Papyrus 106 is a fragmentary

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 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 ...

from 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 ...

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 ...

written on

papyrus Papyrus ( ) is a material similar to thick paper that was used in ancient times as a writing surface. It was made from the pith of the papyrus plant, ''Cyperus papyrus'', a wetland sedge. ''Papyrus'' (plural: ''papyri'' or ''papyruses'') can a ...

. It contains text from John 1:29-35 & 1:40-46. 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 ...

in the Gregory-Aland 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 early 3rd century. The manuscript is currently housed at the

Sackler Library The Bodleian Art, Archaeology and Ancient World Library (‘Bodleian Art Library’ in its shortened form, formerly the Sackler Library) holds a large portion of the classical, art historical, and archaeological works belonging to the Universi ...

(Papyrology Rooms, shelf number P. Oxy. 4445) at

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Description

The manuscript is made of papyrus, and originally would have been around 12.5 cm x 23 cm in size, with about 35 lines per page. Due to pagination being extant (gamma/Γ (=3) on the front and delta/Δ (=4) on the reverse of the leaf), this indicates that the manuscript was either a single codex of John, or had John at the beginning of a collection.

Textual Character

Despite its fragmentary nature, the text of the manuscript is considered 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 ...

(or rather proto-Alexandrian), bearing familiarity to , ,

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 ...

(), and Vaticanus (B). 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

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Some notable readings

Below are some readings of the manuscript and how they relate to other manuscripts of the New Testament.Taken from NA27 Edition Apparatus, and http://ntvmr.uni-muenster.de/nt-transcripts John 1:30: : (''on behalf of''): * B C* W ''pc'' : (''concerning''): A C L Θ Ψ 0101 ƒ ƒ 33

\mathfrak

; Epiph John 1:32 (1) : (''saying'') ::omit. : * ::incl. : A B C John 1:32 (2) : (''descended as a dove''): A B C : (''descended as if like a dove'') : K P Δ 0101 ƒ ƒ

700 The denomination 700 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 years. Events By place Byzantine Empire * Avar and Slavic tribes co ...

892 Year 892 (Roman numerals, DCCCXCII) was a leap year starting on Saturday of the Julian calendar, the 892nd year of the Common Era (CE) and Anno Domini (AD) designations, the 892nd year of the 1st millennium, the 92nd year of the 9th century, a ...

1241 Year 1241 ( MCCXLI) was a common year starting on Tuesday of the Julian calendar. Events * March 18 – Battle of Chmielnik ( Mongol invasion of Poland): The Mongols overwhelm the feudal Polish armies of Sandomierz and Kraków provinces ...

1424 Year 1424 ( MCDXXIV) was a leap year starting on Saturday of the Julian calendar. Events January–March * January 23 – William Cheyne becomes the Lord Chief Justice of England and Wales, replacing the late William Hankford. ...

''l'' 2211 pm : (''as a dove descended'') : John 1:34 : (''chosen'') : * b e ff Syriac Curetonian ( sy).Peter M. Head ''The Habits of New Testament Copyists Singular Readings in the Early Fragmentary Papyri of John'' Biblica 85 (2004) p. 403. : () (''son'') : A B C D W Θ Ψ 083 John 1:42 : (''of John'') : B* L W 33 pc it co : (''to John'') : Θ

pc vg : (''Jonah'') : A B Ψ ƒ ƒ

\mathfrak

c q vg sy bo; Epiph John 1:45 : (''Nazareth'') :

\mathfrak

: (''Nazaret'') : A B John 1:46 : (''Nazareth'') :

\mathfrak

: (''Nazaret'') : A B

References

External links

Images

P.Oxy.LXIV 4445
from the University of Oxford's "POxy: Oxyrhynchus Online" (accessed 5 Jan 2025)

Official registration

"Continuation of the Manuscript List"
Institute for New Testament Textual Research,

University of Münster The University of Münster (, until 2023 , WWU) is a public research university located in the city of Münster, North Rhine-Westphalia in Germany. With more than 43,000 students and over 120 fields of study in 15 departments, it is Germany's ...

. Retrieved April 9, 2008 {{DEFAULTSORT:Papyrus 0106 New Testament papyri 3rd-century biblical manuscripts Early Greek manuscripts of the New Testament 4445 Gospel of John papyri