Justin Martyr: highlighted NS in First Apology & Trypho

[mlinssen]

...

Mac, check the screenshot and Transcription at the bottom of

viewtopic.php?p=151181#p151181

[MrMacSon]

...

Mac, check the screenshot and Transcription at the bottom of
viewtopic.php?p=151181#p151181

Χῦ instead of Χρῦ ... So ...

The Greek of Justin's 1 Apology 40 has the [ambiguous] nomen sacrum Χῦ:

Justin Martyr, 1 Apology 40

[WARNING!!! THIS TEXT HAS BEEN ALTERED]

Τοῦ ἁγίου Ἰουστίνου Ἀπολογία ὑπὲρ Χρῶν πρὸς Ἀντωνῖνον τὸν Εὐσεβῆ

First Apology of Justin

XL 1 Ἀκούσατε δὲ πῶς καὶ περὶ τῶν κηρυξάντων τὴν διδαχὴν αὐτοῦ καὶ μηνυσάντων τὴν ἐπιφάνειαν προερρέθη, τοῦ προειρημένου προφήτου καὶ βασιλέως οὕτως εἰπόντος διὰ τοῦ προφητικοῦ πνεύματος· Ἡμέρα τῇ ἡμέρᾳ ἐρεύγεται ῥῆμα, καὶ νὺξ τῇ νυκτὶ ἀναγγέλλει γνῶσιν, 2 οὐκ εἰσὶ λαλιαὶ οὐδὲ λόγοι, ὧν οὐχὶ ἀκούονται αἱ φωναὶ αὐτῶν. 3 εἰς πᾶσαν τὴν γῆν ἐξῆλθεν ὁ φθόγγος αὐτῶν καὶ εἰς τὰ πέρατα τῆς οἰκουμένης τὰ ῥήματα αὐτῶν. 4 ἐν τῷ ἡλίῳ ἔθετο τὸ σκήνωμα αὐτοῦ, καὶ αὐτός, ὡς νυμφίος ἐκπορευόμενος ἐκ παστοῦ αὐτοῦ, ἀγαλλιάσεται ὡς γίγας δραμεῖν ὁδόν. 5 πρὸς τούτοις δὲ καὶ λόγων ἑτέρων τῶν προφητευθέντων δι’ αὐτοῦ τοῦ Δαυεὶδ καλῶς ἔχον καὶ οἰκείως ἐπιμνησθῆναι λελογίσμεθα, ἐξ ὧν μαθεῖν ὑμῖν πάρεστι πῶς προτρέπεται ζῆν τοὺς ἀνθρώπους τὸ προφητικὸν πνεῦμα, 6 καὶ πῶς μηνύει τὴν γεγενημένην Ἡρώδου τοῦ βασιλέως Ἰουδαίων καὶ αὐτῶν Ἰουδαίων καὶ Πιλάτου τοῦ ὑμετέρου παρ’ αὐτοῖς γενομένου ἐπιτρόπου σὺν τοῖς αὐτοῦ στρατιώταις κατὰ τοῦ Χῦ συνέλευσιν, 7 καὶ ὅτι πιστεύεσθαι ἔμελλεν ὑπὸ τῶν ἐκ παντὸς γένους ἀνθρώπων, καὶ ὅτι αὐτὸν υἱὸν καλεῖ ὁ θεὸς καὶ ὑποτάσσειν αὐτῷ πάντας τοὺς ἐχθροὺς ἐπήγγελται, καὶ πῶς οἱ δαίμονες, ὅσον ἐπ’ αὐτοῖς, τήν τε τοῦ πατρὸς πάντων καὶ δεσπότου θεοῦ καὶ τὴν αὐτοῦ τοῦ Χῦ ἐξουσίαν φυγεῖν πειρῶνται, καὶ ὡς εἰς μετάνοιαν καλεῖ πάντας ὁ θεὸς πρὶν ἐλθεῖν τὴν ἡμέραν τῆς κρίσεως. 8 εἴρηνται δὲ οὕτως· Μακάριος ἀνὴρ ὃς οὐκ ἐπορεύθη ἐν βουλῇ ἀσεβῶν καὶ ἐν ὁδῷ ἁμαρτωλῶν οὐκ ἔστη καὶ ἐπὶ καθέδραν λοιμῶν οὐκ ἐκάθισεν, ἀλλ’ ἢ ἐν τῷ νόμῳ κυρίου τὸ θέλημα αὐτοῦ, καὶ ἐν τῷ νόμῳ αὐτοῦ μελετήσει ἡμέρας καὶ νυκτός. 9 καὶ ἔσται ὡς τὸ ξύλον τὸ πεφυτευμένον παρὰ τὰς διεξόδους τῶν ὑδάτων, ὃ τὸν καρπὸν αὐτοῦ δώσει ἐν καιρῷ αὐτοῦ, καὶ τὸ φύλλον αὐτοῦ οὐκ ἀπορρυήσεται, καὶ πάντα ὅσα ἂν ποιῇ κατευοδωθήσεται. 10 οὐχ οὕτως οἱ ἀσεβεῖς, οὐχ οὕτως, ἀλλ’ ἢ ὡσεὶ χνοῦς, ὃν ἐκρίπτει ὁ ἄνεμος ἀπὸ προσώπου τῆς γῆς· διὰ τοῦτο οὐκ ἀναστήσονται ἀσεβεῖς ἐν κρίσει οὐδὲ ἁμαρτωλοὶ ἐν βουλῇ δικαίων, ὅτι γινώσκει κύριος ὁδὸν δικαίων, καὶ ὁδὸς ἀσεβῶν ἀπολεῖται. 11 Ἵνα τί ἐφρύαξαν ἔθνη, καὶ λαοὶ ἐμελέτησαν καινά; παρέστησαν οἱ βασιλεῖς τῆς γῆς, καὶ οἱ ἄρχοντες συνήχθησαν ἐπὶ τὸ αὐτὸ κατὰ τοῦ κυρίου καὶ κατὰ τοῦ Χῦ αὐτοῦ, λέγοντες· Διαρρήξωμεν τοὺς δεσμοὺς αὐτῶν καὶ ἀπορρίψωμεν ἀφ’ ἡμῶν τὸν ζυγὸν αὐτῶν. 12 ὁ κατοικῶν ἐν οὐρανοῖς ἐκγελάσεται αὐτούς, καὶ ὁ κύριος ἐκμυκτηριεῖ αὐτούς· τότε λαλήσει πρὸς αὐτοὺς ἐν ὀργῇ αὐτοῦ, καὶ ἐν τῷ θυμῷ αὐτοῦ ταράξει αὐτούς. 13 ἐγὼ δὲ κατεστάθην βασιλεὺς ὑπ’ αὐτοῦ ἐπὶ Σιὼν ὄρος τὸ ἅγιον αὐτοῦ, διαγγέλλων τὸ πρόσταγμα κυρίου. 14 κύριος εἶπε πρός με· Υἱός μου εἶ σύ, ἐγὼ σήμερον γεγέννηκά σε. 15 αἴτησαι παρ’ ἐμοῦ, καὶ δώσω σοι ἔθνη τὴν κληρονομίαν σου, καὶ τὴν κατάσχεσίν σου τὰ πέρατα τῆς γῆς· ποιμανεῖς αὐτοὺς ἐν ῥάβδῳ σιδηρᾷ, ὡς σκεύη κεραμέως συντρίψεις αὐτούς. 16 καὶ νῦν βασιλεῖς σύνετε, παιδεύθητε πάντες οἱ κρίνοντες τὴν γῆν. 17 δουλεύσατε τῷ κυρίῳ ἐν φόβῳ, καὶ ἀγαλλιᾶσθε αὐτῷ ἐν τρόμῳ. 18 δράξασθε παιδείας, μή ποτε ὀργισθῇ κύριος, καὶ ἀπολεῖσθε ἐξ ὁδοῦ δικαίας, ὅταν ἐκκαυθῇ ἐν τάχει ὁ θυμὸς αὐτοῦ. 19 μακάριοι πάντες οἱ πεποιθότες ἐπ’ αὐτόν.

