Bonus 7 - Codex Alexandrianus

Folio 41v from the Codex Alexandrinus
contains the end of the Gospel of Luke
with the decorative tailpiece found at the
end of each book. Public Domain

The Codex Alexandrianus (no. A or 02) is a mid 5th century Uncial Greek manuscript that contains the OT (Septuagint including Psalm 151), the Apocrypha, and most of the NT (some 773 leaves out of 820). 1.   It also contains the First and Second Epistle of Clement to the Corinthians along with other non-canonical works. 2.  It is one of the earliest mostly complete copies of the entire Bible in existence. It bears the marks of the Alexandrian scribes in Egypt and thus acquired its name. 3.  It was delivered to Constantinople by the Eastern Orthodox Patriarch Cyril of Lucaris and then later given to Charles I of England. 4.  Today it is displayed along with the Codex Sinaiticus, in the Ritblat Gallery of the British Library. 5.

Footnotes

• 1. H. J. M. Milne and T. C. Skeat, The Codex Sinaiticus and the Codex Alexandrinus (London: Trustee of the British Museum, 1963), 31.
• 2. Philip W. Comfort and David P. Barrett, eds. The Text of the Earliest New Testament Greek Manuscripts. Corrected and Enlarged ed. (Wheaton, Ill.: Tyndale, 2001), 79.
• 3. Finegan, Jack. Encountering New Testament Manuscripts: A Working Introduction to Textual Criticism (Grand Rapids, Mich.: Eerdmans, 1974), 150.
• 4. Matthew Spinka, “Acquisition of the Codex Alexandrinus by England.” The Journal of Religion 16 no. 1 (1936): 10–29.
• 5. Bruce M. Metzger and Bart D. Ehrman. The Text of the New Testament: Its Transmission, Corruption, and Restoration. 4th ed. (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2005), 67.

For Further Studies

• Comfort, Philip W., and David P. Barrett, eds. The Text of the Earliest New Testament Greek Manuscripts. Corrected and Enlarged ed. Wheaton, Ill.: Tyndale, 2001.
• Finegan, Jack. Encountering New Testament Manuscripts: A Working Introduction to Textual Criticism. Grand Rapids, Mich.: Eerdmans, 1974.
• Hernández, Juan. Scribal Habits and Theological Influences in the Apocalypse: The Singular Readings of Sinaiticus, Alexandrinus, and Ephraemi. Leiden: Mohr Siebeck, 2006, 96-131.
• Jellicoe, Sidney. Septuagint and Modern Study. Winona Lake, Ind.: Eisenbrauns, 1989.
• Kenyon, Frederick G. The Codex Alexandrinus. 4 vols. (Facsimile edition). London: Trustee of the British Museum , 1909-1915.
• McKendrick, Scot. “The Codex Alexandrinus or The Dangers of Being A Named Manuscript.” in: The Bible as Book: The Transmission of the Greek Text (ed. Scot McKendrick and Orlaith A. O'Sullivan; New Castle, Del.: Oak Knoll, 2003), 1-16.
• Metzger, Bruce M. Manuscripts of the Greek Bible: An Introduction to Greek Palaeography. Oxford, U.K.: Oxford University Press, 1981.
• Milne, H. J. M.; Skeat, T. C. The Codex Sinaiticus and the Codex Alexandrinus. London: Trustee of the British Museum, 1963.
• Slayton, Joel C. “Codex: Codex Alexandrinus.” Edited by David Noel Freedman, Gary A. Herion, David F. Graf, and John David Pleins. Anchor Bible Dictionary. New York, N.Y.: Doubleday, 1996. 1:1069.
• Thompson, Edward Maunde. Facsimile of the Codex Alexandrinus (4 vols.). London: Trustee of the British Museum, 1879–1883.