Pistis Sophia

Pistis Sophia — G. R. S. Mead — Section 21

given by Kostlin (v. i.) is unverifiable. When the Museum bought it is not stated. It was evidently befoi'e the great sale of the Askew library which lasted twenty days in 1785, for the Pistis Sophia is not mentioned in the catalogue (Bibliotheca Askeviana Manuscripta, etc., 1785; v. Askew, A., Cat. B.M.). The MS. is written on vellum in Greek uncial letters, and is in the Upper Egyptian dialect, called Thebaidic or Sahidic. It consists of 3-46 quarto pages written in double column, and for the most part is in an excellent state of preservation ; several pages, however, are badly defaced, and a number faint. Perhaps the most competent expert who has yet given a decided opinion as to its date is Woide, Avhose knowledge of such matters was very extensive, and cannot be easily surpassed. It was by Woide that the New Testament, according to the text of the famous Codex Alexandrinus, was edited, in uncial tj'pes cast to imitate those of the MS., in 1786. In an Appendix to this great undertaking, in 1799, he added certain frag- ments of the New Testament in the Thebaico-Coptic dialect, together with a dissertation on the Coptic version of the New Testament. The date of the Codex Alexandrinus is pretty generally assigned to the fifth century, and with the exception of the Codex Vaticanus and the Codex Sinaiticus, which are sometimes assigned to the fourth century, is the oldest extant MS. of the New Testament. This being the case, it is of interest to read Woide's description and opinion of the MS. of Pistis Sophia, which was lent to this ripe scholar by Dr. Askew and his heirs long enough for him to copy it out from the first word to the last. Woide was, therefore, eminently fitted in every way to form an opinion ; in fact, no one of equal fitness seems to have appeared in the field since his time. In Cramer's Beytrage (op. inf. cit., pp. 82 sq.), Woide wrote as follows in 1778 : "It [P. S.] is a very old MS. in 4to on parchment in Greek uncial characters, which are not so round as those in the Alexandrine MS. in London, and in the Claromontain MS. in Paris [Codex Regius Parisiensis, also an Alexandrine text]. INTRODUCTION. XXVll