CHAPTER XL -- CHRIST'S ADVENT FORETOLD And hear how it was foretold concerning those who published His doctrine and proclaimed His appearance, the above-mentioned prophet and king speaking thus by the Spirit of prophecy "Day unto day uttereth speech, and night unto night showeth knowledge. There is no speech nor language where their voice is not heard. Their voice has gone out into all the earth, and their words to the ends of the world. In the sun hath He set His tabernacle, and he as a bridegroom going out of his chamber shall rejoice as a giant to run his course." 5 And we have thought it right and relevant to mention some other prophetic utterances of David besides these; from which you may learn how the Spirit of prophecy exhorts men to live, 6 and how He foretold the conspiracy which was formed against Ch?u by Herod the king of the Jews, and the Jews themselves, and Pilate, who was your governor among them, with his soldiers; 7 and how He should be believed on by men of every race; and how God calls Him His Son, and has declared that He will subdue all His enemies under Him; and how the devils, as much as they can, strive to escape the power of God the Father and Lord of all, and the power of Ch?u Himself; and how God calls all to repentance before the day of judgment comes. 8. These things were uttered thus: "Blessed is the man who hath not walked in the counsel of the ungodly, nor stood in the way of sinners, nor sat in the seat of the scornful: but his delight is in the law of the Lord; and in His law will he meditate day and night. 9 And he shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of waters, which shall give his fruit in his season; and his leaf shall not wither, and whatsoever he doeth shall prosper. 10 The ungodly are not so, but are like the chaff which the wind driveth away from the face of the earth. Therefore the ungodly shall not stand in the judgment, nor sinners in the council of the righteous. For the Lord knoweth the way of the righteous; but the way of the ungodly shall perish. 11 Why do the heathen rage, and the people imagine new things? The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together, against the Lord, and against His 'Anointed'/Ch?u saying, Let us break their bands asunder, and cast their yoke from us. 12 He that dwelleth in the heavens shall laugh at them, and the Lord shall have them in derision. Then shall He speak to them in His wrath, and vex them in His sore displeasure. Yet have I been set by Him a King on Zion His holy hill, declaring the decree of the Lord. The Lord said to Me, Thou art My Son; this day have I begotten Thee. Ask of Me, and I shall give Thee the heathen for Thine inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the earth as Thy possession. Thou shall herd them with a rod of iron; as the vessels of a potter shalt Thou dash them in pieces. Be wise now, therefore, O ye kings; be instructed, all ye judges of the earth. Serve the Lord with fear, and rejoice with trembling. Embrace instruction, lest at any time the Lord be angry, and ye perish from the right way, when His wrath has been suddenly kindled. Blessed are all they that put their trust in Him."

