Writings: ChristianityCodex Vaticanus2 of 10

Writings: Christianity

Codex Vaticanus

Codex Vaticanus is a Greek Bible on parchment, dated by the Vatican Library to the fourth century CE. Its original New Testament runs from Matthew through Hebrews 9:13, with James to Jude. The codex was in the Vatican Library by 1475, and its place of origin is unknown.

Last reviewed:

Three dates, kept apart

  1. The text's date: the tradition's view

    per the Orthodox Church in America: most likely the end of the 40s CE for 1 and 2 Thessalonians, near the close of the first century CE for John. Dei Verbum, the Chicago Statement, and the Westminster Confession give no year

  2. The text's date: critical scholars' view

    from about 50 CE (1 Thessalonians, the oldest New Testament writing, in Dale Martin's account); Mark about 70 CE, with Matthew and Luke after it

  3. This copy made

    4th century CE (301 to 400 CE), as the Vatican Library catalogs it

  4. This copy found

    Not a find: the Vatican Library had it by 1475. Its place of origin is unknown, and no source consulted traces it any earlier.

All four rows share one timeline. A row with no marker says why in words. How ancient texts are dated.

What it is

Codex Vaticanus is a Bible in Greek, written on parchment and bound as a codex, a book of pages rather than a roll.12 Its Old Testament lacks the first 45 chapters of Genesis, part of 2 Samuel, and some psalms.1 Its original New Testament holds Matthew through 2 Thessalonians, Hebrews as far as 9:13, and James through Jude, and lacks the letters to Timothy and Titus, Philemon, and Revelation. A much later hand wrote the pages after Hebrews 9:13.2

This entry treats it as a witness to the canon, the books a church accepts as scripture. Its Old Testament is in Greek, the language of the Septuagint, a translation of the Jewish scriptures that the early church read as its Old Testament. The Hebrew texts are under Judaism.34

How the copy was dated

The Vatican Library catalogs the codex as fourth century, and the Center for the Study of New Testament Manuscripts and the Encyclopedia of the Bible agree.521 None of the three states its method. The Vatican Library's paleography guide, which uses this codex as its main example, explains why the script alone cannot date it closely. Paleography dates a manuscript by its handwriting, and this codex is in a formal capital-letter style called biblical majuscule. The guide says that style stayed in use so long that manuscripts written in it are not really datable by their letters alone.6

The original ink faded and was traced over letter by letter, probably twice, in the tenth or eleventh century and again in the sixteenth, so most black letters seen today are not the original ink.6 A 2024 study of the inks by Nehemia Gordon, Patrick Andrist, and four co-authors, as summarized by Brent Nongbri, found that the marginal double dots, which some had taken for fourth-century marks, were written in an ink that points to the sixteenth century.7 No source consulted gives a different century for this codex. See how ancient texts are dated.

The text: its date and authorship

The strip above marks the New Testament books.

The tradition's account

Catholic teaching holds that the New Testament canon includes the letters of Paul and other apostolic writings, composed under the Holy Spirit's inspiration. It gives no year.8 The Orthodox Church in America's catechism counts fourteen letters as Paul's, while allowing that some, such as Hebrews, may not have been written by him directly.9 It dates Paul's letters from most likely the end of the 40s CE to the early 60s CE, and Hebrews to the second half of the first century. It dates Matthew, Mark, and Luke to the beginning of that half, and John near its close.1011

The Orthodox catechism also holds that God is the books' one original author, so a book's authenticity does not depend on its human writer.12 The evangelical Chicago Statement rejects study that leads to rejecting a book's stated authorship. The Reformed Westminster Confession lists Paul's Epistles among the books of scripture. Neither gives a year.1314

The historians' view

Dale Martin of Yale, in his Open Yale Courses lectures on the New Testament, holds that Romans, 1 and 2 Corinthians, Galatians, Philippians, 1 Thessalonians, and Philemon are the seven letters almost all scholars attribute to Paul.15 He holds that 1 Thessalonians, probably written around 50 CE, is the oldest New Testament writing.16 He holds that scholars debate the other letters, and sees 1 and 2 Timothy and Titus as the work of a later disciple, perhaps decades after Paul's death.15 He holds that churches began circulating Paul's letters early.16

Cavan Concannon of the University of Southern California, writing for Bible Odyssey, holds that scholars have long recognized the same seven letters as undisputed. He holds that many scholars challenge Paul's authorship of 2 Thessalonians, that Colossians and Ephesians raise a different problem, and that the Pastoral Letters come from a time period distinct from Paul's.17 The Catholic bishops' New American Bible says, in a study introduction that is not a binding statement of Catholic teaching, that John was probably written in the 90s CE.18

How it was found

Codex Vaticanus was not found. It was already in the Vatican Library by 1475, and its place of origin is unknown.1

