Uncial 0285 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;...

 uncial

Uncial

Uncial is a majuscule script commonly used from the 3rd to 8th centuries AD by Latin and Greek scribes. Uncial letters are written in either Greek, Latin, or Gothic.-Development:...

 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....

. Paleographically

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 6th century.

Description

The codex contains the text of the Pauline epistles

Pauline epistles

The Pauline epistles, Epistles of Paul, or Letters of Paul, are the thirteen New Testament books which have the name Paul as the first word, hence claiming authorship by Paul the Apostle. Among these letters are some of the earliest extant Christian documents...

 and 1 Peter

First Epistle of Peter

The First Epistle of Peter, usually referred to simply as First Peter and often written 1 Peter, is a book of the New Testament. The author claims to be Saint Peter the apostle, and the epistle was traditionally held to have been written during his time as bishop of Rome or Bishop of Antioch,...

 with numerous lacunae

Lacuna (manuscripts)

A lacunaPlural lacunae. From Latin lacūna , diminutive form of lacus . is a gap in a manuscript, inscription, text, painting, or a musical work...

, on 20 parchment leaves (29 cm by 19.5 cm). The text is written in two columns per page, 18 lines per page, in uncial letters. The leaves have survived in a fragmentary condition.

Romans 5:12.14; 8:37-9:5; 13:1-4; 13:11-14:3; 1 Corinthians 4:2-7; 12:16.18.21-30; 14:26-33; Ephesians 3:13-20; 5:28-6:1; 1 Timothy 1:1-7; Hebrews 8:9-9:1; 9:25-10:2; 11:3-7; 12:22-13:25; 1 Peter 3:17-4:1.

The Greek 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...

.

Currently it is dated by the INTF to the 6th century.

Location

It is one of the manuscripts discovered in Saint Catherine's Monastery

Saint Catherine's Monastery, Mount Sinai

Saint Catherine's Monastery lies on the Sinai Peninsula, at the mouth of a gorge at the foot of Mount Sinai in the city of Saint Catherine in Egypt's South Sinai Governorate. The monastery is Orthodox and is a UNESCO World Heritage Site...

 at Sinai in May 1975, during the restoration work.
Currently the codex is housed at the St. Catherine's Monastery (N.E. ΜΓ 70) in Sinai

Sinai Peninsula

The Sinai Peninsula or Sinai is a triangular peninsula in Egypt about in area. It is situated between the Mediterranean Sea to the north, and the Red Sea to the south, and is the only part of Egyptian territory located in Asia as opposed to Africa, effectively serving as a land bridge between two...

.

This manuscript was part of the same codex to which Uncial 081

Uncial 081

Codex Tischendorfianus II – designated by Uncial 081 α 1023 , – is a Greek uncial manuscript of the New Testament, dated paleographically to the 6th century.- Description :...

 belonged. 081 was brought to Russia in the 1859 by Tischendorf and it is housed at the Russian National Library

Russian National Library

The National Library of Russia in St Petersburg, known as the State Public Saltykov-Shchedrin Library from 1932 to 1992 , is the oldest public library in Russia...

 (Gr. 9,2) in Saint Petersburg

Saint Petersburg

Saint Petersburg is a city and a federal subject of Russia located on the Neva River at the head of the Gulf of Finland on the Baltic Sea...

.

See also

• List of New Testament uncials
• 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

• Linos Politis, Nouveaux manuscrits grecs découverts au Mont Sinaï. Rapport Préliminaire, Scriptorium 34, (1980), pp. 5-17.