The American Cyclopædia (1879)/Alexandrian Codex

ALEXANDRIAN CODEX, an uncial manuscript of the Old and New Testament, so named from the fact that it was found at Alexandria by Cyrillus Lucaris, the patriarch of Constantinople, who presented it in 1628 to Charles I. of England. It was written on vellum, in double columns, condensed and unaccented.

It contains, besides the canonical books, slightly varied in their order, most of the apocrypha. Some writers have been of the opinion that the writer of this codex followed three different editions &mdash; the Byzantine in the gospels, the western in the Acts and catholic epistles, and the Alexandrine in the epistles of Paul &mdash; and therefore speak disparagingly of its authority. Others consider it the most perfect copy of the Scriptures extant. The famous passage concerning the three witnesses (1 John v. 7) is not contained in this codex; and there are several chasms in the text, more especially in the New Testament. A portion of the gospels of St. Matthew and of St. John, as well as of the Second Epistle to the Corinthians, is wanting. On the first page of the text of Genesis is a declaration that the MS. was dedicated to the use of the patriarch of Alexandria, and an anathema of excommunication against him who shall remove it from the library. Cyrillus, the donor of the MS. to Charles, was a patriarch of Alexandria before his removal to Constantinople. By some he has been accused of forgery in this whole matter. The MS. is in very good condition generally. It is the only one known which contains the genuine epistle of Clement to the Corinthians. This codex is now preserved in the British museum.