The Greek Manuscript Heritage of the Book of Acts

[MrMacSon]

From
Elliott, 'The Greek Manuscript Heritage of the Book of Acts,' chapter 8 in New Testament Textual Criticism: The Application of Thoroughgoing Principles. Essays on Manuscripts and Textual Variation, Brill : Leiden, 2010, p.117f.

The [1994] register¹ of Greek New Testament manuscripts enables us to identify manuscripts that contain the Acts of the Apostles (either in part or in its entirety). The facts and figures that emerge follow. I use the conventional divisions of MSS., ie.

1. those written on papyrus,
2. parchment MSS. in majuscule letters (Uncials), and
3. those written in minuscule script (Cursives):

..Manuscript Type	Totals
....Papyri	..13
....Uncials	..32
....Cursives	.567
.Grand total of continuous-text MSS.	.612

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1 K. Aland, Kurzgefasste Liste der Griechischen Handschriften des Neuen Testaments (Berlin, New York: de Gruyter, 1994) ... This list gives details of the contents, dimensions and current location of all MSS.

The centuries in which the MSS. were written appear in the following list. If palaeographers offer varying dates I have accepted the earliest date.

Indicators:

1. a MS. number followed by «a» indicates that this MS. contains Acts but not the Catholic epistles.
2. «?a» signifies that, although Acts survives without the Catholics, the MS. is very small and we have no clue about its original contents: it could have once contained the Catholic epistles.
3. «x» preceding the number indicates that the MS., although once registered, is now lost or known to have been destroyed (perhaps by fire or war). There are 29 such MSS.
4. Numbers [in column three here] denote MSS. that contain a partial text in Acts [which seems to be the vast majority if not all]

2nd C.	0189a?	..1
3rd C.	𝔓29?a 38?a 45?a 48?a 53?a 91?a	..6
4th C.	𝔓8?a 50?a 57?a 01 03 057?a	..6
5th C.	𝔓56?a 02 04 05a 048 076?a 077?a 0165?a 0166 0175?a 0236?a 0244?a	. .12.
6th C.	𝔓33/51?a 08a 066?a 093 0294?a	..5
7th C.	𝔓74 096?a 097?a	..3
8th C.	𝔓41?a 044 095?a	..3
9th C.	014?a 020 025 049 0120?a 0304?a 33 1424 1841 1862 1895 2464	. .12
10th C.	056 0140?a 0142 82 175 221 307 436 450 454 456 457 602 605 619 626 627 920 1066 1073a 1611 1720 1735 1739 1756a (x1760) 1829 1845 1851 1871 1874 1875 1880 1891 (2125) 2505a 2853	. .37
11th C.	35 42 81 (91) 93 x101 104 133 142 177 181 x241 250 256 302 312 314 325 398 424 437a 451 458 459 462 464 465 466 491 506 517 547 606 607 617 623 624 635 638 639 641 699 712 796 901 919 945 1162 1175 1243 1244 1270 1277 1311 (1384) 1448 1521 1668 1724 1730 1734 1738 1828 1835 1837 1838 1846 1847 1849 1854 1870 1888 1904 2138 2147 2344 2385 2475 2587 2723 2746 2833?a	. .82
12th C.	1 3 43 57 88 97 103 105 110 122 189 203 226 242 319 321 323 326 330 337 378 421 431 440 452 (463) 610 x611 x612 x613 618 625 632 637 656 808 876 909 910 911 916a 917 922 927 1058 1115 1127 1240 1241 1245 1315 1319 1359 1360 1390 x1425 1433 1490 1505 1526 1573 1595 1646 1673 1718 1737 1740 1743 1752 1754 (1764a) x1795 (x17999) 1853 1863 1867 1868 1872 1885 1887a 1889 1893 1894 1897 x2115 2127 2143 2191 2194 x2233 2242 2243 2289 2298 2401 2412 (x2448) 2541 2570?a 2625 2671?a 2712 2778?a 2805 2815 2818 2829a	. 107
13th C.	< omitted here >	115
14th c.	< omitted here >	130
15th C.	< omitted here >	.55

... NA27 gives special attention (i.e. its category I) to all 13 papyri; to Uncials 01 02 03 04 05 08 044 048 057 066 076 077 095 096 097 0140 0165 0166 0175 0189 0236 0244 0294; and to Cursives 33 and 1739.

«Consistently cited witnesses» of their second rank are: 020 81 323 614 945 1175 1241 1505—all are pre—12th century. Their «frequently cited» MSS. are: 6 36 104 189 326 424 453 1704 1884 1891 2464 2495.

Bilingual MSS. (in one case trilingual [460]) containing Acts are: 𝔓41 g c; 05 g l; 08 g l; 256 g arm; 460 g l arab; 628 g l; 629 g l; 2136 g slav; 2137 g slav. (g = Greek; c = Coptic; slav = Old Church Slavonic; l = Latin; arm = Armenian; arab = Arabic.)

