§ 4.
Were I invited to point to a beautifully described incident in the Gospel, I should find it difficult to lay my finger on anything more apt for my purpose than the transaction described in St. John xiii. 21-25. It belongs to the closing scene of our Saviour's Ministry. 'Verily, verily, I say unto you,' (the words were spoken at the Last Supper), 'one of you will betray Me. The disciples therefore looked one at another, wondering of whom He spake. Now there was reclining in the bosom of Jesus (ην δε ανακειμενος εν τω κολπω του 'Ι.) one of His disciples whom Jesus loved. To him therefore Simon Peter motioneth to inquire who it may be concerning whom He speaketh. He then, just sinking on the breast of Jesus (επιπεσων δε εκεινος 'ουτως επι το στηθος του 'Ι.) [i.e. otherwise keeping his position, see above, p. [60]], saith unto Him, Lord, who is it?'
The Greek is exquisite. At first, St. John has been simply 'reclining (ανακειμενος) in the bosom' of his Divine Master: that is, his place at the Supper is the next adjoining His,—for the phrase really means little more. But the proximity is of course excessive, as the sequel shews. Understanding from St. Peter's gesture what is required of him, St. John merely sinks back, and having thus let his head fall (επιπεσων) on (or close to) His Master's chest (επι το στηθος), he says softly,—'Lord, who is it?' ... The moment is perhaps the most memorable in the Evangelist's life: the position, one of unutterable privilege. Time, place, posture, action,—all settle so deep into his soul, that when, in his old age, he would identify himself, he describes himself as 'the disciple whom Jesus loved; who also at the Supper' (that memorable Supper!) 'lay (ανεπεσεν[190]) on Jesus' breast,' (literally, 'upon His chest,'—επι το στηθος αυτου), and said, 'Lord, who is it that is to betray Thee?' (ch. xxi. 20).... Yes, and the Church was not slow to take the beautiful hint. His language so kindled her imagination that the early Fathers learned to speak of St. John the Divine, as 'ο επιστηθιος,—'the (recliner) on the chest[191].'
Now, every delicate discriminating touch in this sublime picture is faithfully retained throughout by the cursive copies in the proportion of about eighty to one. The great bulk of the MSS., as usual, uncial and cursive alike, establish the undoubted text of the Evangelist, which is here the Received Text. Thus, a vast majority of the MSS., with [Symbol: Aleph]AD at their head, read επιπεσων in St. John xiii. 25. Chrysostom[192] and probably Cyril[193] confirm the same reading. So also Nonnus[194]. Not so B and C with four other uncials and about twenty cursives (the vicious Evan. 33 being at their head), besides Origen[195] in two places and apparently Theodorus of Mopsuestia[196]. These by mischievously assimilating the place in ch. xiii to the later place in ch. xxi in which such affecting reference is made to it, hopelessly obscure the Evangelist's meaning. For they substitute αναπεσων ουν εκεινος κ.τ.λ. It is exactly as when children, by way of improving the sketch of a great Master, go over his matchless outlines with a clumsy pencil of their own.
That this is the true history of the substitution of αναπεσων in St. John xiii. 25 for the less obvious επιπεσων is certain. Origen, who was probably the author of all the mischief, twice sets the two places side by side and elaborately compares them; in the course of which operation, by the way, he betrays the viciousness of the text which he himself employed. But what further helps to explain how easily αναπεσων might usurp the place of επιπεσων[197], is the discovery just noticed, that the ancients from the earliest period were in the habit of identifying St. John, as St. John had identified himself, by calling him 'the one that lay ('ο αναπεσων) upon the Lord's chest.' The expression, derived from St. John xxi. 20, is employed by Irenaeus[198] (A.D. 178) and by Polycrates[199] (Bp. of Ephesus A.D. 196); by Origen[200] and by Ephraim Syrus[201]: by Epiphanius[202] and by Palladius[203]: by Gregory of Nazianzus[204] and by his namesake of Nyssa[205]: by pseudo-Eusebius[206], by pseudo-Caesarius[207], and by pseudo-Chrysostom[208]. The only wonder is, that in spite of such influences all the MSS. in the world except about twenty-six have retained the true reading.
