Codex Vaticanus: Novum Testamentum Graece

Indeed, the Codex VaticanusOne of the oldest and most important surviving manuscript copies of the Greek Bible, dating to the 4th century. of the Greek Testament has always been too carefully guarded to allow any foreign scholar sufficient time to collateA collation is a word-for-word comparison of different versions of a text to identify every variation, error, or addition. it fully. When Constantin von Tischendorf (1815–1874) was a preeminent German biblical scholar who spent his life tracking down the oldest surviving fragments of the Bible. Tischendorf had it placed in his hands in 1843, Cardinal Angelo Mai (1782–1854) was an Italian scholar and cardinal who oversaw the first major printing of the Vatican Codex. Mai’s edition was already in print and was shown to him by the Cardinal himself; but Pope Gregory XIV The text likely contains a historical error, naming Gregory XIV (reigned 1590–1591) instead of Gregory XVI (reigned 1831–1846), who was the Pope during Tischendorf's 1843 visit. would not permit a single copy of it to be issued. Various reasons have been assigned for this, but none of them can be considered satisfactory. It need not, therefore, be wondered at if all the comparisons made between the texts until now are full of contradictions, which even the greatest critical skill has been unable to resolve.

For the last fifteen years, the printed text has been guarded with no less vigilance than the manuscript itself. In presenting it to scholars in the separate, portable form of an octavoA book size roughly 6 by 9 inches, much easier to handle than larger desk-bound volumes. volume—instead of the bulky and expensive quartoA large book format, roughly 9 by 12 inches. in which it has recently been issued authoritatively as an inseparable companion to the Greek SeptuagintThe earliest Greek translation of the Hebrew Old Testament.—the Publishers hope to have done good service both to literature and the cause of truth. This edition enables everyone who would judge for himself to compare the entire text with the various readings that have been referenced, which until now have rested solely upon the credibility of the individuals who provided those comparisons.

It must be obvious to every scholar that the first publication of such a venerable text of the New Testament in a complete form cannot fail to present us with many fresh readings. This is particularly true when we remember how nearly impossible it has been to obtain access to the manuscript itself. The British Quarterly Review furnishes the following as a small sample of what a careful comparison of the text of the Codex Vaticanus will supply: Matthew 6:13, the DoxologyThe "Doxology" refers to the concluding praise in the Lord's Prayer: "For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever. Amen." Its absence in the Codex Vaticanus suggests it was a later addition to the original Gospel. is omitted;