John 21:22

John 21:22, John 21:23

The Latin Vulgate manuscripts of these verses present an interesting variant reading that played a considerable part in later mediaeval discussions of the preeminence of the Greek text over the Latin Vulgate when they differ, and in the question of possible dominical sanction of celibacy. The official Clementine edition of the Latin Vulgate reads Sic eum volo manere donec veniam (“I wish him [Peter] to remain thus until I come”). In the fifteenth century Cardinal Bessarion wrote a pamphlet ²² pointing out, among other errors in the Vulgate, that by a copyist’s oversight the text reads sic instead of si (= eva,n). According to modern critical editions of the Vulgate (those of Wordsworth and White ²³ and of Robert Weber), Jerome’s text originally contained both words, si sic, just as codex Bezae in ver. John 21:22 (not however ver. John 21:23) adds ou[twj after me,nein. ²⁴

²² Reprinted in Migne, Patrologia Graeca, vol. CLXI, cols. 623—640 (cf. an opposing position, set forth by George of Trebizond, ib., cols. 867—882). For a brief account of the altercation, see L. D. Reynolds and N. G. Wilson, Scribes and Scholars: a Guide to the Transmission of Greek and Latin Literature (Oxford, 1968), pp. 127 f.

²³ See their note in loc.

²⁴ According to J. R. Harris, the variant reading of codex Bezae in John 21:22 was appealed to in private discussions of the question of celibacy during the earlier years of the Council of Trent (A Study of Codex Bezae [Cambridge, 1891 ], pp. 36—39).