Minuscule 565, also known as the ''Empress Theodora's Codex'', 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 purple

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 ...

. It is 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 ...

565 in the Gregory-Aland numbering of New Testament manuscripts, and ε 93 in the von Soden numbering of New Testament manuscripts. 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 9th century. It was labelled by Biblical scholar Frederick H. A. Scrivener as 473. The manuscript has several gaps. It has

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, ...

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, ...

format), containing the 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 405

leaves (17.6 by 19.2 cm), with some missing portions (Matthew 20:18-26, 21:45-22:9, Luke 10:36-11:2, 18:25-37, 20:24-26, John 11:26-48, 13:2-23, 17:1-12). It is one of only two known purple minuscules ( minuscule 1143 is the other), written with gold ink. The text is written in one column per page, 17 lines per page. The text is divided according to the chapters (known as / ''kephalaia''), whose numbers are given in the margin, and the titles of the chapters (known as / ''titloi'') written at the top of the pages in silver ink. There is also a division according to the Ammonian Sections, though no 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 ...

(both being early methods of divinding the Gospels into sections, with the Eusebian being based on the Ammonian). It contains the Eusebian tables, which were added by later hand. The tables of contents (also known as ) are placed before each of the four Gospels. It has the famous

Jerusalem Colophon The Jerusalem Colophon is a colophon found in a number of New Testament manuscripts, including Λ (039), 20, 153, 157, 164, 215, 262, 300, 376, 428, 565, 566, 686, 718, 728, 748, 829, 899, 901, 922, 980, 1032, 1071, 1118, 1121 ...

. The manuscript is similar to Beratinus 2 (Minuscule 1143).

Text

The Greek text of the codex has been considered a representative of the so-called

Caesarean text-type In textual criticism of the New Testament, Caesarean text-type is the term proposed by certain scholars to denote a consistent pattern of variant readings that is claimed to be apparent in certain Koine Greek manuscripts of the four Gospels, but ...

. The text-types are groups of different New Testament manuscripts which share specific or generally related readings, which then differ from each other group, and thus the conflicting readings can separate out the groups. These are then used to determine the original text as published; there are three main groups with names: Alexandrian,

Western Western may refer to: Places *Western, Nebraska, a village in the US *Western, New York, a town in the US *Western Creek, Tasmania, a locality in Australia *Western Junction, Tasmania, a locality in Australia *Western world, countries that id ...

, and

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 ...

. The Caesarean text-type however (initially identified by biblical scholar

Burnett Hillman Streeter Burnett Hillman Streeter (17 November 1874 – 10 September 1937) was an English Anglican theologian, biblical scholar, and textual critic. Life Streeter was born in Croydon, London, on 17 November 1874 and educated at The Queen's College, ...

) has been contested by several text-critics, such as Kurt and Barbara Aland.

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 ...

placed it in Category III of his New Testament manuscript classification system. Category III manuscripts are described as having "a small but not a negligible proportion of early readings, with a considerable encroachment of yzantinereadings, and significant readings from other sources as yet unidentified." In the

Gospel of Mark The Gospel of Mark is the second of the four canonical Gospels and one of the three synoptic Gospels, synoptic Gospels. It tells of the ministry of Jesus from baptism of Jesus, his baptism by John the Baptist to his death, the Burial of Jesus, ...

, this manuscript is closely aligned to the text seen in Codex Koridethi (Θ). According to Aland, the quality of the text is higher in the

, however lower in Matthew and Luke. Minuscule 565 is considered a member of

Family 1 Family 1 is the name given to a group of Greek New Testament minuscule manuscripts of the Gospels, identified by biblical scholar Kirsopp Lake. These manuscripts vary in date from the 12th to the 15th century. The group takes its name from min ...

in the

Gospel of John The Gospel of John () is the fourth of the New Testament's four canonical Gospels. It contains a highly schematic account of the ministry of Jesus, with seven "Book of Signs, signs" culminating in the raising of Lazarus (foreshadowing the ...

