Minuscule 438 (in the Gregory-Aland numbering), ε 211 (in the Soden numbering), is a

Greek Greek may refer to: Greece 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 ...

minuscule Letter case is the distinction between the Letter (alphabet), letters that are in larger uppercase or capitals (or more formally ''majuscule'') and smaller lowercase (or more formally ''minuscule'') in the written representation of certain lang ...

manuscript A manuscript (abbreviated MS for singular and MSS for plural) was, traditionally, any document written by hand – or, once practical typewriters became available, typewritten – as opposed to mechanically printed or reproduced ...

of the

New Testament The New Testament grc, Ἡ Καινὴ Διαθήκη, transl. ; la, Novum Testamentum. (NT) is the second division of the Christian biblical canon. It discusses the teachings and person of Jesus, as well as events in first-century Christ ...

, on parchment. Palaeographically it has been assigned to the 12th century.

Description

The codex contains a complete text of the four

Gospel Gospel originally meant the Christian message (" the gospel"), but in the 2nd century it came to be used also for the books in which the message was set out. In this sense a gospel can be defined as a loose-knit, episodic narrative of the words a ...

s on 452 parchment leaves () with only one lacunae (Matthew 1:6-15). The leaves of the manuscript were split in two volumes (211 + 241 leaves). The text is written in one column per page, in 18 lines per page. The text is divided according to the (''chapters''), whose numbers are given at the margin, and their (''titles'') at the top of the pages. There is also a division according to the Ammonian Sections (in Mark 234, 16:9), with 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 used in modern texts ...

(not subscribed). It contains the

Epistula ad Carpianum The ''Epistula ad Carpianum'' ("Letter to Carpian") or Letter of Eusebius is the title traditionally given to a letter from Eusebius of Caesarea to a Christian named Carpianus. In this letter, Eusebius explains his ingenious system of gospel harmo ...

, Eusebian Canon tables, tables of the (''tables of contents'') before each Gospel, subscriptions at the end of each Gospel, and pictures of Evangelists.

Text

The Greek text of the codex is a representative of the

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

Hermann von Soden Baron Hermann von Soden (16 August 1852 – 15 January 1914) was a German Biblical scholar, minister, professor of divinity, and textual theorist. Life Born in Cincinnati, Ohio, on August 16, 1852, Soden was educated at the University of Tübinge ...

classified it to the textual family K¹. Aland placed it in Category V. 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 ...

it represents the textual family K^x in Luke 1 and Luke 20. In Luke 10 no profile was made.

History

The manuscript was written by Gregory, a monk who died in 1189. It once belonged to

Anthony Askew Anthony Askew (1722–1774) was an English physician and is best known for having been a book collector. His collection was purchased by the British Museum and books purchased by George III of Great Britain were added to the King's Library. Lif ...

(1722–1774) (as codices

439 __NOTOC__ Year 439 (Roman numerals, CDXXXIX) was a common year starting on Sunday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Theodosius and Festus (or, less frequent ...

and

443 __NOTOC__ Year 443 ( CDXLIII) was a common year starting on Friday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Maximus and Paterius (or, less frequently, year 1196 ' ...

). It was examined by Bloomfield. The manuscript was added to the list of New Testament manuscripts by Scholz (1794–1852). C. R. Gregory saw it in 1883. It is currently housed at the

British Library The British Library is the national library of the United Kingdom and is one of the largest libraries in the world. It is estimated to contain between 170 and 200 million items from many countries. As a legal deposit library, the Briti ...

(Add MSS 5111-5112) in

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

Description

Text

History

See also

References

Further reading