Note: Below is one paragraph of introductory material to the Syriac Versions. For an entire article, click the link in the previous sentence. A Glossary of Technical Terms follows this. After that, you have a chart of the Syriac New Testament Manuscripts with their catalog number, date, and contents. Very importantly, we did not create a separate website page for each manuscript’s information. Any manuscript below that has information has a footnote; simply click it, and you will jump below to the information on that specific manuscript. Then, click the footnote number in the information area to return to your previous place. What kind of information might you find? A description or history of the manuscript. You might also find textual information like; it lacks the Pericope Adulterae (John 7:53-8:11). You might discover if it has any lacunae, how it was dated, and the different hands of the copyists. And many other pieces of information. Some have more information than others. The footnote numbers will be in red font, making them easy to identify.

NTTC JOHN 7:53–8:11: Where Did Those Verses Go of Jesus and the Woman Caught In Adultery?

Was the Woman Caught in Adultery John 7:53-8:11 In the Original and What Was Being Taught?

Syriac Versions of the Bible

The Syriac Version of the New Testament is one of the earliest and most important versions. Over 350 Syriac manuscripts of the New Testament have survived into the present. Most of them represent the Peshitta Version. Only a very few manuscripts represent Old Syriac versions. Some manuscripts represent a mixed or eclectic text.

Brief Glossary of Technical Terms

Colophon (Publishing): In publishing, a colophon is a brief statement containing information about the publication of a book such as an “imprint” (the place of publication, the publisher, and the date of publication). A colophon may include the device (logo): 69  of a printer or publisher.

Eusebian Canons, Eusebian sections, or Eusebian apparatus, also known as Ammonian sections, are the system of dividing the four Gospels used between late Antiquity and the Middle Ages. The divisions into chapters and verses used in modern texts date only from the 13th and 16th centuries, respectively.

Lacunae: A lacuna (pl. lacunae or lacunas) is a gap in a manuscript, inscription, text, painting, or musical work.

Palaeography: Palaeography (UK) or paleography (US; ultimately from Greek: παλαιός, palaiós, “old”, and γράφειν, gráphein, “to write”) is the study of historic writing systems and the deciphering and dating of historical manuscripts, including the analysis of historic handwriting. It is concerned with the forms and processes of writing, not the textual content of documents.

TEXTUAL STUDIES: The Syriac Peshitta Is a Look into the World of Early Bible Versions

Peshitta: The Peshitta (Classical Syriac: ܦܫܺܝܛܬܳܐ or ܦܫܝܼܛܬܵܐ pšīṭta) is the standard version of the Bible for churches in the Syriac tradition, including the Maronite Church, the Chaldean Catholic Church, the Syriac Catholic Church, the Syriac Orthodox Church, the Malabar Independent Syrian Church (Thozhiyoor Church), the Syro-Malankara Catholic Church, the Mar Thoma Syrian Church, the Assyrian Church of the East and the Syro-Malabar Church. The consensus within biblical scholarship, although not universal, is that the Old Testament of the Peshitta was translated into Syriac from Biblical Hebrew, probably in the 2nd century AD, and that the New Testament of the Peshitta was translated from the Greek, probably in the early 5th century.

Syriac Language: The Syriac language (Classical Syriac: ܠܫܢܐ ܣܘܪܝܝܐ‎ / Leššānā Sūryāyā, Leshono Suryoyo), also known as Syriac Aramaic (Syrian Aramaic, Syro-Aramaic) and Classical Syriac ܠܫܢܐ ܥܬܝܩܐ (in its literary and liturgical form), is an Aramaic dialect that emerged during the first century AD from a local Aramaic dialect that was spoken by Assyrians in the ancient region of Osroene, centered in the city of Edessa. During the Early Christian period, it became the main literary language of various Aramaic-speaking Christian communities in the historical region of Ancient Syria and throughout the Near East.

William Aldis Wright:[1] William Aldis Wright (1 August 1831 – 19 May 1914), was an English writer and editor. Wright was son of George Wright, a Baptist minister in Beccles, Suffolk.

Syriac Versions—Curetonian, Philoxenian, Harclean, Palestinian, Sinaitic, Peshitta

