Manuscript
Chester Beatty Papyrus I (P45)
Also known as P45 · 𝔓45 · Chester Beatty Biblical Papyrus I · P. Chester Beatty I
papyrinew-testamentgospelscanon
Summary
The oldest surviving book that holds all four Gospels and Acts together — though only a fifth of it is left.
- Copied c. AD 175–250 (third century; the narrower c. 175–225 is a palaeographic estimate).
- Written in greek on papyrus.
- Kept at Chester Beatty, Dublin (Papyrus I); one leaf at the Österreichische Nationalbibliothek, Vienna (Pap. Vindob. G. 31974).
- Contains Matthew, Mark, Luke.
Sources (3)
- Chester Beatty, Dublin — digital collections viewer · accessed 2026-08-06The holding institution's own imaging.
- Frederic G. Kenyon, The Chester Beatty Biblical Papyri (London, 1933–37) · accessed 2026-08-06The first edition of the text. Public domain.
- 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
What survives is portions of thirty leaves: Matthew 20–21 and 25–26; Mark 4–9 and 11–12; Luke 6–7 and 9–14; John 4–5 and 10–11; and Acts 4–17.
Thirty leaves sounds like a lot until you learn the book originally ran to roughly 220. Well under a fifth of it is left, and the room says so rather than listing the contents and letting the list do the flattering.
Most of it is in Dublin. One leaf — Matthew 25:41–26:39 — is in Vienna.
Manuscript details
- Date
- c. AD 175–250 (third century; the narrower c. 175–225 is a palaeographic estimate)
- Language
- Greek
- Script
- Greek book hand (uncial)
- Material
- Papyrus
- Held at
- Chester Beatty, Dublin (Papyrus I); one leaf at the Österreichische Nationalbibliothek, Vienna (Pap. Vindob. G. 31974)
- Found at
- Egypt; acquired by Alfred Chester Beatty in the 1930s
- Contains
- Matthew · Mark · Luke · John · Acts
Why it matters
It shows that the four Gospels and Acts were already being copied as one book, in one binding, well before any church council discussed a canon. Whoever paid for this codex thought of those five writings as belonging together.
The passages the manuscripts argue over
The words used here: uncial, codex
- uncial
- a book hand of Greek capital letters, used for the oldest whole Bibles.
- codex
- a book with leaves and a spine, the form that replaced the scroll.
The places where the manuscripts differ, the ending of Mark, the woman caught in adultery, the three heavenly witnesses, with the case each way.