TheCodex Bezae Cantabrigiensis ('Beza'sCambridge Book') is a bi-lingualGreek andLatin manuscript of theNew Testament written in anuncial hand onparchment. It is designated by thesiglumDea or05 in theGregory-Aland numbering of New Testament manuscripts, and δ 5 in thevon Soden numbering of New Testament manuscripts. It contains most of the fourGospels andActs, with a small fragment of3 John. Using the study of comparative writing styles (palaeography), it is currently dated to the 5th century.[1]
Codex Bezae is renowned for having a distinctive text of the four Gospels and Acts, and is a leading member of the "Western" recension. The manuscript has been studied extensively.
The manuscript is acodex (the precursor to the modernbook), containing the text of the fourGospels,Acts and3 John written on 406 extant parchment leaves, from perhaps an original 534 (sized 26 x 21.5 cm).[3] The text is written in one column per page, with the Greek text on the left face and the Latin text on the right.[3] The text is writtencolometrically and is full ofhiatus. The first three lines of each book are in red letters, with black and red ink alternating the title of books. As many as eleven correctors (designated as G, A, C, B, D, E, H, F, J1, L, K) have amended the text of the manuscript between the sixth and twelfth centuries.[4]: 35–43, 123–163 The Greek text of the codex has some copying errors, e.g., errors ofmetathesis (the transposition of sounds or syllables in a word), such as seen inJohn 1:3, whereεγενετο (egeneto) was changed intoενεγετο (enegeto); and inActs 1:9, whereυπελαβεν (hypelaben) transforms intoυπεβαλεν (hypebalen).
The manuscript employs the followingnomina sacra (sacred names/words considered sacred inChristianity); the ones cited here are onlynominative case (subject case) examples:ΙΗΣ (Ιησους /Iēsous /Jesus),ΧΡΣ (Χριστος /Christos /Christ),ΠΑΡ (πατηρ /patēr /Father),ΣΤΗ (σταυρωθη /staurōthē /[he] wascrucified). Other words which usually feature among thenomina sacra are written out in full:μητερ (mēter /Mother), υιος (huios /Son), σωτηρ (sōter /savior), ανθρωπος (anthrōpos /man), ουρανος (ouranos /sky), Δαυιδ (David), Ισραηλ (Israel), andΙερουσαλημ (Iērousalēm 'Jerusalem').[5]
Themanuscript presents the gospels in the so-called Western order ofMatthew,John,Luke andMark, of which only Luke is complete; after some missing pages the manuscript picks up with theThird Epistle of John (in Latin) and contains part ofActs.[6]: xiv
Missing sections
Matthew 1:1–20, 6:20–9:2, 27:2–12; John 1:16–3:26; Acts 8:29–10:14, 21:2–10, 21:16–18, 22:10–20, 22:29–end[6]: xiv–xv
The Greek text is unique, with many interpolations found in no other manuscript. It has several remarkable omissions, and a capricious tendency to rephrase sentences. Aside from this one Greek manuscript, the type of text is found inOld Latin (pre-Vulgate) versions — as seen in the Latin here — and in Syriac, and Armenian versions.Bezae is the principal Greek representative of theWestern text-type.[7]: 73
There is no consensus on the many problems the Greek text presents. Since the Latin text occasionally agrees with CodicesBobiensis andVercellensis against all others, it "preserves an ancient form of the Old Latin", and is a witness to a text which was current no later than 250 CE.[7]: 103 Issues of conformity have dogged the usage of the codex in biblical scholarship. "In general the Greek text is treated as an unreliable witness," but it is "an important corroborating witness wherever it agrees with other early manuscripts."[8]
Some of the outstanding features:Matthew 16:2b–3 is present and not marked as doubtful or spurious. One of thelonger endings of Mark is given. Luke 22:43f and the Pericope Adulterae are present and not marked as spurious or doubtful. John 5:4 is omitted, and the text of Acts is nearly 8% longer than the generally received text. It also includes a story of a man working on the Sabbath placed after Luke 6:4 which is not found in any other manuscript.[9]
Acts in Codex Bezae differs quite considerably from other manuscripts, which some argue possibly represents an earlier version directly from Luke.[10]
Codex Bezae Cantabrigiensis contains some extraordinary readings.[11] Below is a selection of some of the more notable or unsupported readings, with text and translation.