Manuscripts Housed at the British Library, Additional Manuscripts

#	Date	Contents
BL Add. 7157	767/768	Pauline epistles †
BL Add. 7163	8th/9th	Gospels †
BL Add. 12137[2]	6th/7th	Gospels †
BL Add. 12138
BL Add. 12140[3]	6th	Gospels †
BL Add. 12141	8th	Gospels †
BL Add. 12177	1189	Gospels
BL Add. 14425	463/464	Gospels †
BL Add. 14445	532	Gospels †
BL Add. 14448[4]	13th	New Testament
BL Add. 14449[5]	6th/7th	Gospels †
BL Add. 14450	7th	Gospels †
BL Add. 14451	10th	Gospels †
BL Add. 14452	8th	Gospels †
BL Add. 14453[6]	6th	Gospels †
BL Add. 14454[7]	6th/7th	Gospels †
BL Add. 14455[8]	6th	Gospels †
BL Add. 14456	8th	Gospels †
BL Add. 14457[9]	6th/7th	Gospels †
BL Add. 14458	6th/7th	Gospels †
BL Add. 14459[10] (folios 1-66)	6th	Gospels †
BL Add. 14459[11] (fol. 67–169)	6th	Gospel of Luke-Gospel of John †
BL Add. 14460	600	Gospels
BL Add. 14461	6th	Gospel of Matthew-Gospel of Mark †
BL Add. 14461 (fol. 108–212)	6th	Gospel of Luke-Gospel of John †
BL Add. 14462[12]	6th	Gospel of Matthew-Gospel of Mark
BL Add. 14463	823	Gospels †
BL Add. 14464		Gospels †
BL Add. 14465	12th	Gospels †
BL Add. 14466[13] (fol. 11–17)	10th/11th	Gospel of Mark Gospel of Luke †
BL Add. 14467[14]	10th	Gospel of Matthew-Gospel of John †
BL Add. 14469	936	Gospels
BL Add. 14470[15]	5th/6th	New Testament
BL Add. 14471	615	Gospels
BL Add. 14472	6th/7th	Acts, James, 1 Peter, 1 John
BL Add. 14473 (fol. 1–139)	6th	Acts, James, 1 Peter, 1 John
BL Add. 14473 (fol. 140–148)	11th	2 Peter, 2 John, 3 John, Jude
BL Add. 14474	11th/12th	New Testament (Except Gospels and Revelation)
BL Add. 14475	6th	Pauline epistles
BL Add. 14476	5th/6th	Pauline epistles
BL Add. 14477	6th/7th	Pauline epistles
BL Add. 14478	621h/622	Pauline epistles
BL Add. 14479[16]	534	Pauline epistles
BL Add. 14480	5th/6th	Pauline epistles †
BL Add. 14481	6th/7th	Pauline epistles †
BL Add. 14666 (fol. 1–10)	12th	Gospel of Matthew 1:1-6:20
BL Add. 14666 (fol. 47)	12th	Gospel of Matthew 1:1-11
BL Add. 14666 (fol. 48)	10th	Gospel of Matthew 1:1-16
BL Add. 14669[17] (fol. 26)	12th	Gospel of Matthew 1:1-13
BL Add. 14669[18] (fol. 27–28)	7th	Gospel of Matthew 1:12-2:6; 4:4-24
BL Add. 14669[19] (fol. 29–33)	6th/7th	Gospel of Matthew †
BL Add. 14669[20] (fol. 34–36)	6th	Gospel of Mark, Gospel of Luke †
BL Add. 14669[21] (fol. 38–56)	9th	Gospels †
BL MS Add. 14680	12th/13th	Acts, Cath., Pauline epistles †
BL Add. 14681	12th/13th	Acts, Cath., Pauline epistles
BL MS Add. 14706	13th	Lectionary (Evangelistarion, Apostolarion, Old Testament)
BL Add. 14738 (fol. 6–7)	13th	Acts 12:20-13:5
BL Add. 17113	6th/7th	Gospels
BL Add. 17114	6th/7th	Gospels †
BL Add. 17115	9th/10th	New Testament †
BL Add. 17116	9th/10th	Gospel of Matthew, Gospel of Mark †
BL Add. 17117	5th/6th	Gospel of Matthew, Gospel of Mark †
BL Add. 17118	8th	Gospels †
BL Add. 17120	6th	Acts, Cath., Pauline epistles †
BL Add. 17121	6th	Acts, Cath., Pauline epistles †
BL Add. 17122[22]	6th	Pauline epistles
BL Add. 17124[23]	1234	New Testament
BL Add. 17157	767/768	Pauline epistles
BL Add. 17224	13th	Gospel of Matthew, Gospel of Mark †
BL Add. 17224 (fol. 37–42)	13th	Gospel of Matthew 10:16-12:11; 12:44-14:3
BL Add. 17224 (fol. 43–57)	1173	Gospel of Matthew, Gospel of John †
BL Add. 17226	13th/14th	Catholic epistles †
BL Add. 17228 (fol. 38–64)	13th	James, 1 Peter, 1 John
BL Add. 17922	1222	Gospels
BL Add. 17983	1438	Gospels †
BL MS Add. 14717	13th	Lectionary (Evangelistarion, Apostolarion, Old Testament)
BL Add. 18812	6th/7th	Acts, James, 1 Peter, 1 John

Manuscripts housed in the Bodleian Library

• Dawkins 27,
• Huntington MS 133 — Bodleian Library
• Huntington MS 587, Bodleian Library
• Marsh 699, Bodleian Library

Manuscripts housed in the Vatican Library

• Codex Vaticanus Syriac 12
• Codex Vaticanus Syriac 19
• Codex Vaticanus Syriac 267
• Codex Vaticanus Syriac 268

Manuscripts Housed in Other collections

• Egerton 704 — Old Testament, 17th century
• Codex Phillipps 1388[24] — the four Gospels, 5th/6th century
• Khaburis Codex[25] — 22 books of the New Testament, 12th century
• Rabbula Gospels[26] — the four Gospels, 586
• Morgan MS 783
• Morgan MS 784
• Paris syr. MS 296, I^o
• Schøyen Ms. 2080 — 1 Corinthians-2 Corinthians
• Schøyen Ms. 2530
• Ms. Sinai syr. 3
• StL München syr. 8

SCROLL THROUGH DIFFERENT CATEGORIES BELOW

BIBLE TRANSLATION AND TEXTUAL CRITICISM

BIBLICAL STUDIES / INTERPRETATION

EARLY CHRISTIANITY

CHRISTIAN APOLOGETIC EVANGELISM

TECHNOLOGY

CHRISTIAN THEOLOGY

CHRISTIAN FICTION

[1] William Aldis Wright (1 August 1831 – 19 May 1914) was an English writer and editor.

