Content
The book in its present form contains a preface, the full text of the Gospels of Matthew, Mark and Luke, and the text of the Gospel of John to John. 17:13. The balance of the Gospel of John and an unidentified piece of preface lost - maybe it happened when the book was stolen at the beginning of XI century. The remaining piece of the preface is composed of two fragments of the lists of Jewish names in the gospels, Breves causae and Argumenta (cross-references to the gospels and legends about the life of evangelist) for the four Gospels. Probably that, like the Gospel of Lindisfarna, a book of Darrou and the book of Armaga, lost part of the preface contains a letter to Pope Damaso Hierominate I, known as «Novum opus», which Ieronim explains the purpose of his translation. It is possible, although less likely, that the lost material included a letter to Евсевия Karpianu, in which he explains the use of canonical tables (out of all of these books only the Gospel of Lindisfarna contains this letter).
There are two fragments of the lists of Jewish names, one on the right side of the first sheet of the book, the second sheet 26, which is currently placed at the end of the introductory part of the Gospel of John. The first fragment contains the end of the list of names from the Gospel of Matthew. Missing names from this list should take a further two sheets. The second piece of the list on page 26, contains about chetveti list of names from the Gospel of Luke. The names of the Gospel should have about three pieces separately. The structure of notebooks, in which the list is 26, said that more than three pages to lie between sheets 26 and 27, so that the sheet 26 is definitely not at its original location. Lists of names for Mark and John, apparently lost.
The first fragment of the list followed by the canonical table Evsevia Caesarea. These tables, compiled prior to the establishment Vulgaty bl. Hierominate represent a system of cross references to parallel places of the Gospels. Evsevia divided into fragments, each Gospel, which depended on the existence of parallels in other Gospels, and then reduced the number of parallel places in the table to enable readers to find similar places in different gospels. Canonical tables have traditionally been included in the introductory part of most medieval copies of the test Vulgaty. Tables in Kellskoy book, however, virtually unfit for use because of the way in which they depicted copyist. In addition, the number of chapters had not been inserted in the field of book that makes it impossible to find those places that refer to these tables. The reasons for these numbers of the chapters have been inserted in the book, is unknown. It may be that they were planning to insert, when the book will be completed, but that never happened.
Breves causae and Argumenta belong to the pre-vulgatovskoy manuscript tradition. Breves causae - is to summarize the old Latin translation of the Gospels. They are divided into several chapters. These numbers and titles, as well as in the case of the canonical tables, not shown in the Gospels themselves. However unlikely these numbers can be used even if the book was completed, due to the fact that the number of heads of the old Latin translation, which is difficult to harmonize with the text Vulgaty. Argumenta - is a collection of legends about the evangelists. Breves causae and Argumenta located in a rather strange way: first go Breves causae and Argumenta for Matthew, then Breves causae and Argumenta for Mark, then Argumenta to Luke and John, then Breves causae for Luke and John. The same procedure can be found in the Book of Darrou, although there Breves causae for Luke, and John is at the end of the book, while all the rest - in the beginning. In other manuscripts of this group, such as the Lindisfarne Gospels, The Book of Armagh, and the Echternach Gospels, each Gospel is seen as a separate work, and has an introductory section devoted specifically to him. It is likely that scribes in Kellse had before or a book from Darrou or any of their common prototype as a model.