Minuscule 700 (in the Gregory-Aland numbering of New Testament manuscripts), ε 133 (in the von Soden numbering of New Testament manuscripts), 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 ...

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 ...

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

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, written on

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 was formerly labelled as 604 in all New Testament manuscript lists (such as that of textual critics Frederick H. A. Scrivener, and Hoskier), however textual critic Caspar René Gregory gave it the number 700. 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 11th century. 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 ...

(Egerton MS 2610) 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 ...

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 ...

(the forerunner to the modern book), containing the complete text of the

s on 297 parchment leaves (14.8 cm by 11.7 cm). The text is written in one column per page, 19 lines per page in minuscule letters, with around 30 letters on each line. The initial letters are in gold and blue ink, as well as the simple headpieces (titles to each Gospel) and tailpieces (ending to each Gospel).

Iota subscript The iota subscript is a diacritic mark in the Greek alphabet shaped like a small vertical stroke or miniature iota placed below the letter. It can occur with the vowel letters eta , omega , and alpha . It represents the former presence of an ...

(a small Greek letter ι (iota) written underneath vowels in certain words to indicate a change of

sound In physics, sound is a vibration that propagates as an acoustic wave through a transmission medium such as a gas, liquid or solid. In human physiology and psychology, sound is the ''reception'' of such waves and their ''perception'' by the br ...

) is never used by the initial copyist, however iota adscript (where the ι is written as part of the main text with the same function as the iota subscript) is employed quite often, most frequently with

substantive In grammar, a noun is a word that represents a concrete or abstract thing, like living creatures, places, actions, qualities, states of existence, and ideas. A noun may serve as an object or subject within a phrase, clause, or sentence.Example ...

definite article In grammar, an article is any member of a class of dedicated words that are used with noun phrases to mark the identifiability of the referents of the noun phrases. The category of articles constitutes a part of speech. In English, both "the" ...

s, and

pronoun In linguistics and grammar, a pronoun (Interlinear gloss, glossed ) is a word or a group of words that one may substitute for a noun or noun phrase. Pronouns have traditionally been regarded as one of the part of speech, parts of speech, but so ...

s. The initial copyist however has used iota adscript erroneously very often: scholar and textual critic

Herman C. Hoskier Herman Charles Hoskier (1864–1938), was a biblical scholar, British Textual Criticism, textual critic, and son of a merchant banker, Herman Hoskier (1832–1904). As a textual critic of the New Testament, Hoskier generally but not entirely suppo ...

notes the copyist inserted iota adscript incorrectly 80 times in Matthew, 27 times in Mark, 19 times in Luke, and 23 times in John. The text of the Gospels is divided according to the chapters (known as / ''kephalaia''), whose numbers are placed in the margin of the text, with the titles of the chapters given at the top of the pages, with gold and red ink. The tables of content lists are placed before each Gospel (Matthew, Mark, Luke). The chapters to Matthew contains only 17 entries, with the list being left unfinished. There is also a division into smaller sections, the Ammonian sections 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 of the Bible, chapters ...

(an early system of dividing the four Gospels into different sections), although this is done in John very rarely. It contains the Epistula ad Carpianum (a letter from the early church writer

Eusebius of Caesarea Eusebius of Caesarea (30 May AD 339), also known as Eusebius Pamphilius, was a historian of Christianity, exegete, and Christian polemicist from the Roman province of Syria Palaestina. In about AD 314 he became the bishop of Caesarea Maritima. ...

, outlying his gospel harmony system, his chapter divisions of the four gospels, and their purpose); Eusebian Canon tables (list of chapters) at the beginning of the codex; subscriptions (end titles) at the close of each Gospel; illustrations of the evangelists; and lectionary markings (to indicate what verse was to be read on a specific day in the churches yearly calendar) in the margin, written in gold ink. The initial copyist left space between the weekly readings for insertion of the ἀρχ(η) (''beginning'') and τελ(ος) (''end'') markings, however they were left unfinished. The original copyist didn't add any to the Gospels of Matthew and Mark, but a few were inserted by a later copyist. The initial copyist did however insert a few in the Gospels of Luke (Luke 6:17; 10:16, 21, 22, 25, 37, 38; 12:16, 32) and John (John 1:17/18, 52/2:1), in gold ink. Quotations from the

Old Testament The Old Testament (OT) is the first division of the Christian biblical canon, which is based primarily upon the 24 books of the Hebrew Bible, or Tanakh, a collection of ancient religious Hebrew and occasionally Aramaic writings by the Isr ...

are sometimes marked in the margin by a ''diplai'' (>), written in gold ink. These are found at Matthew 1:23; 2:6, 15, 18; 4:6, 7, 15, 16; Luke 3:4-6; 4:10, 11, 18; 10:27; John 19:24, 37. There are none in Mark. Accents (used to indicate voiced pitch changes) and breathing marks (utilised to designate vowel emphasis) are utilised throughout. Three forms of the round stops (above, middle, and below the line), the

comma The comma is a punctuation mark that appears in several variants in different languages. Some typefaces render it as a small line, slightly curved or straight, but inclined from the vertical; others give it the appearance of a miniature fille ...

