Epistles of Saint Paul

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onserved in the Vatican Library the eighteen folios that contain the Epistles of Saint Paul, which are the final part of an old papyrus codex (signature P ⁷² ), quite thick, and is the one which, according to the hypothesis of M Testuz, had at least 180 pages, largely conserved. Indeed, the codex probably contained a wide anthology of texts that included the apocryphal one Nacimiento de María (CANT 50), the apocryphal correspondence among Saint Peter and the Corinthians (CANT 211.IV), Solomon's IX Ode, the Epistle of Judas, the Homily of Melitón of Sardes on Easter (CPG 1092), a fragment of his hymn (CPG 1093.17), the Apology of Filea (CPG 1672) and the Psalms 33 and 34, concluding the Epistles of Saint Peter. These texts, just as we have related them, would correspond to the current Bodmer Papyruses V, X, XI, VII, XIII, XII, XX, IX, VIII.

The codex, which is almost square, is in general in a very good state of preservation. In many cases, the margins of the folios seem that they are complete, which allows the original dimensions of the codex with to be determined at approximately 160 x 145 mm. It was written by several scribes, and was probably written between the beginning of the 3rd Century and the first half of the 4th Century after Christ. The combining of the individually composed parts would have taken place during the course of the 4th Century.

The folios that contain the Epistles of Saint Paul are written covering a surface area of about 125 x 100 mm and the number of lines varies between 16 and 18. The three external margins of the page, in the cases of those in a better state of conservation, are 15 mm. In a similar way to other codexes old paparyus, each booklet is constituted by a bifolio. The numbering of the pages is in in uppercase Greek letters with the numeric value (1 to 36) in the center of the top margin of each of the pages.

Exactly where the manuscript was produced in unknown, but everything points to an Egyptian origin. Given the reduced dimensions of the manuscript and formed by an anthology of texts, it has been assumed that the liturgy was for private use.

The folios that constitute the Papyrus Bodmer VIII were donated to Pope Paul VI by the Swiss collector Martin Bodmer in June of 1969 and they are maintained in the Vatican Library under the original signature.

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