From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The Codex Washingtonianus, (Washington, Smithsonian Inst., Freer Gall. of Art, 06. 274; Gregory-Aland no. W or 032) also called the Washington Manuscript of the Gospels, The Freer Gospel, and Codex Washingtonensis contains the four biblical gospels and was written in Greek on vellum and palimpsest in the fourth or fifth century^[1]. The codex was apparently copied from several different manuscripts and is the work of two scribes. It is located at the Freer Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C., United States of America, and some of it can be viewed on-line.

The codex is a book of 187 leaves of 20.5-21cm by 13-14.5cm with painted wooden covers. There are numerous corrections made by the original scribe and a few corrections dating to the late fifth or sixth century. John 1:1-5:11 is a replacement of a presumably damaged folio, and dates to around the seventh century. It is missing Mark 15:13-38 and John 14:26-16:7. The codex was purchased by Charles Lang Freer on a trip to Egypt in 1906^[2].

The Codex is cited as a "consistently cited witness of the first order" in the critical apparatus of the Novum Testamentum Graece. The text-type is eclectic; according to Metzger, the text is mostly Byzantine, with Caesarean (Mark 5:31-16:20), Alexandrian (Luke 1:1-8:12; John 5:12-21:25), and Western text-types (Mark 1:1-5:11) in places, although these designations are disputed. The ending of Mark is especially noteworthy because it includes a unique insertion after Mark 16:14 not found in any other manuscript, but partially quoted by Jerome:

"And they excused themselves, saying, "This age of lawlessness and unbelief is under Satan, who does not allow the truth and power of God to prevail over the unclean things of the spirits [or: does not allow what lies under the unclean spirits to understand the truth and power of God]. Therefore reveal thy righteousness now" - thus they spoke to Christ. And Christ replied to them, "The term of years of Satan's power has been fulfilled, but other terrible things draw near. And for those who have sinned I was delivered over to death, that they may inherit the spiritual and incorruptible glory of righteousness which is in heaven"^[3]

• Scanned Images of the Codex
• The Encyclopedia of New Testament Textual Criticism entry for W

1. ^ Codex Washingtonianus Or Washington Ms. Of The Gospels, at Islamic Awareness
2. ^ Freer + Sackler Galleries
3. ^ Metzger, Bruce M.; Bart D. Ehrman (2005). The Text of the New Testament: Its Transmission, Corruption, and Restoration, 4th ed., Oxford. ISBN 0-19-516122-X.