Other editions of the Editio Critica Maior (ECM) have used a limited number of lectionaries to produce a critical apparatus. For example, ECM Acts utilized nine lectionaries (L23, L60, L156, L587, L809, L1178, L1188, L1825, and L2010 – though I also find L173 in the apparatus). Some are selected to represent the mainstream lectionary text and show remarkable similarities; others are selected that have remarkable differences.
Hugh Houghton, as the executive editor overseeing the Pauline corpus, has selected the following lectionaries for the entire collection of epistles (as outlined in “An Initial Selection of Manuscripts for the Editio Critica Maior of the Pauline Epistles” in The New Testament in Antiquity and Byzantium, ed. by H.A.G. Houghton, David C. Parker, and Holger Strutwolf):
L60, L156
(based on use in previous ECM publications)
L169, L587, L809, L1126, L1159, L1289, L1440, L2058
(based on Samuel Gibson’s collation of 46 Apostolos lectionaries)
L23, L60, L1178, L1188, L2010
(based on the textual flow diagram for ECM Acts)
As L60 occurs twice, the total number of lectionaries used for this edition will be 14.
Our Greek Paul project has had the unique opportunity to use a larger selection of witnesses overall: ca. 320 Greek witnesses for the Pastoral Epistles, in contrast with the 135 Greek witnesses used for ECM Acts. The lectionaries we had selected for transcription during my time in Münster (after examining the textual flow diagram in Acts) were helpfully transcribed for us throughout the Pauline corpus by a team of students at Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary, under the direction of Chuck Quarles. Thus, what would have been a pool of 10 lectionaries has been raised to 14.
While visiting Aristotle University to visit with our sister team working on the Thessalonian epistles, we had the pleasure of hearing Johannes Karavidopoulos speak--the last surviving committee member to have worked on the Nestle-Aland 27th edition text. While 14 witnesses will not satisfy his lament what he feels is an underrepresentation of the lectionaries in the critical editions of the Greek New Testament, it will hopefully be helpful move in that direction. We will either find it useful or not. As Demosthenes posited: μικροὶ καιροὶ μεγάλων πραγμάτων αἴτιοι γίγνονται.