Liturgical impact of the Psalterion, Odes and other related matters maintained in the 5th century pandect : Alexandrinus (London, )

by James Miller

Milwaukee (WI)

This article will consider the liturgical character of an important unit of the ancient biblical known as Codex Alexandrinus (London, British Library, Royal MS. 1 D. v [OT], Royal MS. 1 D. vi [OT], Royal MS. 1 D. vii [OT], Royal MS. 1 D. vii [NT]). In fact, the portion under discussion forms the first part of vol. III of the four volumes in which the codex as a whole was divided, rebound and numbered (see Andrew Smith). The investigation will involve inspecting a component part of the manuscript, one that, it will be argued, has a patent liturgical or devotional stamp. The current article will offer a further development of lines of research I undertook in my 2006 dissertation (unpublished), Let us Sing to the Lord: The Biblical Odes in the Codex Alexandrinus, wherein I identified and analyzed a related liturgical segment. The thrust of this article will be an attempt to further widen the scope of probable liturgical material found in this manuscript.

The dissertation focused a limited segment of Codex Alexandrinus that is understood to have a clear liturgical character--namely, the Biblical Odes (BO hereafter) that follow, in this manuscript, the book of . Having completed that research and established the likelihood that the BO as found in this manuscript was likely copied from a pre-existing BO exemplar, the inclusion of the Psalms and BO in immediate proximity began to seem a matter worthy of further investigation along these same lines: perhaps these two units were, in fact, component parts of a larger liturgical complex that formed an integral part of the manuscript from its inception? Perhaps, not just the BO, but the Psalms as well were a component of this likely pre- existing liturgical exemplar? Perhaps this supposition could provide a fitting explanation for the presence of other apparently non-biblical material adjacent to the Psalms in this manuscript? If such a possibility be allowed, the material prepended to the beginning of the Psalms in Codex Alexandrinus, and, by standards of biblical scholarship considered in no way properly biblical, may be identified and explained: perhaps these items, too, have a liturgical signification. In this way material found within this ancient , along with the Psalms and BO, may have been a part of the same, pre-existing complex.

The liturgical complex in Codex Alexandrinus that being referred to here begins with Athanasius' epistle to Marcellinus--a work that lists the various occasions on which given Psalms, in acts of prayer, may be read. There follow on this preface, prior to the text of the Psalms themselves, in order, the Hypothesis of Psalms, the Periochai of Psalms, and the Canons of Psalms. The first two of these three items can be characterized as navigational equipment, and were likely intended as aids for use in readily locating target material within the Psalms. The final item is a guide indicating which of the 150 Psalms is appointed for reading at each of the 24 hours in the day-- this latter being indicative of an ancient horologion tradition that appointed certain prayer intervals at each hour of the 24-hour daily cycle.

Indisputable as it may seem that a significant portion of this ancient biblical manuscript was intended to be used in worship, a legitimate question remains as to whether the worship envisaged was private, devotional worship, or corporate, liturgical worship. The Epistle seems to tell in favor of the former, while the Hypothesis and Periochai cannot be said to indicate decisively for either. The recent work of Stig Simeon Frøyshov on the Canons of Psalms, however, does argue in favor of this element's attestation to corporate, liturgical worship. In any case, whether the liturgical character of this segment of the manuscript be understood as a private devotional use or as one oriented toward corporate worship--or more likely both--the fact remains that what we have in Codex Alexandrinus is what is surely one of the earliest representatives of a tradition that would later come to be known as the Psalter (in Greek Psalterion), a compendium of Psalms and other hymnic, devotional, and navigational material that was used within and transmitted for both corporate liturgical and private devotional purposes.

In light of this data, it will be argued that Codex Alexandrinus contains what should be thought of as a complex of liturgical material that extends, at the least, from the material prepended to the Psalms and continues up to the end of the BO. In other words, the manuscript contains what is likely to be one of the earliest exemplars of what would become known in later Byzantine practice as the Psalterion. Recognition of the fact that this pandect codex contains material of a patently liturgical nature will naturally suggest that other parts of this ancient Bible may likewise have a heretofore overlooked liturgical import. Such realizations allow us to augment our understanding of ancient biblical materials, whether in whole or in part, as not simply books intended for solitary reading or study, but as liturgical fixtures intended for use in both corporate and private prayer. In this way, the CBM's enterprise of urging a re-evaluation of biblical manuscript evidence in light of liturgical use of the materials can be furthered.