Introduction to Majuscule Manuscripts

Majuscule manuscripts—also historically known as “uncials”—represent the earliest and most significant handwritten copies of the Greek New Testament. These manuscripts, written entirely in uppercase Greek letters and usually without word spacing or punctuation, were predominantly produced between the late 2nd century C.E. and the 10th century C.E. Their script style, material (typically parchment), and format (often codices rather than scrolls) reflect their high value and intended use in public liturgical reading settings.

Despite their previous designation as “uncials” (a term rooted in Latin paleographic studies), it became increasingly recognized in the scholarly community, including by Bruce Metzger, that “majuscule” was the more appropriate term for Greek manuscripts. Metzger, in his seminal The Text of the New Testament, acknowledged the shift in terminology. Thus, Greek New Testament textual critics uniformly adopted “majuscule” to describe these early, meticulously prepared manuscripts.

Majuscule manuscripts are identified in four primary ways: by a single Latin letter (excluding “J”), a Greek letter, the Hebrew letter Aleph (א), or an Arabic numeral prefixed with zero. This system was initiated by J.J. Wettstein in the mid-18th century as he began cataloging these documents, and it has since become the standardized method in critical apparatuses.

To date, over 322 majuscule manuscripts have been cataloged. These include a range of texts from small fragments to virtually complete New Testaments. The Center for the Study of New Testament Manuscripts (CSNTM) discovered the latest majuscule, Codex 0322, in 2004. It is a palimpsest containing fragments of the Gospel of Mark. Palimpsests are manuscripts whose original text was scraped off and overwritten. Advances in imaging have helped recover much of the original writing.

Codex Vaticanus (B or 03)

Codex Vaticanus, designated “B” and cataloged as 03, is housed in the Vatican Library and is one of the two most important New Testament manuscripts. Likely originating in the early 4th century C.E., its provenance is unclear, though there are indications it was in Caesarea during the 6th century.

It is written in three columns per page—a rare format—with nearly the entire Old and New Testaments, though it ends at Hebrews 9:13. Later minuscule hands attempted to complete the New Testament section. The manuscript lacks both the long ending of Mark (Mark 16:9–20) and the Pericope Adulterae (John 7:53–8:11). It represents the Alexandrian text-type and exhibits great accuracy, often considered the best representative of that tradition.

One notable variant in Hebrews 1:3 involves a singular reading unique to Vaticanus. It reads phanerōn (“He reveals”) instead of pherōn (“He sustains”), which is the universal reading across the manuscript tradition. A marginal note even warns not to change the ancient reading—evidence of scribal reverence for the text’s antiquity. This unique reading is likely a scribal alteration, not original, and the marginal note may have been an acknowledgment of that irregularity.

Codex Bezae (D or 05)

Codex Bezae Cantabrigiensis, known as D (05), resides at Cambridge University. The manuscript, presented to the university by Reformer Theodore Beza in 1581, contains the Gospels and Acts in a diglot format: Greek on the left and Latin on the right.

Dating from the early 5th century C.E., it is a Western text-type manuscript, although it may have originated in the East. It includes numerous unique and expanded readings, particularly in Acts, where it contains approximately 8.5% more material than Alexandrian witnesses. One striking feature is its inclusion of an agrapha—sayings of Jesus not recorded elsewhere. For instance, in Luke 6:4, Jesus allegedly observes a man working on the Sabbath and says, “Man, if you know what you are doing, you are blessed; but if you do not, you are cursed and a transgressor of the Law.”

In Mark 1:41, where most manuscripts state that Jesus was “moved with compassion,” Codex D reads that Jesus was “moved with anger.” While most Greek manuscripts have splagchnistheis (“moved with compassion”), Codex D has orgistheis (“being angry”). Despite being singular in the Greek tradition, several Old Latin manuscripts agree, suggesting an early Western tradition preserving this reading. The context of Jesus’ indignation may reflect righteous anger at the effects of sin and disease, aligning with internal consistency and perhaps originality.

Codex Alexandrinus (A or 02)

Codex Alexandrinus, designated A and cataloged as 02, is a 5th-century manuscript currently housed in the British Library. Gifted to King Charles I in 1627 by the Patriarch of Constantinople, it arrived too late to influence the King James Version (1611), though had it been available, it might have significantly altered its textual basis.

This codex is a two-column manuscript containing the entire Old Testament and nearly all the New Testament. It is Byzantine in the Gospels but transitions to the Alexandrian text-type in the remainder of the New Testament. For Revelation, it is considered the most significant manuscript.

The Gospels section employs section headings beginning with “Peri” (Greek for “concerning”), followed by descriptive phrases such as “concerning the five loaves and two fish” (John 6) or “concerning Lazarus” (John 11). Notably, there is no heading for the woman caught in adultery (John 7:53–8:11), and this passage is also absent from the main text—a critical point in evaluating its authenticity. By comparing the section headings across other manuscripts, it becomes clear that once these headings became standard (late 4th to early 5th century), this passage was not yet widely considered canonical.

