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Full Apparatus

This article argues for προστάτης as the majority reading in the Byzantine Majority Text. This article only references Byzantine manuscripts as identified by Barbara and Kurt Aland in the book The Text of the New Testament.1

The masculine προστάτης has wide-ranging support in many manuscript text families including Family Π (GA 796, 1398), K1 (GA263), Kr (GA 664, 928, 1482, 1622), and Kx (GA 61, 133, 218, 234, 330, 664, 808, 928, 1367, 1390, 1482, 1509, 1622, 2255, 2501). Ten Family 35 manuscripts (based on Pickering and Freitas2) contain the masculine προστάτης including GA 61, 664, 928, 1367, 1390, 1482, 1509, 1622, 2255, and 2501.

Byzantine Majority Reading of προστάτης by Century


Byzantine Manuscripts Corrected From προστάτης to προστάτις by Century.


There were ten Byzantine manuscripts that contained corrections of προστάτης to προστάτις (GA 620, 1672, 1762, 1870, 1927, 1933, 1934, 1978, 1980, 2627). The corrections skews the percentages and directly correlates to προστάτης falling away from being the majority reading in Byzantine tradition after the ninth century.

John Chrysostom
John H. Parker, in the book Bibliotheca Patrum Ecclesiae Catholicae, notes Chrysostom's commentary contains the masculine προστάτης3 in the manuscript Monacensis 457 (formerly Augustanus), which he dated to the eleventh century.4

Euthymius Zigabenus
The twelfth-century monk Euthymius Zigabenus wrote a commentary on Romans that was preserved in GA2008. The commentary was copied one century (13th) after the original was written and contains the masculine προστάτης. Two of the three (67%) extant manuscripts contain the masculine προστάτης (GA 2008 and 2690). The only manuscript containing the feminine (GA1840) is from the sixteenth century.

Theodoret of Cyrus
The church father Theodoret (393–466 A.D.) was the bishop of Cyrus. His commentary is one of the clearest examples of an early masculine reading from the fifth century. All of his early manuscripts contain προστάτης. It wasn't until the fourteenth century that we find the first Theodoret commentary with the feminine προστάτις. Additionally, the eleventh-century manuscript GA606 was corrected from masculine to feminine, which also demonstrates the scribe's proclivity to correct the manuscripts from masculine to feminine.

Graph Showing the Reading of προστάτης as a Percent by Century in Theodoret's Commentary:


Theophylact of Ohrid
The commentary from Theophylact of Ohrid (1055–1107 A.D.) contains scripture quotations alongside commentary. Of the extant digitized manuscripts, twelve contain at least one masculine reading of προστάτης (GA103, GA254, GA891, GA1780, GA1935, GA1977, GA1978, GA1987, GA1994, GA1995, GA2104, GA2482). This includes very early manuscripts, including GA254 (11th), GA1780 (1200), GA2104 (12th), and GA103 (12th).

Of these manuscripts, five (42%) contain at least one correction from the masculine προστάτης to the feminine προστάτις (GA254, GA1977, GA1978, GA1994, GA2104). Of the seven pre-thirteenth-century manuscripts, five (71%) contain at least one masculine reading of προστάτης. These staggering statistics demonstrate an extremely high probability that Theophylact's commentary originally contained the masculine reading.

9TH CENTURY
προστάτις
προστάτης GA 0151, 020, 049

Readings
9th Century
9th Century % Total Readings
Thus Far
Reading%
προστάτης3100%3100%
προστάτις00%00%


10TH CENTURY
προστάτις GA 1998, 1851, 1997, 920, 1915, 82, 602, 454, 457, 605, 1880, 1905
προστάτης GA 1927, 627, 450, 1720, 2125

Readings
10th Century
10th Century % Total Readings
Thus Far
Reading%
προστάτης529.41%840%
προστάτις1270.59%1260%


11TH CENTURY
προστάτις GA 1906, 1923, 1924, 1982, 1730, 1847, 1849, 1862, 639, 910, 1521, 2746, 1981, 919, 901, 699, 142, 250, 325, 465, 1244, 1828, 1888, 1919, 1921, 1932, 2007, 35, 547, 2587
προστάτης GA 1980, 638, 1870, 458, 491, 133, 1916, 302, 466, 1734, 1933, 1934, 1738, 1672, 2475, 624

Readings
11th Century
11th Century % Total Readings
Thus Far
Reading%
προστάτης1634.78%2436.36%
προστάτις3065.22%4263.64%