ὃς δʼ ἂν ποιήσῃ καὶ διδάξῃ, οὗτος μέγας κληθήσεται ἐν τῇ βασιλείᾳ τῶν οὐρανῶν (but whoever will do [them] and should teach [them], the same will be called great in the kingdom of the heavens)
ὑμεῖς δὲ ζητεῖτε ἐκ μικροῦ αὐξήσαι καὶ ἐκ μείζονος ἔλαττον εἶναι εἰσερχόμενοι δὲ καὶ παρακληθέντες δειπνῆσαι μὴ ἀνὰκλινεσθε εἷς τοὺς ἐξἔχοντας τόπους μήποτε ἐνδοξότερον σου ἐπέλθῃ καὶ προσελθὼν ὁ δειπνοκλήτωρ εἴπῃ σοι ἔτι κάτω χὼρει καὶ καταισχυνθήσῃ ἐὰν δὲ αναπεσής εἷς τόν ἥττονα τόπον καὶ ἐπέλθῃ σου ἥττων ἐρεῖ σοι ὁ δειπνοκλήτωρ σύναγε ἔτι ἄνω καὶ ἔσται σοι τοῦτο χρήσιμονBut seek to increase from that which is small, and to become less from that which is greater. When you enter into a house and are summoned to dine, do not sit down at the prominent places, lest perchance a man more honorable than you come in afterwards, and he who invited you come and say to you, "Go down lower"; and you shall be ashamed. But if you sit down in the inferior place, and one inferior to you come in, then he that invited you will say to you, "Go up higher"; and this will be advantageous for you.[7]: 71
Ἄρατε αὐτόν ποδῶν καὶ χειρῶν καὶ Βάλετε αὐτόν εἰς τὸ σκότος τὸ ἐξώτερον (Take him by his feet and his hands and cast him into the outer darkness) :D ita,b,c,d,e,ff1,ff2,h,q,r1 syrs,cIrenaeuslatLucifer
Δήσαντες αὐτοῦ πόδας καὶ χεῖρας ἐκβάλετε αὐτὸν εἰς τὸ σκότος τὸ ἐξώτερον (After binding him by his feet and his hands, cast him into the outer darkness) :אBLΘ 085ƒ122700.892. itaur,f,g1,l vg syrpcoDidymus
Δήσαντες αὐτοῦ πόδας καὶ χεῖρας ἄρατε αὐτόν καὶ ἐκβάλετε εἰς τὸ σκότος τὸ ἐξώτερον (After binding him by his feet and his hands, take and cast him into the outer darkness) :C (M)WΔ (Φ) 010233. (565.)(579.) (1241.) (1424.)Byz itf syr(h)
Βάλετε εἰς τὸ σκότος τὸ ἐξώτερον (castpl [him] into the outer darkness) :ƒ13
ἀρχομένων δὲ τούτων γίνεσθαι ἀναβλέψατε καὶ ἐπάρατε τὰς κεφαλὰς ὑμῶν διότι ἐγγίζει ἡ ἀπολύτρωσις ὑμῶν (But when these things begin happening, look up and lift up your heads, because that your redemption is approaching)
τῇ αὐτῇ ἡμέρᾳ, θεασάμενός τινα ἐργαζόμενον τῷ σαββάτῳ, εἶπεν αὐτῷ· Ἄνθρωπε, εἰ μὲν οἴδας τί ποιεῖς, μακάριοις εἶ· εἰ δὲ μὴ οἴδας, ἐπικατάρατος καὶ παραβάτης εἶ τοῦ νόμου. (On that same day, seeing someone working on the Sabbath, he (Jesus) said to him, 'Man, if you know what you do, blessed are you; but if you do not know, you are cursed and a transgressor of the law.')