Instructive in the meantime it is to note the fate which this word has experienced at the hands of some Critics. Lachmann, Tischendorf, Tregelles, Alford, Westcott and Hort, have all in turn bowed to the authority of Cod. B and Origen. Bishop Lightfoot mistranslates[209] and contends on the same side. Alford informs us that επιπεσων has surreptitiously crept in 'from St. Luke xv. 20': (why should it? how could it?) 'αναπεσων not seeming appropriate.' Whereas, on the contrary, αναπεσων is the invariable and obvious expression,—επιπεσων the unusual, and, till it has been explained, the unintelligible word. Tischendorf,—who had read επιπεσων in 1848 and αναπεσων in 1859,—in 1869 reverts to his first opinion; advocating with parental partiality what he had since met with in Cod. [Symbol: Aleph]. Is then the truth of Scripture aptly represented by that fitful beacon-light somewhere on the French coast,—now visible, now eclipsed, now visible again,—which benighted travellers amuse themselves by watching from the deck of the Calais packet?
It would be time to pass on. But because in this department of study men are observed never to abandon a position until they are fairly shelled out and left without a pretext for remaining, I proceed to shew that αναπεσων (for επιπεσων) is only one corrupt reading out of many others hereabouts. The proof of this statement follows. Might it not have been expected that the old uncials' ([Symbol: Aleph]ABCD) would exhibit the entire context of such a passage as the present with tolerable accuracy? The reader is invited to attend to the results of collation:—
xiii. 21.-ο [Symbol: Aleph]B: υμιν λεγω tr. B.
xiii. 22.-ουν BC: + οι Ιουδαιοι [Symbol: Aleph]: απορουντει D.
xiii. 23.-δε B: + εκ [Symbol: Aleph]ABCD:-ο B: + και D.
xiii. 24. (for πυθεσθαι τις αν ειη + ουτος D) και λεγει αυτω, ειπε τις εστιν BC: (for λεγει) ελεγεν [Symbol: Aleph]: + και λεγει αυτω ειπε τις εστιν περι ου λεγει [Symbol: Aleph].
xiii. 25. (for επιπεσων) αναπεσων BC:-δε BC: (for δε) ουν [Symbol: Aleph]D; -ουτος [Symbol: Aleph]AD.
xiii. 26. + ουν BC: + αυτω D:—ο B: + και λεγει [Symbol: Aleph]BD: + αν D: (for βαψας) εμβαψας AD: βαψω ... και δωσω αυτω BC: + ψωμου (after ψωμιον) C: (for εμβαψας) βαψας D: (for και εμβαψας) βαψας ουν [Symbol: Aleph]BC: -το B: + λαμβανει και BC: Ισκαριωτου [Symbol: Aleph]BC: απο Καρυωτου D.
xiii. 27.-τοτε [Symbol: Aleph]:-μετα το ψωμιον τοτε D: (for λεγει ουν) και λεγει D:-ο B.
In these seven verses therefore, (which present no special difficulty to a transcriber,) the Codexes in question are found to exhibit at least thirty-five varieties,—for twenty-eight of which (jointly or singly) B is responsible: [Symbol: Aleph] for twenty-two: C for twenty-one: D for nineteen: A for three. It is found that twenty-three words have been added to the text: fifteen substituted: fourteen taken away; and the construction has been four times changed. One case there has been of senseless transposition. Simon, the father of Judas, (not Judas the traitor), is declared by [Symbol: Aleph]BCD to have been called 'Iscariot.' Even this is not all. What St. John relates concerning himself is hopelessly obscured; and a speech is put into St. Peter's mouth which he certainly never uttered. It is not too much to say that every delicate lineament has vanished from the picture. What are we to think of guides like [Symbol: Aleph]BCD, which are proved to be utterly untrustworthy?