WRT

Nearly all of that goes right over my head, I'm afraid, since I don't know any Greek at all (other than what I can pull out of blueletter.com)
The one obvious question for me relates to Chap XL, which refers to Psalm 2:

Justin Martyr:

And we have thought it right and relevant to mention some other prophetic utterances of David... how He foretold the conspiracy which was formed against Christ by Herod the king of the Jews, and the Jews themselves, and Pilate...

For the Lord knoweth the way of the righteous; but the way of the ungodly shall perish. Why do the heathen rage, and the people imagine new things? The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together, against the Lord, and against His Anointed...
.

In the Septuagint, Psalm 2 reads:

The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together, against the Lord, and against His Anointed
παρέστησαν οἱ βασιλεῖς τῆς γῆς καὶ οἱ ἄρχοντες συνήχθησαν ἐπὶ τὸ αὐτὸ κατὰ τοῦ κυρίου καὶ κατὰ τοῦ χριστοῦ αὐτοῦ διάψαλμα

Is χριστοῦ the same word that Justin Martyr uses? Or is he using a different word?
.

[mlinssen]

Making a long story short: Sinaiticus has the exact same

παρεϲτηϲαν οι βαϲιλειϲ τηϲ γηϲ
και οι αρχοντεϲ ϲυνηχθηϲαν επι το αυτο
κατα του κυ και κατα του χυ αυτου
διαψαλμα

https://www.codexsinaiticus.org/en/manu ... omSlider=0

So, apparently this is old news, that "Anointed", Xristos, gets written as the nomen sacrum XS commonly entirely reserved for Geewsus?

[mlinssen]

Is χριστοῦ the same word that Justin Martyr uses? Or is he using a different word?
.

THE TEXT SAYS ⲭ̅ⲥ̅ MAC

Or, to be very precise, XU with superlinear

[MrMacSon]

... But let's just take the Greek in full shall we?

Justin:

παρέστησαν οἱ βασιλεῖς τῆς γῆς, καὶ οἱ ἄρχοντες συνήχθησαν ἐπὶ τὸ αὐτὸ κατὰ τοῦ κυρίου καὶ κατὰ τοῦ Χῦ αὐτοῦ

LXX:

https://www.stepbible.org/?q=version=BS ... ge=2&pos=1

edit/add:

Ps 2:2
(BSB) The kings of the earth take their stand and the rulers gather together, against the LORD and against His Anointed One:
(THGNT)
(LXX) παρέστησαν οἱ βασιλεῖς τῆς γῆς, καὶ οἱ ἄρχοντες συνήχθησαν ἐπὶ τὸ αὐτὸ κατὰ τοῦ κυρίου καὶ κατὰ τοῦ χριστοῦ αὐτοῦ διάψαλμα

Screenshot_20230311_001711_Chrome_2.jpg (91.86 KiB) Viewed 506 times

Diplomatic Transcription (skip top line):

