Lectionary 238, 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 ...
ℓ ''238'' (in the
Gregory-Aland numbering) is a Greek
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 ...
, on parchment.
Palaeographically it has been assigned to the 11th century. Scrivener labelled it by 254
evl.
The manuscript contents are not complex, as it was supplied from several manuscripts.
Description
The codex contains lessons from the
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 of
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 E ...
,
Matthew
Matthew may refer to:
* Matthew (given name)
* Matthew (surname)
* ''Matthew'' (album), a 2000 album by rapper Kool Keith
* Matthew (elm cultivar), a cultivar of the Chinese Elm ''Ulmus parvifolia''
Christianity
* Matthew the Apostle, one of ...
,
Luke
Luke may refer to:
People and fictional characters
* Luke (given name), including a list of people and fictional characters with the name
* Luke (surname), including a list of people with the name
* Luke the Evangelist, author of the Gospel of Luk ...
lectionary
A lectionary () is a book or listing that contains a collection of scripture readings appointed for Christianity, Christian or Judaism, Jewish worship on a given day or occasion. There are sub-types such as a "gospel lectionary" or evangeliary, ...
(''Evangelistarium''), with some
lacunae at the end.
Some leaves were supplied by a later hand.
[ According to Scrivener it is mutilated but well repaired.][
Small headpieces in gold, the initial letters in red, accents in red, the writing in gold.][Lectionary 238]
at the British Library It contains musical notes.[ Itacistic errors are frequent.][
The text is written in Greek ]minuscule
Letter case is the distinction between the letters that are in larger uppercase or capitals (more formally ''majuscule'') and smaller lowercase (more formally '' minuscule'') in the written representation of certain languages. The writing system ...
letters, on 144 parchment leaves (), in two columns per page, 21 lines per page.[''Handschriftenliste'']
at the ''INTF''
There are daily lessons from Easter
Easter, also called Pascha ( Aramaic: פַּסְחָא , ''paskha''; Greek: πάσχα, ''páskha'') or Resurrection Sunday, is a Christian festival and cultural holiday commemorating the resurrection of Jesus from the dead, described in t ...
to Pentecost
Pentecost (also called Whit Sunday, Whitsunday or Whitsun) is a Christianity, Christian holiday which takes place on the 49th day (50th day when inclusive counting is used) after Easter Day, Easter. It commemorates the descent of the Holy Spiri ...
.[
]
History
Scrivener dated the manuscript to the 13th or 14th century,[ Gregory to the 11th or 12th century.][ It is presently assigned by the ]INTF
The Institute for New Testament Textual Research ( — INTF) at the University of Münster, Westphalia, Germany, is to research the textual history of the New Testament and to reconstruct its Greek initial text on the basis of the entire manuscri ...
to the 11th century.[ According to the description given by the British Library in "Catalogue of Illuminated Manuscripts" it was written in "last quarter of the 11th century or 1st quarter of the 12th century" in "Eastern Mediterranean".][
The manuscript was bought by ]John Ruskin
John Ruskin (8 February 1819 20 January 1900) was an English polymath a writer, lecturer, art historian, art critic, draughtsman and philanthropist of the Victorian era. He wrote on subjects as varied as art, architecture, Critique of politic ...
from Bernard Quaritch
Bernard Alexander Christian Quaritch ( ; April 23, 1819 – December 17, 1899) was a German-born British bookseller and collector.
The company established by Bernard Quaritch in 1847 lives on in London as Bernard Quaritch Ltd, dealing in rare ...
(1819–1899), bookseller and publisher, in 1871. Then it was purchased for Sotheby's
Sotheby's ( ) is a British-founded multinational corporation with headquarters in New York City. It is one of the world's largest brokers of fine art, fine and decorative art, jewellery, and collectibles. It has 80 locations in 40 countries, an ...
, 24 July 1930, bought by the British Museum, using the Farnborough Fund, £3,000 bequeathed in 1838 by Charles Long.[
It was examined by Scrivener and Bell.
The manuscript was added to the list of New Testament manuscripts by Scrivener (number 254) and Gregory (number 238). Gregory saw it in 1883.][
The manuscript is not cited in the critical editions of the Greek New Testament (UBS3).][''The Greek New Testament'', ed. K. Aland, A. Black, C. M. Martini, B. M. Metzger, and A. Wikgren, in cooperation with INTF, ''United Bible Societies'', 3rd edition, (Stuttgart 1983), pp. XXVIII, XXX.]
Currently the codex 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 ...
(Egerton 3046) in London
London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...
.[
]
See also
* List of New Testament lectionaries
A New Testament Lectionary is a handwritten copy of a lectionary, or book of New Testament Bible readings. Lectionaries may be written in majuscule or minuscule Greek letters, on parchment, papyrus, vellum, or paper. Eberhard Nestle, Erwin Nest ...
* 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- ...
* Textual criticism
Textual criticism is a branch of textual scholarship, philology, and literary criticism that is concerned with the identification of textual variants, or different versions, of either manuscripts (mss) or of printed books. Such texts may rang ...
Notes and references
Bibliography
* Frederick Henry Scrivener
''A Full and Exact Collation of about Twenty Greek Manuscripts of the Holy Gospels''
(Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 1853), evst. 254.
* H. I. Bell, ''A Greek Evangelistarium from the Library of John Ruskin'', ''British Museum Quarterly
The ''British Museum Quarterly'' was a peer-reviewed academic journal published by the British Museum. It described recent acquisitions and research concerning the museum's collections and was published from 1926 to 1973. It is available electron ...
'', 5 (1930-31), pp. 87-88.
External links
Lectionary 238
at the British Library
{{DEFAULTSORT:Lectionary 0238
Greek New Testament lectionaries
11th-century biblical manuscripts
Egerton Collection