More Leaves from
an Old Armenian New Testament Manuscript:
The “Kurdian/Chicago Praxapostolos“

Separate Leaves on Vellum
from the Acts of the Apostles
in Different Collections

Double columns of 27 lines in bolorgir minuscule script,
with rubrications and Euthalian apparatus

1) Private Collection: Acts 16:24 [middle] – 17:6 [middle]

2) Richard Weber Collection: Acts 20:5 [beginning] – Acts 20:26 [end]
(Leaf size: 10.2 x 13.7 cm; Written area: 7.1 x 10.2 cm; Column width: 3.2 cm)

[Posted on 30 May 2022, with updates]

Research Group on Manuscript Evidence, “Two Detached Leaves” Booklet Cover, with the opening of Acts 23:12.

More leaves emerge into view from a dismembered manuscript in Old Armenian with selections from the New Testament. Apparently it comprised a copy of a Praxapostolos, that is, containing parts of the New Testament without the Gospels and certain other Books.  We have examined several leaves from this book before.

Some earlier blogposts, and an RGME Research Booklet, have introduced other leaves from the same manuscript.

• New Testament Leaves in Old Armenian
  reporting “A Pair of Leaves [in a Private Collection] Identified, Described, Collated, and Set into the Context of its Manuscript”
• Leslie J. French, Two Detached Manuscript Leaves containing New Testament Texts in Old Armenian: A Report prepared for the Research Group on Manuscript Evidence (RGME, 2015)
• The Plot Thickens
  reporting on “A New Leaf Found at the University of Pennsylvania
  from the “Kurdian/Chicago New Testament Praxapostolos[?]
  in Old Armenian”

For the Research Report, Armenian glyphs were designed for the Research Group’s multi-lingual digital font Bembino, freely available on our website.  (See Multi-lingual Bembino.)

As the word spreads, the story grows.

After those reports, we were contacted by Sani Eskinazi (then at Stanford University), as he worked to complete a Final Project for History 14N on “Reconstituting an Armenian Bible from the 15th Century” (2019), based upon a leaf in Special Collections with part of II Corinthians:  Stanford University Libraries, M0297, Box 1, Item 103. With Sani’s expected collaboration, we continue to prepare an updated and expanded version of the Report Booklet.

Meanwhile, it is time to show some more leaves from the same manuscript, as custodians and owners respond to our blogpost, and wish to share their materials more widely. As part of the work for the updated Report, here we present two leaves which have come to our attention this year.

First, we recall some other leaves from the manuscript.  (See below.)

Next we present the “new” leaves. Each of them was purchased online as a separate leaf, with or without an accompanying label. Each presents part of the text of the Acts of the Apostles.

1) One has come to the same Private Collection with the two leaves which prompted both our first blogpost on the manuscript and its accompanying Report Booklet. Those two leaves are considered to be Folios “I” and “II” in the collection; the new one is its Folio “III” (or “3”).

2) The other belongs to the collection of Richard Weber. While we prepare a report, or series of reports, on a group of other materials in his collection, manuscript and printed, we begin with the Old Armenian New Testament Leaf which he purchased on its own (plus label) from an online seller, who had little information about it.

About the Armenian Text

The principal reference for the Armenian New Testament Text is the online TITUS system:

• TITUS. Text Collection: NT. Novum testamentum armeniace.

That system is based upon

• the so-called “Zohrab Bible”, edited by Hovhannēs Zōhrapean (1756–1829): Astowacašownčՙ matean hin ew nor ktakaranacՙ (Venice, 1805) — available in scanned form from Google Books.

As observed in the other known leaves from the same manuscript, this leaf conforms with the genre of Praxapostolos (πραξαπόστολος). That is (see Praxapostolos),

a Bible MS which contains the New Testament text except for the Four Gospels and Revelation (or the Apocalypse of John). The sequence was as follows:

Acts,
the Catholic Epistles in their biblical order,
then the Pauline and other Epistles in their biblical order.

The Manuscript

As reported in The Plot Thickens, various leaves, now in several collections, both private and institutional, preserve parts of dismembered manuscript in Old Armenian written in bolorgir minuscule script of the 15th or 16th century CE. The remnants contain parts of the New Testament (some observers say a Lectionary), plus a Prayer (or its opening line) and a Scribal Colophon (of unknown contents), now dispersed in parts among several collections worldwide.  (See Two Detached Manuscript Leaves containing New Testament Texts in Old Armenian.)

