Minuscule 553 (in the Gregory-Aland numbering), ε 331 (in the Soden numbering), 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 ...

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 ...

, on parchment. Palaeographically it has been assigned to the 13th century. Scrivener labelled it by number 540.

Description

The codex contains a 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 on 303 parchment leaves (size ). The writing is in one column per page, 21 lines per page. It contains tables of the , the , the , subscriptions at the end of the Gospels, , and faded decorations. According to Scrivener the manuscript is "extremely uninteresting".

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 Traditional Text, Ecclesiastical Text, Constantinopolitan Text, Antiocheian Text, or Syrian Text) is one of the main Textual criticism#New Testament, text types. ...

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 K^r. 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^r in Luke 1 and Luke 20. In Luke 10 no profile was made. It belongs to subgroup 35. The

Pericope Adulterae Jesus and the woman taken in adultery (or the ) is a passage (pericope) found in John 7:53–John 8#Pericope adulterae, 8:11 of the New Testament. It is considered by many to be Pseudepigrapha, pseudepigraphical. In the passage, Jesus was t ...

(John 7:53-8:11) 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 ...

History

The manuscript was held in the monastery

Mar Saba The Holy Lavra of Saint Sabbas, known in Arabic and Syriac as Mar Saba (; ; ; ) and historically as the Great Laura of Saint Sabas, is a Greek Orthodox monastery overlooking the Kidron Valley in the Bethlehem Governorate of Palestine, in th ...

. In 1834 Robert Curzon, Lord Zouche, brought this manuscript to England (along with the codices

548 Year 548 ( DXLVIII) was a leap year starting on Wednesday of the Julian calendar. The denomination 548 for this year has been used since the early medieval period, when the Anno Domini calendar era became the prevalent method in Europe for nami ...

552 __NOTOC__ Year 552 ( DLII) was a leap year starting on Monday of the Julian calendar. The denomination 552 for this year has been used since the early medieval period, when the Anno Domini calendar era became the prevalent method in Europe for ...

554 __NOTOC__ Year 554 ( DLIV) was a common year starting on Thursday of the Julian calendar. The denomination 554 for this year has been used since the early medieval period, when the Anno Domini calendar era became the prevalent method in Europe ...

). The entire collection of Curzon was bequeathed by his daughter in 1917 to the

British Museum The British Museum is a Museum, public museum dedicated to human history, art and culture located in the Bloomsbury area of London. Its permanent collection of eight million works is the largest in the world. It documents the story of human cu ...

, where it had been deposited, by his son, since 1876.Heike Behlmer
''... `As Safe as in the British Museum`: Paul de Lagarde and His Borrowing of Manuscripts from the Collection of Robert Curzon''

The Journal of Egyptian Archaeology The ''Journal of Egyptian Archaeology (JEA)'' is a bi-annual peer-reviewed international academic journal published by the Egypt Exploration Society. Covering Egyptological research, the JEA publishes scholarly articles, fieldwork reports, and re ...

Vol. 89, (2003), pp. 231-238. The manuscripts was added to the list of the New Testament minuscule manuscripts by F. H. A. Scrivener (540) and

C. R. Gregory C. or c. may refer to: * Century, sometimes abbreviated as ''c.'' or ''C.'', a period of 100 years * Letter C, the third letter in the alphabet. * Cent (currency), abbreviated ''c.'' or ''¢'', a monetary unit that equals of the basic unit of man ...

(553). The manuscript was examined by Scrivener,

Dean Burgon John William Burgon (21 August 1813 – 4 August 1888) was an English Anglican divine who became the Dean of Chichester Cathedral in 1876. He was known during his lifetime for his poetry and his defense of the historicity and Mosaic authorshi ...

, and Gregory. It is currently 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 ...

(Add MS 39596) 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 ...

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Minuscule 0553 Greek New Testament minuscules 13th-century biblical manuscripts British Library additional manuscripts

Description

Text

History

See also

References

Further reading

External links