574 The Koridethi Manuscript and the Latest Discoveries in Egypt. ~ i e .2efjre bon einem abfoluten ~ e r r o e r f u n g ~ b e t r e t ift bafjcr nid}t @SdjrifHefjre, fonbern ein menfd}enfiinbfein, roofiir in ber @Sdjrif± audj nidjt Die geringf±e ~ e r a n l a f f u n g fid} finbet. @So f±efj± e ~ enbridj aud} mit ber befannten @SteITe, Si'ap. 9, 16: , , ~ a t U m fjabe idj bidj erroede±, baf3 meine Si'raf± an bit erf djeine. " m:udj barin neg± mit feinem ffiort bie .2eljre bon einem abfoluten 9latfdjluf3 ber ~ e r r o e r f u n g . man adj±e bodj genau aUf b a ~ , r o a ~ bafteljt. ®oti fagt nidjt, baf3 er ben I.jSfjarao erroedt ljabe, bamit an bemfeThen b a ~ cil1ige ~ e r r o e r f u n g ~ b e f r e t fidj berroirUidje, f onbern r o a ~ baftefjt, if± b i e ~ : ~ d } ljabe bidj erroedt, aufgeridj±et, fjingef±errt (bgI. 1 Si'on. 12, 32; 1 @:fjron. 15, 16), baf3 idj bidj erfafjren, empfinben Iaff e, bir seige unb erroeife meine madj±. ~ a m i ± iff nidjt gefagt, baf3 biefe mad}t bon b o r n ~ ljerein eine madjt b e ~ 2 0 r n e ~ unb ber ~ e r f ± o f 3 u n g geroefen fein miiffe. ~ m ®egen±eiI, fjii±±e I.jSfjarao lidj ®oti gegeniiber gefjorfam geseigt, fo ro.iirbe er in ber ®efdjidj±e bagef±anben fjaben a I ~ einer ber roafjrqaf± grof3en Si'onige, roie S \ ' o r e ~ , ( § ~ r a L 1 ff., ~ a r i u ~ , ( § ~ r a 6,1 ff., unb anbere, bie nidj± nur 2eugen, fonbern audj IDCitarbeiter an ben ® r o f 3 ~ taten ® o t ± e ~ mar en, bie ®ot± ber m:Umiidjtige sum SjeU f e i n e ~ l E o n ~ i n ~ 7IDerl' f e ~ t e . 7IDeif aber I.jSljarao fidj qartniidig roeigerte, biefem @ n a b e n ~ ttJiIIen @ o ± ± e ~ , ber e ~ aUf I . j S f j a r a o ~ Seitridjes unb e r o i g e ~ 7IDoljlergeljen abgefefjen fjatie, ~ o r g e su Ieif±en, fo f±eljt er nun aITerbings in ber &efdjidj±e ba -unb bas aITerDings nadj geredj±em 7IDiIIen unb l E e r ~ fjangnis ®o±±eSi -aISi ein roarnenbes lSeifpieI ber f±rafenben, r i d j t e r ~ Iidjen madj± unb maief±a± bes Sj(§rrn ~ e f j o b a l j , ber feiner nidj± fpotien laf3t. ffiei± entfern± bafjer, bat bie ®efdjidJ±e ber lEerf±odung I.jSfjaraos, fo ernf± unb erfdjiitiernb fie ift, audj nur ben leifeften @Sdjatien aUf ®o±±eSi @ered}±igfeit unb ®nabe faITen raf3±, roitb bielmefjr gerabe burdj ben lSeridj± iiber bie ~ e r f ± o d u n g I.jSfjaraos foroofjI ber unroanbeThare aITgemeine @nabenroiIIe aIs bie unabiinberIidje SjeiIigfeit ltnb ® e r e d j t i g ~ leit bes Sj(§rrn ~ e f j o b a f j ins flare Qidj± gef±errt. ~ fj e o . .2 a ± f dj. The Koridethi Manuscript and the Latest Discoveries in Egypt. A little more than ten years ago a short article was offered in the Theological Monthly, the predecessor of the OONCORDIA THEOLOGICAL MONTHLY, on the topic "The Freer Manuscripts and the Oxyrhynchus Papyri" (Vol. I, 1921, 255-259). The importance of these manuscripts for the student of the Greek New Testament has since been abundantly demonstrated, and it is most fortunate that reprints and facsimile copies of most of the important material included in these :finds are available in the larger libraries. If nothing The Koridethi Manuscript and the Latest Discoveries in Egypt. 575 else, it is a matter of no small satisfaction to know that every new discovery in this field tends to give further support to the text of the New Testament as it is now available in the editions by Tischendorf, Alford, Westcott and Hort, Souter, and Nestle and substantially reproduced in Luther's German Bible and in the Authorized Version. About the same time when Dobschuetz published Eberhard Nestle's Einfuehrung in das griechische Neue Testament in the fourth edition (May, 1923), Prof. Kirsopp Lake, together with Dr. R. P. Blake, published an article in the Harvard Theological Review (.Tuly, 1923) in which the