Minuscule 552
Encyclopedia
Minuscule 552 ε 252 (in the Soden numbering), is a Greek
Greek language
Greek is an independent branch of the Indo-European family of languages. Native to the southern Balkans, it has the longest documented history of any Indo-European language, spanning 34 centuries of written records. Its writing system has been the Greek alphabet for the majority of its history;...

 minuscule manuscript
Manuscript
A manuscript or handwrite is written information that has been manually created by someone or some people, such as a hand-written letter, as opposed to being printed or reproduced some other way...

 of the New Testament
New Testament
The New Testament is the second major division of the Christian biblical canon, the first such division being the much longer Old Testament....

, on parchment. Palaeographically
Palaeography
Palaeography, also spelt paleography is the study of ancient writing. Included in the discipline is the practice of deciphering, reading, and dating historical manuscripts, and the cultural context of writing, including the methods with which writing and books were produced, and the history of...

 it has been assigned to the 12th century.
Scrivener labelled it by number 539. The manuscript has complex contents.

Description

The codex contains a complete text of the four Gospel
Gospel
A gospel is an account, often written, that describes the life of Jesus of Nazareth. In a more general sense the term "gospel" may refer to the good news message of the New Testament. It is primarily used in reference to the four canonical gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John...

s on 252 parchment leaves (size ). The writing is in one column per page, 27 lines per page.

The text is divided according to the (chapters), whose numbers are given at the margin, and the (titles of chapters) at the top of the pages. There is also a division according to the smaller Ammonian Sections, but without references to the Eusebian Canons.

It contains tables of the (only to Luke).

Text

Kurt Aland
Kurt Aland
Kurt Aland was a German Theologian and Professor of New Testament Research and Church History. He founded the Institut für neutestamentliche Textforschung in Münster and served as its first director for many years...

 did not place the Greek text of the codex in any Category.
According to the Claremont Profile Method it represents the textual family Kx
Family Kx
Family Kx is a large group of the New Testament manuscripts. It belongs to the Byzantine text-type as one of the textual families of this group. It includes uncials, and although hundreds of minuscules, no early ones.- Description :...

 in Luke 1
Luke 1
Luke 1 is the first chapter of the Gospel of Luke in the New Testament of the Christian Bible. It describes the events leading up to the birth of Jesus. It is written to Theophilus, who could be a real person or could simply mean a fellow Christian as theo philus is Greek for God lover...

 and Luke 20. In Luke 10 it belongs to the group M
Codex Campianus
Codex Campianus designated by M or 021 , ε 72 , is a Greek uncial manuscript of the New Testament, dated palaeographically to the 9th century...

106
Minuscule 106
Minuscule 106 , ε 1380 , is a Greek minuscule manuscript of the New Testament, on parchment leaves. Palaeographically it has been assigned to the 10th century.- Description :...

. It belong also to the textual cluster 1053 in Luke 1 and Luke 20.

It has an unusual readings. The text of Luke 22:43-44
Christ's agony at Gethsemane
Christ's agony at Gethsemane is a passage in the Gospel of Luke , describing a prayer of Jesus, after which he receives strength from an angel, on the Mount of Olives prior to his betrayal and arrest...

 is omitted.

History

The manuscript was held in the monastery Mar Saba
Mar Saba
The Great Lavra of St. Sabbas the Sanctified, known in Arabic as Mar Saba , is a Greek Orthodox monastery overlooking the Kidron Valley in the West Bank east of Bethlehem. The traditional date for the founding of the monastery by Saint Sabas of Cappadocia is the year 483 and today houses around 20...

. In 1834 Robert Curzon, Lord Zouche
Robert Curzon, 14th Baron Zouche
Robert Curzon, 14th Baron Zouche , styled The Honourable Robert Curzon between 1829 and 1870, was an English traveller, diplomat and author, active in the Near East. He was responsible for acquiring several unimportant and late Biblical manuscripts from Eastern Orthodox monasteries.Curzon was the...

, brought this manuscript to England (along with the codices 548
Minuscule 548
Minuscule 548 , ε 1015 , is a Greek minuscule manuscript of the New Testament, on parchment. Palaeographically it has been assigned to the 11th century.Scrivener labelled it by number 535....

, 553
Minuscule 553
Minuscule 553 , ε 331 , is a Greek minuscule manuscript of the New Testament, on parchment. Palaeographically it has been assigned to the 13th century.Scrivener labelled it by number 540....

, 554
Minuscule 554
Minuscule 554 , ε 332 , is a Greek minuscule manuscript of the New Testament, on parchment. It is dated by a Colophon to the year 1271 or 1272.Scrivener labelled it by number 541.- Description :...

). The entire collection of Curzon was bequeathed by his daughter in 1917 to the British Museum
British Museum
The British Museum is a museum of human history and culture in London. Its collections, which number more than seven million objects, are amongst the largest and most comprehensive in the world and originate from all continents, illustrating and documenting the story of human culture from its...

, where it had been deposited, by his son, since 1876.

The manuscripts was added to the list of the New Testament minuscule manuscripts by F. H. A. Scrivener (539) and C. R. Gregory (552).

The manuscript was examined by Scrivener, Dean Burgon, and Gregory (in 1883).

It is currently housed at the British Library
British Library
The British Library is the national library of the United Kingdom, and is the world's largest library in terms of total number of items. The library is a major research library, holding over 150 million items from every country in the world, in virtually all known languages and in many formats,...

 (Additional Manuscripts, 39595) in London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...

.

See also

  • List of New Testament minuscules
  • Biblical manuscript
    Biblical manuscript
    A biblical manuscript is any handwritten copy of a portion of the text of the Bible. The word Bible comes from the Greek biblia ; manuscript comes from Latin manu and scriptum...

  • Textual criticism
    Textual criticism
    Textual criticism is a branch of literary criticism that is concerned with the identification and removal of transcription errors in the texts of manuscripts...


Further reading

  • S. Emmel, Catalogue of Materials for Writing, Early Writings on Tablets and Stones, rolled and other Manuscripts and Oriental Manuscript Books, in the Library of the Honourable Robert Curzon (London 1849).
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