The capstone of The Green Collection is the Codex Climaci Rescriptus, known as Uncial 0250 (in the Gregory-Aland numbering). The codex is a palimpsest whose underwiting includes pages from a Greek uncial manuscript of the New Testament, as well as pages from a Christian Palestinian Aramaic uncial manuscript of the Old and New Testament. Paleographically the Greek section has been assigned to the 7th century, and the Christian Palestinian Aramaic section to the 6th century.

The Green Scholars Initiative

Under the direction of Dr. Scott Carroll, The Green Collection aims to extend the body of research on Bible history and engage college faculty and students in biblical scholarship. Leaders in biblical antiquities oversee research in the collection’s core areas of strength.

Participating Scholars In The Green Scholars Initiative

Academics and textual experts participating in the Green Scholars Initiative include:
Dr. Mariam Ayad: Lead Mentor-Scholar, Papyri Project and Egyptian and Coptic Texts
Dr. Gordon Campbell: Co-Senior Scholar, King James Version Project
Dr. Ralph Hanna: Senior Scholar, Richard Rolle Project
Dr. David Lyle Jeffrey: Senior Scholar, Christian Tradition and Spirituality
Dr. Alister McGrath: Senior Scholar, KJV Critical Text Project
Dr. Dirk Obbink: Senior Scholar, Papyri and Codex Climaci Rescriptus Projects
Dr. Thomas Oden: Senior Scholar, African Texts
Dr. Marcel Sigerest: Senior Scholar, Cuneiform

The codex contains a complete text of the four Gospels on 268 parchment leaves (size 17.5 cm by 12 cm), without any lacunae. The text is written in one column per page, 26 lines per page.  The manuscript is elegantly and correctly written. It contains the pericope John 7:53-8:11 but marked with an obelus. The text is divided according to the κεφαλαια (chapters), whose numbers are given at the margin, and their τιτλοι (titles of chapters) at the top of the pages. There is also a division according to the smaller Ammonian Sections, with references to the Eusebian Canons (written below Ammonian Section numbers).

It also contains the Epistula ad Carpianum, Eusebian Canon tables, tables of the κεφαλαια (tables of contents) before each Gospel, lectionary markings at the margin (for liturgical use), subscriptions at the en of each Gospel, στιχοι, and scholia.

http://www.bl.uk/manuscripts/FullDisplay.aspx?ref=Add_MS_11300

Collation of Codex Bezae can be found at Greek New Testament Dot Net Codex Bezae .

(1) Add MS 4949 : Four Gospels (Greg.-Aland e 44; Gregory 44; Scrivener evan. 44; von Soden ε 239) – 12th century http://www.bl.uk/manuscripts/FullDisplay.aspx?Source=BrowseScribes&letter=A&ref=Add_MS_4949

(2) Add MS 4950 : Four Gospels (Greg.-Aland 449 e; Gregory 449; Scrivener evan. 449; von Soden ε 330) : 13th century http://www.bl.uk/manuscripts/FullDisplay.aspx?Source=BrowseScribes&letter=A&ref=Add_MS_4950

(3) Add MS 4951 : Four Gospels (Greg.-Aland 449 e; Gregory e 449; Scrivener evan. 449; von Soden ε 330). : 13th century  http://www.bl.uk/manuscripts/FullDisplay.aspx?Source=BrowseScribes&letter=A&ref=Add_MS_4951

(4) Add MS 5107 : Four Gospels (Greg.-Aland e 439; Gregory e 439; Scrivener evan. 439; von Soden ε 240) : 1159 – http://www.bl.uk/manuscripts/FullDisplay.aspx?Source=BrowseScribes&letter=A&ref=Add_MS_5107

(5) Add MS 5111 : Four Gospels (Greg.-Aland 438 e; Gregory e 438; Scrivener evan. 438; von Soden ε 241) : 6th century to 12th century – http://www.bl.uk/manuscripts/FullDisplay.aspx?Source=BrowseScribes&letter=A&ref=Add_MS_5111

(6) Add MS 5112 : Four Gospels (Greg.-Aland 438 e; Gregory e 438; Scrivener evan. 438 ; von Soden ε 241) : 12th century – http://www.bl.uk/manuscripts/FullDisplay.aspx?Source=BrowseScribes&letter=A&ref=Add_MS_5112