καίων, καὶ ὁδὸς ἀσεβῶν ἀπολεῖται. 11. Ἵνα τί ἐφριαξαν
ἔθνη, καὶ λαοὶ ἐμελέτησαν καινά; παρέστησαν οἱ βασιλεῖς
τῆς γῆς, καὶ οἱ ἄρχοντες συνήχθησαν ἐπὶ τὸ αὐτὸ κατὰ τοῦ
κυ καὶ κατὰ τοῦ Χῦ αὐτοῦ, λέγοντες· Διαρρήξωμεν τοὺς
δεσμοὺς αὐτῶν καὶ ἀπορρίψωμεν ἀφ’ ἡμῶν τὸν ζυγὸν αὐτῶν

Also note the abbreviation for kurios, κυ.

But yeah, this earliest Greek MS for Justin that we have, 14th CE, blissfully abbreviates what these days gets written as Xristos and translated as Anointed

[mlinssen]

Yup. Although we can play innocent and claim that there's nothing going on here, as Justin highly likely is merely EXACTLY quoting the LXX, which just happens to have the nomen sacrum XS for the Greek word Xristos in the sense of the perfect tense for anointing, to wit 'anointed'

I need a cunning plan as searching for XS inside a Transcription, for instance that if Sinaiticus, returns a plethora of false negatives of course

[MrMacSon]

Yup. Although we can play innocent and claim that there's nothing going on here

• yeah, Nah; let's not, of course

But, re -

... Justin highly likely is merely EXACTLY quoting the LXX, which just happens to have the nomen sacrum XS/Χῦ for the Greek word [χριστοῦ] in the sense of the perfect tense for anointing, to wit 'anointed'

- are there other possibilities worth considering and testing

eg. (i) could Justin have been central to the use of nomina sacra; and thus (ii) influenced them being put into versions or copies of the LXX?

Who before his time was using nomina sacra?
Who around or shortly after his time were using them?

[GakuseiDon]

I'm not suggesting anything Don, I've handed you the very text that is Justin.

Actually, you haven't. According to here: https://www.ccel.org/ccel/richardson/fa ... ii.ii.html

Justin would be known to us only by a few spasmodic quotations had not a Byzantine scribe copied an invaluable, if defective, MS., in the year 1364. This is now Codex Regius 150 at Paris, and is the almost exclusive source for editions of Justin, supplemented only by the quotations of Eusebius and John of Damascus and three chapters (65 to 67) in a manuscript at Rome (Codex Ottobonianus Graecus 274). Consequently the editing of Justin's text is almost entirely a matter of conjectural emendation, which is necessary in places but has certainly been employed too freely by some editors.

So what you've given me is a 14th C CE text (I can almost see Leucius Charinus smiling here! ), copied and recopied by Christian monks over centuries. Monks with red raw fingers who will take any short cut in order to finish their daily allotment of copying so they can get to their gruel.

How does that factor into your calculations?

[mlinssen]

Yup. Although we can play innocent and claim that there's nothing going on here

• yeah, Nah; let's not, of course

But, re -

... Justin highly likely is merely EXACTLY quoting the LXX, which just happens to have the nomen sacrum XS/Χῦ for the Greek word [χριστοῦ] in the sense of the perfect tense for anointing, to wit 'anointed'

- are there other possibilities worth considering and testing

eg. (i) could Justin have been central to the use of nomina sacra; and thus (ii) influenced them being put into versions or copies of the LXX?

Who before his time was using nomina sacra?
Who around or shortly after his time were using them?

Oh no don't go there!
Nomina sacra evidently stem from Coptic, haven't you looked at the summary for the NHL?

Only 6 types of nomina sacra in all of the NHL, instead of the usual most of 15

[mlinssen]

I'm not suggesting anything Don, I've handed you the very text that is Justin.

Actually, you haven't. According to here: https://www.ccel.org/ccel/richardson/fa ... ii.ii.html

Justin would be known to us only by a few spasmodic quotations had not a Byzantine scribe copied an invaluable, if defective, MS., in the year 1364. This is now Codex Regius 150 at Paris, and is the almost exclusive source for editions of Justin, supplemented only by the quotations of Eusebius and John of Damascus and three chapters (65 to 67) in a manuscript at Rome (Codex Ottobonianus Graecus 274). Consequently the editing of Justin's text is almost entirely a matter of conjectural emendation, which is necessary in places but has certainly been employed too freely by some editors.

So what you've given me is a 14th C CE text (I can almost see Leucius Charinus smiling here! ), copied and recopied by Christian monks over centuries. Monks with red raw fingers who will take any short cut in order to finish their daily allotment of copying so they can get to their gruel.