Wright was son of George Wright, a Baptist minister in Beccles, Suffolk. He was educated at Beccles Grammar School and Trinity College, Cambridge, where he graduated BA in 1858. As a nonconformist, Wright was ineligible for election to a Trinity fellowship until 1878, but became Librarian and Senior Bursar of Trinity before that date. He opposed the allegations by Simonides that the Codex Sinaiticus discovered by Constantin von Tischendorf was produced around 1840. Duly elected Fellow in 1878, he became vice-master of the college in 1888. He was one of the editors of the Journal of Philology from its foundation in 1868 and was secretary to the Old Testament revision company from 1870 to 1885. He edited the plays of Shakespeare published in the “Clarendon Press” series (1868–97), also with W. G. Clark the “Cambridge” Shakespeare (1863–1866; 2nd ed. 1891–1893) and the “Globe” edition (1864). He added the Hebrew Index to ‘The Survey of Western Palestine’ in 1888. He published a facsimile of the Milton manuscript in the Trinity College library (1899), and edited Milton’s poems with critical notes (1903).

KONSTANTIN VON TISCHENDORF: In Search of Ancient Bible Manuscripts

He was the intimate friend and literary executor of Edward FitzGerald, whose Letters and Literary Remains he edited in 1889. This was followed by the Letters of Edward FitzGerald to Fanny Kemble (1895), his Miscellanies (1900), More Letters of Edward FitzGerald (1901), and The Works of Edward FitzGerald (7 vols., 1903). He edited the metrical chronicle of Robert of Gloucester (1887), Generydes (1878) for the Early English Text Society, Catalogue of the Syriac manuscripts in the British Museum (1–3 vol., 1870–1872), and other texts. His last publication was The Hexaplar Psalter (1911). In 1912 he resigned from the vice-mastership of Trinity College.

He donated a large collection of engravings by his uncle Thomas Higham to the British Museum in 1902. He is buried in the Parish of the Ascension Burial Ground in Cambridge.

[2] British Library, Add MS 12137, designated by number 75 on the list of Wright, is a Syriac manuscript of the New Testament, according to Peshitta version, on parchment. Palaeographically it has been assigned to the 6th or 7th century.

Description

It contains the text of the four Gospels according to Peshitta version, on 214 leaves (10¾ by 8¼ inches). The number of quires is 18. The writing is in two columns per page, 22-25 lines per page. The writing is in fine Estrangela. Vowels were added on the first 61 leaves by a later hand. The missing leaf with text of Matthew 10:10-26 was supplied by on paper.

The text is divided according to the Ammonian Sections, with references to the Eusebian Canons. The Ammonian Sections are referred to the proper Eusebian Canons. It has lectionary markings at the margin, some of them were added by a later hand.

On folio 1 verso there is a cross, with Greek inscription φως ζωη. On folio 241 recto there is another cross with inscription in barbarous Greek: “The cross, the weapon of the Christian.”

There is a note on folio 213 verso: “Samuel, a stranger, known as The recluse In Gozarta, In Egypt, collected and bound this Holy book. And I collected it from Egypt. And it belongs to the convent of the Mother of God, which is in the desert of Abba Macarius.”

The manuscript was brought from the covenant of St. Mary Deipara. It was described by William Aldis Wright.

The manuscript is housed at the British Library (Add MS 12137) in London.

[3] British Library, Add MS 12140 is a Syriac manuscript of the New Testament, on parchment. Palaeographically it had been assigned to the 6th century. It is a manuscript of Peshitta. The manuscript is a lacunose.

Description

It contains the text of the four Gospels, on 196 parchment leaves (10 ⅞ by 8 ¾ inches), with some lacunae (Matthew 26:7-28; Mark 10:45-11:1). Folio 3 b was supplemented by a later scribe, but scribe wrote more than was necessary to connect with folio 4, in result Matthew 2:4-6 is repeated.

Written in two columns per page, in 23-26 lines per page. The writing is a fine bold Estrangela. Folio 2, 3, and 5 written in inelegant, angular hand from about the 11th century. Folio 133 is a paper leaf of still later date, with writing on one side only. The manuscript has many notes added by a later hand. On folio 1 b, 2 a, and 133 b it has some Arabic notes.

The manuscript is housed at the British Library (Add MS 12140) in London.

[4] British Library, Add MS 14448, designated by number 64 on the list of Wright, is a Syriac manuscript of the New Testament, on parchment, according to the Peshitta version. It is dated by a Colophon to the year 699 or 700. The manuscript is a lacunose. Gregory labelled it by 14^e (for the Gospels), 9^a (for the Acts and General epistles), and 8^p (for the Pauline epistles). The codex is in the British Library as Add MS 14448.

