The Codex Koridethi, also named Codex Coridethianus, designated by Θ, 038, or Theta, ε 050, is a 9th-century manuscript of the four Gospels. It is written in Greek with uncial script in two columns per page, in 25 lines per page. There are gaps in the text: Matthew 1:1–9, 1:21–4:4, and 4:17–5:4 are missing. The letters are written in a rough, inelegant hand. The scribe who wrote the text is believed to have been unfamiliar with Greek. The codex is located now in Tbilisi.
Name and history
Many people think that the text gets its name from the town in which it was discovered. This is not correct. The Editio Princeps by Beermann and Gregory states: Kala/Caucasia: In the year 1853 a certain Bartholomeé visited a long abandoned monastery in Kala, a little village in the Caucasian mountains near the Georgian/Russian border. There, in an old church, far off every civilisation, he discovered the MS. The MS rested there probably for several hundred years. Koridethi: Before this time the MS was in a town called Koridethi. This was a village near the Black Sea, near today's Batumi in Georgia. There should still be some ruins of a monastery. Notes in the Gospel indicate dates from ca. 965 CE on. At around this time, according to a note, the book has been rebound. The book was there until around 1300 CE. Further south, Armenia: A Greek inscription mentions the city of Tephrice or Tephrike : "I, Kurines, Comes of the comandant of the city Tephrice came to the castelles and went back to the fort of the Great Martyrs." Even though the content and meaning is not completely clear, the city Tephrice is clear. The town was destroyed in 873. It was on a line between today's Sivas and Malatya in Turkey/Armenia. Beermann's conclusion therefore is that the codex must be older than 873 CE. Beermann speculates that the "fort of the Great Martyrs" might have been Martyropolis, a town near the Wan Lake, near today's Batman in Turkey. ; Witness of Byzantine text-type In 2007 the Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft edited The Gospel According to John in the Byzantine Tradition. Koridethi is cited in the apparatus. In the Introduction to this edition is written: "Manuscript 038 represents a text on the boundary of what might reasonably be considered a manuscript of the Byzantine tradition in John".
Text of the codex
The text-type of Matthew ch. 1-14, Luke, and John is more or less Byzantine, while Mark is Caesarean. The text of the Matthew ch. 14-28 is Alexandrian. Aland placed it in Category II. It lacks the text of the Pericope Adulterae. Matthew 1:11 Matthew 8:13 Matthew 10:12 Matthew 12:7 Matthew 20:23 Matthew 27:16 Matthew 27:35 In Mark 9:49 it has unique textual variant πας γαρ πυρι αναλωθησεται instead of πας γαρ πυρι αλισθησεται. In Luke 14:5 it has singular reading ὄνος υἱὸς ἢ βοῦς for υἱὸς ἢ βοῦς; In Luke 23:34 omitted words: "And Jesus said: Father forgive them, they know not what they do." This omission is supported by the manuscripts Papyrus 75, Sinaiticusa, B, D*, W, 0124, 1241, a, Codex Bezaelat, syrs, copsa, copbo. In John 6:1 it reads της θαλασσης της Γαλιλαιας εις τα μερη της Τιβεριαδος – along with D, 892, 1009, 1230, 1253; In John 7:51 it reads απο Καρυωτου for Ισκαριωτου, the reading of the codex is supported by Sinaiticus, f13, syrh; John 18:11
