Minuscule 81 (in the Gregory-Aland numbering), or α162 (in the Soden numbering) 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 ...

, on a parchment. It is dated by a colophon to the year 1044.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. 47. Formerly it was labelled by 61^a and 61^p (Gregory). The manuscript is lacunose. It was adapted for liturgical use.

Description

The codex contains almost complete text of the

Acts of the Apostles The Acts of the Apostles (, ''Práxeis Apostólōn''; ) is the fifth book of the New Testament; it tells of the founding of the Christian Church and the spread of The gospel, its message to the Roman Empire. Acts and the Gospel of Luke make u ...

and the Epistles on 282 parchment leaves (), with some lacunae (Acts 4:8-7:17; 17:28-23:9 - 297 verses). The text is written in one column per page, in 23 lines per page, in small letters. It contains list of the (''list of contents'') only for

Epistle of James The Epistle of James is a Catholic epistles, general epistle and one of the 21 epistles (didactic letters) in the New Testament. It was written originally in Koine Greek. The epistle aims to reach a wide Jewish audience. It survives in manusc ...

. Lectionary markings were added on the margin by a later hand (for liturgical use).

Text

The Greek text of the codex, is a representative of the

Alexandrian text-type In textual criticism of the New Testament, the Alexandrian text-type is one of the main text types. It is the text type favored by the majority of modern textual critics and it is the basis for most modern (after 1900) Bible translations. Over 5,8 ...

, with some the

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 ...

readings. It is one of the most important of all minuscule manuscripts. It was only one minuscule manuscript examined by

Constantin von Tischendorf Constantin is an Aromanian language, Aromanian, Megleno-Romanian language, Megleno-Romanian and Romanian language, Romanian male given name. It can also be a surname. For a list of notable people called Constantin, see Constantine (name). See ...

. Aland placed it in "at least Category II". It has been called "the best minuscule witness to Acts" or "the most important minuscule copy of the Acts". F. H. A. Scrivener stated "its value is shown not so much by the readings in which it stands alone, as by agreement with the oldest uncial copies, where their testimonies coincide". In Acts 16:10 it reads θεος along with P⁷⁴,

Sinaiticus The Codex Sinaiticus (; Shelfmark: London, British Library, Add MS 43725), also called the Sinai Bible, is a fourth-century Christian manuscript of a Greek Bible, containing the majority of the Greek Old Testament, including the deuterocanonical ...

Alexandrinus The Codex Alexandrinus (London, British Library, Royal MS 1. D. V-VIII) is a manuscript of the Greek Bible,The Greek Bible in this context refers to the Bible used by Greek-speaking Christians who lived in Egypt and elsewhere during the early ...

, Vaticanus, Ephraemi, E, 044, 33,

181 Year 181 ( CLXXXI) was a common year starting on Sunday of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Aurelius and Burrus (or, less frequently, year 934 ''Ab urbe condita''). The denomination 181 for this ye ...

, 326, 630,

945 Year 945 (Roman numerals, CMXLV) was a common year starting on Wednesday of the Julian calendar. Events By place Byzantine Empire * January 27 – The co-emperors Stephen Lekapenos, Stephen and Constantine Lekapenos, Constantine a ...

1739 Events January–March * January 1 – Bouvet Island is discovered by French explorer Jean-Baptiste Charles Bouvet de Lozier, in the South Atlantic Ocean. * January 3 – A 7.6 earthquake shakes the Ningxia Hui Autonomou ...

, ar, e, l, vg, cop^bo, geo; other reading κυριος, is supported by D, P, 049,

056 56 may refer to: * 56 (number) * One of the years 56 BC, AD 56, 1956, 2056 * 56.com, a Chinese online video platform * Fiftysix, Arkansas, an unincorporated community in the United States * Fifty-Six, Arkansas, a city in the United States * "Fifty ...

, 0142, 88, 104,

330 __NOTOC__ Year 330 ( CCCXXX) was a common year starting on Thursday of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Gallicanus and Tullianus (or, less frequently, year 1083 ''Ab urbe condita''). The denominat ...

, 436, 451, 614, 629, 1241, 1505, 1877, 2127, 2412, 2492, 2495, Byz, c, d, gig, syr^p,h, cop^sa. It does not contain text of Acts 28:29. In Romans 8:1 it reads Ιησου κατα σαρκα περιπατουσιν, for Ιησου (as א, B, D, G, 1739, 1881, it^{d, g}, cop^{sa, bo}, eth). The reading of the manuscript is supported by A, D^b, Ψ, 629, 2127, vg. The Byzantine manuscripts read Ιησου μη κατα σαρκα περιπατουσιν αλλα κατα πνευμα. In Romans 13:9 it has additional phrase ου ψευδομαρτυρησεις, the reading is supported by the manuscripts: א (P) 048 104

365 365 may refer to: * 365 (number), an integer * a common year, consisting of 365 calendar days * AD 365, a year of the Julian calendar * 365 BC, a year of the 4th century BC Media outlets * 365 (media corporation), Icelandic TV company * 365 ...

