Codex Vaticanus

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(alsoknownasCodexB) Codex Vaticanus is considered to be the most authoritative of the Minority Texts, although it is responsible for over 36,000 changes thatappeartodayinthenewversions. Thismanuscriptwasfoundin1481intheVaticanlibraryinRome,whereitiscurrentlyheld,and from whence it received its name. It is written on expensive vellum, a fine parchment originally from the skin of calf or antelope. Some authorities claim that it was one of a batch of 50 Bibles ordered from Egypt by the Roman Emperor Constantine; hence its beautiful appearance and the expensiveskinswhichwereusedforitspages.Butalas!thismanuscript,likeitscorruptEgyptian partnerCodexSinaiticus(Aleph)isalsoriddledwithomissions,insertionsandamendments. The corrupt and unreliable nature of Codex B is best summed up by one who has thoroughly examinedthem,JohnWBurgon:The impurity of the text exhibited by these codices is not a question of opinion but fact...IntheGospelsalone,CodexB(Vatican)leavesoutwordsorwholeclausesnoless than1,491times. Itbearstracesofcarelesstranscriptionsoneverypage According to The Westminster Dictionary of the Bible, "It should be noted . . . that there is no prominent Biblical (manuscripts) in which there occur such gross cases of misspelling, faulty grammar, and omission, as in (Codex) B."

ConsiderthesefactsandodditiesrelatingtotheCodexVaticanus:
1. Itwascorrectedbyrevisersinthe8th,10th,and15thcenturies(W.EugeneScott,CodexVaticanus,1996). 2. Theentiremanuscripthasbeenmutilated...everyletterhasbeenrunoverwithapen,makingexactidentificationofmany ofthecharactersimpossible.Dr.DavidBrownobserves:I question the great witness value of any manuscript that has been overwritten, doctored, changed and added to for more than 10 centuries.(TheGreatUnicals). 3. IntheGospelsitleavesout749entiresentencesand452clauses,plus237otherwords,allofwhicharefoundinhundreds ofotherGreek manuscripts.Thetotalnumberofwordsomittedin Codex B inthe Gospelsaloneis 2,877ascompared withthemajorityofmanuscripts(Burgon,TheRevisionRevised,p.75). 4. VaticanusomitsMark16:920,butablankspaceisleftforthatsectionofScripture.ThefollowingtestimonyisbyJohn Burgon, who examined Vaticanus personally: To say that in the Vatican Codex (B), which is unquestionably the oldest we possess, St. Marks Gospel ends abruptly at the eighth verse of the sixteenth chapter, and that the customary subscription (Kata Mapkon) follows, is true; but it is far from being the whole truth. It requires to be stated in addition that the scribe, whose plan is found to have been to begin every fresh book of the Bible at the top of the next ensuing column to that which contained the concluding words of the preceding book, has at the close of St. Marks Gospel deviated from his else invariable practice. HEHASLEFTINTHIS PLACEONECOLUMNENTIRELYVACANT.ITISTHEONLYVACANTCOLUMNINTHEWHOLEMANUSCRIPT A BLANK SPACE ABUNDANTLY SUFFICIENT TO CONTAIN THE TWELVE VERSES WHICH HE NEVERTHELESS WITHHELD.WHYDIDHELEAVETHATCOLUMNVACANT? What can have induced the scribe on this solitary occasion to

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Codex Vaticanus

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depart from his established rule? The phenomenon (I believe I was the first to call distinct attention to it) is in the highest degree significant, and admits only one interpretation. The older manuscript from which Codex B was copied must have infallibly contained the twelve verses in dispute. The copyist was instructed to leave them out and he obeyed; but he prudently left a blank space in memoriam rei. Neverwasablankmoreintelligible! Neverwassilencemoreeloquent! By this simple expedient, strange to relate, the Vatican Codex is made to refute itself even while it seems to be bearing testimony against the concluding verses of St. Marks Gospel, by withholding them; for it forbids the inference which, under ordinary circumstances, must have been drawn from that omission. Itdoesmore. By leaving room for the verses it omits, it brings into prominent notice at the end of fifteen centuries and a half, a more ancient witness than itself. (Burgon,TheLastTwelveVersesoftheGospelofSt.MarkVindicated,1871, pp.8687) 5. SimilartoCodexSinaiticus,CodexVaticanusidentifiesitselfasaproductofgnosticcorruptioninJohn1:18,wherethe only begotten Son ischangedtothe only begotten God, thusperpetuatingtheancientArianheresythatdisassociatesthe Son of God Jesus Christ from God Himself by claiming that the Word was not the same as the Son. John Gospel s identifiestheSondirectlywiththeWord(John1:1,18),butbychangingSontoGodinverse18,thisdirectassociation isbroken. 6. LinguisticscholarshaveobservedthatCodexVaticanusisreminiscentofclassicalandPlatonicGreek,notKoineGreek oftheNewTestament(seeAdolfDeissman sLightoftheAncientEast).NestleadmittedthathehadtochangehisGreek text(whenusingVaticanusandSinaiticus)tomakeitappearlikeKoineGreek. 7. CodexVaticanuscontainsthefalseRomanCatholicapocryphalbookssuchasJudith,Tobias,andBaruch,whileitomits thepastoralepistles(ITimothythroughTitus),theBookofRevelation,anditcutsofftheBookofHebrewsatHebrews 9:14(averyconvenientstoppingpointfortheCatholicChurch,sinceGodforbidstheirpriesthoodinHebrews10and exposesthemassastotallyuselessaswell!).

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