(7) Add MS 5117 : Four Gospels (Greg.-Aland 109 e; Gregory e 109; Scrivener evan. 109; von Soden ε 431), and Theodore Prodromos, Epigrammata in Quatuor Evangelia : 1326-1457 – http://www.bl.uk/manuscripts/FullDisplay.aspx?Source=BrowseScribes&letter=A&ref=Add_MS_5117

(8) Add MS 5153A  :  Gospel Lectionary (Gregory-Aland l188, together with Add MS 5153B; Scrivener 260ev) : 1032-1033 – http://www.bl.uk/manuscripts/FullDisplay.aspx?Source=BrowseScribes&letter=A&ref=Add_MS_5153A

(9) Add MS 5153B : Gospel Lectionary (Gregory-Aland l188, together with Add MS 5153A; Scrivener 260ev) : 1032-1033 – http://www.bl.uk/manuscripts/FullDisplay.aspx?Source=BrowseScribes&letter=A&ref=Add_MS_5153B

(10) Add MS 5468  : Four Gospels, adapted for liturgical use (Gregory-Aland 686; von Soden Θε34; Scrivener 573e) : 10 Sep 1337 – http://www.bl.uk/manuscripts/FullDisplay.aspx?Source=BrowseScribes&letter=A&ref=Add_MS_5468

(11) Add MS 7141 : Four Gospels (Gregory-Aland 490) : 11th century  – http://www.bl.uk/manuscripts/FullDisplay.aspx?Source=BrowseScribes&letter=A&ref=Add_MS_7141

(12) Add MS 7142 : John Chrysostom, Commentary on Paul’s Epistles (Gregory-Aland 1956) : 13th century – http://www.bl.uk/manuscripts/FullDisplay.aspx?Source=BrowseScribes&letter=A&ref=Add_MS_7142

(13) Add MS 9348 : Selection from the Greek Fathers : 11th century-13th century  – http://www.bl.uk/manuscripts/FullDisplay.aspx?Source=BrowseScribes&letter=A&ref=Add_MS_9348

(14) Add MS 10069 : Works of Basil of Caesarea : 12th century  – http://www.bl.uk/manuscripts/FullDisplay.aspx?Source=BrowseScribes&letter=A&ref=Add_MS_10069

(15) Add MS 10070 : Theodoretus, Explanatio in Canticum canticorum; Gregory of Nyssa, In Canticum canticorum : 15th century – http://www.bl.uk/manuscripts/FullDisplay.aspx?Source=BrowseScribes&letter=A&ref=Add_MS_10070

(16) Add MS 10071  : Theodorus Prodromus, Commentary on the asmatic canons of Kosmas the Melodist, John of Damascus and Theophanes, partly edited by H. Stevenson, Theodori Prodromi commentarios in carmina sacra Melodorum Cosmae Hierosolymitani et Ioannis Damasceni (Vatican, 1888). : 16th century  –  http://www.bl.uk/manuscripts/FullDisplay.aspx?Source=BrowseScribes&letter=A&ref=Add_MS_10071

(17) Add MS 10073 : Works of Gregory of Nazianzus, Epiphanius of Cyprus and others; Synaxarion : 16th century – http://www.bl.uk/manuscripts/FullDisplay.aspx?Source=BrowseScribes&letter=A&ref=Add_MS_10073

Victor Capuanus reports that he found an Old Latin harmony of the Gospels, which he recognised as following Tatian’s arrangement of the Diatessaron; and substituted the Vulgate text for the Old Latin, appending the rest of the New Testament books from the standard Vulgate. Victor terms it in the preface, a single Gospel composed from the four. Victor was not certain that the harmony he used was identical with the Diatesseron of Tatian. The discovery of the text of the latter work and recent investigation have made it clear that this Latin harmony used by Victor was drawn up about A.D. 500. The anonymous author of this work simply substituted the Latin of St. Jerome’s Vulgate for the Greek of Tatian, and at times changed the order or inserted additional passages. Many of the discrepancies may be due however to subsequent changes.

