Codex Vaticanus

Also called Vaticanus

A mid-fourth-century Greek Bible that has been in the Vatican Library since at least its first catalogue in 1475 — with Codex Sinaiticus, one of the two most important manuscripts of the New Testament.

Siglum: Codex Vaticanus (Gregory-Aland 03 / B)
Type: Parchment uncial codex, three columns to the page
Language: Koine Greek
Contents: The Greek Old Testament and New Testament, imperfect at both ends. Most of Genesis and a stretch of Psalms are lost; the New Testament breaks off in Hebrews at 9:14, so 1-2 Timothy, Titus, Philemon and Revelation are absent, and the leaves that follow are a much later minuscule supplement. Mark ends at 16:8, followed by a blank column; John 7:53-8:11 is absent
Written: Fourth century AD Traditional dating
Origin: Unknown
Found at: Not applicable — the codex was never lost and never found. It has been in the Vatican Library for as long as its records reach
Found in: Not applicable
Found by: Not applicable
Now held at: Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana, Vatican City
Shelfmark: Vat.gr.1209
Facsimile: View the manuscript

A Book with No Discovery Story

Unlike Codex Sinaiticus, which has a nineteenth-century adventure attached to it, Vaticanus was never found. It is generally said to appear in the Vatican Library's earliest surviving catalogue, drawn up in 1475 — an identification argued by T. C. Skeat in 1984 and listed in the library's own bibliography for the manuscript, rather than a fact the library states on its record — and nobody knows where the book was before that. It is written on fine parchment in a small, plain, unadorned hand, three narrow columns to the page, an austere and very early layout. The library dates it to the fourth century, which makes it a near-contemporary of Sinaiticus and possibly a little earlier.

For centuries the library guarded it closely, and access was the subject of long frustration among textual scholars; Tischendorf, permitted a few days with it in 1866, was reprimanded for copying too much. That era is over. The manuscript has been photographed in full and can be paged through online, and a facsimile edition put it into libraries worldwide.

What Survives, and What Is Missing

Leaves have been lost at both ends and in places in between. The Old Testament lacks most of Genesis and a stretch of Psalms; the New Testament breaks off in Hebrews at chapter 9 verse 14, so 1 and 2 Timothy, Titus, Philemon, and Revelation are absent. That absence is physical damage, not a canonical statement — the missing leaves are simply gone.

More interesting is where the scribe wrote nothing. Mark ends at 16:8, and after it the scribe left a conspicuous blank column before beginning Luke — the only such blank in the New Testament portion. Scholars read this as a copyist who knew of the longer ending, did not find it in the exemplar he was copying, and left room in case. John 7:53-8:11, the woman caught in adultery, is likewise absent, as it is in Sinaiticus. Two independent fourth-century Bibles agreeing on these gaps is why translators add the notes they do.

Why Two Manuscripts Matter So Much

Sinaiticus and Vaticanus are the earliest substantially complete Greek Bibles, and where they agree against the mass of later medieval copies, most textual scholars follow them — the basis of the modern critical editions behind almost every twentieth-century translation. The King James Version, by contrast, rests on a text compiled in the sixteenth century from a handful of late manuscripts, which is why it includes readings the modern versions footnote.

It is worth stating what is and is not at stake. The differences between these text traditions are real, are documented in the footnotes of any decent study Bible, and are argued about openly by people who care about scripture. They are also, taken together, small: no Christian doctrine rests on a disputed reading. A tradition confident enough to print its variants in the margin is not one that has something to hide, and Vaticanus is one of the two manuscripts that made printing them possible.

Scripture references

Mark 16:8 — Where Vaticanus ends Mark, followed by a blank column
John 7:53-8:11 — Absent from Vaticanus and Sinaiticus alike
Hebrews 9:14 — The verse at which the surviving text breaks off

Sources

Holding institutionBiblioteca Apostolica Vaticana, DigiVatLib: Vat.gr.1209 in full — Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana · The complete digital facsimile, 1,555 images, free to page through. The blank column after Mark 16:8 and the break in Hebrews 9:14 can both be seen directlySupports: The shelfmark, the three-column layout, the ending of Mark and the break at Hebrews 9:14
Holding institutionVatican Library catalogue record for Vat.gr.1209 — Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana · Dates the manuscript "sec. IV", lists its contents book by book, and includes T. C. Skeat, "The Codex Vaticanus in the 15th Century," Journal of Theological Studies (1984) in its bibliographySupports: The fourth-century date, the absent Pastorals and Revelation, and the source of the 1475 catalogue claim
ScholarshipT. C. Skeat, "The Codex Vaticanus in the 15th Century" — T. C. Skeat · Journal of Theological Studies n.s. 35 (1984), 454-465 - the argument that the codex is the manuscript listed in the Vatican Library's 1475 catalogue. Print onlySupports: The 1475 catalogue identification described in section one
ReferenceBible Odyssey (SBL): What Is the Oldest Bible? — Society of Biblical Literature
EncyclopediaWikipedia: Codex Vaticanus