Subj : Big fat warning, oh my!
To   : John Wilson
From : Curtis Johnson
Date : Sat Oct 21 2000 07:27 pm

 -=> Quoting John Wilson to Constance Rawley <=-
 
 CR>  I recall reading that there was a variation on 666 but don't
 CR> remember where or what the number was. What manuscripts are you 
 CR> referring to?

 JW> I *think* it's in the notes in either, The Jerusalem Bible, The
 JW> American Bible (Catholic), possibly in The Scofield Bible,....

	My NAB has no mention.  However, my Jerusalem edition notes 
"Var. 616" without saying which MSS.  I have read Irenaus's mention
of 616, and Lactantius explictly saying that the Beast was Nero.
Interestingly, Jerusalem also says that in Greek "Caesar God" adds
up to 616, something I just saw for the first time.  All the other
sources I've seen (Enc. Britannica, for example) speak of the Greek 
variant of Nero's name and title adding up to 616.
	An alternate proposal for the origin of the 616 variant is
that Caligula was originally meant, because his numerology adds up
to 616, and he had ordered his statue erected in the Jerusalem
temple ("abomination of desolation"), but was assassinated before
that took place, thanks to foot-dragging by the Roman governor who
knew that would immediately have touched off a religious war.

 JW> The manuscripts I was refering to were the ancient New Yestiment
 JW> manuscrips and shards of
 JW> manuscripts many (most) with at least some varient readings (e.g.,
 JW> the three endings of Matthew's Gospel, cannonical varients).......616
 JW> was I distinctly remember
 JW> memtioned in more than one reference book, I've read...Hope this
 JW> helps...:)

	Nitpick--it's GMark that has the variant endings.



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