is bound ...

, near today's

Batumi Batumi (; ka, ბათუმი ), historically Batum or Batoum, is the List of cities and towns in Georgia (country), second-largest city of Georgia (country), Georgia and the capital of the Autonomous Republic of Adjara, located on the coast ...

Georgia Georgia most commonly refers to: * Georgia (country), a country in the South Caucasus * Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the southeastern United States Georgia may also refer to: People and fictional characters * Georgia (name), a list of pe ...

. There should still be some ruins of a monastery. Notes in the Gospel indicate dates from ca. 965 CE on. At around this time, according to a note, the book has been rebound. The book was there until around 1300 CE. Further south, Armenia: :A Greek inscription mentions the city of Tephrice or '' Tephrike'' (): "I, Kurines, Comes of the comandant of the city Tephrice came to the castelles and went back to the fort of the Great Martyrs(?)." Even though the content and meaning is not completely clear, the city Tephrice is clear. The town was destroyed in 873. It was on a line between today's Sivas and Malatya in Turkey/Armenia. Beermann's conclusion therefore is (p. 581) that the codex must be older than 873 CE. Beermann speculates that the "fort of the Great Martyrs" (if correctly deciphered) might have been Martyropolis, a town near the Wan Lake, near today's Batman in Turkey. The codex is now located in

Tbilisi Tbilisi ( ; ka, თბილისი, ), in some languages still known by its pre-1936 name Tiflis ( ), ( ka, ტფილისი, tr ) is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Georgia (country), largest city of Georgia ( ...

, at the Georgian National Center of Manuscripts, Gr. 28.

Notes

External links

* R. Waltz
Codex Koridethi
at the ''Encyclopedia of Textual Criticism'' (2007)
Digital Images of Codex Koridethi
online at the CSNTM.
''Sakartvélo, Tbilisi, National Center of Manuscripts (olim AN Inst. Kekelidze), gr. 28''
Pinakes , Πίνακες, Textes et manuscrits grecs {{DEFAULTSORT:Koridethi Greek New Testament uncials 9th-century biblical manuscripts

Description

Text of the codex

History

See also

Notes

Further reading

External links