Epistle of Barnabas

The Epistle of Barnabas is a Greek treatise with some features of an epistle containing twenty-one chapters, preserved complete in the 4th century Codex Sinaiticus where it appears at the end of the New Testament. It is traditionally ascribed to the Barnabas who is mentioned in the Acts of the Apostles, though some ascribe it to another apostolic father of the same name, a "Barnabas of Alexandria," or simply attribute it to an unknown early Christian teacher. A form of the Epistle 850 lines long is noted in the Latin list of canonical works in the 6th century Codex Claromontanus [1]. It is not to be confused with the Gospel of Barnabas.

History

In the early church, the Epistle of Barnabas was widely read and included by several of the Church Fathers in their lists of accepted scriptures. Toward the end of the second century Clement of Alexandria cited the Epistle as authoritative, as did by Origen. Eusebius, however, objected to it, and ultimately the epistle disappeared from the scriptural canon. However, in the West the epistle stands beside the Epistle of James in some Latin manuscripts of the New Testament. In the East, a list maintained by the ninth century Patriarch of Jerusalem mentions the Epistle of Barnabas in a list of books that are antilegomena— "disputed"— along with the Revelation of John, the Revelation of Peter and the Gospel of the Hebrews.

Manuscript tradition

The most complete text is in the Codex Sinaiticus (=S; fourth century) and the Codex Hierosolymitanus (=H; eleventh century), which are usually in agreement on variant readings. A truncated form of the text also survives in nine Greek manuscripts (=G; from 11th century onward) in combination with Polycarp's Epistle to the Philippians, without any indication of transition.

1. Until 1843 eight manuscripts, all derived from a common source (G), were known in Western European libraries: none of them contained chapters 1 to chapter 5.7a.
2. The fourth century Codex Sinaiticus, in which the Epistle and the Shepherd of Hermas follow the canonical books of the New Testament, contains a more complete manuscript of the text.
3. The eleventh century Codex Hierosolymitanus ("Jerusalem Codex"—relocated from Constantinople), which includes the Didache, is another witness to the full text. This Greek manuscript was discovered by Philotheos Bryennios at Constantinople in 1873, and Adolf Hilgenfeld used it for his edition in 1877.
4. There is also an old Latin version of the first 17 chapters which dates, perhaps, to no later than the end of the fourth century and is preserved in a single ninth century manuscript (St Petersburg, Q.v.I.39). This is sometimes significantly shorter than the Greek, often agreeing with the G manuscripts. There are also brief citations from the Epistle in the writings of Clement of Alexandria, and a few fragments of the Two Ways material in Syriac and elsewhere.

External links

Wikisource has original text related to this article:

Epistle of Barnabas

• Greek text of Epistle of Barnabas
• Early Christian Writings: Epistle of Barnabas; e-texts of translations and introductions
• Ante-Nicene Fathers, vol. i:introduction and text
• Catholic Encyclopedia 1907: Epistle of Barnabas from the official Roman Catholic point-of-view: "the chief importance of the epistle is in its relation to the history of the Canon of the Scriptures."

Sources

• Kraft, Robert A., Barnabas and the Didache: Volume 3 of The Apostolic Fathers: A New Translation and Commentary, edited by Robert Grant. New York: Thomas Nelson and Sons, 1965. [2]
• Treat, Jay Curry, in The Anchor Bible Dictionary, v. 1, pp. 613-614.
• Prostmeier, Ferdinand R., Der Barnabasbrief. Übersetzt und erklärt. Series: Kommentar zu den Apostolischen Vätern (KAV, Vol. 8). Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht: Göttingen 1999. ISBN 3-525-51683-5

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