Byzantine Lectionary Manuscripts and Their Significance for Biblical Textual Criticism

Abstract

While lectionaries make up approximately one-third of all surviving biblical Greek manuscripts, they have been largely neglected within the field of textual criticism. This chapter examines why lectionaries, as representatives of the Byzantine text, have been generally ignored by text critics for generations and regarded as inconsequential for textual criticism. While editors of critical editions do not usually state explicitly why they excluded lectionaries, it was likely due to their late date, their perceived uniformity, and their noncontinuous text form. In recent years, lectionaries have received new scholarly attention, combined with a paradigm shift in the field of biblical textual criticism. These developments have brought about a new understanding within textual criticism that noncontinuous text forms should be counted among a broad range of diverse witnesses and can help to determine manuscript relationships and offer evidence for the creation of variants. In this new era of lectionary research, scholars have recognized that the value of lectionaries also goes beyond the long-held desideratum of establishing the earliest attainable text; lectionaries offer a unique window into how the Byzantine church used scripture amid the rhythms and rituals of public worship.