View source for Codex Nitriensis

{{New Testament manuscript infobox
| form   = Uncial
| number = '''027'''
| image  = Codex Nitriensis, Luke 9,23.jpg
| isize  = 200
| caption= Fragment with text of Luke 9:23
| name   = Nitriensis
| sign   = R
| text   = [[Gospel of Luke]] †
| script = [[Greek language|Greek]]
| date   = c. ~550
| found  = 1842
| now at = [[British Library]], Add MS 17211
| cite   =
| size   = {{×|29.5|23.5|cm}}
| type   = [[Byzantine text-type|Byzantine]]
| cat    = V
| hand   =
| note   =
}}

'''Codex Nitriensis''', designated by '''R''' or '''027''' (in the [[Biblical manuscript#Gregory-Aland|Gregory-Aland]] numbering), ε 22 ([[Biblical manuscript#Von Soden|von Soden]]), is a 6th-century [[Koine Greek|Greek]] New Testament [[codex]] containing the [[Gospel of Luke]], in a fragmentary condition. It is a two column manuscript in [[majuscule]]s (capital letters), measuring {{×|29.5|23.5|cm}}.<ref name = Aland>{{Cite book
 | last = Aland
 | first = Kurt
 | author-link = Kurt Aland
 | last2 = Aland
 | first2 = Barbara
 | author-link2 = Barbara Aland
 | others = Erroll F. Rhodes (trans.)
 | title = The Text of the New Testament: An Introduction to the Critical Editions and to the Theory and Practice of Modern Textual Criticism
 | publisher = [[William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company]]
 | year = 1995
 | location = Grand Rapids
 | page = [https://archive.org/details/textnewtestament00kurt/page/n135 113]
 | url = https://archive.org/details/textnewtestament00kurt
 | url-access = limited
 | isbn = 978-0-8028-4098-1}}</ref>

== Description ==
The text is written in two columns per page, 25 lines per page, in large uncial letters.<ref name = Gregory/> It has no breathings and accents. The letters are similar to those of codices [[Codex Tischendorfianus II|081]], [[Codex Petropolitanus Purpureus|022]], and [[Codex Guelferbytanus A|024]], only that they are somewhat irregular and straggling.<ref name = Gregory>{{cite book
 | last = Gregory
 | first = Caspar René
 | author-link = Caspar René Gregory
 | title = Textkritik des Neuen Testaments
 | publisher = J.C. Hinrichs’sche Buchhandlung
 | year = 1900
 | location = Leipzig
 | volume = 1
 | page = 64
 | url = https://archive.org/stream/textkritikdesne00greggoog#page/n77/mode/2up
 }}</ref>

It is a [[palimpsest]]. The upper text contains the [[Syriac language|Syriac]] treatise [[Severus of Antioch]] against Johannes Grammaticus written in the 8th or 9th century. The lower text of the same manuscript contains the ''[[Iliad]]'' and the [[Gospel of Luke]], both of the sixth century, and the ''[[Euclid's Elements]]'' of the seventh or eighth century.<ref name = Gregory/>

The manuscript contains the tables of the {{lang|grc|κεφαλαια}} (''tables of contents'') before each Gospel, the Pseudo-Ammonian Sections,<ref>Rudolph, Ulrich (1989). „Ammonius“ (Pseudo-Ammonius). In: Goulet, Richard. ''Dictionnaire des philosophes antiques''. Paris, 170-171.</ref> but no references to the [[Eusebian Canons]].<ref name = Gregory/>

== Contents ==
[[File:Codex Nitriensis Luke 5,26.JPG|thumb|right|220px|Luke 5:26 in Scrivener's facsimile]]

[[Gospel of Luke]] 1:1-13, 1:69-2:4, 2:16-27, 4:38-5:5, 5:25-6:8, 6:18-36, 6:39, 6:49-7:22, 7:44, 7:46, 7:47, 7:50, 8:1-3, 8:5-15, 8:25-9:1, 9:12-43, 10:3-16, 11:5-27, 12:4-15, 12:40-52, 13:26-14:1, 14:12-15:1, 15:13-16:16, 17:21-18:10, 18:22-20:20, 20:33-47, 21:12-22:6, 22:8-15, 22:42-56, 22:71-23:11, 23:38-51.<ref name = Gregory/>

== Text of the codex ==
The Greek text of the codex is a representative of the [[Byzantine text-type]] in a very early stage, with a large portion of non-Byzantine readings. [[Kurt Aland|Aland]] gave for it the following textual profile - 11<sup>1</sup> 4<sup>1/2</sup> 0<sup>2</sup> 5<sup>s</sup>. Aland placed it in [[Categories of New Testament manuscripts#Category V|Category V]].<ref name = Aland/> According to the [[Claremont Profile Method]] it belongs to the textual family [[Family Kx|K<sup>x</sup>]] in Luke 1 and Luke 10; in Luke 20 it has mixed text.<ref>F. Wisse, ''The profile method for the classification and evaluation of manuscript evidence, as Applied to the Continuous Greek Text of the Gospel of Luke'', ''[[William B. Eerdmans Publishing]]'', 1982, p. 52.</ref>

