Manuscripts of Colossians
The text of Colossians has come down to us through several distinct kinds of witness, each produced for a different purpose and each contributing something different to the reconstruction of the epistle. This page introduces those categories and links to the full catalogue for each, drawn from the Münster Institute’s working research database and other sources. Every Greek entry records the manuscript’s Gregory-Aland designation, its date, writing material, and the precise extent of Colossians it preserves, together with links to digital images and, where one exists, a published diplomatic transcription.
Extents are given for Colossians only. “Complete” indicates that the manuscript preserves the whole epistle; all other entries list the surviving verses. Lectionary entries list the pericopes drawn from Colossians in the order the manuscript presents them, which is liturgical rather than canonical.
Papyri
Written on papyrus, the writing material of the ancient Mediterranean, and conventionally designated with a P and a number. They are the earliest surviving witnesses to Colossians and, though few, carry considerable weight because they stand closest in time to the epistle’s composition. Two attest Colossians, of which P46 is by a wide margin the more extensive: see the papyri (2).
Majuscules
Parchment codices written in continuous capital letters without word division, designated by number and, for the earliest, by a letter. They range from the great fourth-century codices to ninth- and tenth-century witnesses, and they supply the fullest early continuous text of the epistle. Several are fragmentary: see the majuscules (25).
Minuscules
Written in the cursive, connected hand that became standard from the ninth century onward. They are far more numerous than all the other Greek categories combined and are mostly Byzantine in character, which makes them indispensable for tracing the later history of the text. Because of their number they are catalogued separately and grouped by century: see the minuscules (232).
Lectionaries
Liturgical books rather than continuous copies of the epistle. They present Colossians as a series of pericopes appointed for reading in worship, arranged in the order of the church calendar, and so preserve the text as it was actually heard by congregations: see the lectionaries (14).
Early Versional Support
Early translations of Colossians into Latin, Syriac, Coptic, and Gothic. These witnesses attest the Greek text indirectly, through the exemplar that lay before the translator, and they often localise a reading to a particular region and period. Fourteen range from the sixth to the tenth century and include several Greek-Latin bilinguals that also appear among the majuscules: see the versional witnesses (14).
Sources and acknowledgements
Manuscript images are hosted by the New Testament Virtual Manuscript Room (Institut für neutestamentliche Textforschung, Münster) and the Center for the Study of New Testament Manuscripts. Transcriptions are those published by the Institute for Textual Scholarship and Electronic Editing at the University of Birmingham as part of the Epistulae Paulinae project. Links open the original repositories; the Institute for Colossians Studies claims no rights in the linked materials.
Last updated 7 September 2026. Generated from the Institute’s Colossians manuscripts database.