Codex Ephraemi Rescriptus - Description

Description

There are only 209 leaves of the codex surviving, of which 145 belong to the New Testament and 64 to the Old Testament. The codex measures 12¼ in/31.4-32.5 cm by 9 in/25.6-26.4 cm. The text is written in a single column per page, 40–46 lines per page, on parchment leaves. The letters are medium-sized uncials.

The uncial writing is continuous, with the punctuation consisting only of a single point, as in codices Alexandrinus and Vaticanus. The capitals at the beginning sections stand out in the margin as in codices Codex Alexandrinus and Codex Basilensis. Iota and ypsilon, which in Alexandrinus and many other manuscripts have two dots over them (diaeresis) when they commence a syllable – sometimes only one dot – have in the Codex Ephraemi a small straight line in their place. The breathings and accents were added by a later hand. The nomina sacra are abbreviated in an unusual way: ΙΗΣ for Ἰησοῦς (Jesus), IHY for Ἰησοῦ (of Jesus), XPΣ for Χριστὸς (Christ), ΧPY for Χριστοῦ (of Christ), ΠΑP for Πατήρ (Father), and ΣTH for Σταυρωθῇ (crucify).

The text of the Gospels is divided according to κεφαλαια (chapters), but their τιτλοι (titles of chapters) are not placed in the upper margin of the page as in Codex Alexandrinus. A list of their τιτλοι (tables of contents) preceded each Gospel. The text of the Gospels is divided into small Ammonian Sections, whose numbers are given at the margin, with references to the Eusebian Canons (written below Ammonian Section numbers). There is no division in the other books.

The Pericope Adulterae (John 7:53–8:11) is omitted; though the pericope is located on the lost two leaves (John 7:3–8:34), by counting the lines it can be proved that it was not in the book – there is not room for it (as in Codex Alexandrinus). The text of Mark 16:9–20 was included to the codex, though it was located on the lost leaves; by counting the lines it can be proved that it was in the work. The texts of Luke 22:43–44 were also located on the lost leaves, but there is no indication whether it was included in the original codex or not. The text of Mark 15:28 is omitted.

Lacunae

• Gospel of Matthew: 1:1–2; 5:15–7:5; 17:26–18:28; 22:21–23:17; 24:10–45; 25:30–26:22; 27:11–46; 28:15-fin.;
• Gospel of Mark: 1:1–17; 6:32–8:5; 12:30–13:19;
• Gospel of Luke: 1:1–2; 2:5–42; 3:21–4:25; 6:4–36; 7:17–8:28; 12:4–19:42; 20:28–21:20; 22:19–23:25; 24:7–45
• Gospel of John: 1:1–3; 1:41–3:33; 5:17–6:38; 7:3–8:34; 9:11–11:7; 11:47–13:7; 14:8–16:21; 18:36–20:25;
• Acts of the Apostles: 1:1–2; 4:3–5:34; 6:8; 10:43–13:1; 16:37–20:10; 21:31–22:20; 3:18–24:15; 26:19–27:16; 28:5-fin.;
• Epistle to the Romans: 1:1–3; 2:5–3:21; 9:6–10:15; 11:31–13:10;
• First Epistle to the Corinthians: 1:1–2; 7:18–9:6; 13:8–15:40;
• Second Epistle to the Corinthians: 1:1–2; 10:8-fin.
• Epistle to the Galatians: 1:1–20
• Epistle to the Ephesians: 1:1–2:18; 4:17-fin.
• Epistle to the Philippians: 1:1–22; 3:5-fin.
• Epistle to the Colossians: 1:1–2;
• First Epistle to the Thessalonians: 1:1; 2:9-fin.;
• Second Epistle to the Thessalonians lost
• First Epistle to Timothy: 1:1–3:9; 5:20-fin.;
• Second Epistle to Timothy: 1:1–2;
• Epistle to Titus: 1:1–2
• Epistle to Philemon: 1–2
• Epistle to the Hebrews: 1:1–2:4; 7:26–9:15; 10:24–12:15;
• Epistle of James: 1:1–2; 4:2-fin.
• First Epistle of Peter: 1:1–2; 4:5-fin.;
• Second Epistle of Peter: 1:1;
• First Epistle of John: 1:1–2; 4:3-fin.
• Second Epistle of John lost;
• Third Epistle of John: 1–2;
• Epistle of Jude: 1–2;
• Book of Revelation: 1:1–2; 3:20–5:14; 7:14–17; 8:5–9:16; 10:10–11:3; 16:13–18:2; 19:5-fin.

In the Old Testament, parts of Book of Job, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, Song of Songs, Wisdom, and Sirach survived.