The Codex Sinaiticus (

Shelfmark A shelfmark is a mark in a book or manuscript that denotes the cupboard or bookcase where it is kept as well as the shelf and possibly even its location on the shelf. The closely related term pressmark (from press, meaning cupboard) denotes only t ...

: London,

British Library The British Library is the national library of the United Kingdom and is one of the largest libraries in the world. It is estimated to contain between 170 and 200 million items from many countries. As a legal deposit library, the Briti ...

, Add MS 43725), designated by siglum [Aleph] or 01 (in the Gregory-Aland numbering of New Testament manuscripts), δ 2 (in the von Soden numbering of New Testament manuscripts), or Sinai Bible is a 4th-century Christian

manuscript A manuscript (abbreviated MS for singular and MSS for plural) was, traditionally, any document written by hand – or, once practical typewriters became available, typewritten – as opposed to mechanically printed or reproduced ...

of a Greek Bible, containing the majority of the

Greek Old Testament The Greek Old Testament, or Septuagint (, ; from the la, septuaginta, lit=seventy; often abbreviated ''70''; in Roman numerals, LXX), is the earliest extant Greek language, Greek translation of books from the Hebrew Bible. It includes several ...

, including the

Apocrypha Apocrypha are works, usually written, of unknown authorship or of doubtful origin. The word ''apocryphal'' (ἀπόκρυφος) was first applied to writings which were kept secret because they were the vehicles of esoteric knowledge considered ...

, and the Greek

New Testament The New Testament grc, Ἡ Καινὴ Διαθήκη, transl. ; la, Novum Testamentum. (NT) is the second division of the Christian biblical canon. It discusses the teachings and person of Jesus, as well as events in first-century Christ ...

, with both the

Epistle of Barnabas The ''Epistle of Barnabas'' ( el, Βαρνάβα Ἐπιστολή) is a Greek epistle written between AD 70 and 132. The complete text is preserved in the 4th-century ''Codex Sinaiticus'', where it appears immediately after the New Testament a ...

and the

Shepherd of Hermas A shepherd or sheepherder is a person who tends, herds, feeds, or guards flocks of sheep. ''Shepherd'' derives from Old English ''sceaphierde (''sceap'' 'sheep' + ''hierde'' ' herder'). ''Shepherding is one of the world's oldest occupations ...

included. It is written in

uncial Uncial is a majuscule Glaister, Geoffrey Ashall. (1996) ''Encyclopedia of the Book''. 2nd edn. New Castle, DE, and London: Oak Knoll Press & The British Library, p. 494. script (written entirely in capital letters) commonly used from the 4th to ...

letters on

parchment Parchment is a writing material made from specially prepared untanned skins of animals—primarily sheep, calves, and goats. It has been used as a writing medium for over two millennia. Vellum is a finer quality parchment made from the skins o ...

. It is one of the four

great uncial codices The great uncial codices or four great uncials are the only remaining uncial codices that contain (or originally contained) the entire text of the Bible ( Old and New Testament) in Greek. They are the Codex Vaticanus in the Vatican Library, the C ...

(these being manuscripts which originally contained the whole of both the Old and New Testaments). Along with

Codex Alexandrinus The Codex Alexandrinus (London, British Library, Royal MS 1. D. V-VIII), designated by the siglum A or 02 (in the Gregory-Aland numbering of New Testament manuscripts), δ 4 (in the von Soden numbering of New Testament manuscripts), is a manu ...

and

Codex Vaticanus The Codex Vaticanus ( The Vatican, Bibl. Vat., Vat. gr. 1209), designated by siglum B or 03 (in the Gregory-Aland numbering), δ 1 ( von Soden), is a fourth-century Christian manuscript of a Greek Bible, containing the majority of the Greek Old ...

, it is one of the earliest and most complete manuscripts of the

Bible The Bible (from Koine Greek , , 'the books') is a collection of religious texts or scriptures that are held to be sacred in Christianity, Judaism, Samaritanism, and many other religions. The Bible is an anthologya compilation of texts o ...

, and contains the oldest complete copy of the

. It is a historical treasure, and using the study of comparative writing styles (

palaeography Palaeography ( UK) or paleography ( US; ultimately from grc-gre, , ''palaiós'', "old", and , ''gráphein'', "to write") is the study of historic writing systems and the deciphering and dating of historical manuscripts, including the analysi ...

