Kata Markon

[RHS <diadem AT netaus.net.au>]

Re: endings of Mark.
Two quotes from Bruce Metzger 'Early Versions of the NT' Oxford 1977.

'In any case, Colwell (Mark 16:19-20 in the Armenian Versions) has made
it abundantly plain that the last twelve verses of Mark were not part of
the original Armenian version. Of 220 Armenian manuscripts which he
studied, only eighty-eight included Mark xvi. 9-20 without comment;
ninety-nine end the Gospel at xvi.8; and in the others there is evidence
that shows that the scribes had doubts whether the passage was
authentic.' (p. 163-4)

'An example that illustrates Haskspill's "compilation-method"  can be
found at the close of the Gospel according to Mark. The present writer
(Metzger) having examined the ending of Mark in sixty-five Ethiopic
manuscripts, discovered that none, contrary to the statements made by
previous investigators, close the Gospel at xvi.8, but that most
(forty-seven manuscripts) present the so-called shorter ending directly
after vs.8, followed immediately by the longer ending (verses 9-20).'
See Metzger's article 'The Ending of the Gospel of Mark in Ethiopic
Manuscripts' in 'Understanding the Sacred Text: Essays in Honor of
Morton S. Eslin on the Hebrew Bible and Christian Beginnings' Valley
Forge 1972)

For a conservative view see Farmer, W.R 'The Last Twelve Verses of Mark'
Cambridge 1974

I hope that helps.
Ross Saunders from DownUnder