Please Support the Bible Translation Work of the Updated American Standard Version (UASV)

$5.00

The Reading Culture of Early Christianity

Minuscule 1739


Text	Acts, CE, Paul
Date	10th century
Script	Greek
Found	1897, von der Goltz
Now at	Great Lavra, B 184
Size	23 cm by 17.5 cm
Type	Alexandrian text-type
Category	I / II
Note	close to P⁴⁶ and B

Minuscule 1739 (per Gregory-Aland numbering), α 78 (per von Soden), is a Greek minuscule manuscript of the New Testament, on 102 parchment leaves (23 cm by 17.5 cm). It is dated paleographically to the 10th century.

This tenth-century codex has Acts and the Epistles. The manuscript was discovered at Mt Athos in 1879 by E. von der Goltz. The manuscript has strong textual affinities with P46, B, 1739, Coptic Sahidic, Coptic Boharic, Clement, and Origen. The relationship between P46, B, and 1739 is remarkable because 1739 is a tenth-century manuscript that was copied from a fourth-century manuscript of excellent quality. According to a colophon, the scribe of 1739 for the Pauline Epistles followed a manuscript that came from Caesarea in the library of Pamphilus and that contained an Origenian text. The three manuscripts, P46, B, and 1739, form a clear textual line: from P46 (early second century) to B (early fourth century) to 1739 (tenth century based on fourth century).

Description of Codex

The codex contains the text of the Acts of the Apostles, Catholic epistles, and Pauline epistles. The text is written in one column per page, 35 lines per page. The Epistle to the Hebrews is placed before 1 Timothy. It contains scholia, lectionary markings were added by a later hand.

It contains a large number of notes drawn from early church fathers (Irenaeus, Clement, Origen, Eusebius, and Basil), but none later than Basil (329-379 CE), suggesting a relatively early date for 1739’s exemplar. The text of this manuscript often agrees with p⁴⁶ and Codex Vaticanus. A colophon indicates that while copying the Pauline epistles, the scribe followed a manuscript that contained text edited by Origen.

At the end of the Second Epistle to Timothy, it has subscription προς τιμοθεον β’ εγραφη απο ρωμης. The same subscription appears in manuscripts P, 6, 1881 et al.

Text

The Greek text of this codex is a representative of the Alexandrian text-type. The Alands placed the text of the Epistles in Category I, but the text of the Acts in Category II. It was not examined by the Claremont Profile Method.

Together with manuscripts 323, 630, 945, and 1891, it belongs to the textual Family 1739 (in the Acts). In the Pauline Epistles this family includes the following manuscripts: 0121a, 0243/0121b, 6, 424, 630 (in part), and 1881.

It contains Acts 8:37, as do the manuscripts Codex Laudianus, 323, 453, 945, 1891, 2818, and several others.

In Acts 8:39, instead of πνεῦμα κυρίου ἥρπασεν τὸν Φίλιππον ([The] Spirit of [the] Lord caught up Philip)), it has the interesting textual variant πνεῦμα ἅγιον ἐπέπεσεν ἐπὶ τὸν εὐνοῦχον, ἄγγελος δέ κυρίου ἥρπασεν τὸν Φίλιππον ([the] Holy Spirit fell on the eunuch, and [the] angel of [the] Lord caught up Philip) supported by Codex Alexandrinus and several minuscule manuscripts: 94, 103, 307, 322, 323, 385, 453, 467, 945, 1765, 1891, 2298, 36^a, it^p, vg, syr^h.

In Acts 12:25 it reads εξ Ιερουσαλημ εις Αντιοχειαν (from Jerusalem to Antioch) along with manuscripts 429, 945, e, p, syr^p, cop^sa geo; majority reads εις Ιερουσαλημ (to Jerusalem);

In Acts 20:28 it reads του κυριου (of the Lord) together with the manuscripts $P$ ⁷⁴, C*, D, E, Ψ, 33, 36, 453, 945, 1891. The other manuscripts have του θεου (of God) or του κυριου και του Θεου (of the Lord and God).

In 1 Corinthians 7:5 it reads τη προσευχη (prayer) along with $P$ ¹¹, $P$ ⁴⁶, א*, A, B, C, D, F, G, P, Ψ, 6, 33, 81, 104, 181, 629, 630, 1877, 1881, 1962, it vg, cop, arm, eth. Other manuscripts read τη νηστεια και τη προσευχη (fasting and prayer) or τη προσευχη και νηστεια (prayer and fasting).

In 1 Corinthians 15:54, along with Codex Sinaiticus, 614, 629, and 1877, the text lacks (although it has been added to the margin) το φθαρτον τουτο ενδυσηται αφθαρσιαν και (This corruptible shall put on incorruption). Other manuscripts that lack this phrase are P⁴⁶, 088, 0121a, 0243, 1175, 1852, 1912, and 2200.

In a marginal note to the text of 1 John 5:6, a corrector added the reading δι’ ὕδατος καὶ αἵματος καὶ πνεύματος (through water and blood and spirit) as found in the following: Codex Sinaiticus, Codex Alexandrinus, 104, 424^c, 614, 2412, 2495, ℓ 598^m, syr^h, cop^sa, cop^bo, Origen. Bart D. Ehrman says this reading is an Orthodox corrupt reading.

History

The manuscript was copied by a monk named Ephraim. He copied 1739 from an uncial exemplar from the 4th century. It was discovered by E. von der Goltz in 1897 at Mount Athos and is usually known by his name. A collation was made by Morton S. Enslin (in Kirsopp Lake Six Collations).

The codex is housed at the Great Lavra (B 184), in Athos.

Resources

Aland, Kurt; Aland, Barbara (1995). The Text of the New Testament: An Introduction to the Critical Editions and to the Theory and Practice of Modern Textual Criticism. Erroll F. Rhodes (trans.). Grand Rapids: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company.
Eberhard Nestle, Erwin Nestle, Barbara Aland and Kurt Aland (eds), Novum Testamentum Graece, 26th edition, (Stuttgart: Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft, 1991)
Bruce M. Metzger, “Manuscripts of the Greek Bible: An Introduction to Greek Paleography”, Oxford University Press (New York: Oxford, 1981)
Bruce M. Metzger, A Textual Commentary on the Greek New Testament (Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft: Stuttgart 2001)
Bart D. Ehrman, The Orthodox Corruption of Scripture, Oxford University Press, Oxford 1993, p. 60.