The Manuscripts of the Catholic Epistles

Contents: Introduction * Tableof Papyri and Uncials * Table of Minuscules 1-500* Table of Minuscules 501-1000 * Tableof Minuscules 1001-1500 * Table of Minuscules 1501-2000* Table of Minuscules Over 2000 * Notes*

Introduction

Textual critics are dependent on their materials -- in this case, manuscripts.But how is a student to know which manuscripts contain which text? No onecan possibly examine all the manuscripts now available.

To make matters worse, not all editors agree on the nature of the textfound in the manuscripts.

This article attempts to summarize the judgments passed by previouseditors. The tables below list all non-fragmentary manuscripts cited regularlyin at least one of the major recent critical apparati (Merk, Nestle-Aland²⁶,Nestle-Aland²⁷, UBS³, UBS⁴). Notes onsources and how to interpret the data follow the table. Fragmentary manuscriptsare omitted as they should be dealt with on a more detailed basis.

Table of Papyri & Uncials

Table of Minuscules 1-500

Table of Minuscules 501-1000

Table of Minuscules 1001-1500

Table of Minuscules 1501-2000

Table of Minuscules 2001 and over

Notes

Gregory Number -- The standard numericaldesignation for manuscripts, based on the system created by Caspar ReneGregory.

Soden Symbol -- The designation givento the manuscript by H. von Soden. The user is referred to von Soden'swork or the commentaries for a discussion of these symbols, some of whichcannot even be reproduced in basic HTML.

The Gregory/Soden equivalences given here are taken primarily from KurtAland, Kurzgefasste Liste der Grieschischen Handschriften des NeuenTestaments (de Gruyer, 1963). They have been checked against Merk wherenecessary.

Note: If a manuscript has multiple Soden symbols, this usually meansthat it comes from two different eras and that von Soden assigned two numbersto the various parts. The first symbol will usually be the one used inthe current section.

Date -- as given by the most recent catalogs(NA²⁷ or the Kurzgefasste Liste). Arabic numerals indicatea precise date listed in a colophon; roman numerals indicate centuries(as judged by paleographers).

Contents -- briefly describes the contentsof a manuscript. e=Gospels; a=Acts; p=Paul; c=Catholics; r=Apocalypse.The symbol # indicates a defect. If it follows the description ofa section (e.g. p#) it indicates that the manuscript is defective in thatsection; if it precedes the list, it means that the nature of thedefect is unknown to me. Thus, ap#c indicates a manuscript which containsActs, Paul, and the Catholics, which is defective for part of Paul; #apcindicates a manuscript of those same books which is defective in a wayunknown to me. Comm indicates a commentary manuscript; polyglot manuscriptsare also noted.

The information here is taken from the Kurzgefasste Liste, fromNA²⁷, from a variety of special studies, and from my own researches.

Soden Description -- this indicated theclassification in which von Soden placed the manuscripts. There is no roomhere for a full discussion, but we may note that H is the Alexandrian text.K is the Byzantine text. The various I groups include a wide variety ofmanuscripts of mixed types. Curiously, von Soden divides family 2138 amongthree I groups in I^b and I^c.

The information from this section again comes from the KurzgefassteListe, supplemented by Merk and other authorities.

Merk Description -- These are the classificationused in Augustinus Merk's Novum Testamentum Graece et Latine. Itwill be observed that, for the most part, they correspond with von Soden's,except that C has been substituted for I. This list is also generally usefulfor Bover's edition, although Bover does not offer group names. A questionmark or parenthesized entry in this column indicates that Merk's list ofmanuscripts does not correspond to his manuscript groupings; the readeris referred to the group lists.

Aland Description -- Kurt and BarbaraAland undertook to classify "all" minuscules according to quality.In The Text of the New Testament (translated by Erroll F. Rhodes,Eerdmans, 1989) they listed their results. A category I manuscript wasconsidered most important for establishing the text (practical translation:a category I manuscript is supposed to be free of Byzantine influence).A category II manuscript is somewhat poorer and more mixed; category IIIis important "for the history of the text"; category V is Byzantine.In practice, these categories are an assessment of Byzantine influence.

It will be noted that not all manuscripts have been rated. Some (e.g.1799) were not collated. In most instances, however, it appears to be becausethe manuscript is very slightly mixed -- not purely Byzantine, but notclearly anything else, either. In some cases I have been unable to determinewhy the Alands did not give a rating.

Richards Description -- The classificationfound in W.L. Richards's The Classification of the Greek Manuscriptsof the Johannine Epistles. Richards studied some eighty manuscriptsof the Catholics in the Johannine Epistles. His study applied a modifiedversion of the Claremont Profile Method. He found three "text-types"-- "Alexandrian" (with three sub-categories), Byzantine (eightsub-categories), and "Mixed" (yes, Richards calls "mixed"a text-type, and has three sub-groupings. Richards also tries to find text-typesin 2 and 3 John -- books which are simply not long enough to classify).

In general, the lists below show the dominant text-type.

Although Richards can be attacked both for his method and the accuracyof his collations, his groups generally stand up (except that the threeA groups should not all be considered Alexandrian!). Group A¹is family 2138; group A² is the standard Alexandrian text (ℵ,A, B, C); group A³ is family 1739.

