Minuscule 256 (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), α (in the von Soden numbering of New Testament manuscripts), 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 ...

Armenian Armenian may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to Armenia, a country in the South Caucasus region of Eurasia * Armenians, the national people of Armenia, or people of Armenian descent ** Armenian diaspora, Armenian communities around the ...

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 ...

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

, written on

parchment Parchment is a writing material made from specially prepared Tanning (leather), untanned skins of animals—primarily sheep, calves and goats. It has been used as a writing medium in West Asia and Europe for more than two millennia. By AD 400 ...

. 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 11th century.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. 62. It was adapted for liturgical use. Formerly it was assigned by 301, 259, and 102.

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 A book is a structured presentation of recorded information, primarily verbal and graphical, through a medium. Originally physical, electronic books and audiobooks are now existent. Physical books are objects that contain printed material, ...

), containing the text of the

Acts of the Apostles The Acts of the Apostles (, ''Práxeis Apostólōn''; ) is the fifth book of the New Testament; it tells of the founding of the Christian Church and the spread of The gospel, its message to the Roman Empire. Acts and the Gospel of Luke make u ...

, Catholic epistles, Pauline epistles, and

Book of Revelation The Book of Revelation, also known as the Book of the Apocalypse or the Apocalypse of John, is the final book of the New Testament, and therefore the final book of the Bible#Christian Bible, Christian Bible. Written in Greek language, Greek, ...

, on 323 parchment leaves (), with some gaps. The text is written in two columns per page, 36 lines per page. It contains prolegomena, ''Journeys and death of Paul'' (as codices 102,

206 Year 206 ( CCVI) was a common year starting on Wednesday of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Umbrius and Gavius (or, less frequently, year 959 ''Ab urbe condita''). The denomination 206 for this y ...

216 __NOTOC__ Year 216 ( CCXVI) was a leap year starting on Monday of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Sabinus and Anullinus (or, less frequently, year 969 ''Ab urbe condita''). The denomination 216 f ...

, 468, 614, 665,

909 __NOTOC__ Year 909 ( CMIX) was a common year starting on Sunday of the Julian calendar. Events By place Britain * King Edward the Elder and his sister, Princess Æthelflæd of Mercia, raid Danish East Anglia and bring back the relics o ...

, 912), table of contents (known as / ''kephalaia'') before each book, lectionary equipment at the margin, subscriptions at the end of each book, and the number of lines (known as / ''stichoi'').

Text

The Greek text of the codex is considered a representative of the Alexandrian text-type in the Pauline epistles, and the

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 ...

elsewhere. The ending of the

Epistle to the Romans The Epistle to the Romans is the sixth book in the New Testament, and the longest of the thirteen Pauline epistles. Biblical scholars agree that it was composed by Paul the Apostle to explain that Salvation (Christianity), salvation is offered ...

has an unusual order of verses: 16:23; 16:25-27; 16:24 (as in codices P 33 104 263 365 436 459 1319 1573 1837 1852 syr arm).

History

The manuscript once belonged to the Archbishop of Tarsus (1153-1198). It was examined and described by

Paulin Martin Jean-Pierre-Paulin MartinSometimes referred to as Jean P.P. Martin. (20 July 1840 at Lacam-d'Ourcet, Lot – 14 January 1890 at Amélie-les-Bains, Pyrénées-Orientales), often referred to as Abbé Paulin Martin, or simply Abbé Martin or ...

. The manuscript was collated by Christian F. Matthaei and

Herman C. Hoskier Herman Charles Hoskier (1864–1938), was a biblical scholar, British Textual Criticism, textual critic, and son of a merchant banker, Herman Hoskier (1832–1904). As a textual critic of the New Testament, Hoskier generally but not entirely suppo ...

(only Apocalypse). Gregory saw it in 1885. It was formerly designated by the numbers 301, 259, and 102 before receiving its now more common number in 1908 of 256. The manuscript is currently housed at the

Bibliothèque nationale de France The (; BnF) is the national library of France, located in Paris on two main sites, ''Richelieu'' and ''François-Mitterrand''. It is the national repository of all that is published in France. Some of its extensive collections, including bo ...

(Armen. 27 (9)) at

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

References

External links

Online images of Minuscule 256
(Digital Microfilm) at the

National Library of France National may refer to: Common uses * Nation or country ** Nationality – a ''national'' is a person who is subject to a nation, regardless of whether the person has full rights as a citizen Places in the United States * National, Maryland, ce ...

. {{DEFAULTSORT:Minuscule 0256 Greek New Testament minuscules 11th-century biblical manuscripts

Description

Text

History

See also

References

Further reading

External links