The newly discovered purple list of Sts. Gospels

As is known (see “Church Vestn.” 1890, No. 39, columns 1273–1274), the newly found purple list of Sts. The Gospels were purchased at the expense of the Sovereign Emperor and donated by Him to the St. Petersburg Public Library, but more accurate and detailed information about it was still not available. Only in the recently published first volume (Odessa, 1896) of “News of the Russian Archaeological Institute in Constantinople” was there an article devoted to a detailed description of it, mainly from the outside (pp. 138–172), with two graphic tables attached. In view of the importance of this find and special interest, we present here the most important data. There have been rumors about this manuscript for a long time, and already in 1883 it was seen by Prof. the Roman “collegium for the propagation of the faith” by Dimitriadi, who published a note about it in the Greek Constantinople magazine “Church Truth” for 1886 (p. 412). News reached the young “Russian Archaeological Institute” through the Russian archaeologist Ya. I. Smirnov, who reported that the peasants of the village of Sarmisakhli, near Caesarea, wanted to sell this manuscript. But it turned out that American and English scientists had already managed to raise the price to 1000 lire, which the Institute did not have at its disposal. Therefore, he turned to the assistance of the Russian ambassador A.I. Nelidov, and through V.K. Konstantin Konstantinovich he requested the required amount from the Sovereign Emperor. Then the manuscript was brought to Constantinople by the Russian consul in Konya A.D. Levitsky (whose residents of Sarmisakhli even kissed the suitcase where it was kept goodbye) and in May 1896 it was presented - along with a description - to the Sovereign Emperor, and He transferred it to the Public Library. The acquired part contains 182 leaves, but the true volume of the entire “Gospel” is determined with sufficient confidence. The fact is that the code was written on notebooks of 10 quarters, and on them the letters of the original numbering were preserved in places. Judging by them, one might think that the entire manuscript consists of 49 notebooks or 490 sheets; Of these, only 227 sheets from 38 notebooks have survived to this day, and 263 sheets have been lost. However, it is believed that some pages contained tables of contents, which is why no more than 229 pages of the Gospel text itself were lost. There are notes from the 12th–13th centuries, showing that even then the codex was damaged to a significant extent, but then it remained intact until 1820, when the manuscript was ordered, put in a frame and paginated into 186 sheets, of which 4 sheets subsequently disappeared. Now preserved from Matt. 689 lines (0.296), Mrk. – 189 (0.126), Lk. – 1268 (0.609), In. – 1101 (0.600), a total of 3247 out of 4898 lost, or 0.4 of the whole “Gospel”. But if there are 182 sheets for 3247 lines, then for 4898 there should be at least 274 sheets, and this almost completely coincides with the previous calculations (182 + 274 = 466). Of the lost ones, they are found in other book depositories: 1) in Vienna (Vindobonensis Lambecii) 2 sheets, 2) in Rome (Vaticanus 3876) 6 sheets, 3) in London (Londinensis Brit. Cotton. Titus C. XV) 4 sheets and 4) in the library of the Patmos Monastery of the Evangelist John (published in 1876 by Duchesne) 33 sheets. All these 45 sheets were taken specifically from our “Gospel”, because 1) they were written on the same material (purple parchment), with one hand and on two columns of 16 lines, 2) they complement each other and 3) and sometimes they fit each other from letter to letter. Therefore, the entire list can rightly retain the designation Ν, which was given by Tischendorff to the first 12 leaves. The manuscript supposedly dates back to the 5th–6th centuries, and this alone fully determines its importance. It is truly precious: but for nothing, the Americans and the British have recently been ready to give up to 1200 pounds for it, and the Vatican Library has not found anything better for the anniversary of Pope Leo XIII than to publish (in 1888) with royal luxury the purple sheets stored in it! I, 28 introduced (from Ma. III, 11 and Mark. III, 16) In. V, 44 reads παρὰ τοῦ μονογενοῦς Θεοὺ vm. παρὰ τοῦμόνου Θεοῦ; In. VI, 53 – VIII, 11, where the story about the wife in adultery is omitted. These deviations are not so consistent with the now glorified uncials and are more likely to suit the church and liturgical codes. If this phenomenon is confirmed for the entire content of the newly discovered manuscript, then it will make a significant revolution in the time-based New Testament textual criticism, contributing to its sobering and healing. God forbid! The author of the article we quote ends with the following words: “Nowadays, libraries and private individuals who own remarkable manuscripts consider it their honor to make them most publicly available through an edition that could replace the original with accuracy of reproduction... The Purple Code will require an edition and publication no less luxurious than the Sinai Bible or the Ostromir Gospel.” We fully hope that the Public Library, which has so far maintained a mysterious silence, will perfectly meet these fair expectations without resorting to foreign means... You might be interested in: