Codex Petropolitanus (New Testament) Codex Petropolitanus (New Testament) Codex Petropolitanus, designated by Π or 041 (in the Gregory-Aland numbering), ε 73 (von Soden), is a Greek uncial manuscript of the Gospels, dated palaeographically to the 9th-century. The manuscript is lacunose. The codex contains an almost complete text of the four Gospels on 350 parchment leaves (14.5 cm by 10.5 cm) with some lacunae in Matt 3:12-4:17; 19:12-20:2; Luke 1:76-2:18; John 6:15-35; 8:6-39; 9:21-10:3. Texts of Mark 16:18-20 and John 21:22-25 were supplied by minuscule hand in the 12th-century. The text is written in one column per page, 21 lines per page. The letters are
Historical reliability of the Gospels intention and genre, gospel sources and oral tradition, textual criticism, and historical authenticity of specific sayings and narrative events. The genre of the gospels is essential in understanding the intentions of the authors regarding the historical value of the texts. New Testament scholar Graham Stanton states that "the gospels are now widely considered to be a sub-set of the broad ancient literary genre of biographies." Charles H. Talbert agrees that the gospels should be grouped with the Graeco-Roman biographies, but adds that such biographies included an element of mythology, and that the synoptic gospels also included elements of mythology. E.P.