12TH CENTURY
προστάτις GA 1951, 1986, 1988, 1743, 2189, 2001, 1872, 2712, 203, 97, 122, 226, 622, 319, 1240, 76, 3, 105, 824, 1737, 1740, 1752, 1754, 2289
προστάτης GA 1917, 637, 656, 1673, 922, 911, 110, 620, 1315, 618

Readings
12th Century
12th Century % Total Readings
Thus Far
Reading%
προστάτης1029.41%3434%
προστάτις2470.59%6666%


13TH CENTURY
προστάτις GA 1956, 1972, 1717, 1728, 1731, 1736, 1742, 625, 632, 914, 2423, 498, 1103, 469, 1860, 601, 1242, 1597, 6, 1297, 1069, 141, 328, 479, 757, 1072, 1400, 1855, 1858, 2483
προστάτης GA 1941, 1759, 1070, 1094, 1107, 384, 2696, 592, 496, 999, 2502, 2627

Readings
13th Century
13th Century % Total Readings
Thus Far
Reading%
προστάτης1228.57%4632.39%
προστάτις3071.43%9667.61%


14TH CENTURY
προστάτις GA 1902, 1952, 2356, 1747, 1099, 2484, 2310, 2774, 680, 425, 921, 603, 452, 367, 1741, 2626, 18, 201, 204, 386, 394, 604, 634, 801, 959, 1075, 1100, 1248, 1249, 1354, 1503, 1548, 1618, 1637, 1723, 1725, 1726, 1732, 1733, 1746, 1761, 1856, 2261, 2431, 2466, 2554, 1929
προστάτης GA 628, 1918, 794, 808, 1762, 928, 1482, 1622

Readings
14th Century
14th Century % Total Readings
Thus Far
Reading%
προστάτης814.55%5427.41%
προστάτις4785.45%14372.59%


15TH CENTURY
προστάτις GA 1882, 1948, 1750, 616, 1003, 2003, 2691, 385, 1105, 1617, 2352, 149, 432, 1247, 1250, 1508, 1636, 1649, 1745, 1763, 1767, 1876, 2221, 2653, 2704, 1964
προστάτης GA 1978, 664, 1367

Readings
15th Century
15th Century % Total Readings
Thus Far
Reading%
προστάτης310.34%5725.22%
προστάτις2689.66%16974.78%


16TH CENTURY
προστάτις GA 1930, 1931, 2009, 1749, 1768, 2218
προστάτης GA 1911, 2690, 90, 2501

Readings
16th Century
16th Century % Total Readings
Thus Far
Reading%
προστάτης440%6125.85%
προστάτις660%17574.15%


17TH CENTURY
προστάτις GA 1869, 1101, 1748, 1979
προστάτης

Readings
17th Century
17th Century % Total Readings
Thus Far
Reading%
προστάτης00%6125.42%
προστάτις4100%17974.58%


18TH CENTURY
προστάτις GA 1104
προστάτης

Readings
18th Century
18th Century % Total Readings
Thus Far
Reading%
προστάτης00%6125.31%
προστάτις1100%18074.69%

προστάτις Ligatures
GA 57, 393, 404, 1277, 1628, 1889, 1992.

These seven feminine ligatures have not been included in the count. It is impossible to tell if these manuscripts have been corrected, and there is evidence that some have been. A correction would consist merely of placing a diaeresis (two dots) above the ligature.


Corrected from προστάτης to προστάτις
GA1927 (10th), GA1933 (1045), GA1980 (11th), GA1870 (11th), GA1934 (11th), GA1672 (11th), GA620 (12th), GA2627 (13th), GA1762 (14th), GA1978 (15th).


Possibly Corrected from προστάτης to προστάτις
GA327



FOOTNOTES

1. Barbara Aland and Kurt Aland, The Text of the New Testament. Translated by Erroll F. Rhodes. (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1989), 138-40.

2. Wilbur N. Pickering and Marcelo Freitas, Family 35. Original Text of the New Testament Exposition of Evidence. (Pickering and Freitas, 2021), 164-5.

3. J. H. Parker, Joannis Chrysostomi in Divi Pauli Epistolam ad Romanos. Bibliotheca Patrum Ecclesiae Catholicae. (London: Rivington, 1847), 465.

4. John H. Parker, Joannis Chrysostomi in Divi Pauli Epistolam ad Romanos. Bibliotheca Patrum Ecclesiae Catholicae. (London: Rivington, 1847), xiii.







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