Codex Fuldensis contains Diatessaron and 23 canonical books of the New Testament; plus the Epistle to the Laodiceans, and a copy of Jerome’s Prologue to the Canonical Gospels. It represents Italian type of text. The order of books: Diatessaron, Pauline epistles (Romans, 1-2 Corinthians, Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians, 1-2 Thessalonians, Colosians, Laodiceans, 1-2 Timothy, Titus, Philemon, Hebrews), Acts of the Apostles, Catholic epistles, Apocalypse. Codex Sangallensis 56 was copied, in the 9th century, from the Diatessaron of the Codex Fuldensis. It contains also some extracts from the Acts of the Apostles.

The four gospels are harmonised into a single continuous narrative, according to the form of Tatian’s Diatessaron. Its text is akin to that of Codex Amiatinus. The harmonised gospel text is preceded by a listing of its sections, with a summary of their contents, which was copied unchanged from the Old Latin exemplar. From this it can be determined that the Old Latin source had lacked the Genealogy of Jesus (which Victor inserted); but that the source had included the passage of Jesus and the woman taken in adultery.

Codex Fuldensis is an important witness in any discussion about the authenticity of 1 Corinthians 14:34-35. The section 1 Corinthians 14:34-35 is added by the original scribe on the margin. This section is marked by umlaut in Codex Vaticanus Graecus 1209. Several manuscripts of the Western text-type, placed section 1 Corinthians 14:34-35 after 1 Corinthians 14:40 (manuscripts: Claromontanus, Augiensis, Boernerianus, itd, g). Also codex 88, which is not representative of the Western text, placed this section after 1 Corinthians 14:40. One manuscript of the Vulgate does the same (Codex Reginensis). According to Bruce M. Metzger, the evidence of the codex is ambiguous. Perhaps the scribe, without actually deleting verses 34-35 from the text, intended the liturgist to omit them when reading the lesson.

St. Boniface acquired the codex and in 745 gave it to the monastic library (Abb. 61), in Fulda, where it is housed to the present day (hence the name of the codex), where it served as the source text for vernacular harmonies in Old High German, Eastern Frankish and Old Saxon. The codex, blessed with the authority of Boniface, was copied many times in the Middle Ages and served as a basis for commentaries by Zacharias Chrysopolitanus (of Bezançon), Peter Lombard, and Peter Cantor.

Online Resources

The text of the codex was published by Ernestus Ranke in 1868 – Codex Fuldensis. Novum Testamentum Latine Interprete Hieronymo (Lipsiae 1868).

Codex Amiatinus contains the whole Bible according to the Vulgate version, together with the usual prefaces, etc, to each book, and a quaternion of a very valuable introductory matter at the commencement. However, the Book of Baruch is missing. It numbers 1029 leaves of vellum, stout but smooth and white, written in two columns in a page, and forty-three or forty-four lines to a column. The text is in a regular and beautiful uncial hand, so carefully and clearly written that it has needed but a few corrections; there is no punctuation as the text is divided into lines of varying length, technically called cola and commata, or less correctly stichi, which represents an ancient system of punctuation perfectly intelligible to the trained eyes.

The symbol for Codex Amiatinus is written am or A (John Wordsworth). It is preserved in an immense tome, measuring 19 1/4 inches in height, 13 3/8 inches in breadth, and 7 inches in thickness, and weighs over 75 pounds — so impressive, as F.J.A. Hort says, as to fill the beholder with a feeling akin to awe. Some consider it, with H.J. White, as perhaps “the finest book in the world”; still there are several manuscripts which are as beautifully written and have besides, like the Book of Kells or Lindisfarne Gospels, those exquisite ornaments of which Amiatinus is devoid. It qualifies as an illuminated manuscript as it has some decoration including two full-page miniatures, but these show little sign of the usual insular style of Northumbrian art and are clearly copied from Late Antique originals. It contains 1040 leaves of strong, smooth vellum, fresh-looking today despite their great antiquity, arranged in quires of four sheets, or quaternions. It is written in uncial characters, large, clear, regular, and beautiful, two columns to a page, and 43 or 44 lines to a column. A little space is often left between words, but the writing is in general continuous. The text is divided into sections, which in the Gospels correspond closely to the Ammonian Sections. There are no marks of punctuation, but the skilled reader was guided into the sense by stichometric, or verse-like, arrangement into coda and commata, which correspond roughly to the principal and dependent clauses of a sentence. From this manner of writing the scribe is believed to have been modeled upon the Codex Grandior of Cassiodorus, but it may go back, perhaps, even to St. Jerome.

