"Scholars Piece Together Ancient Bible"
By Matthias Schulz
Translated from the German by Christopher Sultan
"The Codex Sinaiticus Was Stolen," was the headline of a 2000 article in the Sunday Times about a conference a British parliamentary committee held on stolen artifacts. Prince Charles, who is chairman of the St. Catherine's Foundation, has reportedly demanded the return of the manuscripts to Egypt.
Parts of the 1,600-year-old Codex Sinaiticus -- which includes the world's earliest complete New Testament -- are scattered between Leipzig, London and St. Petersburg. Now researchers want to digitize the fragments and publish the whole volume on the Internet. But does the priceless manuscript really belong to St. Catherine's Monastery in Egypt?
St. Catherine's Monastery in Egypt, where a German scholar found the Codex Sinaiticus, a Bible manuscript that may date from the time of the Roman emperor Constantine.
Page from the Book of Jeremiah
Christfried Bttrich, an expert on the New Testament at Germany's University of Greifswald, claims that "Tischendorf was a man without blemish and above reproach."
But the monks at St. Catherine's have a less flattering view. They think he stole the manuscript.
DPA
Ulrich Johannes Schneider, from the University of Leipzig (left), examines the Codex Sinaiticus with Father Justin, an American-born monk at St. Catherine's Monastery.
It was created between 330 and 350 A.D. Scribes would have sat at small tables with inkwells and pencils, scratching chains of uppercase Greek letters onto the light-colored animal skins. "Scribe A" was the most original: He wrote with a flourish, but he was sloppy. He forgot four pages from the Gospel of St. Luke. He simply eliminated the famous definition of love in St. Paul's first letter to the Corinthians. Was it intentional? "Scribe D" noticed the mistakes and added the missing text in the margin.
But who commissioned the work in the first place? Many researchers believe the order came straight from Constantine, the first Christian Roman Emperor. In 313 AD he lifted all state sanctions against what was then a persecuted "Jesus cult." He ordered a number of churches built, and had 50 magnificent Bibles made to spread the little-known religion of brotherly love throughout the Roman Empire.
PAGE ONE
Raiders of the Lost Codex
Part 1: Scholars Piece Together Ancient Bible
Part 2: Enter the Russians
By Matthias Schulz
Translated from the German by Christopher Sultan
"The Codex Sinaiticus Was Stolen," was the headline of a 2000 article in the Sunday Times about a conference a British parliamentary committee held on stolen artifacts. Prince Charles, who is chairman of the St. Catherine's Foundation, has reportedly demanded the return of the manuscripts to Egypt.
Parts of the 1,600-year-old Codex Sinaiticus -- which includes the world's earliest complete New Testament -- are scattered between Leipzig, London and St. Petersburg. Now researchers want to digitize the fragments and publish the whole volume on the Internet. But does the priceless manuscript really belong to St. Catherine's Monastery in Egypt?
St. Catherine's Monastery in Egypt, where a German scholar found the Codex Sinaiticus, a Bible manuscript that may date from the time of the Roman emperor Constantine.
Page from the Book of Jeremiah
Christfried Bttrich, an expert on the New Testament at Germany's University of Greifswald, claims that "Tischendorf was a man without blemish and above reproach."
But the monks at St. Catherine's have a less flattering view. They think he stole the manuscript.
DPA
Ulrich Johannes Schneider, from the University of Leipzig (left), examines the Codex Sinaiticus with Father Justin, an American-born monk at St. Catherine's Monastery.
It was created between 330 and 350 A.D. Scribes would have sat at small tables with inkwells and pencils, scratching chains of uppercase Greek letters onto the light-colored animal skins. "Scribe A" was the most original: He wrote with a flourish, but he was sloppy. He forgot four pages from the Gospel of St. Luke. He simply eliminated the famous definition of love in St. Paul's first letter to the Corinthians. Was it intentional? "Scribe D" noticed the mistakes and added the missing text in the margin.
But who commissioned the work in the first place? Many researchers believe the order came straight from Constantine, the first Christian Roman Emperor. In 313 AD he lifted all state sanctions against what was then a persecuted "Jesus cult." He ordered a number of churches built, and had 50 magnificent Bibles made to spread the little-known religion of brotherly love throughout the Roman Empire.
PAGE ONE
Raiders of the Lost Codex
Part 1: Scholars Piece Together Ancient Bible
Part 2: Enter the Russians
