Minuscule 536
Encyclopedia
Minuscule 536 δ 264 (in Soden's numbering), is a Greek
minuscule manuscript
of the New Testament
, on parchment. Palaeographically
it has been assigned to the 13th century.
Scrivener labeled it by number 549.
Several pages of the manuscript were lost. Incomplete marginalia
. The manuscript is available in a digital form on the internet.
". The codex contains a complete text of the Gospel
s, Acts of the Apostles
, and Pauline epistles
on 174 parchment leaves (size ) with some additional material. It has only one lacuna
(Acts 26:24-28:31). The lacking material was supplemented by another, but contemporary hand. The leaf after 63 is not numbered. The pages 127 recto and 127 verso are accompanied by horizontal lines in margin. The leaves 146-147 are written vertically.
The text is written one column per page, 26–31 lines per page, in a very minute hand. The large initial letters are decorated and in colours, the small initials are in red. It has decorated headpieces before each biblical book. The iota subscript
is found twice only, and the error of itacism
is quite rare.
The writing being unusually full of abbreviations. The Old Testament quotations are marked by inverted comma (>).
It contains Prolegomena to the Acts of the Apostles, the tables of the (tables of contents) are placed before Gospel of Matthew, Luke and John, numbers of the (chapters) are given at the margin, with their (titles) at the head and foot of the pages. There is also a division according to the smaller Ammonian Sections, but there are no references to the Eusebian Canons. It contains subscriptions at the end of each book and numbers of (only in Luke).
References to the Eusebian Canons are noted only on one page of the codex. Lectionary markings and (lessons), are given only to Matthew, and they were added by a later hand. It has some scholia on Matthew 5 (folio 11 verso and folio 12 recto).
It contains seven pages with Gregory Nazianzen's
heroic verses on the Lord's genealogy
, and other [verses?] on His miracles and Parables, partly in red, precede tables of to Matthew. Other verses of Gregory precede Mark and Luke, and follow John. There are no chapter divisions in the Acts, but a few capitals in red. Every book is preceded by pretty decorated headpieces.
readings but its text is not entirely Byzantine. Hermann von Soden classified it as part of the textual family Kr
, but it was not confirmed by Aland and Wisse. Aland
did not place it in any category
.
According to the Claremont Profile Method it has an eclectic text in Gospel of Luke
. In Luke 1
it has mixed Byzantine text, in Luke 10 it represents textual cluster Family Π200
, and in Luke 20 it belongs to the textual family Kx
. In the Acts its text is very close to the textual family 1739
.
According to Scrivener the variations from the text of majority are not numerous or remarkable.
in Epirus
, by Angela Burdett-Coutts
(1814–1906), a philanthropist, together with other Greek manuscripts (among them codices 532
–546
). They were transported to England in 1870/71.
The manuscript was presented by Burdett-Coutts to Sir Roger Cholmely's School, and was housed at the Highgate (Burdett-Coutts II. 7), in London. It was examined and collated by Scrivener. In 1922 it was purchased for the library of the University of Michigan
. The manuscript was described by K. W. Clark in 1937.
It was added to the list of the New Testament minuscule manuscripts by F. H. A. Scrivener (549) and C. R. Gregory (536). Gregory saw it in 1883.
The manuscript was digitalized by the CSNTM
in 2008 and it is available in a digital form on the internet.
It is currently housed at the University of Michigan (Ms. Inv. No. 24) in Ann Arbor
.
Greek language
Greek is an independent branch of the Indo-European family of languages. Native to the southern Balkans, it has the longest documented history of any Indo-European language, spanning 34 centuries of written records. Its writing system has been the Greek alphabet for the majority of its history;...
minuscule manuscript
Manuscript
A manuscript or handwrite is written information that has been manually created by someone or some people, such as a hand-written letter, as opposed to being printed or reproduced some other way...
of the New Testament
New Testament
The New Testament is the second major division of the Christian biblical canon, the first such division being the much longer Old Testament....
, on parchment. Palaeographically
Palaeography
Palaeography, also spelt paleography is the study of ancient writing. Included in the discipline is the practice of deciphering, reading, and dating historical manuscripts, and the cultural context of writing, including the methods with which writing and books were produced, and the history of...
it has been assigned to the 13th century.
Scrivener labeled it by number 549.
Several pages of the manuscript were lost. Incomplete marginalia
Marginalia
Marginalia are scribbles, comments, and illuminations in the margins of a book.- Biblical manuscripts :Biblical manuscripts have liturgical notes at the margin, for liturgical use. Numbers of texts' divisions are given at the margin...
. The manuscript is available in a digital form on the internet.
Description
It is "a very curious volume in ancient binding with two metal plates on the covers much resembling that of B-C. I. 7Minuscule 534
Minuscule 534 , 547 , ε 333 , is a Greek minuscule manuscript of the New Testament, on a paper. Palaeographically it has been assigned to the 13th century. The manuscript was adapted for liturgical use...
