Codex Ravianus is a manuscript rewritten from
Complutensian Polyglot BibleThe Complutensian Polyglot Bible is the name given to the first printed polyglot of the entire Bible, initiated and financed by Cardinal Francisco Jiménez de Cisneros . It includes the first printed editions of the Greek New Testament, the complete Septuagint, and the Targum Onkelos...
. Formerly it was listed as a Greek manuscript of the
New TestamentThe New Testament is the second major division of the Christian biblical canon, the first such division being the much longer Old Testament....
, but it was removed from the list in 1908. The manuscripts is a famous instance of the
Comma JohanneumThe Comma Johanneum is a comma in the First Epistle of John according to the Latin Vulgate text as transmitted since the Early Middle Ages, based on Vetus Latina minority readings dating to the 7th century...
.
Description
The codex contains a complete text of the
New TestamentThe New Testament is the second major division of the Christian biblical canon, the first such division being the much longer Old Testament....
, in two volumes, on 292 + 205
parchmentParchment is a thin material made from calfskin, sheepskin or goatskin, often split. Its most common use was as a material for writing on, for documents, notes, or the pages of a book, codex or manuscript. It is distinct from leather in that parchment is limed but not tanned; therefore, it is very...
leaves (size ). The leaves are arranged in
quartoQuarto could refer to:* Quarto, a size or format of a book in which four leaves of a book are created from a standard size sheet of paper* For specific information about quarto texts of William Shakespeare's works, see:...
. It contains a spurious biblical passage, the
Comma JohanneumThe Comma Johanneum is a comma in the First Epistle of John according to the Latin Vulgate text as transmitted since the Early Middle Ages, based on Vetus Latina minority readings dating to the 7th century...
in
1 JohnThe First Epistle of John, often referred to as First John and written 1 John, is a book of the New Testament. This fourth catholic or "general" epistle is attributed to John the Evangelist, traditionally thought to be the author of the Gospel of John and the other two Epistles of John. This...
5:7. Although it was rewritten from the Complutensian text, there are some textual divergences between them: Matthew 2:13; 15:22; 17:2; 23:8; 1 John 5:10; Jude 22, which all stem from the errors of the pen of the Ravianus's scribe. The codex was used as an argument in the 18
th century that Complutensian was rewritten from the Codex Ravianus, even with imitation of its letters, but scholars like La Croze, Griesbach, and Michaelis proved that errors of Ravianus are nothing more than errors of the pen. It lost his an independent authority.
History
The manuscript is a transcript from the
Complutensian PolyglotteThe Complutensian Polyglot Bible is the name given to the first printed polyglot of the entire Bible, initiated and financed by Cardinal Francisco Jiménez de Cisneros . It includes the first printed editions of the Greek New Testament, the complete Septuagint, and the Targum Onkelos...
, printed in 1514, it copies even typographical errors of it, and the letters are similar. Some variant readings were inserted from the margin of
Stephanus'sEditio Regia , it is the third and the most important edition of the Greek New Testament of Robert Estienne . It is one of the most important printed editions of the Greek New Testament in history, the Textus Receptus. It was named Editio Regia because of the beautiful and elegant Greek font it...
edition. According to C. R. Gregory it once belonged to Christian Rave, from
Uppsala- Economy :Today Uppsala is well established in medical research and recognized for its leading position in biotechnology.*Abbott Medical Optics *GE Healthcare*Pfizer *Phadia, an offshoot of Pharmacia*Fresenius*Q-Med...
, or his brother Johannes Rave. It took the name of Ravianus from the name Rave.
Johann Jakob WettsteinJohann Jakob Wettstein was a Swiss theologian, best known as a New Testament critic.-Youth and study:...
added it into the list of the Greek New Testament manuscripts, and designated it siglum 110. The text was published by Treschow, while it was examined and described by
GriesbachJohann Jakob Griesbach , German biblical textual critic, was born at Butzbach, a small town in the state of Hesse, where his father, Konrad Kaspar , was pastor...
, Georg Gottlieb Pappelbaum (in 1796), and Gregory (in 1900). In 1908 Gregory removed it from the list of the Greek New Testament manuscripts. It is no longer listed, because it is only a facsimile of the Complutensis Polyglotte. The manuscript is currently housed in the
Berlin State LibraryThe Berlin State Library is a library in Berlin, Germany and a property of the Prussian Cultural Heritage Foundation.-Buildings:The State Library runs several premises, three of which are open for users, namely House 1 in Unter den Linden 8, House 2 in Potsdamer Straße 33 and the newspaper archive...
(Gr. fol. 1 & 2).