Description

The original codex contained the text of the 22 books of Peshitta translation of the New Testament, on 209 parchment leaves (9 ⅛ by 5 ⅞ inches), with some lacunae (Matthew 1:1-2:13, 3:14-5:24, 8:26-9:19, Philippians, Colossians, 1 and 2 Thessalonians, and 1 Timothy, Hebrews 7:4-9:21). The text is written in one column per page, in 26-32 lines per page. The writing is a small, elegant, Nestorian Estrangela, with numerous vowel-points and other marks, though many of these (as also a very few Greek vowels) have been added at a later period. Folio 64 is a restoration, on paper, supplied in the 13th century.

The Gospel of Matthew is divided into 22 sections, Gospel of Mark into 13 sections, Gospel of Luke – 23 sections, and Gospel of John – 20 sections. The Book of Acts, Epistle of James, First Epistle of Peter, and First Epistle of John are divided into 32 sections. Number of section in the Pauline epistles 55. Total number of sections in the whole New Testament, 165.

On the margins of some pages there are notes, in a later hand, referring chiefly to matters of pronunciation and accentuation, similar to those in the manuscript Add. 12138.

It lacks the Pericope Adulterae (John 7:53-8:11).

History of the Manuscript

In the colophon on the folio 209 verso written: “This New Testament was begun on the first Ilul, and finished when ten days of Shebat were passed; in the year 1012, according to the well-known era of Greeks, which is, according to that of the Arabs, 80; under the rule of the house of Marwan, in the days of … [the Ishma]elites.” But there can be little doubt that the book was written in the reign of Abdu l-Malik ibn Marwan, for A.H. 80 = A.D. 699-700 = A. Gr. 1011-1012.

Formerly it belonged to the monastery of St. Mary Deipara in the Nitrian Desert. In 1842 along with the other 500 manuscripts it was brought to England. The manuscript was examined and described by Wright.

The manuscript is housed at the British Library (Add MS 14448) in London.

[5] British Library, Add MS 14449, designated by number 69 on the list of Wright, is a Syriac manuscript of the New Testament, according to the Peshitta version, on parchment. Palaeographically it has been assigned to the 6th or 7th century.

Description

It contains the text of the four Gospels according to Peshitta version, on 197 leaves (12⅞ by 9¾ inches). The leaves 31-197 were torn. The original number of quires was 22. The writing is in two columns per page, 22-25 lines per page. The writing is in fine, large Estrangela. Many Syriac vowels were added by a later hand. Some lessons are rubricated.

The text is divided according to the Ammonian Sections, with references to the Eusebian Canons. They are marked in an ordinary way, and at the food of each page are given a harmony of the four Gospels. It contains subscriptions at the end of each Gospel.

On folio 197 verso, there is a note made by a modern hand.

The manuscript was brought from the covenant of St. Mary Deipara. It was described by William Aldis Wright.

The manuscript is housed at the British Library (Add MS 14449) in London.

[6] British Library, Add MS 14453, designated by number 66 on the list of Wright, is a Syriac manuscript of the New Testament, on parchment, according to the Peshitta version. Palaeographically it has been assigned to the 5th or 6th century. The manuscript is lacunose. Gregory labelled it by 15^e.

Description

The original codex contained the text of the 22 books of Peshitta translation of the New Testament, on 182 parchment leaves (25 by 20 cm), with only one lacuna at the beginning and end. The Gospel of Matthew begins in 6:25, the Gospel of John ends in 20:25. Written in one column per page, in 22-27 lines per page. The writing is a large, regular Estrangela. Folio 173 was repaired with paper about the 12th century. The text is divided according to the chapters similar to the κεφαλαια of the Greek manuscripts, which were inserted by two later hands; there are lectionary markings added by a later hand.

History of the Manuscript

Formerly it belonged to the monastery of St. Mary Deipara in the Wadi El Natrun. In 1842 it was brought to England, with the other 500 manuscripts. The manuscript was examined and described by Wright.

The manuscript is housed at the British Library (Add MS 14453) in London.

[7] British Library, Add MS 14454, designated by number 87 on the list of Wright, is a Syriac manuscript of the New Testament, according to the Peshitta version, on parchment. Palaeographically it has been assigned to the 6th or 7th century.

Description

It contains the text of the first three Gospels according to Peshitta version, on 131 leaves (10¼ by 9⅛ inches), with some lacunae. The number of quires is now 14. The writing is in two columns per page, 22-27 lines per page. The writing is in fine and regular Estrangela.

The text is divided according to the Ammonian Sections, with references to the Eusebian Canons. There is a harmony of the four Gospels at the foot of each page.

There are two notes on folio 1 recto.

The manuscript was brought from the covenant of St. Mary Deipara. It was described by William Aldis Wright.

The manuscript is housed at the British Library (Add MS 14454) in London.

[8] British Library, Add MS 14455 is a Syriac manuscript of the New Testament, on parchment. Palaeographically it has been assigned to the 6th century. It is a manuscript of the Peshitta. The manuscript is very lacunose.

