Papyrus Oxyrhynchus 840
Papyrus Oxyrhynchus 840 , or P. Oxy V 840, is a parchment sheet, closely written on both sides in microscopic script, from a codex in a very small format of 8.5 × 7 cm, in which the lower right corner is missing. Despite the small format, the writer managed to fit 45 lines on the sheet. The leaf was discovered in 1905 by Bernard Pyne Grenfell and Arthur Surridge Hunt during excavations in Oxyrhynchus , recognized as an apocryphal non-canonical Gospel and published in 1908. The manuscript is today under the signature Ms. Gr. Th. G 11 in the Bodleian Library , Oxford.
Dating
Grenfell and Hunt date the sheet palaeographically to the fourth rather than the fifth century. Due to the finding situation in a shift together with other manuscripts from the fourth and fifth centuries, they consider a later date to be impossible. The small format of the book makes it unsuitable for reading in church services, so it must be a copy for private use. Individual characters were probably already highlighted in red by the original scribe, and in connection with the tiny format, research leads to the assumption that the leaf probably served as an amulet.
There is no plausible date or location for the original work, which is available in this only Greek text and of which the overall concept is unknown. In terms of form and choice of words, but also in terms of theological conception, it remains entirely within the framework of the Synoptic. The use of the term Savior for Jesus, however, indicates a later rather than an earlier time.
content
The beginning of the page contains the end of a previous story with a final threatening word. The following almost completely preserved episode takes place in the Jerusalem temple district and contains a dispute in the style of the synoptic gospels , in which Jesus talks to the Pharisee high priest L <evi> about the regulations for purification before entering the courtyard of the Jerusalem temple. He distinguishes the inner purity from the outer purity through washing . The text contains echoes of the Synoptic Gospels and parallels to Mk 7.1–23 and Mt 15.1–20. Individual statements have parallels to Mt 23:27 and John 4:14; 7.37 and Apk 22.14, it would also be possible to go back directly to the Old Testament passages Jer 2,13 or Zech 14,8.
The text contains the phrase “whores and flute players”, which is known from the Gospel of the Hebrews , but despite all efforts, the text cannot be assigned to any other known gospel.
literature
Editions and translations
- Bernard Pyne Grenfell , Arthur Surridge Hunt : The Oxyrhynchus Papyri V, The Oxyrhynchus Papyri V , Egypt Exploration Fund, London 1908, pp. 1–10, illustration on p. 343 . (English)
- Grenfell and Hunt: Fragment of an Uncanonical Gospel , Egypt Exploration Fund, Oxford and London 1908.
- Joachim Jeremias , Wilhelm Schneemelcher: Oxyrhynchus-Papyrus 840. In: Wilhelm Schneemelcher (Ed.): New Testament Apocrypha in German Translation, Vol. I Evangelien, 6th edition, Tübingen 1990. pp. 81-82.
- Tobias Nicklas : The fragment Oxyrhynchus V 840; in: Christoph Markschies , Jens Schröter (ed.): Ancient Christian Apocrypha in German translation; Volume I, Gospels and Related, Mohr Siebeck, Tübingen 2012. pp. 357–359.
Investigations
- Adolf von Harnack : A new fragment of the Gospel ; in: Prussische Jahrbücher Vol. 131/2, 1908, pp. 201–210. (Contains a German translation)