Medieval Manuscripts in Cambridge Libraries

A catalogue of Western manuscripts and papyri at Cambridge University Library, the Fitzwilliam Museum and selected Cambridge colleges

Cambridge, Trinity College, MS B.8.2

Diktyon no.: Diktyon 11916

Contents

Introduction: This manuscript, probably copied in the 11th century, contains John Chrysostom, In Genesim homiliae , comprising thirty homilies by the Patriarch of Constantinople. Previously owned by the Greek monastery of Pantokratoros (Mount Athos), it was bought by the classical scholar Richard Bentley and bequeathed to Trinity College after his death. Dr Matteo Di Franco

Language(s): Greek

John Chrysostom, Homilies on Genesis 1-30 In Genesim homilae 1-30
Rubric: f. 1r Ὁμιλία αʹ. Τοῦ ἐν ἁγίοις π(ατ)ρ(ὸ)ς ἡμῶν Ἰωάννου ἀρχιεπισκόπου Κωνσταντινουπόλεως τοῦ Χρυσοστόμου ὁμιλία ῥηθεῖσα εἰς τὴν εἴσοδον τῆς ἁγίας τεσσαρακοστῆς
Incipit: f. 1r Χαίρω καὶ εὐφραίνομαι ὁρῶν σήμερον τὴν τοῦ Θ(εο)ῦ Ἐκκλησίαν τῶι πλήθει τῶν οἰκείων τέκνων κοσμουμένην
Explicit: f. 270v ἵνα τῆς παρ’ αὐτοῦ ῥοπῆς ἀξιούμενοι, καὶ τὸν παρόντα βίον εὐαρέστως διανύσωμεν· καὶ ἐν τῶ μέλλοντι φιλαν(θρωπ)ίας τινὸς ἀξιωθῶμεν· χάριτι καὶ οἰκτιρμοῖς τοῦ Κυ(ρίου) ἡμῶν Ἰ(ησο)ῦ Χριστοῦ· μεθ’ οὗ τῶ Π(ατ)ρὶ ἅμα τῶ ἁγίω Πν(εύματ)ι, δόξα κράτος τιμὴ, νῦν καὶ ἀεὶ, καὶ εἰς τοὺς αἰῶνας τῶν αἰώνων. Ἀμήν

  • Hom. 1: ff. 1r-5v
  • Hom. 2: ff. 5v-11r
  • Hom. 3: ff. 11v-18r
  • Hom. 4: ff. 18r-26v
  • Hom. 5: ff. 26v-33r
  • Hom. 6: ff. 33r-41v
  • Hom. 7: ff. 41v-49v
  • Hom. 8: ff. 49v-56r
  • Hom. 9: ff. 56r-62r
  • Hom. 10: ff. 62r-71r
  • Hom. 11: ff. 71r-78v
  • Hom. 12: ff. 79r-86r
  • Hom. 13: ff. 86r-92r
  • Hom. 14: ff. 92r-99v
  • Hom. 15: ff. 99v-107r
  • Hom. 16: ff. 107r-116r
  • Hom. 17: ff. 116r-130v (ends at PG 53, col. 148 line 7)
  • Hom. 18: ff. 130v-141r
  • Hom. 19: ff. 141r-149r
  • Hom. 20: ff. 149r-158r
  • Hom. 21: ff. 158r-169r
  • Hom. 22: ff. 169r-181r
  • Hom. 23: ff. 181r-191r
  • Hom. 24: ff. 191v-204r
  • Hom. 25: ff. 204r-216v
  • Hom. 26: ff. 216v-227v
  • Hom. 27: ff. 227v-239v
  • Hom. 28: ff. 240r-248v
  • Hom. 29: ff. 248v-261v
  • Hom. 30: ff. 261v-270v

PG 53,21-282

CPG 4409

TLG 2062.112

Physical Description

Form: codex
Support: ff. 1r-269v: Parchment, medium thickness, medium quality, arranged flesh-to-flesh and hair-to-hair with hair outermost (HFFH). f. 270, western paper, folded in folio, no watermark visible.
Extent: Codex: i + 269 + 2 + i leaves. 313 × 240 mm.
Foliation: [i] + 1-269 + 270-[271] + [ii]; Modern foliation in brown ink in Arabic numerals, recto, upper right corner.

