Papyrus 45

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Papyrus 45 (𝔓45), also called P. Chester Beatty I, is an early Greek New Testament manuscript written on papyrus. It is part of the Chester Beatty Papyri, a group of early Christian texts found in the 1930s and bought by Alfred Chester Beatty.

Key facts
- Date and origin: Dated to around 250 CE, likely from the Faiyum region in Egypt.
- Publication and discoverer: It was published in 1933 by Frederic G. Kenyon.
- Physical details: The codex originally had about 220 pages, but only about 30 leaves survive. Each leaf is roughly 10 by 8 inches. The manuscript is heavily damaged and fragmentary.
- Contents: It contains fragments from the Gospels and Acts: portions of Matthew (some chapters), Mark (some chapters), Luke (some chapters), John (some chapters), and Acts (many chapters).
- Current location: Most of 𝔓45 is at the Chester Beatty Library in Dublin, Ireland. One leaf (Matthew 25:41–26:39) is in the Austrian National Library in Vienna.
- Textual character: The manuscript is difficult to place into a single text-type. Some scholars once labeled Mark as Caesarean, but this is debated. 𝔓45 has many unique readings not found in other manuscripts, and its relationships to other text-types vary by book (Mark, Luke, Acts).
- Modern notes: In 2020, a high-resolution facsimile edition of 𝔓45 (with 𝔓46 and 𝔓47) was released by the Center for the Study of New Testament Manuscripts and Hendrickson Publishers.