Description

It contains the text of the four Gospels, on 135 parchment leaves (14 ¾ by 11 ¾ inches), with large and numerous lacunae (Matthew 1:1-8:32; 9:11-35; 10:22-11:4; 11:19-14:17; 14:30-22:2; 22:16-23:25; 23:35-fin.; Mark 1:1-12:43; 13:10-21; 13:34-14:66; Luke 8:29-39; 9:14-36; 10:12-17; 12:25-46; 13:19-14:16; 15:4-16:5; 19:23-22:24; 22:58-23:35; 24:17-29; John 4:10-23; 4:47-5:5; 12:37-49; 13:9-fin.). Some of leaves are much stained and torn. The manuscript is in imperfect condition.

Written in two columns per page, in 15-21 lines per page. The writing is a large, beautiful Estrangela. The Eusebian Canons are marked in the text with the red ink. Some lessons are rubricated in the text, and many margin notes were added by a later hand.

The manuscript is housed at the British Library (Add MS 14455) in London.

[9] British Library, Add MS 14457, designated by number 70 on the list of Wright, is a Syriac manuscript of the New Testament, according to the Peshitta version, on parchment. Palaeographically it has been assigned to the 6th or 7th century.

Description

It contains the text of the four Gospels according to Peshitta version, on 200 leaves (9½ by 6⅛ inches). The number of quires is 20. The writing is in two columns per page, 25-31 lines per page. The writing is in fine Estrangela. Folios 32, 41, 199-200 were supplied by in the 12th or 13th century on paper. The lessons are rubricated.

The text is divided according to the Ammonian Sections, with references to the Eusebian Canons. There is a harmony of the four Gospels at the food of each page. It contains subscriptions at the end of the Gospel of Mark and Luke.

There is a note on folio 94 recto: “This Gospel belongs to Rabban Gabriel, a priest, from the region of Mosul, having been preserved (?) to him by Rabban Lazarus (?) from the district of Tur-Abdin.”

The manuscript was brought from the covenant of St. Mary Deipara. It was described by William Aldis Wright.

The manuscript is housed at the British Library (Add MS 14457) in London.

[10] British Library, Add MS 14459, Syriac manuscript of the New Testament, on a parchment. It is dated by a colophon to the year 528-529 or 537-538 (partially illegible colophon). It is one of the oldest manuscript of Peshitta and the earliest dated manuscript containing two of the Gospels in Syriac (folios 67-169). The manuscript is bound with another (folios 1-66) dated to the 5th century.

Folios 1-66

It contains the text of the Gospel of Matthew (beginning with 6:20) and Gospel of Mark on folios 1-66. It is written in a beautiful, Edesene Estrangela hand. The manuscript was described by Wright and Gwilliam. It is dated to the 5th century.

The manuscript is housed at the British Library (Add MS 14459, folios 1-66) in London.

Folios 67-169

It contains the text of the Gospel of Luke and Gospel of John, on folios 67-169 (20.3 by 12.7 cm). Written in one column per page, in 25-27 lines per page.

It was written in a small, elegant Estrangela hand. Folio 74 is a palimpsest leaf from the 9th or the 10th century. Probably it was added by the same hand who retouched folios 162 and 163. The more ancient text of the folio is of Matthew 3:6-9.11-13; 3:16-4:1; 4:4-6, according to Peshitta version.

Many lessons have been noted on the margin by later hand, sometimes in barbarous Greek.

Wright described the manuscript.

The manuscript is housed at the British Library (Additional Manuscripts 14459, folios 67-169) in London.

[11] See the previous footnote above.

[12] British Library, Add MS 14462, designated by number 92 on the list of Wright, is a Syriac manuscript of the New Testament, according to the Peshitta version, on parchment. Palaeographically it has been assigned to the 6th century.

Description

It contains the text of the first two Gospels according to the Peshitta version, on 106 leaves (8⅞ by 5⅛ inches), with some lacunae. The number of quires is now 14. The writing is in two columns per page, 21-27 lines per page. The writing is in fine and regular Estrangela. The manuscript was written by two hands (1-68 recto and 68 verso-106). Some lessons are rubricated, but only in the Gospel of Mark.

The text is divided according to the Ammonian Sections, with references to the Eusebian Canons. There is a harmony of the four Gospels at the food of each page.

There is a note on folio 68 recto “I, Nonnus have written.”

The manuscript was brought from the covenant of St. Mary Deipara. It was described by William Aldis Wright.

The manuscript is housed at the British Library (Add MS 14462) in London.

[13] British Library, Add MS 14466 is a Syriac manuscript of the New Testament, according to Peshitta version, on parchment. Palaeographically it has been assigned to the 10 or 11th century.

Description

It contains the fragments of the Gospel of Mark (6:18-33; 9:31-10:19) and Gospel of Luke (1:61-2:22), according to Peshitta version, on 7 vellum leaves (6 ½ by 4 ¾ inches). Written in one column per page, in 21-23 lines per page. The writing is neat and regular. The lessons are rubricated on the margin by prima manu.

The manuscript is housed at the British Library (Add MS 14466, folios 11-17) in London.

[14] British Library, Add MS 14467, is a Syriac manuscript of the New Testament, according to the Peshitta version, on parchment. Palaeographic analysis has dated the manuscript to the 10th century.