The following list shows the leading representatives of the various groups:

A¹ -- (206), 614, (876), 1611, 1799, 2138, 2412
A² -- ℵ, A, B, C,Ψ, 6
A³ -- (P⁷⁴), 5, 323, 623, (642), 1241, 1243, 1739, (1845)

M¹ -- 181, 917, 1874, 1898
M² -- 424** (!), 642, 876, 999, 1827, 2401
M^w -- this is not a true group; it consists of manuscripts whichgo with no other group. It includes 69, 643, 1522, 1845, and portions ofother manuscripts.

B^tr -- 356, 462, 547, 1240, 1311, 1854, TR
B¹ -- 319, 330, 479, 483, 635, 1829, 1891
B² -- 201, 226, 959, 1248, 1876, 1889
B³ -- 97, 177, 223, 1597, 1872, 2423
B⁴ -- 216, 440, 1022, 1245, 1315, 1610, 1738
B⁵ -- 489, 920, 927, 1873
B⁶ -- L, (049), 424*, 794, 1175, 1888, 2143
B⁷ -- 38, 582, 1319, 1424, 1835

Wachtel Description -- The classificationas given in Klaus Wachtel, Der Byzantinische Text der Katholischen Briefe.Wachtel has a two-part classification. The basic groupings are based ondistance from the Byzantine text. (As measured based on the 98 testreadings for the Catholic Epistles found in Aland et al, Text undTextwert der grieschischen Handschriften des Neuen Testaments.) Within this classification he sees a number of groups.

Observe that these groups are not text-types; Wachtel does notreally examine text-types. The Alexandrian and family 1739 texts, for instance,are grouped together, without classification, in the "40% or morenon-Byzantine" category. Wachtel is more interested in small groupings.Note that this does not allow mixed manuscripts to be classified with theirtext-types (for example, 945 -- which might even be a direct descendentof 1739 with some Byzantine corrections -- is not classified with 1739).

The basic list of Wachtel's types is shown below, with the symbol Iuse to represent it:

• 40+ (at least 40% of readings non-Byzantine): This roughly correspondsto the Alexandrian, family 1739, and family 2138 texts. Unclassified witnessesin this category include P⁷², P⁷⁴,ℵ, A, B, C,Ψ, 048, 5, 33, 81,322, 323, 442, 621, 623, 629, 945, 1175, 1241, 1243, 1735, 1739, 1852,1881, 2298, 2344, 2464, 2805.
  Subgroups include:
  • Hk^gr: This is family 2138 (Richards's Group A¹).Members include 206, 429, 522, 614, 630, 1292, 1490, 1505, 1611, 1799,1831, 1890, 2138, 2200, 2412, 2495.
  • 1067: 436, 1067, 1409, 2541
  • 1846: 1845, 1846
• 30+ (at least 30% of readings non-Byzantine): Unclassified witnessesin this category include P, 6, 378, 1448, 2374, 2718.
  Subgroups include:
  • 2652: 2147 2652
  • 453: 36, 94, 307, 453, 720, 918, 1678, 2197
  • 61: 61, 326, 1837
  • 1838: 104, 459, 1838, 1842
  • 254: 254, 1523, 1524, 1844
• 20+ (at least 20% of readings non-Byzantine): Unclassified witnessesin this category include 93, 321, 398, 431, 665, 1758, 2492.
  Subgroups include:
  • 808: 218, 642, 808, 1127, 1359, 1563, 1718
  • 915: 88, 915
  • 876: 876, 1765, 1832, 2243, 2494
• 10+ (at least 10% of readings non-Byzantine): Unclassified witnessesin this category include 38, 43, 69, 197, 365, 400, 456, 464, 468, 617,631, 643, 676, 999, 1367, 1390, 1501, 1509, 1609, 1729, 1751, 1827, 1850,1874, 1893, 1904, 2080, 2180, 2242, 2523, 2544, 2674, 2774.
  Subgroups include:
  • 467: 467, 1848
  • 1297: 1270, 1297, 1595, 1598
  • 181: 181, 1836, 1875
  • 996: 996, 1661
  • 2186: 1840, 2186
  • 1066: 056, 0142, 1066
  • 312: 312, 1853
• <10 (Fewer than 10% non-Byzantine readings): K, L, 049, 18,35, 319, 607, 1862, 1895, 2423

Wachtel also lists the following as belonging to the K^r recension:18, 201, 386, 394, 432, 1072, 1075, 1100, 1503, 1548, 1619, 1628, 1636,1725, 1745, 1746, 1768, 1858, 1864, 1865, 1897, 2544, 2587.
Related to K^r, with differences of a single reading, arethe following:

• 35, 664, 757, 928, 1249, 1855, 2221
• 604, 1740, 2352
• 1618, 1892

(Thanks to Ulrich Schmid for information relating to Wachtel.)

Comment -- this is my attempt to providethe "last word." Where I have examined a manuscript, I give myresults (based either on examination of a collation or on a statistical studyof 150 readings).

In addition, I have listed the classifications of Amphoux here, as foundin Vaganay and Amphoux's An Introduction to New Testament Testual Criticism.Amphoux's is probably the most reliable of the classification schemes listedhere, but is also the least complete.