Collation

The manuscript consists of 34 quaternions, the last of which lost three folios, and two added folios:
  • Quires 1-338 ff. 1r-264v
  • Quire 348-3 ff. 265r-269v
  • Quire 352 ff. 270r-[271]v

Quire signature, probably original to the production of the manuscript, in Greek numerals on the first recto, inner lower corner, and the last verso, inner lower corner, from f. 8v (αʹ) to f. 265r (λδʹ); κγʹ on f. 177r is missing.

Signature are repeated on lower and upper margins in light brown ink on ff. 8v, 16v, 24v, 25r, 32v, 33r, 40v, 41.

Condition

In good condition; initial and final leaves rubbed; a few cuts due to ruling (e.g. ff. 18 and 23), some holes (e.g. f. 27) and the margins cut off from ff. 141-142. Outer margins of ff. 268 and 269 have been torn away and replaced with two paper slips with missing text. The last folios in paper are very damaged and fragile.

Layout

ff. 1r-269v: written space 220 × 173 mm. 32 lines per column. Pricked in the outer margins, pricking survives in several folios. Ruled in hardpoint, system Leroy 1, type Leroy 44B2s , but the lines for writing are also extended to the edge (index A), e.g. ff. 12, 16, 62.

ff. 270r-270v: written space 220 × 135 mm. 32 lines per column.

Hand(s)

The manuscript is written in a Perlschrift script of the 11th century.

The paper addition to the parchment manuscript is written in a mixed minuscule script, imitating the original Perlschrift script.

Decoration

An elaorated colored pyle on f. 1r; other headpieces mark the begining of each homily: homilies 2-9, 19-21, 28-30 in red ink; homilies 10 and 27 in red and green; homilies 11-18, 22, 24 in red, green and yellow; homily 23 in red and yellow; homily 26 in red, yellow and black.

Initials are drawn in the same style as the accompanying headpieces; the more elaborate ones are: ff. 1r (hom. 1), 191v (hom. 24), 204r (hom. 25), 206v (hom. 26), 227v (hom. 27).

Small colored initials in red ink throughout the manuscript.

Additions

f. 1r: a very shaky hand added ‘τοῦ αγίου ὁνουφρίου τοις ἀχιροπιήτου’ (sic).

ff. 2r and 3r: ownership notes: ‘ἐξαήμερος μονῆς τοῦ Παντοκράτορος τὴν ἐν τῶ Ἁγίω Ὄρει’ (sic).

f. 18r: pen-work erased, only letters over the main text remain; f. 227r: a second pen-sketch erased.

f. 144r: a verse with musical notation.

f. 215r: some sketches in black ink.

f. [ii] recto: scribbles and drawings of ships and animals (?), and some headpieces.

Binding

Wooden boards covered with brown leather, blind-tooled edges. The spine is in light brown skin, with bands tooled in gold and a brown leather label with title: ‘Chrysostomi Homilae in Genesim’.

330 × 270 × 98 mm.

History

Origin: The manuscript was copied in the 11th century.

Provenance and Acquisition

The manuscript comes from the Pantokratoros Monastery of Mount Athos (see notes on ff. 2r and 3r). Perhaps it was previously in another monastery or church dedicated to St. Onuphrius but not better identified.

Purchased from Pantokratoros by Richard Bentley (1662-1742) , Master of Trinity College.

Bequeathed by Bentley to the College Library after his death.

Additional Information

Record Sources

Description (2020) draws on M.R. James, The Western Manuscripts in the Library of Trinity College, Cambridge (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1900), vol. 1, p. 239.

Availability

Visitors to Trinity College who wish to consult Special Collections material are required to apply to the Library in advance of their visit. For information on eligibility and admission procedures see: Trinity College: Information for Readers.

Bibliography

    The western manuscripts in the library of Trinity College : a descriptive catalogue, James, M. R. (Montague Rhodes) (Cambridge, 1, Cambridge University Press, 1900) La provenance athonite des manuscrits grecs legues par R. Bentley a Trinity College, Cambridge et en particulier de l'oncial 0131 du Nouveau Testament Studies in the history and text of the New Testament in honor of Kenneth Willis Clark, Duplacy, Jean (Salt Lake City, 113-126, University of Utah Press, 1967) Codices Chrysostomici Graeci I Codices Britanniae et Hiberniae, Aubineau, Michel (Paris, CNRS éditions, 1968)

Funding of Cataloguing

The Polonsky Foundation

Digital Images

Cambridge Digital Library

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