), it has been dated to the mid-4th century. Biblical scholarship considers Codex Sinaiticus to be one of the most important Greek texts of the New Testament, along with

. Until Biblical scholar (and manuscript hunter)

Constantin von Tischendorf Lobegott Friedrich Constantin (von) Tischendorf (18 January 18157 December 1874) was a German biblical scholar. In 1844, he discovered the world's oldest and most complete Bible dated to around the mid-4th century and called Codex Sinaiticus ...

's discovery of Codex Sinaiticus in 1844, the Greek text of Codex Vaticanus was unrivalled. Since its discovery, study of Codex Sinaiticus has proven to be useful to scholars for

critical studies A critical theory is any approach to social philosophy that focuses on society and culture to reveal, critique and challenge power structures. With roots in sociology and literary criticism, it argues that social problems stem more from socia ...

of the biblical text. Codex Sinaiticus came to the attention of scholars in the 19th century at

Saint Catherine's Monastery Saint Catherine's Monastery ( ar, دير القدّيسة كاترين; grc-gre, Μονὴ τῆς Ἁγίας Αἰκατερίνης), officially the Sacred Autonomous Royal Monastery of Saint Katherine of the Holy and God-Trodden Mount Sinai, ...

in the

Sinai Peninsula The Sinai Peninsula, or simply Sinai (now usually ) (, , cop, Ⲥⲓⲛⲁ), is a peninsula in Egypt, and the only part of the country located in Asia. It is between the Mediterranean Sea to the north and the Red Sea to the south, and is a ...

, with further material discovered in the 20th and 21st centuries. Although parts of the

codex The codex (plural codices ) was the historical ancestor of the modern book. Instead of being composed of sheets of paper, it used sheets of vellum, papyrus, or other materials. The term ''codex'' is often used for ancient manuscript books, with ...

are scattered across four libraries around the world, most of the manuscript is held today in the

in London, where it is on public display.

Description

The manuscript is a codex (the forerunner to the modern book) made from

vellum Vellum is prepared animal skin or membrane, typically used as writing material. Parchment is another term for this material, from which vellum is sometimes distinguished, when it is made from calfskin, as opposed to that made from other ani ...

parchment, originally in double sheets, which may have measured about 40 by 70 cm. The whole codex consists of

quires Various measures of paper quantity have been and are in use. Although there are no S.I. units such as quires and bales, there are ISO''ISO 4046-3:2002 Paper, board, pulps and related terms – Vocabulary – Part 3: Paper-making terminology'' (20 ...

of eight leaves (with a few exceptions), a format which came to be popular throughout the Middle Ages (this being eight parchment pages laid on top of each other, and folded in half to make a full block (also known as a

folio The term "folio" (), has three interconnected but distinct meanings in the world of books and printing: first, it is a term for a common method of arranging sheets of paper into book form, folding the sheet only once, and a term for a book ma ...

); several of these were then stitched together to create a book). The folios were made primarily from calf skins, secondarily from sheep skins. Tischendorf thought the parchment had been made from antelope skins, but modern microscopic examination has shown otherwise. Most of the quires (or signatures) contain four sheets, save two containing five. It is estimated that the hides of about 360 animals were employed for making the folios of this codex. Each line of the text has some twelve to fourteen Greek

letters, arranged in four columns, 48 lines per column, with carefully chosen line breaks and slightly ragged right edges. When opened, the eight columns thus presented to the reader have much the same appearance as the succession of columns in a papyrus roll. The poetical books of the Old Testament are written stichometrically (writing each new poetic phrase on a new line), in only two columns per page. The codex has almost 4,000,000 uncial letters.It was estimated by Tischendorf and used by Scrivener in his ''Introduction to the Sinaitic Codex'' (1867) as an argument against authorship of

Simonides Simonides of Ceos (; grc-gre, Σιμωνίδης ὁ Κεῖος; c. 556–468 BC) was a Greek lyric poet, born in Ioulis on Ceos. The scholars of Hellenistic Alexandria included him in the canonical list of the nine lyric poets estee ...

