Vaticanus

This page takes a special look at Codex B's testimony

about the ending of Mark. As you can see from the

picture to the right, the text of Mark in B ends at the end

of Mark 16:8, followed by an ornamental line and,

further down, the subscription "KATA MARKON"

("according to Mark"). The third column is blank.

The blank space after 16:8 is not capable of containing

the Double-Ending (that is, the Short Ending followed by
16:9-20, often with intervening annotations), which is the
dominant reading in the Alexandrian Text (to which B is
the best overall witness). The following four pictures
illustrate some interesting characteristics of the blank
space in B.

(1) 16:9-20a in normal lettering. Verses 9-20 do

not fit into Vaticanus' blank space when written like the

preceding text. Four more lines are required to contain

the remaining 67 Greek letters in 16:20.

(2) The Short Ending at the Base of Column
Two. As shown by the picture to the left, the space
in the second column after the end of 16:8 would be
exactly the right amount in which to place the Short
Ending (with or without the final "amen," which is
included here). This shows that if the copyist knew
of only the Short Ending, he would have had no
impetus to leave the following column blank. This
would require the subscription to be placed in the
lower margin, but such a thing occurs twice in the
NT in Vaticanus (at the end of Luke and at the end
of Philippians).

These observations show that the arrangement of the text of Mark 16:1-8 in Codex B
would allow the diorthotes to complete the manuscript by adding an ornamental line and
subscription (which is the option that was taken), or by inserting the Short Ending with its
lettering slightly stretched so as to extend into the third column, or by inserting the Long
Ending with its lettering compressed so as to fit into the second and third columns.

The blank space after Mark 16:8 in Codex B may therefore indicate that B's exemplar
displayed the Double-Ending, or that B's copyist possessed at least one exemplar with the
Short Ending and at least one exemplar with the Long Ending. On that premise, B's
copyist, discerning that one or the other ending might be desirable, but not both, cleverly
provided the means by which one or the other could be inserted.

The addition of another blank column would have provided enough space to write verses
9-20 without letter-compression, but this would have also meant that, if the Short Ending
had been adopted instead, a blank column would separate the end of Mark from the
beginning of Luke. This further indicates (assuming the initial premise) that the copyist did
not want to leave blank spaces between books. And if the copyist did not want to leave
blank spaces between books, then we may deduce that the copyist expected, or harbored
a preference, that the blank space presently occupying the space between Mk. 16:8 and
Lk. 1:1 would eventually be occupied by either the Short Ending or the Long Ending.

Finally, we note that Vaticanus has 42 lines per column in Mark, but the first 344 pages of
Vaticanus have 44 lines per column (according to T.C. Skeat in Journal of Theological
Studies, Oct. 1999). The size of the columns remains the same, which requires that on
pages 1-344 each line is slightly less tall than lines in the rest of the codex). This feature
increases the likelihood that the copyist was aware that verses 9-20 could be written in a
slightly diminished script so as to fit in the space provided after 16:8.

(4) The Entire Text of
16:9-20 in the Blank
Space. The inclusion of the
entire text of 16:9-20 is
achieved via a slight
reduction in the size of some
of the letters, combined with
a reduction in the space
between letters. When
common abbreviations are
made, the entire contents of
16:9-20 can be contained in
the blank space with room to
spare.

Notice that the text includes
the phrase in 16:18, "and in
their hands" (KAI EN TAIS
CHERSIN) and the final
AMEN, and that the nomen
sacrum OURANOS is not
abbreviated.