The Reading Culture of Early Christianity

Caesarean text-type is the term proposed by certain scholars to denote a consistent pattern of variant readings that is claimed to be apparent in certain Greek manuscripts of the four Gospels, but which is not found in any of the other commonly recognized New Testament text-types; the Byzantine text-type, the Western text-type, and the Alexandrian text-type. In particular a common text-type has been proposed to be found: in the ninth/tenth century Codex Koridethi; in Minuscule 1 (a Greek manuscript of the Gospels used, sparingly, by Erasmus in his 1516 printed Greek New Testament); and in those Gospel quotations found in the third century works of Origen of Alexandria, which were written after he had settled in Caesarea. The early translations of the Gospels in Armenian and Georgian also appear to witness to many of the proposed characteristic Caesarean readings, as do the small group of minuscule manuscripts classed as Family 1 and Family 13.

Bruce M. Metzger,

An Eastern form of text, which was formerly called the Caesarean text, is preserved, to a greater or lesser extent, in several Greek manuscripts (including Θ, 565, 700) and in the Armenian and Georgian versions. The text of these witnesses is characterized by a mixture of Western and Alexandrian readings. Although recent research has tended to question the existence of a specifically Caesarean text-type, the individual manuscripts formerly considered to be members of the group remain important witnesses in their own right.

Another Eastern type of text, current in and near Antioch, is preserved today chiefly in Old Syriac witnesses, namely the Sinaitic and the Curetonian manuscripts of the Gospels and in the quotations of Scripture contained in the works of Aphraates and Ephraem.^[1]

Description

A particularly distinctive common reading of the proposed text-type is in Matthew 27:16-17, where the bandit released by Pontius Pilate instead of Jesus is named as “Jesus Barabbas” rather than — with all other surviving witnesses — just “Barabbas”. Origen notes particularly that the form “Jesus Barabbas” was common in manuscripts in Caesarea, whereas he had not found this reading in his previous residence in Alexandria. Otherwise, the Caesarean readings have a mildly paraphrastic tendency that seems to place them between the more concise Alexandrian, and the more expansive Western Text-Types. None of the surviving Caesarean manuscripts is claimed to witness a pure type of text, as all appear to have been to some degree assimilated with readings from the Byzantine text-type.

Some writers have questioned the validity of this grouping, claiming that the classification is the result of poor research. Insofar as the Caesarean text-type does exist (in Matt, Luke and John is not well defined), then it does so only in the Gospels. The proposed Caesarean witnesses do not appear to have any common distinctive readings in the rest of the New Testament. Some of the Caesarean manuscripts have the so-called Jerusalem Colophon.

The Caesarean text-type was discovered and named by Burnett Hillman Streeter in 1924. According to some scholars, it is only a hypothetical text-type (Aland).

There are no pure Caesarean manuscripts. In many cases, it is difficult to decide the original reading of the group, for instance in Mark 1:16:

αμφιβαλλοντας τα δικτυα — f¹³ 565

αμφιβληστρα βαλλοντας — f¹

αμφιβληστρον βαλλοντας — 700

βαλλοντας αμφιβληστρον — 28

The Complete Guide to Bible Translation-2

Classification

von Soden— Iota (Jerusalem) (I), in part (most strong “Caesarean” witnesses are found in Soden’s I^αgroup, with family 1 being his I^η and family 13 being I^ι).

Kirsopp Lake, an outstanding British textual critic, developed the hypothesis of the relationship between f¹, f¹³, Θ, 565, 700, and 28. Streeter carried Lake’s work another step forward by pointing to Caesarea as the original location of the family.^[6]

G. Kenyon— Gamma (γ)
J. Lagrange— C

Witnesses

Sign	Name	Date	Content
p⁴²	Papyrus 42	7th/8th	fragments Luke 1-2
p⁴⁵	Papyrus 45	3rd	only in Mark
Θ (038)	Codex Koridethi	9th	Mark
W (032)	Codex Washingtonianus	5th	Mark 5:31—16:20
28	Minuscule 28	11th	Gospel of Mark
565	Minuscule 565	9th	Gospels
700	Minuscule 700	11th	Gospels
1 and rest of f¹	Minuscule 1, 118, 131, 209	12th 11th-15th	only Gospels
13 and rest of f¹³	Minuscule 13, 69, 124, 346	13th 11th-15th	Gospels only Gospels

Other manuscripts

Papyrus 29, p³⁸, p⁴¹, p⁴⁸, Uncial 0188, 174, 230, 406 (?), 788, 826, 828, 872 (only in Mark), 1071, 1275, 1424 (only in Mark), 1604, 2437, ℓ 32.

Textual Features

Matthew 8:13

It has additional text: και υποστρεψας ο εκατονταρχος εις τον οικον αυτου εν αυτη τη ωρα ευρεν τον παιδα υγιαινοντα (and when the centurion returned to the house in that hour, he found the slave well) as well as codices א, C, (N), Θ, (0250), f¹, (33, 1241), g¹, syr^h.

Matthew 13:35
δια Ησαιου – Θ f¹ f¹³ 33
δια — majority of mss

Matthew 20:23
και το βαπτισμα ο εγω βαπτιζομαι βαπτισθησεσθε (and be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with) [Matching MT and TR]

omitted — Sinaiticus, B, D, L, Z, Θ, 085, f¹, f¹³, it, syr^{s, c}, cop^sa.

Matthew 27:16-17
Ιησουν τον Βαραββαν — Θ, f¹, 700*, syr^{s, pal}, arm, geo
τον Βαραββαν — majority of mss

Mark 8:14
ενα μονον αρτον εχοντες — p⁴⁵ (W) Θ f¹ (f¹³ 28) 565 700 k cop^saomit — all other mss

Mark 8:15
των Ηρωδιανων — p⁴⁵, W, Θ, f¹, f¹³, 28, 565, 1365, itⁱ, it^k, cop^sa, arm, geo
Ηρωδου — majority of mss

Mark 8:17
εν ταις καρδιαις υμων, ολιγοπιστοι — (D) Θ 28 565 700 pc (it) syr^h

Mark 9:29
προσευχη και νηστεια — p⁴⁵ A C D L W Θ Ψ f¹, f¹³, Byz [Matching MT and TR]
προσευχη — א Β 0274 k

Mark 10:19
μη αποστερησης — א A B² C D X Θ 565 892 1009 1071 1195 1216 1230 1241 1253 1344 1365 1646 2174 Byz Lect
omitted — B*, K, W, Δ, Ψ, f¹, f¹³, 28, 700, 1010, 1079, 1242, 1546, 2148, ℓ 10, ℓ 950, ℓ 1642, ℓ 1761, syr^s, arm, geo.

Mark 12:1
ανθρωπος τις εφυτευσεν αμπελωνα — W, Θ, f¹³, 565, it^aur, it^cαμπελωνα ανθρωπος εφυτευσεν — א Β C Δ Ψ 33 1424

Mark 12:7
θεασαμενοι αυτον ερχομενον ειπαν προς εαυτους — Θ 565 700 c
θεασαμενοι αυτον ερχομενον ειπον — N, f¹³, 28
προς εαυτους ειπαν οτι — א B C L W (Δ) Ψ (f¹) 33 892
ειπαν προς εαυτους — D
ειπον προς εαυτους οτι — A Byz

Mark 13:6
λέγοντες ὅτι Ἐγώ ο Xρηστός — W, Θ f¹³, 28, 61, 115, 255, 299, 565, 700, 1071 b c g² l vg^mss cop^sa,bo geo^b arm arab^ms Cyp
λέγοντες ὅτι Ἐγώ εἰμι — Byz