Papyrus 22

Papyrus 22 is an early copy of the New Testament in Greek. It is designated by 𝔓²² (in the Gregory-Åland numbering of New Testament manuscripts), and is a papyrus manuscript containing text from the Gospel of John. Using the study of comparative writings styles, (palaeography), the manuscript has been dated to the early 3rd century CE.^[1] It is the only identified New Testament papyrus to have been written originally as a roll; not a codex or re-using the back of a scroll.

Papyrus 𝔓²²

New Testament manuscript
Name	P. Oxy. 1228
Text	John 15-16 †
Date	3rd century
Script	Greek
Found	Egypt
Now at	Glasgow University Library
Cite	B. P. Grenfell & A. S. Hunt, Oxyrynchus Papyri X, (London 1914), pp. 14-16
Size	18.5 x 5 cm
Type	Alexandrian text-type
Category	I

Grenfell and Hunt

Bernard Grenfell		Arthur Hunt

Description

The original manuscript was likely a roll, and currently only has extant John 15:25-16:2, 21–32. The text is written in two consecutive columns, with the reverse side of the roll being blank.^[2] The manuscript employs conventional Nomina Sacra: ΠΣ ΠΝΑ ΠΡΣ ΠΡΑ ΙΗΣ ΑΝΟΣ. The text contains no punctuation marks.^[3]

The Greek text of this codex is considered a representative of the Alexandrian text-type. Åland described it as a normal text and placed it in Category I.^[1] This manuscript displays an independent text.^[2] Coincidences with the Codex Sinaiticus are frequent, but divergences are noticeable.^[3] There are no singular readings.^[4] According to Reverend Ellwood Schofield, the papyrus "rather represents the eclecticism of the early papyri before the crystallizing of the textual families had taken place."^[2][5]

History

The papyrus was found in Oxyrhynchus, Egypt, and was originally published by Papyrologists Bernard Grenfell and Arthur Hunt in the Oxyrhynchus Papyri, Volume 10, designated as P. Oxy. 1228.^[5][2] To determine its palaeographical dating, Grenfell and Hunt compared the graphical writing style to P. Oxy 654, which according to papyrologist Philip Comfort "can be dated confidently to the mid-third century."^[3][2] Comfort states that though the writing style of 𝔓²² is "a bit heavier", it should be dated to the same time period.^[2] It is currently housed at the Glasgow University Library (MS Gen 1026) in Glasgow.^[1][6]

See also

• List of New Testament papyri