The Editio Critica Maior (ECM) provides the full range of resources necessary for scholar research in establishing the text and reconstructing the history of the New Testament text during its first thousand years. These include:
- all the variants found in the selected Greek manuscripts and in citations by the Greek Fathers
- the evidence of the three most important early versions (Latin, Coptic and Syriac) where they witness to variants in the Greek text,
- the evidence of other versions (Armenian, Georgian, Old Church Slavonic and Ethiopic) where they witness to variants in the Greek text, and to the extent they are available in editions.
The supplementary studies support the textual decisions. It contains descriptions of New Testament manuscripts, with definitions of their textual character in the light of the total evidence, and an arrangement of the manuscripts and manuscript groups by their role in the development of the text. This promotes greater clarity in the definition of external criteria for decisions on variant readings, guarantees a more thorough perspective of the textual scene, and stimulates further research. A textual commentary discusses all passages where difficulties are found in textual tradition.