In Luke 6:2 — οὐκ ἔξεστιν (''not lawful'') for οὐκ ἔξεστιν ποιεῖν (''not lawful to do''); the reading is supported only by {{Papyrus link|4}}, [[Codex Vaticanus]], ([[Codex Bezae]]), [[Minuscule 700|700]], lat, cop<sup>sa</sup>, cop<sup>bo</sup>, arm, geo;<ref>NA26, p. 170.</ref>

It lacks the text of [[Christ's agony at Gethsemane|Luke 22:43-44]].<ref>NA26, p. 232.</ref>

[[File:Codex Nitriensis Luke 1,1-7.JPG|thumb|right|220px|Luke 1:1-7 in Tischendorf's edition]]

== History ==
Formerly it belonged to the [[monastery of St. Mary Deipara]] in the [[Wadi El Natrun|Nitrian Desert]]. In 1847 along with the other 550 manuscripts (e.g. [[British Library, Add MS 14448]]) it was brought to England by [[Henry Tattam]].<ref name = Gregory/>

The fragments of Luke were independently transcribed, both by Tregelles in 1854, and by [[Constantin von Tischendorf|Tischendorf]] in 1855, who afterwards re-examined the places wherein he differed from Tregelles (e.g. Luke 8:5; 18:1.10).<ref name = Scrivener>{{cite book
 | last = Scrivener
 | first = Frederick Henry Ambrose
 | author-link = Frederick Henry Ambrose Scrivener
 |author2=Edward Miller
 | title = [[A Plain Introduction to the Criticism of the New Testament]]
 | publisher = [[George Bell & Sons]]
 | year = 1894
 | edition = 4
 | location = London
 | volume = 1
 | page = 145
 }}</ref>
Tischendorf edited the text of the codex in 1857 in his ''Monumenta sacra inedita'', volume VII, with a facsimile.<ref>[[Bruce M. Metzger]], [[Bart D. Ehrman]], ''The Text of the New Testament: Its Transmission, Corruption and Restoration'', Oxford University Press, 2005, pp. 79-80</ref>

The 48 extant parchment leaves of the manuscript are kept in the [[British Library]] (Add MS 17211) in [[London]].<ref name = Aland/><ref name = INTF>{{Cite web |url=http://intf.uni-muenster.de/vmr/NTVMR/ListeHandschriften.php?ObjID=20027 |title=Liste Handschriften |publisher=Institute for New Testament Textual Research |access-date=16 March 2013 |location=Münster}}</ref>

== See also ==
{{Portal|Bible}}
* [[List of New Testament uncials]]
* [[Biblical manuscript]]
* [[Textual criticism]]

== References ==
{{reflist}}

== Further reading ==
* {{Cite book |last=Cureton |first=William |author-link=William Cureton |title=Fragments of the Iliad of Homer from a Syriac palimpsest |publisher= The Trustees of the British Museum |place=London |year=1851 |url=https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_L4bMD_AJeeEC |page=[https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_L4bMD_AJeeEC/page/n14 1] }}
* [[Samuel Prideaux Tregelles|S. P. Tregelles]], ''An Introduction to the Critical study and Knowledge of the Holy Scriptures'', London 1856, pp.&nbsp;183–184.
* C. v. Tischendorf, [https://archive.org/stream/Tischendorf.iv.monumentaSacraInedita.newcollection.subscript.6vols.1857-1870/01.MonumentaSacraInedita.NCVA.FragEvangLucLibGen.v1.Tischendorf.Subsc.1857.#page/n17/mode/2up "Monumenta sarca inedita"] II (Leipzig, 1857), pp.&nbsp;XIV-XXII, 1-92.
* [[Johan Ludvig Heiberg (historian)|Heiberg, J. L.]], [https://archive.org/stream/philologus40archgoog#page/n372/mode/2up ''Ein palimpsest der Elemente Euklids''], in: ''Philologus'' 45 vol., 1885, pp.&nbsp;353–366.
* {{Cite book|last=Wright|first=William|author-link=William Aldis Wright|title=Catalogue of the Syriac manuscripts in the British Museum|publisher=British Museum|volume=2|place=London|year=1871|url=https://archive.org/stream/catalogueofsyria02brituoft#page/548/mode/2up|pages=548–550}}

== External links ==
{{Commons category|Codex Nitriensis}}
* [http://www.skypoint.com/members/waltzmn/ManuscriptsUncials.html#uR Codex Nitriensis R (027)] at the ''Encyclopedia of Textual Criticism''
* [http://www.bl.uk/manuscripts/FullDisplay.aspx?ref=Add_MS_17211 Add MS 17211] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151228165616/http://www.bl.uk/manuscripts/FullDisplay.aspx?ref=Add_MS_17211 |date=2015-12-28 }} at the ''British Library''
{{Gospel of Luke}}
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[[Category:6th-century biblical manuscripts]]
[[Category:1847 archaeological discoveries]]
[[Category:Greek New Testament uncials|Nitriensis]]
[[Category:Palimpsests]]
[[Category:Manuscripts of the Iliad]]
[[Category:British Library additional manuscripts]]
[[Category:Gospel of Luke]]