Codex Ephraemi Rescriptus (C or 04)

Codex Ephraemi Rescriptus, designated C and cataloged as 04, is an early 5th-century palimpsest containing parts of both the Old and New Testaments. It is currently held at the Bibliothèque nationale de France in Paris. The upper text consists of sermons by Ephraem the Syrian, written in the 12th century, which obscured the biblical text underneath.

As a mixed text-type manuscript, it is predominantly Alexandrian but cannot be classified purely into one family. It contains 145 leaves of New Testament text and 64 of the Old Testament. Codex C is especially valuable for Revelation, where it is considered the second-best manuscript after Alexandrinus.

The deciphering of the undertext was done by Constantin von Tischendorf between 1840 and 1843 using chemical reagents—a technique that, while partially successful, also severely damaged the manuscript. One key reading preserved in this manuscript is Revelation 13:18, where it gives the number of the beast as 616 rather than 666. This variant was once unique until Papyrus 115 (P115) surfaced in 1998, which also reads 616. While this reading is certainly ancient, it remains a minority.

Codex Sinaiticus (א or 01)

Codex Sinaiticus, assigned the Hebrew letter Aleph (א) and numbered 01, was discovered by Tischendorf at Saint Catherine’s Monastery at Mount Sinai. The Old Testament portion came to light in 1844, and the New Testament in 1859. It dates to the mid-4th century C.E. and is the only extant majuscule manuscript containing the entire New Testament.

Uniquely formatted in four columns per page, Codex Sinaiticus exhibits the Alexandrian text-type and aligns closely with Vaticanus in many places. It too omits the long ending of Mark and the Pericope Adulterae. The reason Tischendorf designated it Aleph may reflect his high regard for this manuscript—essentially treating it as the primary textual witness.

Codex Sinaiticus played a critical role in undermining the claims of F.C. Baur and other liberal scholars who questioned the stability and antiquity of the New Testament text. Tischendorf’s evangelical efforts helped to demonstrate the textual continuity of the New Testament through the centuries.

Codex Washingtonianus (W or 032)

Codex Washingtonianus, designated W and numbered 032, was purchased in 1906 by Charles Freer and is now located in the Smithsonian Institution’s Freer Gallery. It is a late 4th or early 5th-century manuscript of the Gospels and is the most important New Testament manuscript in the United States.

It exhibits a patchwork text—Byzantine in Matthew and Luke 8:13–24:53, Western in Mark 1:1–5:30, and Alexandrian in Luke 1:1–8:12 and John 5:12–21:25. The first five chapters of John are mixed. The diverse text-types indicate that the scribe likely assembled the codex from multiple sources, possibly due to the loss of complete Gospel copies during the Diocletian persecution.

Codex W is notable for containing the Freer Logion, an expanded post-resurrection saying of Jesus found between Mark 16:14–15. This logion, known to Jerome but previously unattested in Greek manuscripts, describes Satan’s dominion and the reason for Christ’s death. Though not authentic, it offers insight into early Christian theological development.

The Majuscule Legacy

These great majuscule manuscripts—Vaticanus, Sinaiticus, Alexandrinus, Ephraemi Rescriptus, Bezae, and Washingtonianus—represent our most direct textual link to the inspired autographs of the New Testament. When prioritized through a documentary approach, with careful attention to early Alexandrian witnesses such as P75, Vaticanus, and Sinaiticus, they reveal a remarkably stable transmission history. These ancient codices, though sometimes differing in minor ways, collectively affirm the preservation and reliability of the New Testament.

Majorly Important Majuscule Manuscripts

• א (Codex Sinaiticus [330-360 C.E.] Article #2
• A (Codex Alexandrinus) [400-450 C.E.] Article #2
• B (Codex Vaticanus) [300-330 C.E.] Article #2, #3, #4, #5, #6
• C (Codex Ephraemi Rescriptus) [400-450 C.E.] Article #2
• D (Codex Bezae) [400-450 C.E.] Article #2
• D [Dp] (Codex Claromontanus) [500-600 C.E.]
• E (Codex Basiliensis) [700-800 C.E.]
• E [Ea] (Codex Laudianus 35) [500-600 C.E.]
• 0319 (Codex Sangermanensis) [c. 900 C.E.]
• L (Codex Regius) [700-800 C.E.]
• N (Codex Purpureus Petropolitanus) [500-600 C.E.]
• W (Codex Washingtonianus or Freer Gospels) [400 C.E.]
• Θ = 038 Codex Koridethi  [800-900 C.E.]
• Ξ = 040 Codex Zacynthius  [500-600 C.E.]

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