PastoralEpistles.com

J.K. Elliott, in his The Greek Text of the Epistles to Timothy and Titus, writes the following about the MS support for the Pastorals:

Two papyri, about 24 uncials and over 500 cursives read part or the whole of the Pastorals. (Elliott 13)

He further notes the Papyri are P32 (Titus 1.11-15, 2.3-8) and P61 (Titus 3.1-5, 8-11, 14-15). This is all well and good; we know all about these.

He then mentions in passing: "Treu knows papyri which include 1Ti 1.4-7, 15-16." (Elliott 13). The note to Treu refers back to the following:

K. Treu, 'Archiv fur Papyrusforshung', vol. 18, 1966.

He then lists the following in his bibliography:

K. TREU: "Neue Neutestamentliche Fragmente der Berliner Papyrussammlung" in 'Archiv fur Papyrusforschung' Vol. 18. Leipzig (1966).

Elliott then goes on to cite "Pap. 3605 published by Treu" in the apparatus on 1Ti 1.4, but that appears to be the only citation of Treu in the apparatus (after a quick survey of Elliott's notes on 1.4-7, 15-16). He gives no info on date or provenance of the papyrus.

I find the content of this mystery papyrus (mystery papyri?) interesting. 1Ti 1.5 is fairly important in the scope of First Timothy. And 1Ti 1.15 is the first "trustworthy saying" (is it πιστος or ανθρωπινος?) and v. 16 follows this with Paul's explanation of its importance. I'd love to see earlier witnesses of these verses (if, of course, the mystery papyri prove to be early, which is not a sure thing).

Anyone know anything about these mystery 'papyri'? Date and/or provenance? And are there transcriptions or photos of it anywhere?

Posted by Rick Brannan