So far, as our research on the manuscript deepens and broadens, we know of surviving portions from the Acts of the Apostles, James, I and II Peter, I–III John, Jude, Romans, I–II Corinthians, I Thessalonians, and II Timothy.  That, so far, no leaves are known from the Gospels or Revelation/Apocalypse reinforces an identification of this manuscript as a Praxapostolos.

As a Reminder: Specimens Considered in Earlier Blogposts

Previous blogposts have centered upon three leaves respectively from Acts and I Corinthians, with notice of leaves in other collections in the United States and Italy.

1) Private Collection

As reported in New Testament Leaves in Old Armenian and its companion Report Booklet:

• “Two Detached Manuscript Leaves containing New Testament Texts in Old Armenian” by our Associate, Leslie J. French. Available freely for download as pdfs in two ‘flavors’:
  • ArmenianPages set out in individual letter-sized (or quarto) pages
  • ArmenianBooklet laid out on 11″ × 17″ sheets for folding into a 20-page booklet in consecutive reading order.

Those reports identify the span of text on the two discontinuous leaves and describe characteristics of the script, layout, and context.  We show those leaves here.

Folio I Recto

Folio 1r of Old Armenian Praxapostolos Fragment with part of the Acts of the Apostles (to Acts 23:19). Reproduced by Permission.

Folio I Verso

Folio I v of Armenian New Testament fragment. Acts of the Apostles

Folio II Recto

Old Armenian New Testament fragment in bologir script, folio II recto in Romans. Reproduced by permission.

Folio II Verso

Armenian New Testament fragment in bologir script, folio II verso in Romans. Reproduced by permission.

The Text

See ArmenianPages.

Folio I: Acts 23:1 [partway] – 23:19 [middle]

The text begins ‘յատեանն’ within Acts 23:1 at the top of the first column on the recto. The second column begins
‘տենին’ within Acts 23:6.

The verso begins ‘քիցի’ within Acts 23:10, and the second column begins ‘արապետին’
within Acts 23:14. The text ends ‘գն / ա́ց’ in the middle of Acts 23:19.

Folio II. Epistle to the Romans 15:23 [partway] – 16:23 [end]

The text begins ‘ի կողմանս’ within Romans 15:23 at the top of the first column on the recto. The second column
begins ‘տենին’ within Romans 15:28.

The verso begins ‘եւ կոչեսցէ’ within Romans 16:2, and the second column begins ‘Ողջո́յն տաջիք’ at the start of Romans 16:8. The text ends ‘նորա եւ իմոյ։’ at the end of Romans 16:23.

2) University of Pennsylvania

As reported in The Plot Thickens: “A New Leaf Found at the University of Pennsylvania
from the “Kurdian/Chicago New Testament Praxapostolos[?] in Old Armenian”, this leaf appears as an extra, added by the seller, Dawson’s Book Shop, in the Philadelphia Set of the Portfolio Album assembled by Otto F. Ege in its Deluxe Edition, of Original Leaves from Famous Bibles in Nine Centuries. On this Portfolio and both its editions in Eight and in Nine Centuries, see the Contents List for our blog.

Recto

University of Pennsylvania Libraries, Special Collections, Portfolio Bible 1 (Catalogue ID 6035076): Dawson’s “Armenian Leaf” Recto, plus Receipt and Seller’s Label. Photography Mildred Budny.

Verso

University of Pennsylvania Libraries, Special Collections, Portfolio Bible 1 (Catalogue ID 6035076), Extra: Old Armenian New Testament Leaf (Verso) and its Seller’s Label. Photography Mildred Budny.

Note the matching paperclip rust-marks on the manuscript leaf and the formerly attached seller’s label, even after the offending paperclip had been removed.

The Text

The leaf begins with the First Epistle to the Corinthians 3:6, and concludes in 3:19.

3) Elsewhere

Some other leaves are known in other collections.  Our earlier blogposts and the Research Report cite, describe, and sometimes illustrate them.

Locations include the Goodspeed Library at the University of Chicago, the Vassar College Library, Oberlin College, the Philosophical Research Library in Los Angeles, the Stanford University Library, and the Metropolitan Museum in New York City.

Now: Newly Identified Leaves

1) Private Collection: Folio “III” (alongside Folios I–II)

Acquired in January 2022, this leaf carries part of the Acts of the Apostles.

