The Jerusalem Colophon is a colophon

Colophon (publishing)

In publishing, a colophon is either:* A brief description of publication or production notes relevant to the edition, in modern books usually located at the reverse of the title page, but can also sometimes be located at the end of the book, or...

 found in a number of New Testament manuscripts, including Λ (039)

Codex Tischendorfianus III

Codex Tischendorfianus III – designated by siglum Λ or 039 , ε 77 – is a Greek uncial manuscript of the Gospels on parchment...

, 20

Minuscule 20

Minuscule 20 , A138 . It is a Greek minuscule manuscript of the New Testament, dated paleographically to the 11th century. The manuscript has complex contents and full marginalia. It was prepared for the church reading....

, 153

Minuscule 153

Minuscule 153 , ε 402 , is a Greek minuscule manuscript of the New Testament, on cotton paper. Palaeographically it has been assigned to the 14th century...

, 157

Minuscule 157

Minuscule 157 , ε 207 , is a Greek minuscule manuscript of the New Testament, on vellum. According to the colophon it is dated to the year 1122. Formerly date was wrongly deciphered as 1128?...

, 164

Minuscule 164

Minuscule 164 , ε 116 , is a Greek minuscule manuscript of the New Testament, on parchment. It is dated by its colophon to the year 1039. It has complex contents, with full marginalia.- Description :...

, 215

Minuscule 215

Minuscule 215 , A134 , is a Greek minuscule manuscript of the New Testament, on parchment. Paleographically it has been assigned to the 11th century. It has full marginalia.- Description :...

, 262

Minuscule 262

Minuscule 262 , ε 1020 , is a Greek minuscule manuscript of the New Testament, on parchment. Palaeographically it has been assigned to the 10th century. It has marginalia.- Description :...

, 300

Minuscule 300

Minuscule 300 , A141 , is a Greek minuscule manuscript of the New Testament, on parchment. Palaeographically it has been assigned to the 11th century.It has marginalia.- Description :...

, 376

Minuscule 376

Minuscule 376 , ε 100 , is a Greek minuscule manuscript of the New Testament, on parchment. Paleographically it has been assigned to the 11th century.It has marginalia.- Description :...

, 428

Minuscule 428

Minuscule 428 , Θε33 , is a Greek minuscule manuscript of the New Testament, on cotton paper. Palaeographically it has been assigned to the 13th century.- Description :...

, 565

Minuscule 565

Minuscule 565 , ε 93 , also known as the Empress Theodora's Codex. It is a Greek minuscule manuscript of the New Testament, on purple parchment, dated palaeographically to the 9th century...

, 566

Minuscule 566

Minuscule 566 , ε 93 , also known as the Empress Theodora's Codex. It is a Greek minuscule manuscript of the New Testament, on parchment, dated palaeographically to the 9th century.- Description :...

, 686

Minuscule 686

Minuscule 686 , Θε34 , is a Greek minuscule manuscript of the New Testament, on parchment. It is dated by a colophon to the year 1337. Some leaves of the manuscript were lost...

, 718

Minuscule 718

Minuscule 718 , ε352 , is a Greek minuscule manuscript of the New Testament, on parchment. Palaeographically it has been assigned to the 14th century. The manuscript is lacunose...

, 728, 748, 829

Minuscule 829 (Gregory-Aland)

Minuscule 829 , ε220 , is a 12th-century Greek minuscule manuscript of the New Testament on parchment.- Description :...

, 899, 901, 922, 980, 1032, 1071, 1118, 1121, 1124, 1187, 1198, 1355, 1422, 1521, 1545, 1555, 1682, 2145, and 2245. The full version of the colophon is ευαγγελιον κατα ματθαιον εγραφη και αντεβληθη εκ των ιεροσολυμοις παλαιων αντιγραφων των εν τω αγιω ορει αποκειμενων εν ατιχοις βφιδ. κεφφ. τνε.
– that the manuscript (in this case the "Gospel According to Matthew") was "copied and corrected from the ancient exemplars from Jerusalem

Jerusalem in Christianity

For Christians, Jerusalem's place in the ministry of Jesus and the Apostolic Age gives it great importance, in addition to its place in the Old Testament, the Hebrew Bible.-Jerusalem in the New Testament and early Christianity:...

 preserved on the holy mountain" (according to the majority of scholars, it was Mount Athos

Mount Athos

Mount Athos is a mountain and peninsula in Macedonia, Greece. A World Heritage Site, it is home to 20 Eastern Orthodox monasteries and forms a self-governed monastic state within the sovereignty of the Hellenic Republic. Spiritually, Mount Athos comes under the direct jurisdiction of the...

). Usually the colophon is abbreviated in subsequent mentions in the same manuscript. The text of the manuscripts that share the colophon are not necessarily textually related (though a surprising number belong to Group Λ (039), 164, 262, and perhaps some of the many manuscripts Wisse does not classify). In many cases the colophon was copied down from document to document independent of the text. The majority of these manuscripts are representative of the Byzantine text-type

Byzantine text-type

The Byzantine text-type is one of several text-types used in textual criticism to describe the textual character of Greek New Testament manuscripts. It is the form found in the largest number of surviving manuscripts, though not in the oldest...

.

The meaning of the colophon was discussed by Kirsopp Lake

Kirsopp Lake

Kirsopp Lake was a New Testament scholar and Winn Professor of Ecclesiastical History at Harvard Divinity School. He had an uncommon breadth of interests, publishing definitive monographs in New Testament textual criticism, Greek palaeography, theology, and archaeology...

. Lake holds that the "Holy Mountain" is Mount Sinai

Biblical Mount Sinai

The Biblical Mount Sinai is the mountain at which the Book of Exodus states that the Ten Commandments were given to Moses by God...

.

According to Caspar René Gregory

Caspar René Gregory

Caspar René Gregory was a American-born German theologian theologian.-Life:Gregory was born in Philadelphia. He studied theology at two Presbyterian seminaries: in 1865-67 at the University of Pennsylvania and at Princeton Theological Seminary...

it would be possible that the manuscript Tischendorfianus III was written and corrected in Jerusalem.

External links

• Assorted Short Definition at the Encyclopedia of New Testament Textual Criticism