‘‘Christianity’’, p. 1889.
Each rectangular page has the proportions 1.1 to 1, while the block of text has the reciprocal proportions, 0.91 (the same proportions, rotated 90°). If the gutters between the columns were removed, the text block would mirror the page's proportions. Typographer

Robert Bringhurst Robert Bringhurst Appointments to the Order of Canada (2013). (born 16 October 1946) is a Canadian poet, typographer and author. He has translated substantial works from Haida and Navajo and from classical Greek and Arabic. He wrote ''The Elemen ...

referred to the codex as a "subtle piece of craftsmanship". The cost of the material, copying time required for the scribes, and binding, is estimated to have equalled the lifetime wages of one individual at the time. Throughout the New Testament portion, the words are written in '' scriptio continua'' (words without any spaces in between them) in the hand-writing style that came to be called "biblical uncial" or "biblical majuscule". The parchment was ruled with a sharp point to prepare for writing lines. The letters are written along these lines, with neither breathings nor polytonic accents (markings utilised to indicate changes of pitch or emphasis). A variety of types of punctuation are used: high and middle points; colon; diaeresis on initial iota and upsilon; a few

ligatures Ligature may refer to: * Ligature (medicine), a piece of suture used to shut off a blood vessel or other anatomical structure ** Ligature (orthodontic), used in dentistry * Ligature (music), an element of musical notation used especially in the me ...

are used, along with the paragraphos: initial letter into margin (extent of this varies considerably). A plain

iota Iota (; uppercase: Ι, lowercase: ι; ) is the ninth letter of the Greek alphabet. It was derived from the Phoenician letter Yodh. Letters that arose from this letter include the Latin I and J, the Cyrillic І (І, і), Yi (Ї, ї), and ...

is replaced by the epsilon-iota diphthong almost regularly (commonly though imprecisely known as

itacism Iotacism ( el, ιωτακισμός, ''iotakismos'') or itacism is the process of vowel shift by which a number of vowels and diphthongs converged towards the pronunciation in post-classical Greek and Modern Greek. The term "iotacism" refers to ...

), e.g. instead of , instead of , instead of , etc.

Nomina sacra In Christian scribal practice, nomina sacra (singular: ''nomen sacrum'' from Latin ''sacred name'') is the abbreviation of several frequently occurring divine names or titles, especially in Greek manuscripts of the Bible. A nomen sacrum consists ...

with

overline An overline, overscore, or overbar, is a typographical feature of a horizontal line drawn immediately above the text. In old mathematical notation, an overline was called a '' vinculum'', a notation for grouping symbols which is expressed in m ...

s are employed throughout. Some words usually abbreviated in other manuscripts (such as and ), are written in both full and abbreviated forms. The following

nomina sacra In Christian scribal practice, nomina sacra (singular: ''nomen sacrum'' from Latin ''sacred name'') is the abbreviation of several frequently occurring divine names or titles, especially in Greek manuscripts of the Bible. A nomen sacrum consists ...

are written in abbreviated forms (nominative forms shown): ( / ''god'') ( / ''lord'') ( / ''Jesus'') ( / ''Christ'') ( / ''spirit'') ( / ''spiritual'') ( / ''son'') ( / ''man'') ( / ''heaven'') ( / ''David'') ( / ''Jerusalem'') ( / ''Israel'') ( / ''mother'') ( / ''father'') ( / ''saviour''). The portion of the codex held by the British Library consists of 346½

s, 694 pages (38.1 cm x 34.5 cm), constituting over half of the original work. Of these folios, 199 belong to the Old Testament, including the

apocrypha Apocrypha are works, usually written, of unknown authorship or of doubtful origin. The word ''apocryphal'' (ἀπόκρυφος) was first applied to writings which were kept secret because they were the vehicles of esoteric knowledge considered ...

(

deuterocanonical The deuterocanonical books (from the Greek meaning "belonging to the second canon") are books and passages considered by the Catholic Church, the Eastern Orthodox Church, the Oriental Orthodox Churches, and the Assyrian Church of the East to be ...

), and 147½ belong to the New Testament, along with two other books, the

and part of

The Shepherd of Hermas ''The Shepherd of Hermas'' ( el, Ποιμὴν τοῦ Ἑρμᾶ, ''Poimēn tou Herma''; la, Pastor Hermae), sometimes just called ''The Shepherd'', is a Christian literary work of the late first half of the second century, considered a valuab ...

. The apocryphal books present in the surviving part of the Septuagint are

2 Esdras 2 Esdras (also called 4 Esdras, Latin Esdras, or Latin Ezra) is an apocalyptic book in some English versions of the Bible. Tradition ascribes it to Ezra, a scribe and priest of the , but scholarship places its composition between 70 and . It ...