Recto

Private Collection, Old Armenian New Testament Leaf (Folio “III”/”3”), Recto. Reproduced by Permission.

Verso

Private Collection, Old Armenian New Testament Leaf (Folio “III”/”3”), Verso. Reproduced by Permission.

The Text

The Recto carries the text from within Acts 16:24 to within Acts 16:36.

The Verso has the rest of Acts 16:36, continues to the end of Acts 16:41, and moves to Acts 17:1 through 17:6.

That is:

Recto: Acts 16:24 ([Որոյ առեալ /] զայսպիսի պատուէր,)

Page break in 16:36:
Եւ պատմեաց բանտապետն զբանսն՝ պաւղոսի, եթէ առաքեցին զօր / ագլուխքն զի արձակեցիք. արդ՝ ելէ́ք եւ երթա́յք խաղաղութ(եամ)բ։

The red text on verso col.a is the start of chapter 17:1 (Եւ շրջեալ ընդ).

The leaf ends in 17:6 (եղբարս առ քաղաքապետսն).

2) The Leaf in the Collection of Richard Weber

Recently, as the collector Richard Weber responds to our blog, with his news of acquisition of some other materials, he reports his leaf from the Old Armenian manuscript. With his permission, we exhibit the leaf, identify the contents, and invite its inclusion in the on-going virtual reconstruction of the manuscript.

The Leaf (Both Sides) with Scale and Label

Richard Weber Collection. Single Leaf from an Old Armenian Praxapostolos, Recto and Verso, with Scale and Seller’s Label. Reproduced by permission.

Recto

This page starts at the beginning of Acts 20:5, ‘Սոքա յառաջ երթեալ մնային’.

Note the rust-marks from a paper-clip formerly attached to the outer margin, about halfway down the page. This feature resembles the marks, albeit more pronounced, both on the outer margin of the leaf at the University of Pennsylvania and its label. Is it possible to wonder if the seller’s label accompanying the Weber Leaf was a cleaner replacement for a previous label stained by the corrosion of the paper clip?

Richard Weber Collection. Single Leaf from an Old Armenian Praxapostolos, Recto.

Verso

Richard Weber Collection. Single Leaf from an Old Armenian Praxapostolos, Verso. Reproduced by permission.

An Emphasis on the Top Line

As with other leaves in the manuscript, some ascenders of letters in the top line rise high into the upper margin.

Collection of Richard Weber. Single Leaf from an Old Armenian Praxapostolos, Verso, Top Left. Reproduced by permission.

The Label

In a few words, not particularly forthcoming.

Collection of Richard Weber. Single Leaf from an Old Armenian Praxapostolos, Seller’s Label. Reproduced by permission.

It states:

ARMENIAN BIBLE Leaf. Written in even

, black cursive characters on vellum with frequent rubrication. Size of leaf 5 1/2″ X 4″. Armenian, 15th century.

Text

The text on the leaf belongs within Chapter 20 of the Acts of the Apostles.

On the leaf, the Recto starts that the beginning of Acts 20:5 (‘Սոքա յառաջ երթեալ մնային’). Enlarged initials formed in red pigment, inset within the columns of text, mark the start of Verses 6, 7, 11, 13, and 14. The last initial on the recto (column b line -5) occurs midway through 20:15, so it represents a ‘non-standard’ verse division.

On the Verso, the enlarged initial and rubric line mark the start of Chapter 20:17, which corresponds to ‘reading passage 6-1’ in the Zohrab Bible. Two initials in column b mark the start of Verses 22 and 25, and the leaf ends at the end of 20:26.

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We thank Richard Weber and the owner of the Private Collection for sharing information and images for their leaves from the manuscript.

P. S. We have also learned of a leaf for sale online. To judge by its images, the leaf was part of this same manuscript, and its text belongs to Acts.

Its recto starts in Acts 9:41 (ձեռ//ն ետ նմա՝ եւ). Its rubricated line with a large red initial is the start of Acts 10:1. The verso starts in the middle of Acts 10:9 (Անկան//ել ն(ո)ց(ա)՝ եւ մօտ) and ends in 10:23 (ագոյց։ // Եւ վաղիւ).

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Do you know of more leaves from this manuscript?

You might reach us via Contact Us or our Facebook Page. Comments here are welcome too. We look forward to hearing from you.

Watch our blog on Manuscript Studies for more discoveries. Please visit its Contents List.

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