Later

This survey is concerned only with the continuous-text Greek MSS. that contain Acts. Acts, however, survives in many important early versions, and these of course also need to be taken into account in editing the text or plotting the influence and early history of the book. The Old Latin version in particular is an important source for the so-called Western text of Acts; many Old Latin MSS. are close to the Greek text represented in D 05. Acts is also represented in early Syriac and Coptic MSS.—especially important is the Middle Egyptian.

The earliest Father to cite Acts explicitly seems to have been Irenaeus.
(His citations show close allegiances to the «Western» text). Clement of Alexandria, Tertullian, Origen and Cyprian quoted Acts in the 3rd Century. Eusebius, Athenasius of Alexandria, Lucifer of Cagliari and Cyril of Jerusalem cited from Acts in the following century.

And

Appendix 1

Manuscripts containing the whole of the New Testament (eapcr) are as follows:

01 02 04
18 35 61 69 141 149 175 180¹⁴ 201 205 205^abschnft 209¹⁴ 218 241 242 296 339 367 386 498 506 517 522 582 664 680 699 757 808 824 922 935 986 1040 1072 1075 1094 1248 1384 1424 1503 1597 1617 1626 1637 1652 1668 1678 1704 1780 1785 2136 2200 2201 2352 2494 2495 2554

Appendix 2

Sequence.
The normal order of the gospels in Greek MSS. is Mt Mk Lk Jn. The so-called Western order, found in 05 W X Go Sy (p) OL, is Mt Jn Lk Mk. The following sequences are known from versions or catalogue lists:

....Mt Lk Mk Jn
....Jn Mt Lk Mk
....Mk Mt Lk Jn
....Mk Lk Mt Jn
....Jn Mt Mk Lk
....Mt Mk Jn Lk
....Mt Jn Mk Lk

These final three have the effect of putting Luke and Acts together but only this last sequence is found in a Greek MS (888).

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14 180 eapcr need not qualify as a complete manuscript: e was written in the 12th C., acpr in 1273; 209 likewise was written at different times: 209 eap in the 14th C., r in the 15th C.

https://ia800206.us.archive.org/6/items ... ticism.pdf

[MrMacSon]

From
Elliott, 'The Greek Manuscript Heritage of the Book of Acts,' chapter 8 in New Testament Textual Criticism: The Application of Thoroughgoing Principles. Essays on Manuscripts and Textual Variation, Brill : Leiden, 2010, p.117f.

2nd C.	0189a?	..1
3rd C.	𝔓29?a 38?a 45?a 48?a 53?a 91?a	..6
4th C.	𝔓8?a 50?a 57?a 01 03 057?a	..6
5th C.	𝔓56?a 02 04 05a 048 076?a 077?a 0165?a 0166 0175?a 0236?a 0244?a	. .12.

https://ia800206.us.archive.org/6/items ... ticism.pdf

2nd Century

Uncial 0189 is the oldest known parchment manuscript of the New Testament. It is a single vellum leaf measuring 11.5 cm x 18 cm. Aarne H. Salonius originally dated Uncial 0189 to the 4th century CE. However, this was later redated by C.H. Roberts to the 2nd or 3rd century CE, which the Alands accepted. The INTF* currently dates Uncial 0189 to the 2nd or 3rd century CE. It includes Acts 5:8, 12-13, 16 and 19. Textual variants are noted on its Wikipedia page.

• INTF = Institut für neutestamentliche Textforschung - The Institute for New Testament Textual Research - founded in 1959 by Kurt Aland (1915–1994) at the University of Münster, Westphalia, Germany.

3rd Century

𝔓29 only contains Acts 26:7-8, 20

𝔓38 only contains Acts 18:27-19:6, 19:12-16

𝔓45 contains Acts 4:27-36; 5:10-21, 30-39; 6:7-7:2, 10-21, 32-41, 7:52-8:1, 14-25, 8:34-9:6, 16-27, 9:35-10:2, 10-23, 31-41; 11:2-14, 11:24-12:5, 13-22; 13:6-16, 25-36, 13:46-14:3, 15-23; 15:2-7, 19-27, 15:38-16:4, 15-22, 32-40; 17:9-17 (and some of Mark, Matthew and John)

𝔓48 only contains Acts 23:11-17, 25-29

𝔓53 only contains Acts 9:33-10:1 (& Matt 26:29-40)

𝔓91 only contains Acts 2:30-37, 2:46-3:2


4th Century

Uncial 01 is Codex Sinaiticus (also designated by siglum א‎ [Aleph] or δ 2)

Uncial 03 is Codex Vaticanus (also designated by siglum B or δ 1)

Uncial 057 only contains Acts 3:5-6, 10-12

𝔓8 only contains Acts 4:31-37; 5:2-9; 6:1-6, 8-15

𝔓50 only contains Acts 8:26-32; 10:26-31

𝔓57 only contains Acts 4:36-5:2, 8-10


5th Century

Uncial 02 is Codex Alexandrinus (also designated by the siglum A or δ 4)

Uncial 04 is the Ephraemi Rescriptus (also designated by the siglum C or δ 3)

