Minuscule 20, Greek New Testament manuscript at Bibliothèque nationale de France, Paris, France
Minuscule 20 is a Greek New Testament manuscript from the 10th century held at the Bibliothèque nationale de France in Paris. The work spans hundreds of parchment pages with text written in a single column format and includes extensive annotations alongside the biblical passages.
The manuscript was created in the 10th century in the Eastern Mediterranean and arrived in France during the 1600s, where it has remained in the national collection ever since. This journey from its place of origin to its current location shows how scholarly works traveled between regions through trade and cultural exchange.
The manuscript contains commentaries from early church thinkers who shaped how these texts were read and understood over centuries. These annotations reveal how believers interpreted the gospels in medieval times.
The manuscript itself is not typically on display, but the full digital version is freely available through the Gallica online platform. Researchers interested in studying the original can contact the library directly to arrange access or request specific information.
This copy places a famous biblical passage about a woman at a religious gathering at the very end of John's Gospel rather than in its more common middle location. This unusual positioning shows how medieval scribes sometimes reorganized the text differently than other copyists.
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