Description

The manuscript contains the fragments of Gospel of Matthew (folios 1-8) and Gospel of John (folios 9-15), according to the Peshitta version, with Arabic translation, on 15 leaves (10 by 6¾ inches). The writing is in two columns per page, 26-37 lines per page. The Syriac column is written in Nestorian character, with occasional vowel-points and signs of punctuation, the Arabic column has a few diacritical points.

Contents

Matthew 7:22-11:1; 11:22-12:10; 16:21-17:13;

John 8:59-10:18; 16:13-18:3; 19:27-20:25.

The larger sections are marked both in the Syriac and Arabic texts.

The manuscript was brought from the covenant of St. Mary Deipara, in the Nitrian Desert.

The manuscript is housed at the British Library (Add MS 14467) in London.

[15] British Library, Add MS 14470, Syriac manuscript of the New Testament, on parchment. Palaeographically it has been assigned to the 5th or 6th century. It is one of the oldest manuscripts of Peshitta with the complete text of the New Testament.

Contents

• Pericope Adulterae
• Four Gospels (usual order)
• 14 Pauline epistles (usual order)
• Acts of the Apostles
• Three Catholic epistles: James, 1 Peter, and 1 John

Description

The manuscript contains the complete text of 22 books of the Peshitta New Testament, on 176 leaves (23 by 14 cm) written in two columns per page, in 40-44 lines per page. The Hebrews is placed after Philemon. The manuscript is written in a small and elegant Edessene hand.

The Pericope Adulterae (John 7:53-8:11), according to the Harklensian version, prefaced by additional remark, was added by a later hand in the 9th century. It was placed before Gospel of Matthew, on folio 1.

History

On the first folio, below the Pericopa Adulterae, is written in an irregular Arabic hand: “We have received this book from the Syrian priest known by the name of Ibn —, and Salib the abbat was present to take it in charge and convoy it to the covenant of the Syrians in the desert of Bu Makar (Abba Macarius).”

On folio 2 recto there is a note, of the 10th century, stating that the codex belonged to the convent of St. Mary Deipara, in the Nitrian Desert. In 1842 it was brought to England along with the other 500 manuscripts.

The manuscript is housed in the British Library (Additional Manuscripts 14470) in London.

[16] British Library, Add MS 14479, is a Syriac manuscript of the New Testament, on parchment. It is dated by a colophon to the year 534. It is one of the oldest manuscript of Peshitta and the earliest dated Peshitta Apostolos.

Description

It contains the text of the fourteen Pauline epistles, on 101 leaves (8 ⅞ by 5 ½ inches), with only three lacunae (folio 1, 29, and 38). Written in one column per page, in 25-33 lines per page. The Epistle to the Hebrews is placed after Philemon. Numerous Syriac vowels and signs of punctuations have been added by a Nestorian hand, as well as a few Greek vowels by another reader.

It was written for the monastery in Edessa, in a small, elegant Estrangela hand in the year 533-534. The first folio was supplemented by a later hand in the twelfth century, folio 28 and 39 were supplemented in the thirteenth century.

The manuscript is housed at the British Library (Additional Manuscripts 14479) in London.

[17] British Library, Add MS 14669, Syriac manuscript of the New Testament, according to the Peshitta version, on parchment. Palaeographically it has been assigned to the 6th century. It contains fragments of the Gospels.

Description

It contains the text of the Gospel of Mark 14:71.72; 15:3-5.8-11.15.16; 15:17-40; Gospel of Luke 1:1-8 on 3 leaves (11 ½ by 8 ⅜ inches). The writing is in two columns per page, in 21-23 lines per page. The writing is a large, elegant Estrangela.

The manuscript is housed at the British Library (Add MS 14669, fol. 34-36) in London.

[18] See footnote on 14669 (fol. 26).

[19] See footnote on 14669 (fol. 26).

[20] See footnote on 14669 (fol. 26).

[21] See footnote on 14669 (fol. 26).

[22] British Library, Add MS 17122, designated by number 137 on the list of Wright, is a Syriac manuscript of the New Testament, according to Peshitta version, on parchment. Palaeographically it has been assigned to the 6th century. The manuscript is lacunose.

Description

It contains the text of the 14 Pauline epistles according to Peshitta version, on 129 leaves (8¾ by 5½ inches), some of which were torn. The original number of quires was 15 in number, but two of them are missing. The writing is in one column per page, 23-27 lines per page, in fine and regular estrangela.

On folio 1 recto it has the Lord’s Prayer in ancient Arabic. There is Arabic note on folio 11 verso with name Gabriel.

The manuscript was brought from the covenant of St. Mary Deipara (in the Nitrian Desert) in 1842 and brought to London along with the other 550 manuscripts. The manuscript was described by William Aldis Wright.

Currently, the manuscript is housed at the British Library (Add MS 17122) in London.

[23] British Library, Add MS 17124, designated by number 65 on the list of Wright, is a Syriac manuscript of the New Testament, according to Peshitta version, on parchment. Palaeographically it has been assigned to the 10th century. The manuscript is lacunose.

Description

It contains the text of the four Gospels, Acts, James, 1 Epistle of Peter, 1 Epistle of John, and 14 Pauline epistles according to Peshitta version, on 173 leaves (9⅛ by 6½ inches). The original number of quires was 22 in number, but of the first three only four leaves remain. The writing is in two columns per page, 36 lines per page. The letters are small and neat.