• Ephraemi Rescriptus is missing Acts 1:1–2; 4:3–5:34; 6:8; 10:43–13:1; 16:37–20:10; 21:31–22:20; 23:18–24:15; 26:19–27:16; 28:5-to-the-finish

Uncial 05 is Codex Bezae (also designated by siglum Dea or δ 5)

• Bezae includes most of the four Gospels, parts of Acts (& a bit of 3 John)

𝔓56 only contains Acts 1:1-5, 7-11

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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_N ... ent_papyri

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_N ... nt_uncials

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Testament_minuscule

• "A New Testament minuscule is a copy of a portion of the New Testament written in Greek minuscule, a small, cursive [lower case] Greek language script (developed from Uncial [a majuscule script (written entirely in capital letters) commonly used from the 4th to 8th centuries AD by Latin and Greek scribes])." These copies, which range in date from the ninth to sixteenth centuries, were produced on vellum or paper. They are the best representatives of the medieval ecclesiastical text, ie. the Byzantine text. There are approximately 150-200 that deviate from the Byzantine standard, almost always representing an earlier transmissional stream and hence quite important for NT textual criticism.

[MrMacSon]

The Acts of the Apostles Translated from the Codex Bezae, 1923,

1. https://www.bible-researcher.com/bezae-acts.html
2. https://archive.org/details/actsofapost ... 9/mode/1up

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Jenny Read-Heimerdinger's 2003 book, The Bezan Text of Acts: A Contribution of Discourse Analysis to Textual Criticism, based on her doctoral thesis, compared the language of Codex Bezae's Western text of Acts with that of Codex Sinaiticus and Codex Vaticanus. Read-Heimerdinger found the Bezan text displays an exceptional degree of lingusitic consistency and a coherence of purpose which is essentially theological, with a marked interest in a Jewish point of view. The conclusion was that Bezan is the earlier of the texts, ie. cf. the Alexandrian text/s.

Further to that is this:
J. Rius-Camps & J. Read-Heimerdinger, The Message of Acts in Codex Bezae: A Comparison with the Alexandrian Tradition (LNTS 257, 302, 365, 415; 4 vols; London 2004-2009)

Since the fourth installment, Rius-Camps and Read-Heimerdinger published a fifth volume: see J. Rius-Camps, J. Read-Heimerdinger, Luke’s Demonstration to Theophilus. The Gospel and the Acts of the Apostles according to Codex Bezae (London 2013).

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Then there's a 2019 article by Zachary K Dawson, 'The Textual Traditions of Acts: What Has Discourse Analysis Contributed?' Biblica 100(4): 560-83 https://poj.peeters-leuven.be/content.p ... l_code=BIB and https://www.academia.edu/41371717/The_T ... ontributed

Summary

This article assesses Jenny Read-Heimerdinger’s application of discourse analysis to the problem of the two textual traditions of the book of Acts. Based on an analysis of the textual variants of the Apostolic Decree and a consideration of Jewish perspective of both traditions, this article concludes, contrary to Read-Heimerdinger, that the Alexandrian tradition is more likely to represent the original text and contains a more Jewish-oriented perspective, which calls her application of discourse analysis into question and reaffirms the primacy of the Alexandrian text.

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There's also: Jenny Read-Heimerdinger, 'The Apostles in the Bezan Text of Acts,' https://gruptext.org/wp-content/uploads ... icklas.pdf, from The Book of Acts as Church History / Apostelgeschichte als Kirchengeschichte, De Gruyter, 2003:

7. Conclusions

The radical shift in the status of Israel from being the chosen people of God to being one nation among others is a principal component of the message of the Bezan text of Acts. That such a dramatic upheaval was initially beyond the grasp, let alone the acceptance, of the apostles is not surprising. They will see what God has planned, for Israel and the Gentiles, as he acts through their witness to the Messiah. Luke uses their experience, as he will later use that of Paul (who was no less fallible than the apostles according to the Bezan portrayal), to convey to Theophilus the complete change of mentality needed to follow Jesus.

And
Read-Heimerdinger, J (1999) 'Barnabas in Acts: a Study of His Role in the Text of Codex Bezae,' Journal for the Study of the New Testament 21(72): 23-66. https://doi.org/10.1177/0142064X9902107203

Abstract

This article seeks to establish Barnabas's function in the early church by comparing the readings of Codex Bezae with the more familiar Alexandrian text. Codex Bezae pays more attention to Barnabas's Hellenistic Jewish background and to his role as a model of goodness and encouragement. The significance of this emphasis derives from an additional Bezan mention of Barnabas at Acts 1.23 as one of the candidates to replace Judas. Applying traditional Jewish techniques of exegesis, Codex Bezae identifies Barnabas with the biblical figure of Joseph. The implications are that Barnabas ought to have been selected, the error arising from the apostles' lack of understanding. It is concluded that the Bezan readings represent the original text which was modified in order to attenuate the Jewish perspective and to remove the embarrassment of apostolic fallibility.