. 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 of textual data), it represents the Alexandrian text in

Luke 1 Luke 1 is the first chapter of the Gospel of Luke in the New Testament of the Christian Bible. With 80 verses, it is one of the longest chapters in the New Testament. This chapter describes the birth of John the Baptist and the events leading up ...

and K in

Luke 10 Luke 10 is the tenth chapter of the Gospel of Luke in the New Testament of the Christianity, Christian Bible. It records the sending of seventy disciples by Jesus, Parable of the Good Samaritan, the famous parable about the Good Samaritan, and his ...

and

Luke 20 Luke 20 is the twentieth chapter of the Gospel of Luke in the New Testament of the Christian Bible. It records the teaching of Jesus Christ in the temple in Jerusalem, especially his responses to questions raised by the Pharisees and Sadducees.Hal ...

. In it lacks , a reading supported by the manuscripts A B K M N S U Y Δ Θ Π Ψ Ω 047 0141 8 9 1192. The entirety of is omitted, a reading supported by the manuscripts X ''f'' 1009 1365 ℓ ''76'' ℓ ''253'' b vg syr arm geo

Diatessaron The ''Diatessaron'' (; c. 160–175 AD) is the most prominent early gospel harmony. It was created in the Syriac language by Tatian, an Assyrian early Christian apologist and ascetic. Tatian sought to combine all the textual material he fou ...

. (UBS3) It lacks 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), with an explanatory note.

History

The manuscript comes from the area of the

Black Sea The Black Sea is a marginal sea, marginal Mediterranean sea (oceanography), mediterranean sea lying between Europe and Asia, east of the Balkans, south of the East European Plain, west of the Caucasus, and north of Anatolia. It is bound ...

, in

Pontus Pontus or Pontos may refer to: * Short Latin name for the Pontus Euxinus, the Greek name for the Black Sea (aka the Euxine sea) * Pontus (mythology), a sea god in Greek mythology * Pontus (region), on the southern coast of the Black Sea, in modern ...

. In 1829 it was brought to

Saint Petersburg Saint Petersburg, formerly known as Petrograd and later Leningrad, is the List of cities and towns in Russia by population, second-largest city in Russia after Moscow. It is situated on the Neva, River Neva, at the head of the Gulf of Finland ...

. The manuscript was examined and described by

Eduard de Muralt Eduard de Muralt ( Bischofszell 1808–1895) was a Swiss-German professor of theology, librarian, and palaeographer. Born in Bischofszell, as son of Kaspar, a dealer, and of Elizabeth Sprüngli. Studies of theology in Zurich (finished in 1832), t ...

, along with the codices 566, 568-

572 __NOTOC__ Year 572 ( DLXXII) was a leap year starting on Friday of the Julian calendar. The denomination 572 for this year has been used since the early medieval period, when the Anno Domini calendar era became the prevalent method in Europe f ...

574 Year 574 ( DLXXIV) was a common year starting on Monday of the Julian calendar. The denomination 574 for this year has been used since the early medieval period, when the Anno Domini calendar era became the prevalent method in Europe for naming ...

, 575, and 1567. The text of Mark was edited in 1885 by Johannes Engebretsen Belsheim. The manuscript is currently dated 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 9th century. The codex is located at the

Russian National Library The National Library of Russia (NLR, , ''РНБ''), located in Saint Petersburg, is the first, and one of three national public libraries in Russia. The NLR is currently ranked among the world's major libraries. It has the second biggest libr ...

(shelf number Gr. 53) at

References

External links

* *
''Ф. № 906 (Gr.) 053 (Granstrem 81)''
Pinakes {{DEFAULTSORT:Minuscule 0565 Purple parchment Greek New Testament minuscules 9th-century biblical manuscripts National Library of Russia collection

Description

Text

History

See also

References

Further reading

External links