1506 a b vg^cl (syr^h) cop^bo. Romans 16:24 is omitted as in

Codex Sinaiticus The Codex Sinaiticus (; Shelfmark: London, British Library, Add MS 43725), also called the Sinai Bible, is a fourth-century Christian manuscript of a Greek Bible, containing the majority of the Greek Old Testament, including the deuterocanonica ...

A B C 5

263 __NOTOC__ Year 263 (Roman numerals, CCLXIII) was a common year starting on Thursday of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Albinus and Dexter (or, less frequently, year 1016 ''Ab urbe condita''). The ...

623 1739 1838 1962 2127 it^z vg^ww cop^sa,bo eth^ro Origen^lat). In 1 Corinthians 2:1 it reads μαρτυριον along with B D G P Ψ 33 104

326 330 451 614 629 630 1241 1739 1877 1881 1962 1984 2127 2492 2495 Byz Lect it vg syr^h cop^sa arm eth. Other manuscripts read μυστηριον or σωτηριον. In 1 Corinthians 7:5 it reads τη προσευχη (''prayer'') along with 𝔓¹¹, 𝔓⁴⁶, א*, A, B, C, D, F, G, P, Ψ, 6, 33, 104, 181, 629, 630, 1739, 1877, 1881, 1962, it vg, cop, arm, eth. Other manuscripts read τη νηστεια και τη προσευχη (''fasting and prayer'') or τη προσευχη και νηστεια (''prayer and fasting''). In

1 Timothy The First Epistle to Timothy is one of three letters in the New Testament of the Bible often grouped together as the pastoral epistles, along with Second Timothy and Titus. The letter, traditionally attributed to the Apostle Paul, consists m ...

3:16 it has textual variant (''God manifested'') (Sinaiticus^e, A², C², D^c, K, L, P, 044, 81, 104,

, 326,

, 436, 451, 614, 629, 630, 1241,

, 1877, 1881, 1962, 1984, 1985, 2492, 2495, Byz, Lect), against ὃς ἐφανερώθη (''he was manifested'') supported by Sinaiticus,

Codex Alexandrinus The Codex Alexandrinus (London, British Library, Royal MS 1. D. V-VIII) is a manuscript of the Greek Bible,The Greek Bible in this context refers to the Bible used by Greek-speaking Christians who lived in Egypt and elsewhere during the early ...

, Ephraemi, Boernerianus, 33,

, 442, 2127, ℓ ''599''. In 2 Timothy 4:10 it reads Γαλλιαν, along with Sinaiticus C 104 326 436; other manuscript read Γαλατιαν (A D F G K L P Ψ 33 88 181 330 451 614 629 630 1241 1739 1877 1881 1962 1984 1985 2127 2492 2495 Byz Lect) or Γαλιλαιαν (cop^bo). In Hebrews 8:11 it reads πλησιον for πολιτην, the reading is supported by

Codex Porphyrianus Codex Porphyrianus designated by Papr or 025 (in the Gregory-Aland numbering), α 3 ( von Soden), is a Greek uncial manuscript of the Acts of Apostles, Pauline epistles, and General epistles, with some lacunae, dated paleographically to the 9th ...

, 104, 436, 629, 630, and 1985. In 1 John 5:6 it has textual variant δι' ὕδατος καὶ πνεύματος καὶ αἵματος (''through water and spirit and blood'') together with the manuscripts:

, 88, 442, 630, 915, 2492, arm, ethFor another variants of this verse see: Textual variants in the First Epistle of John.

Bart D. Ehrman Bart Denton Ehrman (born October 5, 1955) is an American New Testament scholar focusing on textual criticism of the New Testament, the historical Jesus, and the origins and development of early Christianity. He has written and edited 30 books ...

identified it as Orthodox corrupt reading.

, ''The Orthodox Corruption of Scripture'',

Oxford University Press Oxford University Press (OUP) is the publishing house of the University of Oxford. It is the largest university press in the world. Its first book was printed in Oxford in 1478, with the Press officially granted the legal right to print books ...

, Oxford 1993, p. 60.

History

According to the colophon, it was written on April 20, 1044, by a scribe named John at the request of another monk, named Jakob. The codex was discovered by

in Egypt in 1853, who took 57 leaves of the codex (Acts of the Apostles) with himself. He sold it to the Trustees of 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 ...

in 1854. Now it is located in 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 20003) 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 ...

. 225 leaves are still in

Alexandria Alexandria ( ; ) is the List of cities and towns in Egypt#Largest cities, second largest city in Egypt and the List of coastal settlements of the Mediterranean Sea, largest city on the Mediterranean coast. It lies at the western edge of the Nile ...

, where they are held in the Patriarchat Library (59). Formerly it was labelled by 61^a and 61^p (Gregory). In 1908

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 ...

gave for it number 81. Tischendorf collated and published text of it in 1854 (''Anecdota sacra'').

saw it in 1883.

Notes

References

External links

*

at the ''Encyclopedia of Textual Criticism'' {{DEFAULTSORT:Minuscule 0081 Greek New Testament minuscules 11th-century biblical manuscripts British Library additional manuscripts