 The existence of different versions of a same epistle raises questions about the history of its transmission and about how such existence should be interpreted. Which version should have priority? Should the various versions be considered to be different stages or different aspects of the same authorial project? On what basis should they be assessed? The date of a MS, although of considerable importance for determining its value, cannot be taken as the sole criterion for deciding the authenticity or the greater antiquity of a textual tradition, since a late MS may have been copied from a very ancient one. Also, due to problems related to the transmission of MSS themselves, to their dating, and to the nature of the various epistles, it is difficult to decide which versions is older or more authentic (Alshaar in Madelung et al. 2019, 382–383).