Minuscule 4 (in the Gregory-Aland numbering of New Testament manuscripts), ε 371 (in von Soden's numbering of New Testament manuscripts), is a 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 ...

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 ...

, written on

vellum Vellum is prepared animal skin or membrane, typically used as writing material. It is often distinguished from parchment, either by being made from calfskin (rather than the skin of other animals), or simply by being of a higher quality. Vellu ...

. 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 dated to the 13th century. It was formerly named ''Codex Regius 84''. It has a full collection of marginal marks (known as

marginalia Marginalia (or apostils) are marks made in the margin (typography), margins of a book or other document. They may be scribbles, comments, gloss (annotation), glosses (annotations), critiques, doodles, drolleries, or illuminated manuscript, ...

). It was adapted for liturgical use.

Description

The manuscript is a codex (precursor to the modern book), containing an almost complete text of the four

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 with four gaps (Matthew 2:9-20; Mark 15:42-16:14; John 1:1-13.49-3:11), consisting of 212 parchment leaves (sized ). The text is written in one column per page, 26-28 lines per page. The text is divided according to the chapters (known as κεφαλαια / ''kephalaia''), whose numbers are given in the margin, with the titles of chapters (τιτλοι / ''titloi'') at the top of the pages. There is also another division according to the smaller Ammonian Sections (an early division of the Gospels into sections). The codex has 27 sections in Mark. There are also references to 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 ...

(another early division of the Gospels into sections, and where they overlap). It contains the Letter to Carpian, tables of contents (also known as κεφαλαια / ''kephalaia'') are placed before each Gospel, lectionary markings in the margin (for liturgical use), incipits, synaxaria,

Menologion A menologium (, pl. menologia), also known by other names, is any collection of information arranged according to the days of a month, usually a set of such collections for all the months of the year. In particular, it is used for ancient Roman ...

, subscriptions at the end of each Gospel, numbers of , and extracts from some

Church Fathers The Church Fathers, Early Church Fathers, Christian Fathers, or Fathers of the Church were ancient and influential Christian theologians and writers who established the intellectual and doctrinal foundations of Christianity. The historical peri ...

. The Pericope Adulterae () is marked with an

obelus An obelus (plural: obeluses or obeli) is a term in codicology and latterly in typography that refers to a historical annotation mark which has resolved to three modern meanings: * Division sign * Dagger * Commercial minus sign (limited g ...

Text

The Greek text of this codex is a mixture of text-types. According to biblical scholar

Constantin von Tischendorf Constantin is an Aromanian language, Aromanian, Megleno-Romanian language, Megleno-Romanian and Romanian language, Romanian male given name. It can also be a surname. For a list of notable people called Constantin, see Constantine (name). See ...

, its text is mixed but with a strong

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 ...

element.Tischendorf, C. v.
''Novum Testamentum Graece. Editio Septima''
Lipsiae 1859, p. CXCV. Biblical scholar

Kurt Aland Kurt Aland (28 March 1915 – 13 April 1994) was a German theologian and Biblical studies, biblical scholar who specialized in New Testament textual criticism. He founded the ''Institute for New Testament Textual Research, Institut für neutest ...

did not place it in any

Category Category, plural categories, may refer to: General uses *Classification, the general act of allocating things to classes/categories Philosophy * Category of being * ''Categories'' (Aristotle) * Category (Kant) * Categories (Peirce) * Category ( ...

within his categories of New Testament manuscripts. Textually it is close to the codex 273. According to the

Claremont Profile Method The Claremont Profile Method is a method for classifying ancient manuscripts of the Bible. It was elaborated by Ernest Cadman Colwell and his students. Professor Frederik Wisse attempted to establish an accurate and rapid procedure for the classi ...

(a specific analysis method of textual data), it represents K in Luke 10 and Luke 20. In Luke 1 it has mixed Byzantine text. In it has the textual variant ὁ δεύτερος (''the second'') instead of ὁ πρῶτος (''the first''), ὁ ὕστερος (''the last''), or ὁ ἔσχατος (''the last''). This reading is supported by Minuscule 273 and lectionary ℓ ''547''.

History

The manuscript was used by biblical scholar

Desiderius Erasmus Desiderius Erasmus Roterodamus ( ; ; 28 October c. 1466 – 12 July 1536), commonly known in English as Erasmus of Rotterdam or simply Erasmus, was a Dutch Christian humanist, Catholic priest and Catholic theology, theologian, educationalist ...

in his edition of Novum Testamentum, and by

Robert Estienne Robert I Estienne (; 15037 September 1559), known as ''Robertus Stephanus'' in Latin and sometimes referred to as ''Robert Stephens'', was a 16th-century printer in Paris. He was the proprietor of the Estienne print shop after the death of his f ...

in his Editio Regia (1550), who designated it as γ'. Biblical scholar John Mill noticed its affinity to the Latin versions and the Complutensian Polyglot. It was examined by Scholz and

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 ...

. Jean-Pierre-Paul Martin, ''Description technique des manuscrits grecs, relatif au N. T., conservé dans les bibliothèques des Paris'' (Paris 1883), p. 18-19 Biblical scholar Caspar René Gregory saw the manuscript in 1885. The codex is located now 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 ...

(Gr. 84) in

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 ...

References

External links

* R. Waltz
Minuscule 4
at the ''Encyclopedia of Textual Criticism'' (2007) *
Online images of Minuscule 4
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 ...

.
Online images of Minuscule 4
(

microfilm A microform is a scaled-down reproduction of a document, typically either photographic film or paper, made for the purposes of transmission, storage, reading, and printing. Microform images are commonly reduced to about 4% or of the original d ...

) at the CSNTM. {{DEFAULTSORT:Minuscule 0004 Greek New Testament minuscules 13th-century biblical manuscripts Bibliothèque nationale de France collections

Description

Text

History

See also

References

Further reading

External links