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Manuscript

Codex Washingtonianus (the Freer Gospels)

Also known as Codex Washingtonianus · W (Gregory-Aland) · 032 · the Freer Gospels · F1906.274
great-codicesnew-testamentgospelsvariants

Summary

Four Gospels in an unusual order — and one saying of Jesus that appears in no other manuscript on earth.

  • Copied Fourth to fifth century AD (c. 350–450).
  • Written in greek on parchment.
  • Kept at Smithsonian National Museum of Asian Art (Freer Gallery of Art), Washington, D.C. (F1906.274).
  • Contains Matthew, John, Luke.
A parchment page of Mark's Gospel in Greek capitals, single column
Codex Washingtonianus at Mark 16:12–17: the page carrying the Freer Logion, public domain

Sources (3)

  1. Smithsonian National Museum of Asian Art, object record F1906.274 · accessed 2026-08-06The holding institution's own record.
  2. H. A. Sanders, The Washington Manuscript of the Four Gospels (1912) · accessed 2026-08-06The first full edition. Public domain.
  3. Metzger & Ehrman, The Text of the New Testament: Its Transmission, Corruption, and Restoration, 4th ed. (Oxford University Press, 2005) · accessed 2026-08-06The standard handbook of New Testament textual criticism.

What it is

One hundred and eighty-seven leaves, in the order Matthew, John, Luke, Mark.

After Mark 16:14 this manuscript alone carries an extra passage, known as the Freer Logion, in which Christ answers the disciples: "The term of years for Satan's power has been fulfilled, but other terrible things draw near." No printed Bible carries it. It is a real variant in a real manuscript, and this room shows it rather than hiding it.

Its text also changes character from book to book, which scholars read as evidence that it was assembled from several different damaged copies — plausibly because Diocletian's persecution had destroyed the complete ones. If that reading is right, the book is physical evidence of a church rebuilding its Scriptures after an attempt to burn them.

Manuscript details
Date
Fourth to fifth century AD (c. 350–450)
Language
Greek
Script
Uncial (majuscule)
Material
Parchment
Held at
Smithsonian National Museum of Asian Art (Freer Gallery of Art), Washington, D.C. (F1906.274)
Found
1906
Found at
Bought in Egypt in 1906 by Charles Lang Freer
Contains
Matthew · John · Luke · Mark
Why it matters
It carries the one saying of Jesus that survives in a single manuscript and nowhere else — the clearest possible demonstration that the church did not quietly absorb every stray reading, because this one never made it into a Bible.

The passages the manuscripts argue over

The words used here: uncial
uncial
a book hand of Greek capital letters, used for the oldest whole Bibles.

The places where the manuscripts differ, the ending of Mark, the woman caught in adultery, the three heavenly witnesses, with the case each way.

Where the manuscripts differ, all 15 places →Every handwritten copy, shelved and in date order →