Manuscript

The Rylands Fragment of John (P52)

Also known as P52 · 𝔓52 · Rylands Greek Papyrus 457 · P. Ryl. Gk. 457

papyrinew-testamenttextual-criticismgospel-of-john

Summary

A scrap of John's Gospel about the size of a credit card, and for most of a century the oldest piece of the New Testament anyone had.

Copied c. AD 125–225 — a range on purpose. The older textbooks say "about 125"; later scholars show the handwriting could be a century younger..
Written in greek on papyrus.
Kept at John Rylands Library, University of Manchester (Greek Papyrus 457).
Contains John 18:31–33, John 18:37–38.

A small ragged scrap of brown papyrus with a few lines of Greek writing — The front of the Rylands fragment, John 18:31–33: John Rylands Library, public domain

Sources (3)

The University of Manchester, Rylands Greek Papyrus 457 (P52) — digital collections · accessed 2026-08-06The holding institution's own record and imaging.
Brent Nongbri, God's Library: The Archaeology of the Earliest Christian Manuscripts (Yale University Press, 2018) · accessed 2026-08-06The case for wider date ranges on the early papyri. Cite-only.
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

Both sides carry writing, which means it came from a book rather than a scroll: John 18:31–33 on the front, John 18:37–38 on the back — Pilate asking Jesus, "What is truth?"

Bernard Grenfell bought it in Egypt in 1920. It sat unread in the Rylands collection until 1934, when Colin Roberts recognised what it was.

Its date is genuinely argued about. Roberts put it around AD 125 on the shape of the letters, and that number went into every textbook. Later palaeographers — Brent Nongbri most carefully — have shown that handwriting alone cannot date a scrap this small to within less than a century or so, and that a date as late as the early third century cannot be excluded. MannaFest prints the range.

Manuscript details

Date: c. AD 125–225 — a range on purpose. The older textbooks say "about 125"; later scholars show the handwriting could be a century younger.
Language: Greek
Script: Greek book hand (uncial)
Material: Papyrus
Held at: John Rylands Library, University of Manchester (Greek Papyrus 457)
Found: 1920
Found at: Bought in Egypt in 1920; identified in the Rylands collection in 1934
Contains: John 18:31–33 · John 18:37–38

Why it matters

It is the reason people say the Gospels were being copied within living memory of the events — and it is also the best lesson in how careful that claim has to be. A fragment this size can be dated by its handwriting only to within about a century, so the honest statement is a range, not a headline year. Even at the late end of the range it remains one of the earliest surviving pieces of any New Testament book.

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 →