Codex Climaci Rescriptus


Codex Climaci rescriptus, known as Uncial 0250, is a palimpsest with a Greek uncial text of the New Testament written over a Christian Palestinian Aramaic uncial text of the Old and New Testament. Paleographically the Greek text has been assigned to the 7th or 8th century, and the Aramaic undertext to the 6th century. Formerly it was classified as lectionary manuscript, with Gregory giving the number ℓ 1561 to it.

Description

The codex is a 146 leaf remnant of nine separate manuscripts, seven of which are in Christian Palestinian Aramaic, which have been dated to the 5th or 6th century AD; and two of which are in Greek, which have been dated to the 7th or 8th century AD.
The Christian Palestinian Aramaic sections contain significant parts of the four Gospels, as well as the Acts and Epistles, and the remains of chapters of the Old Testament in Christian Palestinian Aramaic, on 112 leaves, written in two columns per page, 18 to 23 lines per page in an adapted Syriac Estrangela square script. This manuscript, based on an original text which may date from the 4th century, is one of the largest corpus of Christian Palestinian Aramaic next to the Codex Sinaiticus Rescriptus from the Monastery of Saint Catherine, a dialect that is related to Galilean Aramaic, the presumably dialect of Jesus.
The Greek section contains the text of the four Gospels, with numerous lacunae, on 34 parchment leaves. Written in two columns per page, 31 lines per page, in uncial letters. In September 2014, it was announced that Codex Climaci Rescriptus contains early texts of Aratus and Eratosthenes in its Greek underwriting. The Christian Palestinian Aramaic texts were read and edited by Agnes Smith Lewis and the Greek text by Ian A. Moir, and most of the Christian Palestinian Aramaic part was later improved for the readings and reedited by Christa Müller-Kessler and Michael Sokoloff. Two folios are attributed to the Dormition of the Mother of God and were reedited. Eight folios could be added from the New Finds in Monastery of Saint Catherine
The Codex's upper text contains two Syriac treatises of Johannes Climacus : the Scala paradisi and portions of the Liber ad pastorem.

Contents

In Christian Palestinian Aramaic:
; CCR 1: a Gospel-book in Christian Palestinian Aramaic, including the texts of Matthew and Mark
Matt. 21:23-41; 27-31; 22:40-23:1; 23:1-25; 24:42-46; 24: 25:14; 26:24-32; 26:40-49; 27:9-19; 27:39-48; 27:64-28:3; 28:4-10
Mark 1:1-10; 1:20-30; 2:2-11; 17-24
; CCR 2: a Gospel of John in Christian Palestinian Aramaic, plus
the Acts and Epistles
John 1:1-9
Acts 19:31-36; 20:1; 20:2-7; 20:8-14; 21:3-8; 21:9-14; 24:25-25:1; 25:3-26; 26:23-29; 27:1-13; 27:14-27
Romans 4:17-22; 5:4-15; 6:14-19; 7:2-11; 8: 9-21; 9:30;10:3-9; 15:11-21
I Corin. 1:6-23; 2:10-3:5; 4:1-15; 5:7-6:5; 10:18-31; 12:12-24; 13:4-11; 14:4-7; 14:8-14; 14:14-24; 14:24-37; 15:3-10; 15:10-24; 15:24-49; 16:3-16; 16:16-24
II Corin. 1:1-3; 1:23-2:11; 2:11-3:5; 4:18-5:6; 5:6-12; 6:3-16; 7:3-8
Galat. 1:1-23; 3:20-24; 4:2; 4:4-29; 5:1; 5:24; 6:4-12; 6: 4
Eph. 1:18-2:8; 4:14-27; 5:8-16; 5:17-24
Phill. 2:12-26
Coloss. 4: 6-17
I Thess.1:3-9; 5:15-26
II Thess. 1:3-2:2
II Timothy 3:2-14
Titus 2:7-3:3
Philemon 11-25
II Peter 1:1-12; 3:16-18
; CCR 3: a Lectionary in Christian Palestinian Aramaic, including
significant portions of the Old Testament, as well as the New Testament
Exodus 4:14-18
Deut. 6: 4-21; 7:1-26
I Sam. 1:1; 2:19-29; 4:1-6; 6:5-18
Job 6:1-26; 7: 4-21
Psalms 2:7; 40:1; 50:1; 56:1; 109:1; 131:1
Proverbs 1:20-22
Isaiah 40:1-8; 63:9-11
Jerem. 11:22-12: 4-8
Joel 2:12-14; 2:20
Micah 4:1-3; 4:3-5
Matt. 1:18-25; 2:1-2; 2:2-8; 2:18-23
Luke 1: 26-38
; CCR 7: a biblical codex in Christian Palestinian Aramaic:
Leviticus 8:18-30; 11:42-12:2-8
; CCR 8: a Lectionary in Christian Palestinian Aramaic
Matt. 27:27-41
Mark 15:16-19
John 13:15-29
John 15:19-26; 16:9
; CCR 4: Fragment of a Homily; Unique record of homily and story about the life of Jesus in Christian Palestinian Aramaic
The Dormition of the Mother of God with chapters 121-122; 125–126 corresponding to the Ethiopic transmission
; In Greek :
Matt. 2:12-23; 3:13-15; 5:1-2.4.30-37; 6:1-4.16-18; 7:12.15-20; 8:7.10-13.16-17.20-21; 9:27-31.36; 10:5; 12:36-38.43-45; 13:36-46; 26:75-27:2.11.13-16.18.20.22-23.26-40;
Mark 14:72-15:2.4-7.10-24.26-28;
Luke 22:60-62.66-67; 23:3-4.20-26.32-34.38;
John 6:53-7:25.45.48-51; 8:12-44; 9:12-10:15; 10:41-12:3.6.9.14-24.26-35.44-49; 14:22-15:15; 16:13-18; 16:29-17:5; 18:1-9.11-13.18-24.28-29.31; 18:36-19:1.4.6.9.16.18.23-24.31-34; 20:1-2.13-16.18-20.25; 20:28-21:1.

Text

The Greek text of the codex 0250 is mixed with a predominant element of the Byzantine text-type. Aland placed it in Category III.
Matthew 8:12
Matthew 8:13
Matthew 27:35

Discovery and present location

One leaf of the codex was purchased by A. S. Lewis in Cairo in 1895, 89 leaves were received from a Berlin scholar in 1905, and 48 further leaves were purchased in Port Tewfik in 1906.. One leaf was bought by Alphonse Mingana.. Eight leaves belong to the New Finds in the Monastery of Saint Catherine from 1975..
Gregory classified it as lectionary. The manuscript was not mentioned by Hermann von Soden in his Die Schriften des NT.
According to Moir this manuscript contains a substantial record of an early Greek uncial manuscript of the Gospels once at Caesarea, which would have been the sister of Codex Sinaiticus, Codex Vaticanus and Codex Alexandrinus, but is now lost.
Until 2010, the codex was housed at the Westminster College in Cambridge. It was listed for sale at a Sotheby's auction, where it failed to sell on July 7, 2009. In 2010, Steve Green, president of Hobby Lobby and evangelical Christian, bought the codex directly from Sotheby's after their auction ended unsuccessfully. The codex now resides in the Green Collection and is featured in its worldwide-traveling exhibition, .
Eight folios were retrieved from the New Finds of the Monastery of St Catherine in 1975.

Text editions