The Four Gospels

A decorative Eusebian Canon table is framed by a double archway. The arches are painted in red and black with ornate capitals and bases. To the right of the arches, an illustration shows a bird, possibly a pheasant or peacock, perched in a leafy bush or tree. The text within the arches consists of vertical columns of reference numbers written in Syriac letters. Headings and footers are written in red and black ink.

The numbers in these columns are written using Gematria, a system where each letter of the Syriac alphabet represents a specific numerical value. For example, the letter Qoph represents 100 and Sade represents 90.

These references do not match modern chapter and verse numbers. Instead, they refer to the Ammonian Sections. This was a 3rd century system that divided the four Gospels into hundreds of short, numbered segments to make comparison easier.