Originally three copies of the Bible were commissioned by Ceolfrid in 692 A.D. This date has been established as the double monastery of Wearmouth-Jarrow secured a grant of additional land to raise the 2000 head of cattle needed to produce the vellum. Bede was most likely involved in the compilation. Ceolfrid accompanied one copy intended as a gift to Pope Gregory II, but he died on route to Rome. The book later appears in the 9th century in St Saviour’s Abbey, Monte Amiata (hence the description “Amiatinus”), where it remained until 1786 when it passed to the Laurentian Library. The dedication page had been altered and the librarian Angelo Maria Bandini suggested that the author was Servandus, a follower of St. Benedict, and was produced at Monte Cassino around the 540s. This claim was accepted for the next hundred years, establishing it as the oldest copy of the Vulgate, but scholars in Germany noted the similarity to 9th c. texts. In 1888 Giovanni Battista de Rossi established that the Codex was related to the Bibles mentioned by Bede. This also established that Amiatinus was related to the Greenleaf Bible fragment in the British Library. Although de Rossi’s attribution removed 150 years from the age of the Codex, it remained the oldest version of the Vulgate. A 9th century copy of the Codex Amiatinus is the personal Bible of the Pope.

Online Resources

• See H.J. White’s Codex Amiatinus of the Latin Vulgate and Its Birthplace
• http://www.lametaeditore.com/inglese.html

The Dead Sea Scrolls, the greatest archaeological discovery of the 20th century, is now available online for viewing. It is a project of Google and The Israel Museum, Jerusalem. The high resolution photographs, taken by Ardon Bar-Hama, are up to 1,200 megapixels, almost 200 times more than the average consumer camera, so viewers can see even the most minute details in the parchment. The photographer used ultraviolet-protected flash tubes to light the scrolls for 1/4000th of a second. The exposure time – which is much shorter than a conventional camera flash – was designed to protect the scrolls from damage.

The Dead Sea Srolls available for viewing online are:

The Great Isaiah Scroll (1QIsa^a)

The Great Isaiah Scroll (1QIsa^a) is one of the original seven Dead Sea Scrolls discovered in Qumran in 1947. It is the largest (734 mm) and best preserved of all the biblical scrolls – http://dss.collections.imj.org.il/isaiah

The Temple Scroll (11Q19)

The Temple Scroll (11Q19) was discovered in 1956 in Cave 11, located about 2 km north of Khirbet Qumran. The manuscript is written in Hebrew in the square Herodian script of the late Second Temple Period (the first half of the first century AD), on extremely thin animal skin (one-tenth of a millimeter), making it the thinnest parchment scroll ever found in the caves of Qumran – http://dss.collections.imj.org.il/temple

The War Scroll (1QM)

The War Scroll (1QM) is one of the seven original Dead Sea Scrolls discovered in Qumran in 1947. It contains 19 columns (originally there were at least twenty), of which the first 14–19 lines (out of at least 21–22) are preserved – http://dss.collections.imj.org.il/war

The Community Rule Scroll (1QS)

The Community Rule Scroll (1QS), also known as the Manual of Discipline, is the major section of one of the first seven scrolls discovered in Cave 1 at Qumran in 1947 – http://dss.collections.imj.org.il/community .

The Commentary on Habakkuk Scroll

The Commentary of Habakkuk Scroll (1QpHab) is a relative complete scroll (1.48 m long) and one of the seven original Dead Sea Scrolls discovered in caves of Qumran in 1947. It interprets the first two chapters of the book of Habakkuk and comprises 13 columns written in Hebrew, in a square Herodian script. However, the tetragrammaton, the four-letter, ineffable name of God, is written in ancient Hebrew characters, unlike the rest of the text – http://dss.collections.imj.org.il/habakkuk

 
Alternate Names:
Codex Prophetarum Cairensis
Cairo Codex of the Prophets

Content

Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel and the book of the Minor Prophets (but not Daniel), the former or earlier prophets Joshua, Judges, Samuel, and Kings. It also contains 13 carpet pages.