". The codex contains a complete text of the Gospel
Gospel
A gospel is an account, often written, that describes the life of Jesus of Nazareth. In a more general sense the term "gospel" may refer to the good news message of the New Testament. It is primarily used in reference to the four canonical gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John...
s, Acts of the Apostles
Acts of the Apostles
The Acts of the Apostles , usually referred to simply as Acts, is the fifth book of the New Testament; Acts outlines the history of the Apostolic Age...
, and Pauline epistles
Pauline epistles
The Pauline epistles, Epistles of Paul, or Letters of Paul, are the thirteen New Testament books which have the name Paul as the first word, hence claiming authorship by Paul the Apostle. Among these letters are some of the earliest extant Christian documents...
on 174 parchment leaves (size ) with some additional material. It has only one lacuna
Lacuna (manuscripts)
A lacunaPlural lacunae. From Latin lacūna , diminutive form of lacus . is a gap in a manuscript, inscription, text, painting, or a musical work...
(Acts 26:24-28:31). The lacking material was supplemented by another, but contemporary hand. The leaf after 63 is not numbered. The pages 127 recto and 127 verso are accompanied by horizontal lines in margin. The leaves 146-147 are written vertically.
The text is written one column per page, 26–31 lines per page, in a very minute hand. The large initial letters are decorated and in colours, the small initials are in red. It has decorated headpieces before each biblical book. The iota subscript
Iota subscript
Iota subscript in Greek polytonic orthography is a way of writing the letter iota as a small vertical stroke beneath a vowel. It was used in the so-called "long diphthongs" in Ancient Greek, that is, diphthongs the first part of which is a long vowel: and...
is found twice only, and the error of itacism
Iotacism
Iotacism is the process by which a number of vowels and diphthongs in Ancient Greek converged in pronunciation so that they all sound like iota in Modern Greek....
is quite rare.
The writing being unusually full of abbreviations. The Old Testament quotations are marked by inverted comma (>).
It contains Prolegomena to the Acts of the Apostles, the tables of the (tables of contents) are placed before Gospel of Matthew, Luke and John, numbers of the (chapters) are given at the margin, with their (titles) at the head and foot of the pages. There is also a division according to the smaller Ammonian Sections, but there are no references to the Eusebian Canons. It contains subscriptions at the end of each book and numbers of (only in Luke).
References to the Eusebian Canons are noted only on one page of the codex. Lectionary markings and (lessons), are given only to Matthew, and they were added by a later hand. It has some scholia on Matthew 5 (folio 11 verso and folio 12 recto).
It contains seven pages with Gregory Nazianzen's
Gregory of Nazianzus
Gregory of Nazianzus was a 4th-century Archbishop of Constantinople. He is widely considered the most accomplished rhetorical stylist of the patristic age...
heroic verses on the Lord's genealogy
Genealogy of Jesus
The genealogy of Jesus is described in two passages of the Gospels: Luke 3:23–38 and Matthew 1:1–17.* Matthew's genealogy commences with Abraham and then from King David's son Solomon follows the legal line of the kings through Jeconiah, the king whose descendants were cursed, to Joseph, legal...
, and other [verses?] on His miracles and Parables, partly in red, precede tables of to Matthew. Other verses of Gregory precede Mark and Luke, and follow John. There are no chapter divisions in the Acts, but a few capitals in red. Every book is preceded by pretty decorated headpieces.
Text
The Greek text of the Gospels has many of the ByzantineByzantine text-type
The Byzantine text-type is one of several text-types used in textual criticism to describe the textual character of Greek New Testament manuscripts. It is the form found in the largest number of surviving manuscripts, though not in the oldest...
readings but its text is not entirely Byzantine. Hermann von Soden classified it as part of the textual family Kr
Family Kr
Family Kr is a large group of the New Testament manuscripts. It belongs to the Byzantine text-type as one of the textual families of this group. It has no uncials, no early minuscules, it has only hundreds of minuscules.- Description :...
, but it was not confirmed by Aland and Wisse. Aland
Kurt Aland
Kurt Aland was a German Theologian and Professor of New Testament Research and Church History. He founded the Institut für neutestamentliche Textforschung in Münster and served as its first director for many years...
did not place it in any category
Categories of New Testament manuscripts
New Testament manuscripts in Greek are categorized into five groups, according to a scheme introduced in 1981 by Kurt and Barbara Aland in Der Text des Neuen Testaments. The categories are based on how each manuscript relates to the various text-types. Generally speaking, earlier Alexandrian...
.
According to the Claremont Profile Method it has an eclectic text in Gospel of Luke
Gospel of Luke
The Gospel According to Luke , commonly shortened to the Gospel of Luke or simply Luke, is the third and longest of the four canonical Gospels. This synoptic gospel is an account of the life and ministry of Jesus of Nazareth. It details his story from the events of his birth to his Ascension.The...
