Johannine Comma and Joseph Bryennius

Johannine Comma and Joseph Bryennios 

While reading a post by Elijah Hixson on the Evangelical Textual Criticism blog about 1 John 5:7, I became interested in a comment posted by Steven Avery of Pure Bible Forum claiming that the Comma Johanneum appears in the early 15th century writings of Joseph Bryennios (also spelled Byrennius). 

Looking at this reading has opened up a stimulating investigation into a smorgasbord of Greek Orthodox writers, including the later comma defender Ευγένιος Βούλγαρης (Eugenios Voulgaris) who also printed the work of Joseph Bryennios in 1768 we are examining here. Below is the section containing the comma,100 years before Erasmus:

Joseph Bryennios' book In which he cites the Johannine Comma 

Eugenios Voulgaris' book containing the works of Bryennios became a popular topic for defenders of the heavenly witnesses for the next 150 years. It seems to have been obscured by modern anti-comma rhetoric. Below is the 1881 Cyclopaedia concerning the Epistles of John by William Wright, he also wrote about the comma quotation of Bryennios:

The 1881 Cyclopaedia concerning the Epistles of John
 by William Wright

Καὶ τὸ πνεῦμά ἐστι μαρτυροῦν, ὅτι ὁ Χριστός ἐστιν ἡ ἀλήθεια. ὅτι τρεῖς εἰσιν οἱ μαρτυροῦντες ἐν τῷ οὐρανῷ, ὁ πατὴρ, ὁ λόγος, καὶ τὸ πνεῦμα τὸ ἅγιον· καὶ οὗτοι οἱ τρεῖς ἕν εἰσι· καὶ τρεῖς εἰσιν οἱ μαρτυροῦντες ἐν τῇ γῇ, τὸ πνεῦμα, τὸ ὕδωρ, καὶ τὸ αἷμα·

 

Translated as:

'And it is the Spirit which beareth witness, because Christ is truth. For there are three which bear witness in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Spirit, and these three are one; and there are three which bear witness on earth, the Spirit, the Water, and the Blood.

Bryennios Compared to the 1881 Greek of F. H. A. Scrivener

It is of interest to Comma enthusiasts to see how close the reading of Bryennios is to that of the modern-day Textus Receptus edition by F. H. A. Scrivener, seeing Bryennios is merely a quotation and not a biblical manuscript or commentary. 

6. Καὶ τὸ πνεῦμά ἐστι ...μαρτυροῦν, ὅτι ὁ Χριστός ἐστιν ἡ ἀλήθεια. (Bryennios)

6. καὶ τὸ Πνεῦμά ἐστι τὸ μαρτυροῦν, ὅτι τὸ Πνεῦμά ἐστιν ἡ ἀλήθεια. (Scrivener)

7. ὅτι τρεῖς εἰσιν οἱ μαρτυροῦντες ἐν τῷ οὐρανῷ, ὁ πατὴρ, ὁ λόγος, καὶ τὸ πνεῦμα τὸ ἅγιον· καὶ οὗτοι οἱ τρεῖς ἕν εἰσι· (Bryennios)

7. ὅτι τρεῖς εἰσιν οἱ μαρτυροῦντες εν τῷ οὐρανῷ, ὁ πατήρ, ὁ λόγος, καὶ τὸ Ἅγιον Πνεῦμα· ...καὶ οὗτοι οἱ τρεῖς ἕν εἰσι. (Scrivener)

8. καὶ τρεῖς εἰσιν οἱ μαρτυροῦντες ἐν τῇ γῇ, τὸ πνεῦμα, ....τὸ ὕδωρ, καὶ τὸ αἷμα· (Bryennios)

8. καὶ τρεῖς εἰσὶν οἱ μαρτυροῦντες ἐν τῇ γῇ, τὸ Πνεῦμα, καὶ τὸ ὕδωρ, καὶ τὸ αἷμα· (Scrivener)

The Greek at the end of verse 8 in Scrivener "καὶ οἱ τρεῖς εἰς τὸ ἕν εἰσὶν" is not on the final section of Bryennios quotation, but it does contain all the words of the disputed section of the comma. 

It seems that modern Critical Text advocates have shifted the conversations about the comma away from evidence like this. It is one of the places where they forget all they have previously claimed about majority readings and they hypocritically reject it, whereas their usual habit is to defend minority readings the last 12 verses of Mark, where only two Greek manuscripts omit the reading, but about 1500 contain it.