Papyrus P73: Matthew 25:43 in a Greek Witness
Papyrus Bodmer L, Gregory-Aland P73, is a tiny seventh-century Greek papyrus fragment preserving Matthew 25:43 and 26:2–3 in the Fondation Martin Bodmer.
- Artifact date
- 7th Century
- Findspot
- Egypt; exact ancient findspot is not stated in the consulted manuscript catalogs
- Current location
- Cologny/Genf, Bodmeriana, Bodmer L
What archaeologists can actually examine
P73 is the Gregory-Aland designation for Papyrus Bodmer L, one fragment of a seventh-century papyrus codex of Matthew now in Cologny. It preserves part of Matthew 25:43 and, on the continuation, Matthew 26:2–3. The text moves from the Son of Man's judgment speech—failure to welcome, clothe, and visit—to Jesus' announcement of Passover and the gathering of chief priests. CSNTM estimates a single column of about twenty-five lines. Its modest scope is important: P73 is a genuine witness to two adjacent Matthean scenes, but too little survives to sustain broad claims about an entire textual tradition.
The fragment crosses a narrative hinge
P73 preserves Matthew 25:43 and 26:2–3, linking the judgment discourse with the opening Passion plot.
It is Papyrus Bodmer L
The stable collection identity is Bodmer L in Cologny, distinct from the more extensive Bodmer XVII/P74.
Papyrus persisted into the seventh century
The material documents continued Greek Gospel copying on papyrus well after parchment became common.
Text-type claims must stay modest
The surviving words may align broadly with Byzantine readings, but the sample is too small to characterize a lost codex confidently.
Follow the evidence from discovery to debate
Move through the find in a deliberate order: establish its provenance, examine the surviving object, place it in time, and then weigh the scholarly interpretation.
How the find came to light
Papyrus Bodmer L entered the collection assembled by Martin Bodmer amid the large mid-twentieth-century acquisition of papyri from Egypt. Unlike excavated Oxyrhynchus pieces, its exact ancient findspot and recovery circumstances were not established in the consulted object-level catalogues. Kurt Aland announced and studied the fragment, and Carsten Peter Thiede later published a focused treatment of P.Bodmer L in Museum Helveticum. The Fondation Martin Bodmer remains its custodian. Any statement that it came from the same ancient cache or codex as other Bodmer manuscripts requires object-specific evidence; the shared collection name alone does not establish archaeological association.
What you are looking at
The object is one small Greek papyrus fragment, written as part of a codex page in a single column. Approximately twenty-five lines are reconstructed for the original column, though only portions of Matthew 25:43 and 26:2–3 survive. Broken margins and surface loss leave the identification dependent on letter sequence and known context. The fragment should not be conflated with P74, the much more extensive Bodmer XVII manuscript of Acts and the Catholic Epistles, even though older discussions connected P73 materially with a piece found attached to that volume. Its catalog identity is Papyrus Bodmer L and Gregory-Aland P73.
Where it belongs in history
The seventh-century assignment rests on palaeography. There is no surviving dated colophon, named scribe, or secure excavation layer. By this period parchment was widespread for Christian books, yet papyrus continued to be used, so its material is not evidence for a much earlier date. Textual critics have described the few surviving readings as broadly Byzantine, but the sample is too short for confidence and category labels can obscure individual evidence. The fragment belongs to the history of Matthew's continued Greek copying in early medieval Egypt, while its later acquisition history places it in a Swiss research collection.
Consensus, questions, and debate
Agreement is strongest on the P73/Papyrus Bodmer L identity, preserved verses, present location, papyrus codex format, and seventh-century date. The principal cautions concern provenance, the fragment's relationship to other Bodmer items, and textual classification from extremely little material. A Byzantine label reflects the readings available for comparison, not proof that every lost page matched the medieval majority text. The fragment's transition across chapter 25–26 is codicologically useful, yet without more of the page one cannot confidently reconstruct original leaf dimensions, quire arrangement, or the full scope of the book.
The biblical record beside the artifact
Matthew 25:43 forms part of the judgment of the sheep and goats: the condemned failed to receive the stranger, clothe the naked, and visit the sick or imprisoned. Matthew 26:2–3 turns toward the Passion, with Jesus announcing Passover and crucifixion as chief priests gather at Caiaphas's palace. P73 materially joins the closing judgment discourse with the Passion narrative across a lost stretch of text. Both chapter pages should discover the record. The fragment attests that these verses stood in a Greek Matthew codex; it cannot prove the narrated council's details or independently determine how the judgment saying should be applied.
Matthew 25:43
43I was a stranger, and ye took me not in: naked, and ye clothed me not: sick, and in prison, and ye visited me not.
A responsible historical conclusion
P73 preserves an arresting literary hinge. The surviving words move from Jesus identifying neglect of vulnerable people as neglect of him to the announcement of his own approaching suffering. Even as a tiny artifact, it witnesses the physical continuity of those parts of Matthew in a seventh-century Greek book. It also broadens the archaeology library beyond the earliest papyri: manuscript history did not stop after the great fourth-century codices. P73 documents the long persistence of papyrus and the ongoing copying of Matthew, while its scant text teaches restraint about what a small witness can establish.
Authoritative sources
Institutional catalogs, excavation reports, and academic publications let you examine the evidence beyond this summary.
Manuscript P73
Center for the Study of New Testament ManuscriptsProvides the Bodmer L shelfmark, current location, seventh-century date, material, layout, and complete passage anchors.
Papyrus Bodmer L: das neutestamentliche Papyrusfragment P73
Museum Helveticum / E-PeriodicaFocused scholarly publication of the fragment, its identification, Matthew passages, and physical/textual analysis.
INTF Manuscript Workspace P73
Institute for New Testament Textual Research, University of MünsterControls the Gregory-Aland identity and provides the current textual-witness workspace.
Bodmer Papyri Online Catalogue Project
Bodmer Lab, University of Geneva and Fondation Martin BodmerPlaces Bodmer L within the custodian's papyrus cataloguing program and collection history.