authors discuss with great thoroughness the so-called Koridethi Manuscript of the New Testament. Owing to a number of accidents this manuscript, which had come to the attention of scholars in the last quarter of the nineteenth century (it disappeared for about thirty years), was not studied until G. Beermann and O. R. Gregory published it in Leipzig, in 1913, under the title Die Koridethi-Evangelien. Three years later Burkitt discussed the text in the Journal of Theological Studies (Vol. 17, 1 ff.; 139 if.). The manuscript has during the last years received as much attention as the Freer text, and there are indications that it may be of value in settling the difficult question of families of texts. The Koridethi manuscript is an uncial, the handwriting of which, according to Gregory, places it between the seventh and the ninth century. Streeter (The Four Gospels, 79) says: "The ordinary tests by which the handwriting of manuscripts can be dated are difficult to apply; but it probably belongs to the eighth eentury." It was discovered in a remote valley of the Oaucasus Mountains, in the district of Swanetia, in the former Russian government Kutais, where the ignorant villagers looked upon it with superstitious awe as a kind of village fetish; but at a much earlier date the manuscript had belonged to a monastery at Koridethi, at the eastern end of the Black Sea, just inside the old frontier between Russia and old Turkey. The handwriting of the copy is very poor, almost like the scribbling of a schoolboy, showing clumsy, irregular letters, which may account for the fact that it was at first not given the attention which it deserves. Streeter makes the statement that the discovery of this manuscript is comparable in importance with that of the Sinaiticus or the Sinaitic Syriac. This does not refer to its age, as Streeter says, but to the fact that it supplies a missing link, enabling us to see the real connection between certain cursives, the exceptional character of which has long been an enigma to the critic. It was Lake who, in the brilliant article referred to above, demonstrated the relation, as he thought, between this manuscript, now known as e (038), formerly No. 1360, and the group of cursives representing the so-576 The Koridethi Manuscript and the Latest D i s c o v e r i e ~ in Egypt. called Caesarean text. The matter is now being investigated more closely by a number of scholars, of whom some seem to think that the Koridethi manuscript is a copy of a fairly ancient text, closely related to the Codex Bezae, the Vetus Syra (Syr. sin. and cur.) and the Vetus Latina (the Mra of Stummer). Some of the readings in the family e are very striking. Matt. 1,16 reads: 'IaxwfJ M iyiYYI}oSY ' I ( J ) o ~ ' P , q, f-tYI}oTEvi}eloa ;;rae{)iYor; lIfae,af-t, eytlvy'7oSY 'I'7oovv, TOY ).Sr0f-tEYOV Xetc1'rov. Concerning Mark 16, 9-20 Streeter has the remark: "In the newly discovered Vatopedi MS. 1582 -the oldest manuscript of Family 1-there is a concluding ornamentation after sipofJovvw rae, Mark 16, 8, followed by a scholion: 'In some copies the Gospel ends here, up to which point also Eusebius Pamphili made his canons, but in many [copies] there is also found this.' Then follows 16,9-16." John 7,53-8,11: "Pericope Adulterae, om. e, 22, 2193, 565, 1424, etc .... , with a note that it is found in some copies, but not commented upon by the holy fathers Chrysostom, Cyril Alexandrinus, and Theodore of Mopsuestia." (Op. cit., 88 f.) The Koridethi manuscript, as stated above, has been known for some time, although it is just now being properly evaluated. With regard to the latest discovery in Egypt little is known as yet, but scholars are looking forward to the publication of this manuscript with great