The Codex Bezae Cantabrigensis (Gregory-Aland no. D or 05) is an important codex of the New Testament dating from the fifth- or sixth-century. It is written in an uncial hand on vellum and contains, in both Greek and Latin, most of the four Gospels and Acts, with a small fragment of 3 John. Codex contents The manuscript presents the gospels in the unusual order Matthew, John, Luke and Mark, of which only Luke is complete; after some missing pages the MS picks up with the Third Epistle of John and contains part of the Acts of the Apostles. Written with one column per page it has 406 leaves, out of perhaps an original 534, and the Greek pages on the left face Latin ones on the right. The first three lines of each book are in red letters, and black and red ink alternate lines towards the end of books. As many as nine correctors have worked on the manuscript between the sixth and twelfth century. Text type The Greek text is unique, with many interpolations found nowhere else, with a few remarkable omissions, and a capricious tendency to rephrase sentences. Aside from this one Greek manuscript it is found in Old Latin (pre-Vulgate) versions — as seen in the Latin here — and in Syriac, and Armenian versions. It is one type of the Western text-type, and it is the only Greek witness of the Western type. The manuscript demonstrates the latitude in the manuscript tradition that could still be found in the 5th and 6th centuries, the date of this codex. The relation of the Latin text to the Greek text is not straightforward and has occasioned much disagreement among critics. The modern consensus is that the Greek descended from an early offshoot of the mainstream manuscript tradition. Most writers consider that this Greek text developed independently, while the Latin text is seen as originating in a clumsy attempt to translate the Greek, which then was amended in its turn, to conform to the Latin. Issues of conformity have dogged the usage of the Codex Bezae in biblical scholarship too. In general the Greek text is treated as an unreliable witness and treated as "an important corroborating witness wherever it agrees with other early manuscripts" as one of the links below freely admits. Some of the outstanding features: Matthew 16:2f is present and not marked as doubtful or spurious. One of the longer endings of Mark is given. Luke 22:43f and Pericope de adultera are present and not marked as spurious or doubtful. John 5:4 is omitted, and the text of Acts is nearly one-tenth longer than the generally received text. Notable readingsIt contains addition after Matt. 20:28, occurring in Codex Beratinus:"But seek to increase from that which is small, and to become less from 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 roy come in, then he that invited you will say to you, "Go up higher"; and this will be advantageous for you." In Matthew 25:41 it has ο ητοιμασεν ο πατηρ μου (witch prepared my Father) together with f1 instead of το ητοιμασμενον (prepared) as have majority of the manuscripts.Verse Mark 10:25 placed before 10:24. Μαrk 13:2 - και μετα τριων ημερων αλλος αναστησεται ανευ χειρων (and after three days another will arise) — D W it
In Mark 15:34 (see Ps 22:2) it has ὠνείδισάς με (insult me), supported by some Old-Latin manuscripts (itc, (i), k) and by syrh. Ordinary reading in this place is ἐγκατέλιπές με (forsaken me) supported by Alexandrian mss or με ἐγκατέλιπες (see Mt 27:46) supported by Byzantine mss.In Luke 4:17 the codex contains unique textual variant ἁπτύξας (touched), corrected by a later hand into ἀναπτύξας (unrolled). The other manuscripts have in this place: ἀνοίξας (opened) — Vaticanus A, L, W, Ξ, 33, 892, 1195, 1241, ℓ 547, syrs, h, pal, copsa, bo
ἀναπτύξας (unrolled) — א, K, Δ, Θ, Π, Ψ, f1, f13, 28, 565, 700, 1009, 1010, 1071, 1079, 1216, 1230, 1242, 1253, 1344, 1546, 1646, 2148, 2174, Byz. In Luke 6:5"On the same day seeing some one working on the Sabbath, He 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'." In Luke 23:34 omitted words: "And Jesus said: Father forgive them, they know not what they do." This omission is supported by the manuscripts Papyrus 75, Sinaiticusa, B, W, Θ, 0124, 1241, a, Codex Bezae (Latin text), syrs, copsa, copbo.In Acts 20:28 it reads του κυριου (of the Lord) together with the manuscripts Papyrus 74 C* E Ψ 33 36 453 945 1739 1891.[8][n 1] History of the Codex The manuscript is believed to have been repaired at Lyon 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 St Irenaeus at Lyon. The manuscript was consulted, perhaps in Italy, for disputed readings at the Council of Trent, and was at about the same time collated for Stephanus's edition of the Greek New Testament. During the upheavals of the Wars of Religion in the 16th century, when textual analysis had a new urgency among the Reformation's Protestants, the manuscript was taken from Lyon in 1562 and delivered to the Protestant scholar Theodore Beza, the friend and successor of John Calvin, who gave it to the University of Cambridge, in the comparative security of England, in 1581, which accounts for its double name. It remains in the Cambridge University Library. The importance of the Codex Bezae is such that a colloquium held at Lunel, Herault, in 27-30 June 1994 was entirely devoted to it. 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. Notes References - Kurt Aland, and Barbara Aland, The Text of the New Testament: An Introduction to the Critical Editions and to the Theory and Practice of Modern Textual Criticism, (Grand Rapids, Michigan: 1995), pp. 109-110.
- Bruce Metzger The Text of the New Testament 4th ed. p. 73.
- Metzger, p. 103.
- Bruce M. Metzger, B.D. Ehrman, The Text of the New Testament: Its Transmission, Corruption and Restoration, Oxford University Press, 2005, p. 71.
- NA26, p. 74
- NA26, p. 123.
- UBS4, p. 311.
- NA26, p. 384.
- Bruce M. Metzger, B.D. Ehrman, The Text Of The New Testament: Its Transmission, Corruption and Restoration, Oxford University Press, 2005, pp. 70-73.
- 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: Codex Bezae, Studies from the Lunel Colloquium, ed. D.C. Parker & C.-B. Amphoux
- D.C. PARKER and C.-B. AMPHOUX (ed.), Codex Bezae. Studies from the Lunel Colloquium, June 1994, Leiden: Brill, 1996, xxx + 383 pp., 21 pll. (nos. 1-3, 4a, 4b, 5a, 5b, 6-19) (= New Testament Tools and Studies, XXII), ISBN 9004 103937
Further reading - J. Rendel Harris, Codex Bezae: A Study of the so-called Western Text of the New Testament. Cambridge: University Press, 1891.
- M.-É. Boismard – A. Lamouille, Le texte occidental des Actes des Apôtres. Reconstitution et réhabilitation, 2 vol., Paris 1984.
- W. A. Strange, The Problem of the Text of Acts, (SNTS MS, 71), Cambridge 1992.
- D. C. Parker, Codex Bezae: An Early Christian Manuscript and its Text. Cambridge: University Press, 1992.
- Codex Bezae, Studies from the Lunel Colloquium, June 1994, ed. D.C. Parker & C.-B. Amphoux, Leiden: Brill, 1996.
- F. H. Chase, The Old Syriac Element in the Text of Codex Bezae. Gorgias Press, 2004.
- James D. Yoder, "The Language of the Greek Variants of the Codex Bezae," Novum Testamentum 3 (1959), pp. 241-248.
- L’Évangile de Luc et les Actes des Apôtres selon le Codex Bezae Cantabrigiensis, annotated translation by Sylvie Chabert d’Hyères. Paris: L’Harmattan, 422 p., 2009.
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