According to the colophon it was written in A. Gr. 1545, i.e., A.D. 1234.

On folio 68 recto there is a note, written by Gregory, Metropolitan of Jerusalem, A. Gr. 1827 (A.D. 1516), forbidding any one to take away this New Testament from the convent of S. Mary of Deipara, in the Nitrian Desert.

The manuscript was brought from the covenant of St. Mary Deipara. The manuscript was described by William Aldis Wright.

The manuscript is housed at the British Library (Add MS 17124) in London.

[24] Codex Phillipps 1388, Syriac manuscript of the New Testament, on parchment. It contains the text of the four Gospels. Palaeographically it had been assigned to the 5th/6th centuries. It is one of the oldest manuscripts of Peshitta with some Old Syriac readings.

According to Gwilliam the Cureton’s Syriac is related to the Peshitto in the same way that the latter is to the Philoxeno-Heraclean revision. It means it represent a stage between that of the Old Syriac and the fully developed Peshitta text. It has no fewer than seventy Old Syriac readings. It is one of very few early manuscripts with Old Syriac readings.

The manuscript was acquired by the Royal Library in Berlin in 1865. It was dated by Sachau to the end of the 5th century or the beginning of the 6th century.

The text of the codex was published by G. H. Gwilliam in 1901. A. Allgeier re-examined the collection of the codex in 1932.

[25] Khaburis Codex (alternate spelling Khaboris, Khabouris) is a 10th century Classical Syriac manuscript which contain the complete Peshitta New Testament.

Colophon

There have been claims that the earlier document’s colophon identifies it as being a ‘copy’ rendered from a manuscript dating 164 AD, internally documented as 100 years after the great persecution of the Christians by Nero, in 64 AD – however the colophon is unreadable. To this day, there is no published transcription.

Provenance

The Khaboris codex was obtained by Norman Malek-Yonan and attorney Dan MacDougald in 1966 for $25,000. It “was purchased from the library of an ancient Assyrian monastery atop one of the mountains of Assyria, near the River Habbor, or in Aramaic, Khabur, hence the name ‘Khaburis’.” It seems both men went overseas looking for a more intact Aramaic version of the New Testament following Malek-Yonan’s experiences surrounding the Yonan Codex in the 1950s. Malek-Yonan’s prior codex had been repaired with newer materials at some point in its history. He claimed the Yonan Codex^b had been in his family since the 4th century. In his account of the controversial history surrounding the Yonan codex^b, Christian Greek-primacist Bruce Metzger tells of dating it to the 7th century at its earliest.

The stories of the Yonan Codex^a and the Khaboris Codex^b are linked by the involvement of Dan MacDougald. On page 115 of the Society of Biblical Literature’s reprint of The Saga of the Yonan Codex, Metzger tells of getting news of the Yonan Codex in the late 1970s. He writes,

“Curiously enough, several year [sic] later while I was attending sessions of the annual meeting of the American Academy of Religion, Dr. Paul L. Garber, professor of Bible at Agnes Scott College, Decatur, Georgia, casually inquired of me whether I had ever heard of the Yonan Codex^a. This led to a most astonishing disclosure. A medieval copy (Khabouris^b) of the manuscript, Garber told me, was in the possession of the Emotional Maturity Instruction Center, Decatur, Georgia. The center had transliterated the Syriac text of the Beatitudes in Christ’s Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5:3–12) and was making a copy of this available for four dollars with the assurance that, by concentrating each day on these sentences in Aramaic, one’s personality would become adjusted and more mature. In fact, according to Garber the center had even persuaded magistrates in Atlanta to buy copies of the transliteration for use in attempting to quell obstreperous prisoners!”

A Western Queens Gazette article from August 8, 2004 states that Dan MacDougald was the one who started the Emotional Maturity Instruction course referred to by Metzger. According to Timms, Norman Malek-Yonan died in the 1970s. Apparently MacDougald had purchased the Khaboris codex from Yonan, and started a few organizations dealing with psychology in the 1970s. After the 1999 dating by the University of Arizona, the Khaboris Codex^b transitioned into the hands of Dr. Michael Ryce at the Heartland institute. Ryce co-authored an updated version of the Emotional Maturity Instruction course with MacDougald called Laws of Living. This course continues to be taught, annually, by Ryce at Heartland, his teaching center in the Ozark Mountains of Southern Missouri.

The Heartland’s website states on a page about the Khaboris Codex^b, “Before Dan MacDougald passed away, he left the Khabouris^b in the stewardship of the Western-Rite Syrian Orthodox Church, in order that the validation, documentation, conservation, translation, publication and exhibition could be completed. Work continues on these processes, as well as development of several related books.” The manuscripts appears to have remained physically at the Heartland institute. A page titled “The Khabouris Manuscript Ceremony at Heartland” has several small images of a woman posing with the “b” codex. At some point during this time, someone there seems to have taken low-resolution digital photos of all 500 plus pages of the codex.

