Felix Albrecht Origen’s Fifth Column/Old Greek of Psalms, Recovered from Two Important Witnesses of the Palestinian Catena* Abstract: This article examines the Psalter Catenae’s biblical text, focusing on the Catena Palestinensis, guided by two key inquiries: the categorisation of textual witnesses within the Catena manuscripts and the specific textual nature of the Catena Pa- lestinensis. Through careful analysis, the study highlights that two manuscripts, Ra 1121 and 1209, of the Catena Palestinensis’ tripartite edition preserve a biblical text with substantial text-critical value. These insights illuminate the presence of an O-group in the tradition—witnesses to the Fiſth Column of the Hexapla—, whose main congeners are the Mercati Psalter (Ra 1098), the Psalterium Gallicanum, the Vulgate, and traditions already mentioned by Alfred Rahlfs (Ra 2005, Jerome). The discovery of Ra 1121 and 1209 as new witnesses to the Origenic Psalter text under- scores their critical role in editing the Greek Psalter. The article emphasises that these two Catena manuscripts are fundamental to reconstructing the Old Greek Psalter text, and their text-critical significance is profound. Key Words: Origen, Hexapla, Septuagint, Psalms, Palestinian Catena, Lucianic Text, Göttinger Septuaginta. Alfred Rahlfs identified three ancient forms of the Psalter text (Lower Egyptian, Upper Egyptian, Occidental), deriving his classification from the correspondence of respective daughter versions with outstanding textual witnesses. 1 In addition, * The Fiſth Column represents the Old Greek (OG) as received by Origen and is definitely prior to the ekdosis developed from the Fiſth Column as the later Tetrapla. Many thanks to Peter J. Gentry for correcting my English. I have a long-standing friendship with him and owe him many stimu- lating discussions on Origen’s Hexapla and the so-called Tetrapla. 1 The aim of the Academy project “Die Editio critica maior des griechischen Psalters” is to work on the edition and textual history of the Greek Psalter (cf. https://septuaginta.uni-goettingen.de). All work is based on many years of preparatory work, which – and this must be emphasised – has its roots as far back as the 19th century. For the question of the constitution of the critical text, the detailed preliminary studies by Alfred Rahlfs, as well as the “Prolegomena” preceding his 1931 edition of the Psalter, remain of decisive importance. Alfred Rahlfs, Der Text des Septuaginta-Psal- ters. Nebst einem Anhang, Griechische Psalterfragmente aus Oberägypten nach Abschriſten von W. E. Crum, Septuaginta-Studien 2 (Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 1907); Alfred Rahlfs,