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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.
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(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). |
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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. |
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(3) The Short Ending in Columns Two and
Three. Here, the Short Ending is begun on the line that immediately follows -TO GAR. By slightly enlarging the lettering, the Short Ending has been made to extend into the third column (even without the final "amen"). |
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(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. |