, Tobit, Judith, 1 and

4 Maccabees 4 Maccabees, el, Μακκαβαίων Δʹ, translit=Makkabaíōn 4 also called the Fourth Book of Maccabees and possibly originally known as On the Sovereignty of Reason, el, περί αύτοκράτορος λογισμού, translit=Perí áf ...

Wisdom Wisdom, sapience, or sagacity is the ability to contemplate and act using knowledge, experience, understanding, common sense and insight. Wisdom is associated with attributes such as unbiased judgment, compassion, experiential self-knowled ...

, and

Sirach The Book of Sirach () or Ecclesiasticus (; abbreviated Ecclus.) is a Jewish work, originally in Hebrew, of ethical teachings, from approximately 200 to 175 BC, written by the Judahite scribe Ben Sira of Jerusalem, on the inspiration of his fa ...

. The books of the New Testament are arranged in this order: the four Gospels, the

epistles of Paul The Pauline epistles, also known as Epistles of Paul or Letters of Paul, are the thirteen books of the New Testament attributed to Paul the Apostle, although the authorship of some is in dispute. Among these epistles are some of the earliest ext ...

(

Hebrews The terms ''Hebrews'' (Hebrew Hebrew (; ; ) is a Northwest Semitic language of the Afroasiatic language family. Historically, it is one of the spoken languages of the Israelites and their longest-surviving descendants, the Jews and ...

follows 2 Thess.), the Acts of the Apostles,Here and in

Minuscule 69 Minuscule 69 (in the Gregory-Aland numbering of New Testament manuscripts), δ 505 (in the von Soden numbering of New Testament manuscripts), known as the ''Codex Leicester'', or ''Codex Leicestrensis'', is a Greek minuscule manuscript of the ...

Minuscule 336 Minuscule 336 (in the Gregory-Aland numbering), α 500 ( Soden), is a Greek minuscule manuscript of the New Testament, on paper. Palaeographically it has been assigned to the 15th century. Formerly it was labelled by 45a, 52p, and 16r. Descrip ...

, and several other manuscripts, the Pauline epistles precede Acts. the

General Epistles The catholic epistles (also called the general epistlesEncarta-encyclopedie Winkler Prins (1993–2002) s.v. "katholieke brieven". Microsoft Corporation/Het Spectrum.) are seven epistles of the New Testament. Listed in order of their appearance in ...

, and the

Book of Revelation The Book of Revelation is the final book of the New Testament (and consequently the final book of the Christian Bible). Its title is derived from the first word of the Koine Greek text: , meaning "unveiling" or "revelation". The Book o ...

. The fact that some parts of the codex are preserved in good condition while others are in very poor condition suggests they were separated and stored in several places. While large portions of the Old Testament are missing, it is assumed the codex originally contained the whole of both Testaments. About half of the Greek Old Testament (or ''

Septuagint The Greek Old Testament, or Septuagint (, ; from the la, septuaginta, lit=seventy; often abbreviated ''70''; in Roman numerals, LXX), is the earliest extant Greek translation of books from the Hebrew Bible. It includes several books beyond t ...

'') survived, along with a complete

, the entire

Deuterocanonical books The deuterocanonical books (from the Greek meaning "belonging to the second canon") are books and passages considered by the Catholic Church The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian churc ...

, the

and portions of

Text

The text of the Old Testament contains the following passages in order: :*

Genesis Genesis may refer to: Bible * Book of Genesis, the first book of the biblical scriptures of both Judaism and Christianity, describing the creation of the Earth and of mankind * Genesis creation narrative, the first several chapters of the Book o ...

23:19 – Genesis 24:46 – fragments :* Leviticus 20:27 – Leviticus 22:30 :*

Numbers A number is a mathematical object used to count, measure, and label. The original examples are the natural numbers 1, 2, 3, 4, and so forth. Numbers can be represented in language with number words. More universally, individual numbers ca ...

5:26–Numbers 7:20 – fragments :*

Book of Deuteronomy Deuteronomy ( grc, Δευτερονόμιον, Deuteronómion, second law) is the fifth and last book of the Torah (in Judaism), where it is called (Hebrew: hbo, , Dəḇārīm, hewords Moses.html" ;"title="f Moses">f Moseslabel=none) and ...

