Comparison of codices Sinaiticus and Vaticanus

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Codex Sinaiticus and Codex Vaticanus, two of the great uncial codices, representatives of the Alexandrian text-type, are considered excellent manuscript witnesses of the text of the New Testament. Most critical editions of the Greek New Testament give precedence to these two chief uncial manuscripts, and the majority of translations are based on their text. Nevertheless, there are many differences between these two manuscripts. A recent scientific comparative study of interest published on these two Alexandrian codices is "The Relationship between Vaticanus & Sinaiticus and the Majority Text in Galatians" by Dr. Graham G. Thomason and "THE SIGNIFICANCE OF SPLIT TEXT-TYPES FOR THE RECOVERY OF THE ORIGINAL TEXT OF THE GREEK NEW TESTAMENT" by Dr LESLIE McFALL - both are freely made available on the internet. Historically, the true character of these two Alexandrian manuscripts was quickly and thoroughly challenged by Dean John William Burgon's exhaustive analysis: "It is in fact easier to find two consecutive verses in which these two MSS differ the one from the other, than two consecutive verses in which they entirely agree."^[1]

According to Herman C. Hoskier,^[2] there are, without counting errors of iotacism, 3,036 textual variations between Sinaiticus and Vaticanus in the text of the Gospels alone, enumerated as follows:

Matthew: 656

Mark: 567

Luke: 791

John: 1022

Hoskier noted in his book: "I make a present to Gregory and Souter of the 'provincial' exchange of ως and ωσπερ, παντα and απαντα, ως and ωσει, εναντιον and ενωπιον, εστηκοτων and εστωτων, εαυτου and αυτου, με and εμε, οικιαν and οικον, ετερον and αλλον and αλληλον, πιειν and πειν and πιν, ηυδοκησεν and ευδοκησεν, ευθυς and ευθεως, σπυριδας and σφυριδας, καγω and και εγω, υποκατω and υποποδιον, εαν and αν, απο and υπο, προς αυτους and αυτοις, επι and εις, ινα and οπως."^[3]

According to contemporary scholars,^[which?] these two manuscripts represent two different textual families of the Alexandrian text-type. John has more differences than the other gospels because in Codex Sinaiticus, John 1:1–8:38 and parts of chapters 16 and 21 have early Western Christian writing ancestry.^[4]

Codex Sinaiticus is designated by siglum א, and Codex Vaticanus by alpha character B. The following represent scribal corrections:

א* – original text of Codex Sinaiticus before scribal correction(s)

א¹ – first corrector of Codex Sinaiticus

א² – second corrector of Codex Sinaiticus

B* – original text of Codex Vaticanus before scribal correction(s)

B¹ – first corrector of Codex Vaticanus

B² – second corrector of Codex Vaticanus

For sigla of other manuscripts, see List of New Testament uncials.

The list of textual variants that follows below is incomplete.