Codex Ephraemi

A leaf from Codex Ephraemi Syri rescriptus

Codex Ephraemi Syri rescriptus, or C, is a palimpsest of the New Testament held at the French National Library in Paris. The original biblical manuscript dates from the fourth century. In the 12th century, this material was erased and overwritten with the writings of Syrian church father Ephraem Syrus. In the 19th century, German biblical scholar Tischendorf used chemical reagents to recover the original text. This text was published in 1843.

The manuscript consists of 209 leaves, 145 from the New Testament and 64 from the Old Testament. After the fall of Constantinople in 1453, Ephraemi was taken to Florence. Catherine de' Medici brought it to Paris when she married French King Henry II. The text has three correctors labeled C¹, C², and C³. C¹ was active in the 500s while C³ was active in the 800s.

The text of Codex Ephraemi has been characterized as a "weaker brother" to the Alexandrian text exemplified by Codex Vaticanus and Codex Sinaiticus. In Revelation 13:18, Ephraemi gives the number of the beast as 616. The more familiar 666 is from Codex Alexandrinus, considered the best manuscript source for Revelation.

External links

Codex Ephræmi Syri rescriptus EPHRÆMUS Syrus (S). Auteur du texte A digitized version of the manuscript.