- fragments :*

Book of Joshua The Book of Joshua ( he, סֵפֶר יְהוֹשֻׁעַ‎ ', Tiberian: ''Sēp̄er Yŏhōšūaʿ'') is the sixth book in the Hebrew Bible and the Christian Old Testament, and is the first book of the Deuteronomistic history, the story of Isr ...

- fragments :*

Book of Judges The Book of Judges (, ') is the seventh book of the Hebrew Bible and the Christian Old Testament. In the narrative of the Hebrew Bible, it covers the time between the conquest described in the Book of Joshua and the establishment of a kingdom ...

5:7 - 11:2 + fragments :*

1 Chronicles The Book of Chronicles ( he, דִּבְרֵי־הַיָּמִים ) is a book in the Hebrew Bible, found as two books (1–2 Chronicles) in the Christian Old Testament. Chronicles is the final book of the Hebrew Bible, concluding the third sect ...

9:27–1 Chronicles 19:17 :*

Ezra–Nehemiah Ezra–Nehemiah ( he, עזרא נחמיה , ) is a book in the Hebrew Bible found in the Ketuvim section, originally with the Hebrew title of Ezra ( he, עזרא, links=no, ). The book covers the period from the fall of Babylon in 539 BCE ...

(from Esdr. 9:9). :*

Book of Esther The Book of Esther ( he, מְגִלַּת אֶסְתֵּר, Megillat Esther), also known in Hebrew as "the Scroll" ("the Megillah"), is a book in the third section (, "Writings") of the Jewish ''Tanakh'' (the Hebrew Bible). It is one of the fi ...

Book of Tobit The Book of Tobit () ''Tōbith'' or ''Tōbit'' ( and spellings are also attested) itself from he, טובי ''Tovi'' "my good"; Book of Tobias in the Vulgate from the Greek ''Tōbias'', itself from the Hebrew ''Tovyah'' "Jah, Yah is good", al ...

Book of Judith The Book of Judith is a deuterocanonical book, included in the Septuagint and the Catholic and Eastern Orthodox Christian Old Testament of the Bible, but excluded from the Hebrew canon and assigned by Protestants to the apocrypha. It tells ...

1 Maccabees The First Book of Maccabees, also known as First Maccabees (written in shorthand as 1 Maccabees or 1 Macc.), is a book written in Hebrew by an anonymousRappaport, U., ''47. 1 Maccabees'' in Barton, J. and Muddiman, J. (2001)The Oxford Bible Comme ...

:* Book of Isaiah :*

Book of Jeremiah The Book of Jeremiah ( he, ספר יִרְמְיָהוּ) is the second of the Latter Prophets in the Hebrew Bible, and the second of the Prophets in the Christian Old Testament. The superscription at chapter Jeremiah 1:1–3 identifies the boo ...

Book of Lamentations The Book of Lamentations ( he, אֵיכָה, , from its incipit meaning "how") is a collection of poetic laments for the destruction of Jerusalem in 586 BCE. In the Hebrew Bible it appears in the Ketuvim ("Writings") as one of the Five Megi ...

Minor Prophets The Minor Prophets or Twelve Prophets ( he, שנים עשר, ''Shneim Asar''; arc, תרי עשר, ''Trei Asar'', "Twelve") ( grc, δωδεκαπρόφητον, "the Twelve Prophets"), occasionally Book of the Twelve, is a collection of propheti ...

(omitting

Book of Hosea The Book of Hosea ( hbo, , Sēfer Hōšēaʿ) is collected as one of the twelve minor prophets of the Nevi'im ("Prophets") in the Tanakh, and as a book in its own right in the Christian Old Testament. According to the traditional order of most ...

) :*

Book of Psalms The Book of Psalms ( or ; he, תְּהִלִּים, , lit. "praises"), also known as the Psalms, or the Psalter, is the first book of the ("Writings"), the third section of the Tanakh, and a book of the Old Testament. The title is derived f ...

Book of Proverbs The Book of Proverbs ( he, מִשְלֵי, , "Proverbs (of Solomon)") is a book in the third section (called Ketuvim) of the Hebrew Bible and a book of the Christian Old Testament. When translated into Greek and Latin, the title took on differ ...

