The Stichometry of Nicephorus is a

stichometry Stichometry is the practice of counting lines in texts: Ancient Greeks and Romans measured the length of their books in lines, just as modern books are measured in pages. This practice was rediscovered by German and French scholars in the 19th ...

Patriarch Nicephorus I of Constantinople Nikephoros I or Nicephorus I (c. 758 – 5 April 828) was a Byzantine writer and patriarch of Constantinople from 12 April 806 to 13 March 815. Life He was born in Constantinople as the son of Theodore and Eudokia, of a strictly Orthodox fa ...

. It is significant in that it counts the number of lines of various Christian texts, many of which have been lost over the course of time. This has enabled modern scholars to determine how much of various fragmentary texts from the

New Testament apocrypha The New Testament apocrypha (singular apocryphon) are a number of writings by early Christians that give accounts of Jesus and his teachings, the nature of God, or the teachings of his apostles and of their lives. Some of these writings were cite ...

and Old Testament

apocrypha Apocrypha are works, usually written, of unknown authorship or of doubtful origin. The word ''apocryphal'' (ἀπόκρυφος) was first applied to writings which were kept secret because they were the vehicles of esoteric knowledge considered ...

remain missing.

External links

The stichometry of Nicephorus
(English, Greek, Latin)
Teubner edition with critical apparatus
in Nikephoros, ''Chronographikon syntomon'' in: Nicephori Archiepiscopi Constantinopolitani, ''Opuscula historica'', ed. C. de Boor, Leipzig 1880, p. 80–135, esp. 132 – 135. (Greek, Internet Archive)
In a collection of documents on the history of the Christian canon
by E. Preuschen, ''Analecta'' (Freiberg and Leipzig: Mohr, 1893), pp. 156–8. (Greek, Internet Archive). Apocrypha Manuscripts {{Christian-book-stub