Uspenski Gospels Uspenski Gospels Uspenski Gospels, "Minuscule 461" (in the Gregory-Aland numbering), ε 92 (Soden), are a New Testament minuscule manuscript written in Greek, dated at 835 AD. They are the oldest known dated manuscript of the New Testament; it was not customary for Greek scribes to date their work at the time. The codex contains complete text of the four Gospels, on 344 parchment leaves, the leaves measure 16.7 cm by 10.7 cm. The text is written in one column per page, 19 lines per page, in minuscule letters. The margins are very wide, the column of writing occupies an area
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.