How does that factor into your calculations?

Codex Regius (Latin: Cōdex Rēgius, "Royal Book" or "King's Book";[1] Icelandic: Konungsbók[1]) or GKS 2365 4º is an Icelandic codex in which many Old Norse poems from the Poetic Edda are preserved

The CCEL nonsense has slightly spread, yet the date is interesting as Parisinus Grace 450 dates to 1364 - that can't be a coincidence.
Parisinus is the only and earliest Justin we have. There is a scrap of First Apology in P. Oxy. 5129 which extremely highly interestingly says "you" instead of "us", and which can be found right here

POxy.v0078.n5129.a.01.hires.jpg (793.9 KiB) Viewed 468 times

Brice had transcribed it but that's gone, so here is a new one:

Recto:

First Apology chapter 50.12

12. μετὰ οὖν τὸ σταυρωθῆναι αὐτὸν καὶ οἱ γνώριμοι αὐτοῦ πάντες ἀπέστησαν, ἀρνησάμενοι αὐτόν· ὕστερον δέ, ἐκ νεκρῶν ἀναστάντος καὶ ὀφθέντος αὐτοῖς καὶ ταῖς προφητείαις ἐντυχεῖν, ἐν αἷς πάντα ταῦτα προείρητο γενησόμενα, διδάξαντος, καὶ εἰς οὐρανὸν ἀνερχόμενον ἰδόντες καὶ πιστεύσαντες καὶ δύναμιν ἐκεῖθεν αὐτοῖς πεμφθεῖσαν παρ’ αὐτοῦ λαβόντες καὶ εἰς πᾶν γένος ἀνθρώπων ἐλθόντες, ταῦτα ἐδίδαξαν καὶ ἀπόστολοι προσηγορεύθησαν

Let's line those up:

προφητείαις ἐντυχεῖν, ἐν αἷς πάντα ταῦτα
προείρητο γενησόμενα, διδάξαντος, καὶ εἰς οὐρανὸν ἀνερχόμενον ἰδόντες καὶ πιστεύ
σαντες καὶ δύναμιν

Evidently, the second line doesn't want to play along

Verso:

First Apology chapter 51.4-5

4. καὶ βούλεται κύριος ἀφελεῖν ἀπὸ πόνου τὴν ψυχὴν αὐτοῦ, δεῖξαι αὐτῷ φῶς καὶ πλάσαι τῇ συνέσει, δικαιῶσαι δίκαιον εὖ δουλεύοντα πολλοῖς, καὶ τὰς ἁμαρτίας ἡμῶν αὐτὸς ἀνοίσει. 5. διὰ τοῦτο αὐτὸς κληρονομήσει πολλοὺς καὶ τῶν ἰσχυρῶν μεριεῖ σκύλα, ἀνθ’ ὧν παρεδόθη εἰς θάνατον ἡ ψυχὴ αὐτοῦ, καὶ ἐν τοῖς ἀνόμοις ἐλογίσθη, καὶ αὐτὸς ἁμαρτίας πολλῶν ἀνήνεγκε καὶ διὰ τὰς ἀνομίας αὐτῶν αὐτὸς παρεδόθη

And a very interesting variant there: ὑμῶν instead of ἡμῶν.
You'll find some biblical academic wackos daring to claim "frequent confusing" on this part as well, allegedly because U and H sounded so similarly, etc. Yet here it says "you" instead of "us":

4. And the Lord is pleased to deliver His soul from grief, to show Him light, and to form Him with knowledge, to justify the righteous who richly serveth many. And He shall bear Your iniquities. 5. Therefore He shall inherit many, and He shall divide the spoil of the strong; because His soul was delivered to death: and He was numbered with the transgressors; and He bare the sins of many, and He was delivered up for their transgressions." Hear, too, how He was to ascend into heaven according to prophecy

I hope that bold red Y is visible there; the tables got turned here and it would seem that this 4th/5th CE scrap had Justin on the other side of the fence, talking to (future?) Christians and counting himself not among them.
Oh wait! That's the same side of the fence that chapter 4 puts him on... with his Chrestian wordplay that is so handily swept under the carpet by the three Stooges reverends.
Odd, how this little fragment has had so little coverage?

Then there's also Codex Ottobonianus graecus 274, which starts right here

More minor stuff like that is present in e.g. MS. Auct. T. 2. 12 and MS. Canon. Gr. 61, both of which date to 16th century.
Etcetera.
You really shouldn't trust Christian sources without having done any verification Don