interest. As stated in a note in the columns of this journal a few months ago (p.219), announcement of the newly discovered manuscript was made toward the end of the year 1931 in the London Tirnes, with a reproduction of one page of the manuscript, also in the Spectator. Further information on the find and its possible importance in the study of the text is given in the Zeitschrift fuer die neutestarnentliche Wissenschaft, in the last number of 1931, the article by Carl Schmidt-Berlin having been closed December 27, 1931. From this article it appears that the following information is now available. As early as the spring of 1930 it was known that a further find in the field of Bible manuscripts had been made, for it was then that individual papyrus leaves were offered for sale by dealers in Egypt at most exorbitant prices. It remained for A. Chester Beatty, a private collector of England, to acquire 190 leaves of a fairly complete collection. His purchase brought a literary treasure of incalculable value to London, where Sir Frederic Kenyon, former DirectorGeneral of the British Museum, and Dr. Bell, another noted expert in the field of papyrology, with the aid of Dr. Thscher of the Berlin Museum, have taken steps to preserve the manuscript and to collate the fragments. The preliminary information issued by the future editor of the manuscript brings the following facts to the attention of interested scholars. The Koridethi Manuscript and the Latest Discoveries in Egypt. 577 The Book of Genesis is represented by two different sections. The :first section, of 44 leaves, contains chaps. 9-41, the date of the handwriting being the fourth century. The second manuscript comprises 22 leaves, containing chaps. 22--46, of the late third century. Dr. Schmidt here refers to a text purchased by him at Achmin, Egypt, in 1906, containing chaps. 1-35, with some omissions. This was published by him and Prof. A. H. Sanders of the University of Michigan in 1927 (The Min01' Prophets in the Freer Oollection and the Berlin lPragment of Genesis). This codex is dated in the third century. Numbers and Deuteronomy are included in a single copy, in an unusually good handwriting, which Kenyon dates not later than the middle of the second century, all the leaves being in a good state of preservation, twelve pertaining to the Book of Numbers and thirteen to the Book of Deuteronomy. The text is N um. 5, 12--8, 19 and parts of 22, 11-34, 8; Deut. 1,20-7,18 and 28, 43-60. Fragments of individualleaves are in the collection of the Michigan University. Of Isaiah there are parts on twelve leaves, together with a few fragments, of Jeremiah only one leaf. The conjecture of the editor at present is that these parts are to be dated in the :first half of the third century. Of Esther and Ezekiel there are sixteen leaves, a form of a codex in keeping with the quaternions of that day. The text offered is that of Esther 2, 20-7, 9 and Ezek. 11, 25-17, 21. The apocryphal sections of Esther are included, as was customary in the Greek text. Of the prophet Daniel chap. 3, 72-6, 18 and 7,1-8,27 are preserved, but with several gaps. Kenyon thinks that the handwriting belongs to the :first part of the third century. The text of this book is especially interesting, since it contains the original translation of the Septuagint, before the recension of Theodotion. Till now the original translation was contained only in one copy, that of the Ohigi Library in Rome, whose date is the eleventh century. Of Ecclesiasticus there is only one leaf preserved, containing 36, 28-37, 22, the handwriting being assigned to the :fifth century. It is clear that the science of textual criticism has received some very valuable material. Both the Oambridge and the