Fayyum Fragment

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The Fayyum Fragment is a papyrus fragment containing text that could be from part of the New Testament, and consists of only about 100 Greek letters. The fragment was originally discovered in Al-Fayyum, Egypt, and was translated in 1885 by Gustav Bickell after it was found in the papyrus collection of Archduke Ranier in Vienna.

The surviving manuscript is badly damaged and has fewer than a hundred Greek letters preserved. Because of its style of handwriting it is believed to have been copied around the end of the third century. The text seems to parallel Mark 14:26-31, appearing to present a more abbreviated account. It is unclear whether the fragment is an abridged version of the synoptic gospels, or a source text on which they were based.

The text states:

while leading them out Jesus said, "This night you will all fall away, as it is written,'I will strike the shepherd, and the sheep will be scattered.' " When peter said, "even though all, not I," Jesus answered, "before the cock crows twice, you will this day deny me three times." ²

[edit] References

Wilhelm Schneemelcher, ed., translation by R. McL. Wilson, New Testament Apocrypha : Gospels and Related Writings (Louisville: John Knox Press, 1992), p. 102.

2 Gospel Parallels, A Comparison of the Synoptic Gospels, 5th ed. Burton H. Throckmorton, Jr. editor. (Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 1992) ISBN 0-8407-7484-2