, (applied to show the end of phrases/sentences) and the semicolon (used to mark a question has been asked) are employed. The three stops and comma are partially applied, although incorrectly in many instances. The semicolon is only used sparingly, and mostly neglected where the end of a question is. Itacism (spelling errors due to similar sounding letters) mistakes are witnessed, however not as many as in other codices, with Hoskier noting a total of 205 (33 in Matthew; 32 in Mark; 102 in Luke; and 38 in John). Some cases of homoeoteleuton are noticed, but very rarely (this being the omission of words/phrases which finish with either similar letters, or the same word). Most of the conventional

nomina sacra In Christian scribal practice, (singular: , Latin for 'sacred name') is the abbreviation of several frequently occurring divine names or titles, especially in Greek manuscripts of the Bible. A consists of two or more letters from the original w ...

(special names/words considered sacred in

Christianity Christianity is an Abrahamic monotheistic religion, which states that Jesus in Christianity, Jesus is the Son of God (Christianity), Son of God and Resurrection of Jesus, rose from the dead after his Crucifixion of Jesus, crucifixion, whose ...

- usually the first and last letters of the name/word in question are written, followed by an overline; sometimes other letters from within the word are used as well) are employed throughout (the following list is for

nominative case In grammar, the nominative case ( abbreviated ), subjective case, straight case, or upright case is one of the grammatical cases of a noun or other part of speech, which generally marks the subject of a verb, or (in Latin and formal variants ...

(''subject'') forms): ( / ''Jesus''); ( / ''Christ''); ( / ''God''); ( / ''Lord''); ( / ''Spirit''); ( / ''David''); ( / ''Israel''); ( / ''father''); ( / ''mother''); ( / ''saviour''); ( / ''salvation''); ( / ''salvation''); ( / ''heaven''); ( / ''heavenly''); ( / ''man''); ( / ''cross''). The nomen sacrum (singular of ''nomina sacra'') for (''son'' / ) is seen in Matthew 1:23, 3:17, 17:15; Mark 10:47; Luke 1:13, 31, 3:2. The nomen sacrum for (''Jerusalem'' / ) is seen in Matthew 23:37; Luke 2:25, 38, 41, 43, 5:17, 6:17, 9:31, 53, 10:30, 13:4, 22, 23, 34, 19:11, 23:28, 24:13, 18, 33, 47, 49, 52.

Text

The Greek text of the codex has been considered as a representative of the Caesarean text-type. 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) has been contested by several text-critics, such as Kurt and Barbara Aland. Aland placed it in Category III of his New Testament manuscript text 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." Among Aland's test collation passages (a specific list of verses in the New Testament which have been determined to show to which text-type a manuscript belongs), the codex has 153 variants in agreement with the Byzantine text, 81 with the Byzantine and Nestle-Aland texts, 35 with the Nestle-Aland text, and 58 distinctive readings. 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 has a mixed textual relationship in Luke 1, accords to the Alexandrian text-type in Luke 10, and represents the textual family K in Luke 20. It belongs to the textual family subgroup 35. In it has the famous textual variant "" (''Jesus Barabbas''). This variant is found in Codex Koridethi (Θ), and manuscripts of textual group Family 1 (ƒ). It lacks Mark 11:26. (NA26) Together with minuscule 162, it contains the remarkable reading in the Gospel of : (''May your Holy Spirit come upon us and cleanse us''), instead of ελθετω η βασιλεια σου (''May your kingdom come'') in the

Lord's Prayer The Lord's Prayer, also known by its incipit Our Father (, ), is a central Christian prayer attributed to Jesus. It contains petitions to God focused on God’s holiness, will, and kingdom, as well as human needs, with variations across manusc ...

. This peculiar reading does not appear in any other manuscript, but it was derived from a very old archetype, because it is present in

Marcion Marcion of Sinope (; ; ) was a theologian in early Christianity. Marcion preached that God had sent Jesus Christ, who was distinct from the "vengeful" God ( Demiurge) who had created the world. He considered himself a follower of Paul the Apost ...

's text of the third Gospel (Marcion was an early

gnostic Gnosticism (from Ancient Greek: , romanized: ''gnōstikós'', Koine Greek: �nostiˈkos 'having knowledge') is a collection of religious ideas and systems that coalesced in the late 1st century AD among early Christian sects. These diverse g ...