At some point around 2004 the codex was sent to New York have high-resolution photos taken by Eric Rivera, director of the Khabouris Institute, working at the Better Light Company, a digital imaging company. Their website has a description of Rivera’s work and a few high-quality image samples. During this time the Khabouris Manuscript^b was on display for public view as an exhibit in the Queensborough Community College Art Gallery in Bayside, New York. This likely generated the Western Queens Gazette article referenced above. Rivera mentions working on the manuscript in 2005, after which it appears to have been stolen. The Heartland website states, “The Khabouris Manuscript(^b) was removed from QCC (without our prior knowledge) and was taken to London for auction by Sotheby’s back in June 2007. The sale was not completed at that time; however, we have lost track of where the actual Manuscript is now located.” It appears to have been purchased by Arizona collector James Melikian.

On December 11, 2007 the Phoenix Art Museum hosted a display of old manuscripts, including the Khaboris Codex^b. The article announcing the display described it as being part of the James Melikian collection. Melikian, a resident of Phoenix, is Armenian and has cultural interests in collecting ancient Oriental Christian artifacts. He talks about this in the January 12, 2008 edition of the Armenian Reporter. In the article, which covered the Phoenix Art show, the author describes Melikian showing the Khaboris Codex^b to visitors in a private viewing. Presumably the Khaboris Codex^b is still in the Melikian private gallery. Melikian states in his inventory listing that his copy is a different manuscript than the one owned by the Library of Congress.

A page from the codex

Page 360 of the Khaburis Codex is the end of the I Epistle of John and the beginning of the Letter to the Romans. The rubric connects the two books.

Transcription Translation

[26] The Rabbula Gospels, or Rabula Gospels, (Florence, Biblioteca Medicea Laurenziana, cod. Plut. I, 56) is a 6th-century illuminated Syriac Gospel Book. One of the finest Byzantine works produced in Asia, and one of the earliest Christian manuscripts with large miniatures, it is distinguished by the miniaturist’s predilection for bright colours, movement, drama, and expressionism. Coming from a period from in which little art survived, and which saw great development in Christian iconography, the manuscript has a significant place in art history, and is very often referred to.

Recent scholarship has suggested that the manuscript completed in 586 was later partly overpainted by restorers and bound together with miniatures from other sources in the 15th or 16th century.

Description

The Gospel was completed in 586 at Monastery of St. John of Zagba (Syriac: ܒܝܬ ܙܓܒܐ, Bēṯ Zaḡbā), which, although traditionally thought to have been in Northern Mesopotamia, is now thought to have been in the hinterland between Antioch and Apamea in modern Syria. It was signed by its scribe, Rabbula (ܪܒܘܠܐ, Rabbulā) about whom nothing else is known. In their current condition the folios are 34 cm (13.4 in) by 27 cm (10.6 in). Their original size is unknown because they were trimmed during previous rebindings. The text is written in black or dark brown ink in two columns of a variable number of lines. There are footnotes written in red ink at the bottom of many of the columns. The text is the Peshitta version of the Syriac translation of the Gospels.

The manuscript is illuminated, with the text framed in elaborate floral and architectural motifs. The Gospel canons are set in arcades ornamented with flowers and birds. The miniaturist obviously drew some of his inspiration from Hellenistic art (draped figures), but relied mainly on the ornamental traditions of Persia. The miniatures of the Rabbula Gospels, notably those representing the Crucifixion, the Ascension and Pentecost, are real pictures with a decorative frame formed of zigzags, curves, rainbows and so forth. The scene of the Crucifixion is the earliest to survive in an illuminated manuscript, and shows the Eastern form of the image at the time. There is a miniature of the Apostles choosing a new twelfth member (after the loss of Judas); this is not an event found in the Canonical Gospels (though it is mentioned in Chapter 1 of Acts) and is almost never seen in later art. The artist was trained in the classical illusionist tradition, and is a competent and practiced hand rather than an outstanding talent; but surviving images from this period are so rare that his are extremely valuable for showing the style and iconography of his age.

The French Orientalist Edgard Blochet (1870–1937) argued that some of the folios of the manuscript, including the pictorial series, were an interpolation no earlier than the 10th or 11th century. Since the original caption accompanying the miniatures is of the same paleographic character as the main text of the manuscript, this theory was rejected by Giuseppe Furlani and by Carlo Cecchelli in the commentary of the facsimile edition of the miniatures published in 1959. But doubts as to the original unity of the contents continued. More recently, scholars have proposed that the text of 586 was only bound up together with the miniatures in the 15th century, and that the miniatures themselves were taken from at least one other original manuscript, and come from two different campaigns of work.

The history of the manuscript after it was written is vague until the 11th century when it was at Maipuc-Byblos, Lebanon. In the late 13th or early 14th century it came to Quannubin. In the late 15th or early 16th century, the manuscript was taken by the Maronite Patriarch to the Laurentian Library in Florence, where it is today.

The manuscript has served during Medieval Age as register of Maronites Patriarches (Elias Kattar),

Large Miniatures

• 1a Election of the Apostle Mathias by the Eleven
• 1b Theotokos (Virgin Mary) with the infant Jesus
• 2a Christ receives a book from two monks (dedication) / The saints Eusebius of Caesarea and Ammonius of Alexandria
• 3b-12b The canon tables of Eusebiuswith smaller marginal miniatures
• 9b Matthew and John
• 13a Crucifixion of Christ/ Three Marys at the tomb
• 14a Ascension of Christ/ Christ with four monks
• 14b Gift of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost

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