Western readings, the Western texts generally are due to a corruption of the apostolic texts, it is natural to ask where comparatively pure texts were preserved. The only extant patristic writings which to any considerable extent support extant Pre-Syrian readings at variance with Western readings are connected with Alexandria, that is, the remains of Clement and Origen, as mentioned above (§ 159), together with the fragments of Dionysius and Peter of Alexandria from the second half of the third century, and in a certain measure the works of Eusebius of Cæsarea, who was deeply versed in the theological literature of Alexandria. In like manner, of the three great versions or families of versions which must date from the earliest centuries, two in their Old or unrevised form must be classed as Western, the Latin clearly and almost entirely, the very imperfectly preserved Syriac more obscurely: but it is only the two versions of Lower and of Upper Egypt, and the latter, which is the further from Alexandria, less than the former, that can be pronounced extensively Non-Western. That a purer text should be preserved at Alexandria than in any other church would not in itself be surprising. There, if anywhere, it was to be anticipated that, owing to the proximity of an exact grammatical school, a more than usual watchfulness over the transcription of the writings of apostles and apostolic men would be suggested and kept alive. But the rapid total extinction of comparatively pure texts in all other places would undeniably be a riddle hard of solution.
178. No such enigmatic history however demands acceptance. The early traces of a text free from Western corruption in churches remote from Alexandria, though relatively few in number, are indubitable and significant.
