Contents
The codex is in quarto, and now consists of 773 vellum folios (630 in the Old Testament and 143 in the New Testament), bound in four volumes (279 + 238 + 118 + 144 folios). Three volumes contain the Septuagint, Greek version of the Old Testament, with the complete loss of only ten leaves. The fourth volume contains the New Testament with 31 leaves lost.
The codex contains almost a complete copy of the LXX, including the deuterocanonical books 3 and 4 Maccabees, Psalm 151 and the 14 Odes. The "Epistle to Marcellinus" attributed to Saint Athanasius and the Eusebian summary of the Psalms are inserted before the Book of Psalms. It also contains all of the books of the New Testament, in addition to 1 Clement (lacking 57:7-63) and the homily known as 2 Clement (up to 12:5a). The books of the Old Testament are thus distributed: Genesis — 2 Chronicles (volume first), Hosea — 4 Maccabees (volume second), Psalms — Sirach (volume third). The New Testament (volume fourth) books follow in order: Gospels, Acts of the Apostles, General epistles, Pauline epistles (Hebrews placed between 2 Thessalonians and 1 Timothy), Book of Revelation. Previously, General epistles were placed before Acts of the Apostles. They changed their positions after rebinding.
There is an appendix marked in the index, which lists the Psalms of Solomon and probably contained more apocryphal/pseudepigraphical books, but it has been torn off and the pages containing these books have also been lost.
Due to damage and lost folios, various passages are missing or have defects:
- Lacking: 1 Sam 12:17-14:9 (1 leaf); Ps 49:20-79:11 (9 leaves); Matt 1:1-25:6 (26 leaves); John 6:50-8:52 (2 leaves); 2 Cor 4:13-12:6 (3 leaves); 1 Clement 57:7-63 (1 leaf) and 2 Clement 12:5a-fin. (2 leaves);
- Damaged: Gen 14:14-17, 15:1-5, 15:16-19, 16:6-9 (lower portion of torn leaf lost);
- Defects due to torn leaves: Genesis 1:20-25, 1:29-2:3, Lev 8:6,7,16; Sirach 50:21f, 51:5;
- Lacunae on the edges of almost every page of the Apocalypse.
- The ornamented colophon of the Epistle to Philemon has been cut out.
Verses the scribe did not include:
- Mark 15:28 as in codices א, B, C, D, Ψ, Lect, d, k, syrs, copsa, bo, fay;
- Christ's agony at Gethsemane (Luke 22:43–44), as in codices p75, א*, B, T, 1071;
- {John 7:53-8:11};
- Acts 8:37; 15:34; 24:7; 28:29;
- Romans 16:24.
It is an important witness for the absence of Pericope Adultera (John 7:53-8:11). In the lost two leaves (John 6:50-8:52), by counting the lines, it has been proven that it was not in the book – there was not room for it (as in Codex Ephraemi).
Read more about this topic: Codex Alexandrinus
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