An update
regarding MS 284 is necessary. On the basis
of Robinson and Text und Textwert, I previously noted that a corrector
of MS 284 placed PA “after John 10:36” (see Keith, Pericope, 121;
Maurice A. Robinson, “Preliminary Observations regarding the Pericope
Adulterae based upon Fresh Collations of Nearly All Continuous-Text
Manuscripts and All Lectionary Manuscripts Containing the Passage,” Filología
Neotestamentaria 113 [2000]: 42; Kurt Aland et al., eds., Text und
Textwert der griechischen Handschriften des Neuen Testaments V. Das
Johannesevangelium: 1. Teststellenkollation der Kapitel 1–10, ANTF 36, 36,
2 vols. [Berlin: Walter de Gruyter, 2005], 2:211–215). Subsequently, Maurice A. Robinson, “The Pericope
Adulterae: A Johannine Tapestry with Double Interlock,” in The Pericope
of the Adulteress in Contemporary Research, eds. David Alan Black and Jacob
Cerone, LNTS 551 (London: Bloomsbury T&T Clark, 2016), 119, has addressed
this location for PA again. He states,
MS 284 originally had 7:53 in the normal location, followed by 8:12; but
7:53 was then erased, leaving a gap before 8:12. Subsequently, PA was inserted on a separate
paper sheet between the pages concluding John 10:35 and commencing John 10:36
(all this was known previously). However,
a previously unnoticed obelus was inserted in the main text of MS 284 at the
clearly more appropriate location following John 10:39. This fact, hitherto, had not been observed
but—based solely on an educated guess by the present writer—was subsequently
confirmed by the INTF.
Based on Robinson’s wording,
it is not clear whether the “fact” that INTF confirmed for Robinson was the obelus’s
presence or that the obelus indicated that PA should be read “following John
10:39.” MS 284 is now viewable remotely via
the INTF’s incredible New Testament Virtual Manuscript Room at http://ntvmr.uni-muenster.de/home
(accessed 6 Dec 2017).
Upon examination,
I cannot personally judge whether 7:53 had originally been written it its
normal location and then erased, but Robinson is correct that original script
was erased and 8:12 written over it. It
is also clear that someone inserted PA, written on a separate sheet of paper,
at the John 10 location, though strictly speaking it splits John 10:36 (rather
than splitting 10:35 and 10:36 or coming clearly “after John 10:36”), coming
between a page that ends with John 10:36’s τὸν κόσμον and a
page that begins with the immediately subsequent ὑμεῖς. Whether the obelus on the next page of 284
clearly indicates that PA should be read after 10:39 (per Robinson), however,
is highly questionable. There is an
obelus, but its placement is not “following 10:39.” The manuscript moves seamlessly between 10:39
and 10:40, with the obelus coming immediately before 10:39. It almost certainly indicates the omission of
πατρί at the end of 10:38 by the
original scribe, as the obelus occurs directly between τῷ and ἐζήτουν, where the missing word belongs. Furthermore, 284 also reflects a practice of
reading PA at John 7:53, though this evidence has not been mentioned by
previous scholars. Someone wrote “Λ Jo” in the margin
of 284 where John 7:53 would have been and the same thing at the top of the
separate sheet of paper containing PA.
In short, there is no clear evidence that a corrector of 284 intended PA
to be read “after John 10:36” or even “following John 10:39.” What can be said is there is a placement of a
separate sheet of paper containing PA between two pages that end and begin in
the midst of John 10:36, with a reading aid in the margin at John 7:53 that
corresponds to the separate sheet of paper.
Clearly, more analysis of this interesting manuscript is needed.
 |
| John 7-8 in MS 284 |
 |
| The added sheet containing PA. |
 |
| Page after the added sheet, with obelus prior to John 10:39. |
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