. In Luke 1
Luke 1
Luke 1 is the first chapter of the Gospel of Luke in the New Testament of the Christian Bible. It describes the events leading up to the birth of Jesus. It is written to Theophilus, who could be a real person or could simply mean a fellow Christian as theo philus is Greek for God lover...
it has mixed Byzantine text, in Luke 10 it represents textual cluster Family Π200
Minuscule 200
Minuscule 200 , ε 118 , is a Greek minuscule manuscript of the New Testament, on parchment. Palaeographically it has been assigned to the 11th century. It has marginalia.- Description :...
, and in Luke 20 it belongs to the textual family Kx
Family Kx
Family Kx is a large group of the New Testament manuscripts. It belongs to the Byzantine text-type as one of the textual families of this group. It includes uncials, and although hundreds of minuscules, no early ones.- Description :...
. In the Acts its text is very close to the textual family 1739
Family 1739
Family 1739 is a group of the New Testament manuscripts. The textual relation of this family to the main text-types, as Alexandrian, Western, and Byzantine is still unclear. According to some scholars it represents the same text-type as the Caesarean text-type...
.
According to Scrivener the variations from the text of majority are not numerous or remarkable.
History
Of the history of the codex 536 nothing is known until the year 1864. In 1864, the manuscript was purchased from a dealer at JaninaIoannina
Ioannina , often called Jannena within Greece, is the largest city of Epirus, north-western Greece, with a population of 70,203 . It lies at an elevation of approximately 500 meters above sea level, on the western shore of lake Pamvotis . It is located within the Ioannina municipality, and is the...
in Epirus
Epirus
The name Epirus, from the Greek "Ήπειρος" meaning continent may refer to:-Geographical:* Epirus - a historical and geographical region of the southwestern Balkans, straddling modern Greece and Albania...
, by Angela Burdett-Coutts
Angela Burdett-Coutts, 1st Baroness Burdett-Coutts
Angela Georgina Burdett-Coutts, 1st Baroness Burdett-Coutts , born Angela Georgina Burdett, was a nineteenth-century philanthropist, the daughter of Sir Francis Burdett, 5th Baronet and the former Sophia Coutts, daughter of banker Thomas Coutts...
(1814–1906), a philanthropist, together with other Greek manuscripts (among them codices 532
Minuscule 532
Minuscule 532 , ε 255 , is a Greek minuscule manuscript of the New Testament, on parchment. Palaeographically it has been assigned to the 12th century.Scrivener labeled it number 545....
–546
Minuscule 546
Minuscule 546 , ε 511 , is a Greek minuscule manuscript of the New Testament, on parchment. It is dated palaeographically to the 13th century. It has some marginalia, the scribe has made numerous errors....
). They were transported to England in 1870/71.
The manuscript was presented by Burdett-Coutts to Sir Roger Cholmely's School, and was housed at the Highgate (Burdett-Coutts II. 7), in London. It was examined and collated by Scrivener. In 1922 it was purchased for the library of the University of Michigan
University of Michigan
The University of Michigan is a public research university located in Ann Arbor, Michigan in the United States. It is the state's oldest university and the flagship campus of the University of Michigan...
. The manuscript was described by K. W. Clark in 1937.
It was added to the list of the New Testament minuscule manuscripts by F. H. A. Scrivener (549) and C. R. Gregory (536). Gregory saw it in 1883.
The manuscript was digitalized by the CSNTM
Center for the Study of New Testament Manuscripts
The Center for the Study of New Testament Manuscripts is a non-profit organization set out to preserve ancient manuscripts of the Christian Scriptures New Testament. This aim is accomplished by taking high resolution digital photographs of all extant Greek New Testament manuscripts. The...
in 2008 and it is available in a digital form on the internet.
It is currently housed at the University of Michigan (Ms. Inv. No. 24) in Ann Arbor
Ann Arbor, Michigan
Ann Arbor is a city in the U.S. state of Michigan and the county seat of Washtenaw County. The 2010 census places the population at 113,934, making it the sixth largest city in Michigan. The Ann Arbor Metropolitan Statistical Area had a population of 344,791 as of 2010...
.
See also
- List of New Testament minuscules
- Biblical manuscriptBiblical manuscriptA biblical manuscript is any handwritten copy of a portion of the text of the Bible. The word Bible comes from the Greek biblia ; manuscript comes from Latin manu and scriptum...
- Textual criticismTextual criticismTextual criticism is a branch of literary criticism that is concerned with the identification and removal of transcription errors in the texts of manuscripts...
Further reading
- F. H. A. ScrivenerFrederick Henry Ambrose ScrivenerThe Reverend Frederick Henry Ambrose Scrivener, LL.D. was an important text critic of the New Testament and a member of the English New Testament Revision Committee which produced the Revised Version of the Bible...
, Adversaria Critica Sacra: With a Short Explanatory Introduction (Cambridge, 1893), p. XLII. (as i) - Kenneth W. Clark, A Descriptive Catalogue of Greek New Testament Manuscripts in America (Chicago, 1937), pp. 295–297.
External links
- Images of the minuscule 536 at the CSNTM
- Minuscule 536 at the Encyclopedia of Textual Criticism