Ecclesiastes Ecclesiastes (; hbo, קֹהֶלֶת, Qōheleṯ, grc, Ἐκκλησιαστής, Ekklēsiastēs) is one of the Ketuvim ("Writings") of the Hebrew Bible and part of the Wisdom literature of the Christian Old Testament. The title commonly ...

:* Song of Songs :*

Wisdom of Solomon The Book of Wisdom, or the Wisdom of Solomon, is a Jewish work written in Greek and most likely composed in Alexandria, Egypt. Generally dated to the mid-first century BCE, the central theme of the work is "wisdom" itself, appearing under two ...

Wisdom of Sirach The Book of Sirach () or Ecclesiasticus (; abbreviated Ecclus.) is a Jewish work, originally in Hebrew, of ethical teachings, from approximately 200 to 175 BC, written by the Judahite scribe Ben Sira of Jerusalem, on the inspiration of his fa ...

Book of Job The Book of Job (; hbo, אִיּוֹב, ʾIyyōḇ), or simply Job, is a book found in the Ketuvim ("Writings") section of the Hebrew Bible (Tanakh), and is the first of the Poetic Books in the Old Testament of the Christian Bible. Scholars ar ...

The text of the New Testament is arranged in the following order: :*

Gospel of Matthew The Gospel of Matthew), or simply Matthew. It is most commonly abbreviated as "Matt." is the first book of the New Testament of the Bible and one of the three synoptic Gospels. It tells how Israel's Messiah, Jesus, comes to his people and ...

Gospel of Mark The Gospel of Mark), or simply Mark (which is also its most common form of abbreviation). is the second of the four canonical gospels and of the three synoptic Gospels. It tells of the ministry of Jesus from his baptism by John the Baptist to ...

Gospel of Luke The Gospel of Luke), or simply Luke (which is also its most common form of abbreviation). tells of the origins, birth, ministry, death, resurrection, and ascension of Jesus Christ. Together with the Acts of the Apostles, it makes up a two ...

Gospel of John The Gospel of John ( grc, Εὐαγγέλιον κατὰ Ἰωάννην, translit=Euangélion katà Iōánnēn) is the fourth of the four canonical gospels. It contains a highly schematic account of the ministry of Jesus, with seven "sig ...

Romans Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *''Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a letter ...

1 Corinthians The First Epistle to the Corinthians ( grc, Α΄ ᾽Επιστολὴ πρὸς Κορινθίους) is one of the Pauline epistles, part of the New Testament of the Christian Bible. The epistle is attributed to Paul the Apostle and a co-auth ...

2 Corinthians The Second Epistle to the Corinthians is a Pauline epistle of the New Testament of the Christian Bible. The epistle is attributed to Paul the Apostle and a co-author named Timothy, and is addressed to the church in Corinth and Christians in th ...

Galatians Galatians may refer to: * Galatians (people) * Epistle to the Galatians, a book of the New Testament * English translation of the Greek ''Galatai'' or Latin ''Galatae'', ''Galli,'' or ''Gallograeci'' to refer to either the Galatians or the Gaul ...

Ephesians The Epistle to the Ephesians is the tenth book of the New Testament. Its authorship has traditionally been attributed to Paul the Apostle but starting in 1792, this has been challenged as Deutero-Pauline, that is, pseudepigrapha written in Pa ...

Philippians The Epistle to the Philippians is a Pauline epistle of the New Testament of the Christian Bible. The epistle is attributed to Paul the Apostle and Timothy is named with him as co-author or co-sender. The letter is addressed to the Christian ...

Colossians The Epistle to the Colossians is the twelfth book of the New Testament. It was written, according to the text, by Paul the Apostle and Timothy, and addressed to the church in Colossae, a small Phrygian city near Laodicea and approximately ...

1 Thessalonians The First Epistle to the Thessalonians is a Pauline epistle of the New Testament of the Christian Bible. The epistle is attributed to Paul the Apostle, and is addressed to the church in Thessalonica, in modern-day Greece. It is likely among ...

2 Thessalonians The Second Epistle to the Thessalonians is a book from the New Testament of the Christian Bible. It is traditionally attributed to Paul the Apostle, with Timothy as a co-author. Modern biblical scholarship is divided on whether the epistle wa ...

1 Timothy The First Epistle to Timothy is one of three letters in the New Testament of the Bible often grouped together as the pastoral epistles, along with Second Timothy and Titus. The letter, traditionally attributed to the Apostle Paul, consists ...

