The Appendices to the Gospel according to Mark. 439 



was characterized by a considerable "Western" element, of an early 

 type. 



2. The second stage is represented in the quotations of Origen and 

 is fairly well reproduced by S and B, although Origen seems also to 

 have used MSS of an earlier type. The "Neutral" text of WH rep- 

 resents therefore, the second stage of the development of the Alex- 

 andrian text. 



3. The third stage is represented by the quotations of Cyril of 

 Alexandria (bishop of Alexandria 412—444 A.D.), and is found in 

 a small group of MSS, especially C. L, E, A, ^F. The "Alexandrian" 

 text of WH is therefore the third stage of the text of Alexandria, a 

 revision of the second stage, showing a tendency to revive readings 

 of the first stage which were rejected in the second. It may be noted 

 that von Soden does not separate the "Neutral" and "Alexandrian" 

 texts, but includes both in the class he calls H, and sa\/s this text has 

 been contaminated b}^ the Egyptian versions. 



Egypt early knew and long preserved the Gospel according to 

 j\Iark in the abbreviated form, as is witnessed by N and B which were 

 written there in the fourth century. Though, as we have seen, both 

 betray a knowledge of a conclusion to the Gospel,— whether the Longer 

 or the Shorter Conclusion the evidence does not show, — they never- 

 theless hold that the more authentic text ends at v. 8. It is possible 

 to claim that S and B give us but the judgment of the scribes who 

 wrote them, or of the earlier archetypes from which they were copied, 

 but the excellent text presented by them is against such a supposition. 

 They certainly reveal the persistence until the fourth century of the 

 tradition of the abbreviated text. 



In Egypt, to this abbreviated Gospel, the Shorter Conclusion was 

 appended, as is witnessed by L, "T^^, T^ and M*. It is evident that B 

 was composed for the purpose it serves and for the place it holds, that 

 is to furnish a fitting conclusion for the Gospel. By its contradiction 

 to V. 8 it bears testimony to the A form, for unless a form of text 

 had been already in circulation containing the words, "they said 

 nothing to any one," these words would been excised or altered 

 when B was appended. That they were early felt to be incompatible 

 with B is shown by k and an ancestor of Bohairic Hunt. 17. 



In language and conception the Shorter Conclusion differs from the 

 Synoptics even more than does the Longer. In tone it is ecclesiastical 

 and theological. Evidently based on Luke-Acts, or upon the history 

 and conceptions found there, in style it is comparable to the opening 

 verses of the Gospel according to Luke (so Dr. Hort II, p. 298). The 

 writer also seems familiar with the epistles of Paul, and his style 



