LanguageGreek
Earliest Date~AD 300 (4th - 5th Century AD)
Current LocationSchøyen Collection, Oslo/London
Found LocationEgypt
Scribal Context & DetailsAn exceptionally important surviving witness for the ancient Greek transmission of the Wisdom of Sirach (Ecclesiasticus), this manuscript consists of two miniature parchment codex fragments preserving portions of Sirach 29:13–26. Originally acquired in Egypt by Austrian papyrus conservator Anton Fackelmann (held as P. Fackelmann 12), it was cataloged by Alfred Rahlfs as Septuagint manuscript no. 863. It was formally published in 1983 as P. Rainer Cent. 27 in a Festschrift commemorating the Papyrus Collection of the Austrian National Library. Following the dispersion of the Fackelmann collection, the fragments were secured by the renowned private Schøyen Collection in Norway, where they reside today as MS 2633 (also published as P. Schøyen I 14). Because Sirach was excluded from the Hebrew canon, early Greek witnesses like Rahlfs 863 are paramount for establishing the critical text.