και ειπεν, Ουκ οιδατε ποιου πνευματος εστε (But He turned and rebuked them and He said: You do not know what manner of spirit you are of) :D (ℓ1127m)D geoEpiphanius
The codex's place of origin is still disputed; bothGaul (France) and southernItaly have been suggested.[15][4]: 261–276 Other proposed places of origin includeEgypt,Palestine andBeirut.[9]
The manuscript is believed to have been repaired atLyon (France) in the ninth century, as revealed by a distinctive ink used for supplementary pages. It was closely guarded for many centuries in the monastic library of StIrenaeus at Lyon. The manuscript was consulted, perhaps in Italy, for disputed readings at theCouncil of Trent, and was at about the same time collated forStephanus's edition of the Greek New Testament. During the upheavals of theWars of Religion in the 16th century, when textual analysis had a new urgency among theReformation's Protestants, the manuscript was stolen from the monastic library in Lyon when FrenchHuguenots ransacked the library in 1562. It was delivered to the Protestant scholarTheodore Beza,[16] the friend and successor ofCalvin, who gave it in 1581 to theUniversity of Cambridge, in the comparative security of England, which accounts for its double name. It remains in theCambridge University Library (Nn. II 41).[1][7]: 70–73
ScholarJohn Mill collated and biblical scholarJohann Jakob Wettstein transcribed (in 1716) the text of the codex. Both did their editions of the Greek Testament, but both did their work carelessly. A much better collation was made about 1732 by John Dickinson.
In 1787, the University of Cambridge appointedDr Thomas Kipling to edit a facsimile edition which appeared in two volumes in 1793.
The English clericFrederick H. A. Scrivener edited the text of the codex in 1864 (rewritten text of the codex)[6] and published a photographic facsimile in 1899.
The importance of the manuscript is such that a colloquium held atLunel, Hérault, in the south of France on 27–30 June 1994 was entirely devoted to it.[17] Papers discussed the many questions it poses to our understanding of the use of the Gospels and Acts in early Christianity, and of the text of the New Testament.
^Birdsall, James Neville (1986). "The Geographical and Cultural Origin of the Codex Bezae Cantabrigiensis: A Survey of the Status Quaestionis, mainly from the Palaeographical Standpoint". In Schrage, Wolfgang (ed.).Studien zum Text und zur Ethik des Neuen Testaments: Festschrift zum 80. Geburtstag von Heinrich Greeven. Berlin; Boston: De Gruyter. pp. 102–114.doi:10.1515/9783110850154-008.ISBN9783110850154.
^Knight, Kevin (2017)."Codex Bezae".www.newadvent.org. New Advent. Retrieved22 July 2018.Beza wrote in the letter accompanying his gift that the manuscript was obtained from the monastery of St. Irenæus in Lyons, during the war in 1562. Lyons was sacked by the Huguenots in that year and this manuscript was probably part of the loot. The reformer said it had lain in the monastery for long ages, neglected and covered with dust; but his statement is rejected by most modern scholars. It is claimed, in fact, that this codex is the one which was used at the Council of Trent in 1546 by William Dupré (English writers persist in calling this Frenchman a Prato), Bishop of Clermont in Auvergne, to confirm a Latin reading of John 21, si eum volo manere, which is found only in the Greek of this codex. Moreover, it is usually identified with Codex beta, whose peculiar readings were collated in 1546 for Stephens' edition of the Greek Testament by friends of his in Italy. Beza himself, after having first denominated his codex Lugdunensis, later called it Claromontanus, as if it came not from Lyons, but from Clermont (near Beauvais, not Clermont of Auvergne). All this, throwing Beza's original statement into doubt, indicates that the manuscript was in Italy in the middle of the sixteenth century, and has some bearing upon the locality of the production.
^The story of the colloquium has been chronicled by one of the participants: J.-M. Auwers, "Le colloque international sur le Codex Bezae", Revue Théologique de Louvain 26 (1995), 405–412. See also:Parker, David Charles; Amphoux, Christian, eds. (1996).Codex Bezae, Studies from the Lunel Colloquium. Leiden: Brill..
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