AN ANALYSIS OF THE NEWLY DISCOVERED

MINUSCULE GA 2903

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A Thesis
Presented to
the Faculty of the Department of New Testament Studies
Dallas Theological Seminary

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In Partial Fulfillment
of the Requirements for the Degree
Master of Theology

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by
Oleksandr Dudka
September 2014

Accepted by the Faculty of the Dallas Theological Seminary in

partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree Master of Theology

Examining Committee

ABSTRACT
AN ANALYSIS OF THE NEWLY DISCOVERED
MINUSCULE GA 2903
Oleksandr Dudka
Readers: Daniel B. Wallace, W. Hall Harris, III

The recent development of high-quality digital photography technology has

made possible the collection of images of the Greek NT manuscripts of a much superior
quality to the microfilms and low quality black-and-white photographs that were used
before. This has led to the significant increase of precision in deciphering these
manuscripts. In addition to the improvements in technology, new previously
uncatalogued manuscripts are being discovered. A group of previously uncatalogued
manuscripts was recently discovered in Albania, National Archive, by Daniel B. Wallace
and the Center for the Study of New Testament Manuscripts. One of these new
minuscules, Albanian National Archive number 98, which contains 2 Pet. 2:143:18; 13
John, Jude, Romans2 Thessalonians, Hebrews, 1 TimothyTitus 2:13, originates from
the XIIXIII century. Later it was given the number in Gregory Aland system, GA 2903.
This thesis provides a collation of this manuscript, GA 2903, and an analysis of its textual
variants. The work concludes with an evaluation of the variant readings of 2903 and a
suggestion of the possible predecessor text(s) for GA 2903.

TABLE OF CONTENTS
Chapter
1.

INTRODUCTION. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Discovery and Subsequent History of GA 2903

Content and Condition of GA 2903
Limitations in the Scope and Method of Research
Summary
2.

AUTOPSY OF GA 2903 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
The Main Features of GA 2903
The Other Data in GA 2903
Content of GA 2903
Corrections
Old Testament Quotation Markers
Nomina Sacra
Lectionary Beginning and End, Abbreviations
Hypotheses
Kephalaia
Neumes
Additional Notes

3.

COLLATION OF THE GA 2903 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

4.

NOTEWORTHY READINGS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Deviations from the Robinson-Pierpont Text

Agreement with NA28 against the MT
Western Readings
Alexandrian Readings
Possible Reasons for Deviations from the MT
5.

CONCLUSIONS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

BIBLIOGRAPHY. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

APPENDIX: LIST OF SIGNIFICANT VARIANTS FROM MT. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

ABBREVIATIONS
CSNTM

Center for the Study of New Testament Manuscripts

GA

Gregory-Aland

INTF

Institut fr Neutestamentliche Textforschung

K-Liste

Aland, Kurt. Kurzgefasste Liste der griechischen Handschriften des Neuen Testaments.
2nd ed. Berlin:Walter De Gruyter, 1994.

MT

Majority Text (2005 Robinson-Pierpont edition, unless otherwise noted)

NA28

Nestle, Eberhard, and Erwin Nestle. Nestle-Aland: Novum Testamentum Graece. Edited
by Barbara Aland, Kurt Aland, Johannes Karavidopoulos, Carlo M. Martini, and Bruce
M. Metzger. 28th revidierte Auflage. Stuttgart: Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft, 2012.

NS

Nomina sacra

NT

New Testament

OT

Old Testament

UV

ultra violet

pm

Multiple manuscripts