Codex Zacynthius

The book contains the following chapters and verses of the Gospel of Luke: 1:1-9,19-23,27-28,30-32,36-60,77; 2:19,21-22,33-3; 3:5-8,11-20; 4:1-2,6-20,32-43; 5:17-36; 6:21; 7:6,11-37,39-47; 8:4-21,25-35,43-50; 9:1-28,32-33,35; 9:41; 10:18,21-40; 11:1-4,24-33.[4]

Luke 9:55b–56a

καὶ εἶπεν, Οὑκ οἴδατε οἵου πνεύματος ἑστε ὐμεῖς; ὀ γὰρ υἰὸς τοῦ ἁνθρώπου οὑκ ἦλθεν ψυχὰς ἁνθρώπων ἁπολέσαι ἁλλὰ σῶσαι (and He said: "You do not know what manner of spirit you are of; for the Son of man came not to destroy men's lives but to save them)

omit - Ξ א‎ B C L Θ 33 700 892 1241 sy bo

incl. - Majority of manuscripts [12]^: 190

Luke 4:17

καὶ ἀνοίξας τὸ βιβλίον (and opened the book) - Ξ A B L W 33 892 1195 1241 ℓ 547 sy^{s, h, pal} sa bo

καὶ ἀναπτύξας τὸ βιβλίον (and unrolled the book) - א‎ D^c K Δ Θ Π Ψ ƒ¹ ƒ¹³ 28 565 700 1009 1010[13][12]^: 164

Luke 9:10

εις πολιν καλουμενην Βηθσαιδα (to a city called Bethsaida) - Ξ 𝔓⁷⁵ B L 33 2542 sa bo

εις τοπον ερημον πολεως καλουμενην Βηδσαιδα (into a deserted place belonging to the city called Bethsaida) - Ξ^mg Majority of manuscripts[12]^: 185

Tregelles dated the manuscript to the 8th century. Tregelles was aware that the handwriting is typical for the 6th century, but the handwriting of the commentary is much older. The letters Ε Θ Ο Σ are round, high, and narrow, and could not have been written before the 8th century. C. R. Gregory supported Tregelles's point of view. According to Nicholas Pocock, the manuscript could not have been written before the 6th century nor after the 8th century.[7]^{: 136–137}

William Hatch in 1937, on the basis of palaeographical data, suggested that the codex should be dated to the 6th century. It does not use breathings and accents and the text of the commentary is written in uncial script.[8]^{: 335–337} Aland supported Hatch's point of view.[n 1] This date is accepted by the majority of scholars.[2][4]

David C. Parker in 2004 argued that manuscript was written later than the 6th century, because it has a small number of square letters, and the handwriting is not typical for the 6th century. Some letters were compressed (Μ, Δ, Ε), the bar over the letter Τ is short and the letter Υ is written in several ways. According to Parker the manuscript should be dated to the 7th century.[22]

It is currently dated by the INTF to the 6th century.[16]

Colin Macaulay, 1792, by John Smart, by permission of the Provost & Fellows of Kings College, Cambridge

The early history of the manuscript is unknown. In 1821 it was brought by General Colin Macaulay to England from the Greek island Zakynthos in the Ionian Sea, after being presented to him by Prince Comuto (Antonios Dimitriou Komoutos, 1748-1833) a former President of the Septinsular Republic. Comuto inscribed the Codex to Macaulay as a token of his esteem. On his return to England Macaulay presented the Codex to British and Foreign Bible Society[23] which then placed it in its library (Mss 24) in London.[5]^: 91

Scholz saw the manuscript in 1845, and Paul de Lagarde in 1853, but they did not decipher it.[5]^: 91 The subtext of the Palimpest was partly deciphered, transcribed, and edited by the Rev. Tregelles in 1861.[15] Tregelles used types originally cast for printing the Codex Alexandrinus,[24] which only approximately represented the shape of the letters of the codex. The hand-written letters are smaller than the later letters. Tregelles included one page of typographical facsimile in this edition.[7]^: 137 He did not decipher the small Patristic writing and doubted that it could be read without chemical restoration.[19]^: 126

Nicholas Pocock found errors in Tregelles' edition,[7]^: 137 but William Hatch thought it satisfactory. J. Harold Greenlee corrected Tregelles' errors and edited the list of corrections in 1957,[25] which was examined by William Hatch. In 1959 Greenlee published a commentary.[9] The codex probably needs another examination with modern technology.[4]

Samuel Prideaux Tregelles

Tischendorf cited the codex in his Editio Octava Critica Maior in 564 places.[19]^: 162 It is often cited in the critical editions of the Greek New Testament (UBS3,[20]^: 11 NA26,[12] NA27[26]).

In 1985 it was loaned to the Cambridge University Library (BFBS Ms 213).[16] In December 2013, the Bible Society announced plans to sell some manuscripts, among them the Codex Zacynthius, to raise funds for a Visitors Centre in Wales. The University was given right of first refusal and had until February 2014 to raise the money to acquire the codex.[27]

The public appeal raised £1.1 million and the codex was purchased by the Cambridge University Library. A full spectrographic analysis was conducted and a definitive transcription of the Palimpest then published by Professor Hugh Houghton and Professor John Parker of the University of Birmingham.[28]