I have uploaded a new parallel version of Codex Alexandrinus (hereafter 02) in a polytonic form to Downloads along with a typeface I'm working on for this project. The current version has the University of Muenster transcription in the left hand column and a new polytonic 'critical version' in the right column. Eventually, God willing, I hope to have the entirety of 02 from Genesis to Revelation available in a full Greek New Testament.
I had started with the Septuagint portion of 02, but thought it would be more immediately useful to have the New Testament and the epistles of Clement completed first. Part of the reason for this is that I would like to do a 'critical' version of 02 collated with the Family Π manuscripts that are believed to have been derived either directly from 02 or a common ancestor. This family represents some of the earliest Byzantine manuscripts, with the earliest being dated from around the 9th century AD.
The goal (God willing) is that I would create a new version with lacunae in 02 being filled with the equivalent Family Π text such as from Matthew 1-25:6. But this is a future goal and for the moment as clean a copy of the GNT as possible is the immediate goal.
The current version contains the surviving text of Matthew, the whole of the Gospel of Mark, 3 John, and the Epistle of Jude. I have begun by laying it out in a two column table with a verse to a cell to make it easier to compare the Muenster transcript to the polytonic text. I have a very rough and somewhat messy system* to indicate where 02 follows or differs from the Critical (CT), Byzantine or Majority (MT), and Erasmian or Textus Receptus (TR) families and where 02 goes its own way. I say this is messy because I'm using the 3rd Edition CNTTS apparatus, which is far from comprehensive or perfect**. In the future I will use the ECM apparatus which is more up to date and contains far more sources.
The styles markup is very rudimentary but should give something of an idea of the nature of 02's text and which way it leans. If you are using MS word you can open the Styles menu and see what the colours mean. It is far from comprehensive but should give an idea where 02 variants occur and what text-type they follow. When I have the full GNT I will begin working on a proper apparatus that more fully lists variants and in the case of variants unique to 02 what other manuscripts contain the reading.
I will update it as I go and make a note of this on the Downloads page as I reach the end of books. The next planned update will add the Gospel of Luke and maybe another short letter such as 2 John or Philemon. I like to break up the work by following a long text with a shorter one to keep the sense of progress coming along.
Note - I should make it clear, I'm not doing this for any theological reason or because I think 02 is the best manuscript. It is one of the oldest and therefore most valuable copies of God's inspired word surviving and that's one reason for this work. The Septuagint (LXX) is also valuable because it differs in some significant ways from other existing LXX texts.
Note 2 - you will need the Alexandrinus typeface found near the top of the Downloads page to properly display the text. There are currently no special characters not found in the SBL Gentium Plus typeface, but there will be in the final full 02 transcript. Other typefaces will display the text properly, but in the final version there are critical marks from the Grabe transcript I am working the LXX from***.
But, the primary reason is that I'm curious about the claim that it may be related to the Family Π Byzantine texts and I would like to know exactly how closely related it is. So far from what I've seen, it does share some characteristics with this family and is, I believe, a valuable witness to the bigger Byzantine family of texts.
It is available on the Download page for your edification.
I pray it blesses the reader and proves useful.
