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The Good Samaritan

The story of the Good Samaritan, sixth century C.E. Manuscript illumination from the Rossano Gospels, Cathedral of Rossano, Calabria, Italy.

This page from the Rossano Gospels depicts the parable of the Good Samaritan told by Jesus only in the Gospel of Luke (Luke 10:29-37). A traveler is beaten, robbed, and left half dead along the road. A priest and a Levite pass by but both look the other way when they see the man lying on the ground. A Samaritan comes by, looks upon the injured traveler with compassion, helps him up, takes him to the safety of a nearby inn, and pays for his stay.  The codex is one of the oldest surviving illuminated manuscripts of the New Testament.

The story of the good Samaritan. Manuscript illumination from the Rossano Gospels, sixth century.

A text of pages bound leaf style, like a modern book—as opposed to a scroll, which has no discrete pages.

A gospel is an account that describes the life of Jesus of Nazareth.

Textual documents, usually handwritten.

A collection of first-century Jewish and early Christian writings that, along with the Old Testament, makes up the Christian Bible.

Luke 10:29-37

29But wanting to justify himself, he asked Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?”30Jesus replied, “A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and fell into the h ... View more

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