Goettingen edition of the Septuagint may be influenced by the new discoveries. Of the New Testament three sections are distinguished in the new find. The first is a manuscript of the four gospels and of the Book of Acts, dated not later than the third century. Twenty-eight leaves have been preserved, some of them, however, in a very fragmentary condition. But it is plain that the text contains Matt. 20 and 26; Mark 4, 36-9, 31; Luke 9, 26-14, 33; and John 10, 7-11,56, to which must be added thirteen leaves of the Acts, with 4,27-17,17. It is significant that the gospels and the Book of Acts appear in one volume, whereas it was formerly assumed that the four gospels were 37 578 ~ r e g e t i f d j e lBeljanblung bes m:bfdjnitts l,Rot. 15, 22-28. never issued together in the early centuries, at least not before the fourth century. Of the letters of the New Testament, the so-called ApostoZos, the following sections are contained on nine leaves: Rom. 5,17-11,32, the end of Philippians and the beginning of Oolossians, and a small part of First Thessalonians. Since this codex was issued with numbered pages, it has been calculated that 70 leaves have dropped out between Rom. 11, 32 and the present beginning of Philippians. The editor assumes that this section contained Hebrews, the two letters to the Oorinthians, Galatians, and Ephesians. The manuscript is to be dated not later than the third century. Of the Apocalypse ten leaves have been preserved, containing 9, 10-17, 2, the manuscript being dated in the latter half of the third century. Besides this, five leaves of the Book of Enoch were found, with an appendix of an ancient Ohristian homily. This Kenyon assumes to have been written in the fifth century. It has not yet been determined where these leaves were found, but Dr. Schmidt believes one may well conclude that they were found in the villag'e of Atfih, the ancient Aphroditopolis, the home of Antonius, who was the founder of monasticism in Egypt. There can be no doubt that there were churches and monasteries in this neighborhood in considerable numbers, in which consecrated scribes were willing enough to make copies on papyrus after the ancient copies on parchment had been used up in the services of the churches and monasteries. P. E. KRETzMANN . . . , ~ ~ e g e t i f d j e ~ e i j a n b l u n g b e ~ ~ b f d j n i t t ~ 1 Sfut. 15,22-28. S£ier ~ b f d j n i t t , ber aUt: e;r;egetiidjen ?Searbeitung borIiegi, ift ciner, in bem bie @ 5 ~ d j a t o r o g i e ober bie E e ~ r e bon ben Ietlten S£iingen b e f o n b e r ~ fjerborgefjoben tnirb. ; O b t n o ~ I biefer ~ b f d j n i t t eigentIidj bie SHima;r; ber fjerrIidjen unb einfadjen erf±en S'eorintfjerej:Jiftd bilbet, fo fdjreibt ber ~ j : J o f t e ! fjier bodj burdj @5ingebung b e ~ ~ e m g e n ® c i f ± e ~ aum ~ e H bon foldj erfjabenen unb unfer merf±iinbniB 10 tneit iiberfteigenben ®reigniffen, ban inir fie in bief em Eeben nUr ftiicl'tneif e eri.ir±ern unb begreifen fDnnen unb ban tnir iljre borIe ?Sebeutung erft bann redjt berf±efjen tnerben, tnenn unfer ®Iaube in 6djauen iibergegangen unb unfere mcnfdjIidje l l n f e n n t ~ nii3 tnie 6djuppen bon unfern ~ u g e n gefarIen if±. Weoge ®ott b a ~ e r feinen erleudj±enben ®etf± berfeiljen, bamit tnil', tncnn audj u n b o I I f o m ~ men, feinem erljabcnen ®ebanfengang forgen fi:innen, unb u n ~ biefen ~ b f d j n i t ± fo befeudjien, ban tnir b a r a u ~ bie ;Offenbarungen unb m i t ~ teilungen crlangen, bie unferm ®Iauben unb unferel' ~ l j r i f ± e n ~ o f f n u n g fjodjf± erbauIidj unb f±iidenb finb. S£iie ~ e r a n l a f f u n g filr ben ~ p o f ± e I , biefen ~ b f d j n i t t an bie S'eotintljer au fdjreiben, erfjerr± a u ~ bem S'eonte;r;t. @5tIidje S'eotintfjer Ieugne±en n i i m ~