Minuscule 659 (in the Gregory-Aland numbering), ε 1216 ( von Soden),

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 ...

, ''Die Schriften des neuen Testaments, in ihrer ältesten erreichbaren Textgestalt / hergestellt auf Grund ihrer Textgeschichte'' (Berlin 1902), vol. 1, p. 162. 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 12th century. The manuscript has complex contents.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. 86.Handschriftenliste
at the Münster Institute

Scrivener A scrivener (or scribe) was a person who, before the advent of compulsory education, could literacy, read and write or who wrote letters as well as court and legal documents. Scriveners were people who made their living by writing or copying w ...

labelled it by 637^e.

Description

The codex contains the 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 293 parchment leaves (size ). The text is written in one column per page, 20 lines per page. It contains Prolegomena to the Gospels and the lists of the (''tables of contents'') before each Gospel. The text is divided according to the Ammonian Sections (in Mark 241 sections - 16:20), with a 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 ...

. It contains

lectionary A lectionary () is a book or listing that contains a collection of scripture readings appointed for Christianity, Christian or Judaism, Jewish worship on a given day or occasion. There are sub-types such as a "gospel lectionary" or evangeliary, ...

markings at the margin, noticed proper lessons for feasts and weekdays, subscriptions () at the end of each Gospel, and pictures of Evangelists are placed before every Gospel.

Text

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 examine the Greek text of the codex by using his method of a thousand readings; as a result it is still not placed in any of Aland's Categories. The text of the manuscript was not examined by using 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 ...

, in result its textual character is still not determined.

History

Scrivener and Gregory dated the manuscript to the 12th century. Currently the manuscript is dated by the INTF to the 12th century. The manuscript was written by one Hilarion. It was brought from the East to Berlin. Gregory saw the manuscript in 1887. It was examined and described by

Kirsopp Lake Kirsopp Lake (7 April 187210 November 1946) was an English New Testament Biblical scholar, scholar, Church history, Church historian, Palaeography#Greek Palaeography, Greek palaeographer, and Winn Professor of Ecclesiastical History at Harvard ...

and Silva New. The manuscript was housed in Berlin in the Preußische Königliche Bibliothek (then Prussian State Library, actually Berlin State Library) with the shelf-number Gr. quarto 55. At the end of 1943 the year saw increased frequency of the bombing of Berlin. The Prussian State Library sent many collections out of Berlin to be sheltered in

Silesia Silesia (see names #Etymology, below) is a historical region of Central Europe that lies mostly within Poland, with small parts in the Czech Silesia, Czech Republic and Germany. Its area is approximately , and the population is estimated at 8, ...

for safekeeping. As the result of postwar border changes some of these collections were found in Poland (among them minuscule 659). They were moved to the Jagiellonian University Library.Sroka Marek, ''The Music Collection of the Former Prussian State Library at the Jagiellonian Library in Kraków, Poland: Past, Present, and Future Developments'', Library Trends - Volume 55, Number 3, Winter 2007, pp. 651-664 Currently the manuscript is housed at the Biblioteka Jagiellońska (Fonds der Berliner Handschriften, Graec. quarto 55), in

Kraków , officially the Royal Capital City of Kraków, is the List of cities and towns in Poland, second-largest and one of the oldest cities in Poland. Situated on the Vistula River in Lesser Poland Voivodeship, the city has a population of 804,237 ...

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Minuscule 0659 Greek New Testament minuscules 12th-century biblical manuscripts

Description

Text

History

See also

References

Further reading

External links