The Encyclopedia of the Bible gives two suggestions for where it was made. Its contents match Athanasius's ideas about the canon, and its text generally agrees with Egyptian church writers, which leads many to suggest Egypt. But some paleographers, it adds, hold that one scribe of Codex Sinaiticus also wrote part of Vaticanus, which may make Caesarea a more likely place.119 The Vatican Library's paleography guide, discussing Tischendorf's version of that idea, calls the identification plausible but hardly compelling on the script alone.20

What it shows, and what it does not

The Vatican Library, the Center for the Study of New Testament Manuscripts, and the Encyclopedia of the Bible each date the codex to the fourth century CE. On that date, it shows that a Greek Bible containing most of the New Testament books was copied in a single manuscript.521 An undated entry in the Encyclopedia of the Bible, which speaks of recent papyrus discoveries, says they suggest its type of text may be up to two centuries older. That point depends on how those papyri are dated (see Papyrus 75).1

It does not show what the first-century texts said, who chose the books in the codex, or when any one of its books was written. None of the three states how its fourth-century date was reached. The script it uses is one that the Vatican Library's guide says is not really datable by letters alone, and its ink was retraced later.6 Its place of origin is not recorded.1

See also

Sources

  1. Codex Vaticanus (B). Encyclopedia of the Bible (BibleGateway Resources). Accessed 2026-11-05.
  2. Center for the Study of New Testament Manuscripts. GA 03 (Codex Vaticanus). CSNTM. Accessed 2026-11-05.
  3. Jannes Smith. What Is the Septuagint?. Bible Odyssey (Society of Biblical Literature). Accessed 2026-10-28.
  4. Christine Hayes. Introduction to the Old Testament (Hebrew Bible) (RLST 145), Lecture 1: The Parts of the Whole. Open Yale Courses, Yale University, transcript. Accessed 2026-10-28.
  5. Vat.gr.1209 (Biblia. Greco): digital manuscript record. Vatican Library, Digital Vatican Library. Accessed 2026-11-05.
  6. T. Janz. Greek Paleography from Antiquity to the Renaissance: Biblical Majuscule. Vatican Library (Thematic Pathways on the Web). Accessed 2026-11-05.
  7. Brent Nongbri. New Work on Codex Vaticanus (Vat. gr. 1209). The Early History of the Codex (blog by Brent Nongbri), 2024. Accessed 2026-11-05.
  8. Second Vatican Council. Dei Verbum, Dogmatic Constitution on Divine Revelation. Holy See, 1965, sections 9, 10, 11, 18, 19, and 22. Accessed 2026-10-28.
  9. Thomas Hopko. The Orthodox Faith, Volume I: Doctrine and Scripture, Sources of Christian Doctrine: Bible. Orthodox Church in America. Accessed 2026-10-28.
  10. Thomas Hopko. The Orthodox Faith, Volume I, Doctrine and Scripture: New Testament, Letters of Saint Paul. Orthodox Church in America, 1981, opening paragraph. Accessed 2026-10-28.
  11. Thomas Hopko. The Orthodox Faith, Volume I: Doctrine and Scripture, New Testament: Gospels. Orthodox Church in America, opening sections and the sections on Luke and John. Accessed 2026-11-05.
  12. Thomas Hopko. The Orthodox Faith, Volume I: Doctrine and Scripture, The Bible: Authorship. Orthodox Church in America. Accessed 2026-10-28.
  13. International Council on Biblical Inerrancy. The Chicago Statement on Biblical Inerrancy. Alliance of Confessing Evangelicals, summary statement, Articles XII and XVIII. Accessed 2026-10-28.
  14. Westminster Assembly. The Westminster Confession of Faith. The Orthodox Presbyterian Church, chapter 1. Accessed 2026-10-28.
  15. Dale B. Martin. RLST 152, Introduction to the New Testament History and Literature, Lecture 14: Paul as Missionary. Open Yale Courses, Yale University, transcript. Accessed 2026-10-28.
  16. Dale B. Martin. Introduction to New Testament History and Literature (RLST 152), Lecture 2: From Stories to Canon. Open Yale Courses, Yale University, transcript. Accessed 2026-10-28.
  17. Cavan W. Concannon. Paul and Authorship. Bible Odyssey, Society of Biblical Literature. Accessed 2026-10-28.
  18. United States Conference of Catholic Bishops. New American Bible, Revised Edition: Introduction to the Gospel according to John. United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, introduction. Accessed 2026-11-05.
  19. Codex Sinaiticus: Bible in two volumes (Add MS 43725). British Library, Archives and Manuscripts Catalogue, record 032-002169711. Accessed 2026-11-05.
  20. T. Janz. Greek Paleography from Antiquity to the Renaissance: Observations on the Original Scribe(s) of Vat. gr. 1209. Vatican Library (Thematic Pathways on the Web). Accessed 2026-11-05.