Since its discovery in the 19th century by Constantin von Tischendorf at the Greek Orthodox Monastery of Mount Sinai, with further material discovered in the 20th and 21st centuries, study of the Codex Sinaiticus has proven to be extremely useful to Bible scholars for the purposes of biblical translation.
Name: Codex Sinaiticus

Shelfmarks/References: London, Brit. Libr., Additional Manuscripts 43725;

Sign: א Gregory-Aland nº א [Aleph] or 01, [Soden δ 2]

Date: circa 330-360 A.D.

Location:
1. British Library
2. Leipzig University
3. St. Catherine Monastery, Mount Sinai
4. Russian National Library

Size: 38 × 34 cm (15 × 13 in)

Script: Uncial Greek

Text Type: Alexandrian

Category: I

Website: http://codexsinaiticus.org/en/manuscript.aspx

Codex Vaticanus originally contained a virtually complete copy of the Septuagint, lacking only 1-4 Maccabees and the Prayer of Manasseh. The original 20 leaves with the Genesis 1:1–46:28a (31 leaves), and Psalm 105:27–137:6b, have been lost and were transcribed by a later hand in the 15th century. 2 Kings 2:5–7.10-13 are also lost because of a tear to one of the pages.

The Codex became known to Western Bible scholars as a result of correspondence between Desiderius Erasmus of Rotterdam and the prefects of the Vatican Library. Portions of the codex have been collated by several scholars, but numerous errors were made in the process. The Codex’s relationship to the Latin Vulgate was unclear, and scholars initially were unaware of the Codex’s value, which changed in the 19th century, when transcriptions of the full codex were completed. At that point scholars realised the text differed slightly from the Textus Receptus and the Vulgate.

Codex Vaticanus is considered by many textual scholars to be one of the best Greek texts of the New Testament, with that of the Codex Sinaiticus as its only competitor. Until the discovery of the Codex Sinaiticus by Constanstin von Tischendorf, the Codex Vaticanus was unrivaled. It was extensively used by Brooke Foss Westcott and Fenton John Anthony Hort in their edition of The New Testament in the Original Greek that was published in 1881.

Constantin von Tischendorf believed that Codices Sinaiticus and Vaticanus were among the fifty Bibles of Constantine prepared by Eusebius in Caesarea. According to Tischendorf, they were written with three (as Vaticanus) or four columns per page (as Sinaiticus). His view was supported by Pierre Batiffol, a French Catholic priest and Church historian.

A scribe in the Middle Ages (between the ninth and the eleventh centuries), who apparently was concerned with fading of the original ink, traced over the original ink of every letter of Codex Vaticanus unless it appeared to be incorrect.

Name: Vaticanus Graece 1209

Sign: B 03

Date: circa 325–350 A.D.

Location: Vatican Library

Size: 27 cm by 27 cm

Script: Uncial Greek

Text Type: Alexandrian

Content:
1. Genesis
2. Exodus
3. Leviticus
4. Numbers
5. Deuteronomy
6. Joshua
7. Judges
8. Ruth
9. 1 Samuel
10. 2 Samuel
11. 1 Kings
12. 2 Kings
13. 1 Chronicles
14. 2 Chronicles
15. 1 Esdras
16. 2 Esdras
17. Psalms
18. Proverbs
19. Ecclesiastes
20. Song of Songs
21. Job
22. Wisdom
23. Ecclesiasticus
24. Esther
25. Judith
26. Tobit
27. Hosea
28. Joel
29. Amos
30. Obadiah
31. Jonah
32. Micah
33. Nahum
34. Habakkuk
35. Zephaniah
36. Haggai
37. Zechariah
38. Malachi
39. Isaiah
40. Jeremiah
41. Baruch
42. Lamentations
43. Epistle of Jeremiah
44. Ezekiel
45. Daniel

Online Resources:

• 1868 Pseudo-facsimile of Codex Vaticanus http://www.csntm.org/Manuscript/View/GA_03