366 ÉTIENNE NODET If this were an isolated finding, it would not be very significant, but more evidence can be found. In Luke 6,1, the Western Text 41 (WT) displays an interesting variant: On a Sabbath (WT adds deyteroprwtw, “second-first”), when he ¥∞ was going through the grain fields, his disciples plucked and ate some heads of grains, rubbing them in their hands. The WT variant is clearly a lectio difficilior, which should be preferred, for its removal as meaningless by other copyists made sense. Nevertheless, an explanation has been suggested 42, which involves the Jubilees calendar : the counting of the weeks for Pentecost starts from the second Sabbath after Passover I/25th, so that it could be termed “second-first”. This solution is ingenious, but the date is too early for the wheat crop. Now an Essene variant of that calendar 43 includes a row of Pentecosts (seven-week periods), corresponding to the firstfruits of the wheat (with an offering of bread), of the grapes (new wine, must) and of the olives (oil). In such a system, “second-first” can be easily understood as the first Sabbath of the second Pentecostal cycle, when the wheat crop is available after the first Pentecost rite. Thus, an eschatological meaning appears: the new crop symbolizes the new kingdom, in which all the days are holy in the same way 44. See M.-É. BOISMARD – A. LAMOUILLE, Le Texte occidental des Actes 41 des Apôtres, reconstitution et réhabilitation (Études et recherches sur les civilisations, Synthèse 17; Paris 1984); M.-É. BOISMARD, Le texte occidental des Actes des Apôtres. Édition nouvelle entièrement refondue (EB 40; Paris 2000). On the WT being an early version of Acts, see M.-É. BOISMARD – A. LAMOUILLE, Les Actes des deux Apôtres (EB 12-14; Paris 1990). In spite of its being poorly witnessed by the major uncial manuscripts, they argue that it was the source of the earliest translations (Old Latin, Syriac) and the most ancient quotations. The passage quoted here, as well as the shorter form of the Lukan institution of the Eucharist suggest that this view should be extended to Luke. See also A.F.J KLIJN, A Survey of the Researches into the Western Text of the Gospels and Acts. Part Two: 1949-1969 (VTS 21; Leiden 1969). See J.-P. AUDET, “Jésus et le ‘calendrier sacerdotal ancien’; autour d’une 42 variante de Luc 6,1”, Sciences ecclésiastiques 10 (1958) 361-383, but, convinced that the WT variant is secondary, he is at a loss to explain its appearance. Witnessed by Philo’s Therapeutae (Vita contempl. § 64-90), some 43 Qumran documents (11 QT 18-22 and 43; 4 QMMT A), as well as the Slavonic version of Josephus’ War 2 :147. A similar conclusion can be drawn from another WT variant in the same 44 passage (v. 6): “That day he saw a man working on the Sabbath and told him: