Reading Eusebius’ Gospels

AbstractThe technological and literary possibilities of the Eusebian apparatus continued to shape readers’ encounters with the Gospels across geography, language, and theological tradition. Eusebius’ system enjoys an enormous reception, accompanying the Gospels in thousands of manuscripts from the fourth century CE to the present. The extant manuscripts demonstrate readers’ continuing use of the apparatus, from Ireland to Ethiopia and in almost every language of Christian literary activity from the premodern world. This significance continues for reading communities today. To reconstruct these histories of reading—across time, language, and geography and in both manuscript and print—this chapter investigates manuscript marginalia, modifications to the apparatus, and use by subsequent authors. If the meaning of the apparatus is in its use, then this enormous and ongoing reception demonstrates how the Eusebius apparatus continues to invite meaningful and creative practices of reading and knowing a fourfold Gospel.