Codex Bodmer XIX, is a Coptic

Coptic language

Coptic or Coptic Egyptian is the current stage of the Egyptian language, a northern Afro-Asiatic language spoken in Egypt until at least the 17th century. Egyptian began to be written using the Greek alphabet in the 1st century...

 uncial 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 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, dated 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...

 to the 4th century (or 5th century). It contains the text of the Gospel of Matthew

Gospel of Matthew

The Gospel According to Matthew is one of the four canonical gospels, one of the three synoptic gospels, and the first book of the New Testament. It tells of the life, ministry, death, and resurrection of Jesus of Nazareth...

 14:28-28:20; Epistle to the Romans

Epistle to the Romans

The Epistle of Paul to the Romans, often shortened to Romans, is the sixth book in the New Testament. Biblical scholars agree that it was composed by the Apostle Paul to explain that Salvation is offered through the Gospel of Jesus Christ...

 1:1-2:3. It is written in Sahidic dialect of Coptic language.

The two books are paginated separately in the codex. According to Kasser four scribes worked on the manuscript, one wrote the text of Matthew, one who wrote the text of Romans, and two later correctors.

The text of the codex is a representative of the Alexandrian text-type

Alexandrian text-type

The Alexandrian text-type , associated with Alexandria, is one of several text-types used in New Testament textual criticism to describe and group the textual character of biblical manuscripts...

.

It was published by Rodolphe Kasser

Rodolphe Kasser

Rodolphe Kasser , philologist and archaeologist, is a Coptic scholar. He is a Swiss national, and expert in translation of ancient Coptic language manuscripts.- Biography and works :...

 in 1962.

Currently it is housed at the Bibliotheca Bodmeriana (P. Bodmer XIX) in Cologny

Cologny

Cologny is a municipality in the Canton of Geneva, Switzerland.-Geography:Cologny has an area, , of . Of this area, or 17.7% is used for agricultural purposes, while or 4.1% is forested...

.

See also

• List of the Coptic New Testament manuscripts
• Coptic versions of the Bible
  Coptic versions of the Bible
  There have been many Coptic versions of the Bible, including some of the earliest translations into any language. Several different versions were made in the ancient world, with different editions of the Old and New Testament in all four of the major dialects of Coptic: Bohairic , Fayyumic, Sahidic...
  
  
• 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...
  
  

Further reading

• Rodolphe Kasser, Papyrus Bodmer XIX, Évangile de Matthieu XIV, 28-XXVIII, 20, Épître aux Romains I. 1-II.3 en sahidique (Cologny-Geneva, 1962).