, considered a heretic by contemporary and later

Christians A Christian () is a person who follows or adheres to Christianity, a monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus Christ. Christians form the largest religious community in the world. The words '' Christ'' and ''C ...

), and is also attested by the church father

Gregory of Nyssa Gregory of Nyssa, also known as Gregory Nyssen ( or Γρηγόριος Νυσσηνός; c. 335 – c. 394), was an early Roman Christian prelate who served as Bishop of Nyssa from 372 to 376 and from 378 until his death in 394. He is ve ...

in his quotations of the Gospel of Luke in his writings. Hoskier's collation (a comparison of a manuscript's text with that of another, and differences between them recorded) notes 2724 variations from the

Textus Receptus The (Latin for 'received text') is the succession of printed Greek New Testament texts starting with Erasmus' ''Novum Instrumentum omne'' (1516) and including the editions of Robert Estienne, Stephanus, Theodore Beza, Beza, the House of Elzevir ...

(before the 1900s, this was the most common printed Greek New Testament): of these 791 are omissions; 353 are additions; and 270 textual variants have not been found in any other manuscript. ; Notable readings Below are some readings of the manuscript which agree or disagree with variant readings in other Greek manuscripts, or with varying ancient translations of the New Testament. See the main article Textual variants in the New Testament. : (''he answered, saying'') — 700 E 565 : (''he answered'') — D it : (''he said to him'') — Majority of manuscripts :- : (''my name is Legion'') — 700* B C L Δ 579 : (''Legeon'') — 700 * B* A W Θ ƒ ƒ Byz : (''do not defraud'') ::omit — 700 B K W Ψ ƒ ƒ 28 1010 1079 1242 1546 2148 ℓ ''10'' ℓ ''950'' ℓ ''1642'' ℓ ''1761'' sy arm geo (UBS3) : (''not lawful'') — 700 B ( D) N lat sa bo arm geo : (''not lawful to do'') - Majority of manuscripts : (''but deliver us from evil'') ::omit — 700 B L ƒ vg sy sa bo arm geo ::incl. — Majority of manuscripts : (''having looked up'') — 700 U Λ ƒ : (''having got up'') — Majority of manuscripts : (''the sins of each of them'') — 700 U (030) 73

331 __NOTOC__ Year 331 ( CCCXXXI) was a common year starting on Friday of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Bassus and Ablabius (or, less frequently, year 1084 ''Ab urbe condita''). The denomination ...

364 658 782 1592 lat arm ( 652;

264 __NOTOC__ Year 264 (Roman numerals, CCLXIV) was a leap year starting on Friday of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Gallienus and Saturninus (or, less frequently, year 1017 ''Ab urbe condita''). The ...

in )

History

The author of the codex is unknown. It was probably written in

Constantinople Constantinople (#Names of Constantinople, see other names) was a historical city located on the Bosporus that served as the capital of the Roman Empire, Roman, Byzantine Empire, Byzantine, Latin Empire, Latin, and Ottoman Empire, Ottoman empire ...

(modern day

Istanbul Istanbul is the List of largest cities and towns in Turkey, largest city in Turkey, constituting the country's economic, cultural, and historical heart. With Demographics of Istanbul, a population over , it is home to 18% of the Demographics ...

Turkey Turkey, officially the Republic of Türkiye, is a country mainly located in Anatolia in West Asia, with a relatively small part called East Thrace in Southeast Europe. It borders the Black Sea to the north; Georgia (country), Georgia, Armen ...

). The codex was bought on the 28th April, 1882 for 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 ...

, through the auspices of Edward Maunde Thompson, the then Principal Keeper of manuscripts at the British Museum. The codex was previously in the hands of a German bookseller. It was examined by

Anglican Anglicanism, also known as Episcopalianism in some countries, is a Western Christianity, Western Christian tradition which developed from the practices, liturgy, and identity of the Church of England following the English Reformation, in the ...

clergyman Clergy are formal leaders within established religions. Their roles and functions vary in different religious traditions, but usually involve presiding over specific rituals and teaching their religion's doctrines and practices. Some of the ter ...

Dean Burgon, and it was described and collated by scholars W. H. Simcox,

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 ...

, and Hoskier. The collation and comments of W. H. Simcox were severely criticised by Hoskier for its numerous mistakes. The manuscript is now located in the

(Egerton MS 2610).

References

External links

Minuscule 700
at the

.
Minuscule 700
at the ''Encyclopedia of Textual Criticism''.
700 (GA)
at the CSNTM. {{DEFAULTSORT:Minuscule 0700 Greek New Testament minuscules 11th-century biblical manuscripts Egerton Collection

Description

Text

History

See also

References

Further reading

External links