Codex Vaticanus

A page from Codex Vaticanus

Codex Vaticanus, or B, is a Greek manuscript of the Bible. It was created in the mid fourth century. It may have been produced in Egypt. It first appears in the catalog of the Vatican Library in Rome in 1475. The codex is written in uncial text on 759 leaves of vellum. Vaticanus is the single most influential Biblical manuscript. The complete text was published in 1857 and a facsimile was published in 1889-1890.

In 1881, Cambridge scholars B. F Westcott and F. J. A. Hort used Vaticanus as a basis for a Greek text of the New Testament, now called the Westcott-Hort or Alexandrian, text. Some parts of Vaticanus are missing or damaged. Hebrews ends at 9:14 and the Pastorals, Philemon, and Revelation are missing. Westcott and Hort used Codex Sinaiticus, an uncial manuscript nearly as old as Vaticanus, to fill in these gaps. Revelation was taken from Codex Alexandrinus, a fifth century uncial. In more recent times, the Biblical quotations used by the church fathers have been cataloged and papyrus scrolls of various New Testament books have been found. Both of these sources are older than the uncial manuscripts. Yet they tend to confirm the validity of the Westcott-Hort text.

See also

• The Gospels
• Dead Sea Scrolls
• John Rylands Fragment
• Textus Receptus
• Codex Sinaiticus

External links

• N.T. Ancient Manuscripts
• Codex Vaticanus Catholic Encyclopedia.

"Bible (texts)," New Catholic Encyclopedia (2003)