2 Timothy The Second Epistle to Timothy is one of the three pastoral epistles traditionally attributed to Paul the Apostle.. Addressed to Timothy, a fellow missionary, it is traditionally considered to be the last epistle he wrote before his death. Alt ...

Titus Titus Caesar Vespasianus ( ; 30 December 39 – 13 September 81 AD) was Roman emperor from 79 to 81. A member of the Flavian dynasty, Titus succeeded his father Vespasian upon his death. Before becoming emperor, Titus gained renown as a mili ...

Philemon Philemon may refer to: In the Bible * Epistle to Philemon, a book in the New Testament * Philemon (biblical figure), recipient of Saint Paul's Epistle to Philemon Arts and entertainment * Philémon (comics), ''Philémon'' (comics), a Franco-Bel ...

Acts The Acts of the Apostles ( grc-koi, Πράξεις Ἀποστόλων, ''Práxeis Apostólōn''; la, Actūs Apostolōrum) is the fifth book of the New Testament; it tells of the founding of the Christian Church and the spread of its message ...

James James is a common English language surname and given name: *James (name), the typically masculine first name James * James (surname), various people with the last name James James or James City may also refer to: People * King James (disambiguat ...

1 Peter The First Epistle of Peter is a book of the New Testament. The author presents himself as Peter the Apostle. The ending of the letter includes a statement that implies that it was written from "Babylon", which is possibly a reference to Rome ...

2 Peter The Second Epistle of Peter is a book of the New Testament of the Bible. The text identifies the author as "Simon Peter, a bondservant and apostle of Jesus Christ" and the epistle is traditionally attributed to Peter the Apostle, but most criti ...

1 John The First Epistle of John is the first of the Johannine epistles of the New Testament, and the fourth of the catholic epistles. There is no scholarly consensus as to the authorship of the Johannine works. The author of the First Epistle is te ...

2 John The Second Epistle of John is a book of the New Testament attributed to John the Evangelist, traditionally thought to be the author of the other two epistles of John, and the Gospel of John (though this is disputed). Most modern scholars believ ...

3 John The Third Epistle of John is the third-to-last book of the New Testament and the Christian Bible as a whole, and attributed to John the Evangelist, traditionally thought to be the author of the Gospel of John and the other two epistles of John. ...

Jude Jude may refer to: People Biblical * Jude, brother of Jesus, who is sometimes identified as being the same person as Jude the Apostle * Jude the Apostle, an apostle also called Judas Thaddaeus or Lebbaeus, the patron saint of lost causes in the ...

Revelation In religion and theology, revelation is the revealing or disclosing of some form of truth or knowledge through communication with a deity or other supernatural entity or entities. Background Inspiration – such as that bestowed by God on th ...

The codex includes two other books, the

and part of the

as part of the New Testament.

Text-type and relationship to other manuscripts

For most of the New Testament, Codex Sinaiticus is in general agreement with '' Codex Vaticanus (B)'' and '' Codex Ephraemi Rescriptus (C)'', attesting the

Alexandrian text-type In textual criticism of the New Testament, the Alexandrian text-type is one of the main text types. It is the text type favored by the majority of modern textual critics and it is the basis for most modern (after 1900) Bible translations. Over ...

. A notable example of an agreement between the Sinaiticus and Vaticanus texts is that they both omit the word εικη ('without cause', 'without reason', 'in vain') from "''But I say unto you, that whosoever is angry with his brother without a cause shall be in danger of the judgement''".The same variant is present in the Greek manuscripts

1424 Year 1424 ( MCDXXIV) was a leap year starting on Saturday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. Events January–December * June 2 – Battle of L'Aquila: Jacopo Caldora and Micheletto Attendolo, for the K ...

^m, in manuscripts of the

Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power ...

Vulgate The Vulgate (; also called (Bible in common tongue), ) is a late-4th-century Bible translations into Latin, Latin translation of the Bible. The Vulgate is largely the work of Jerome who, in 382, had been commissioned by Pope Damasus&nbs ...

, in manuscripts of the Ethiopic version, and attested by

Origen Origen of Alexandria, ''Ōrigénēs''; Origen's Greek name ''Ōrigénēs'' () probably means "child of Horus" (from , "Horus", and , "born"). ( 185 – 253), also known as Origen Adamantius, was an early Christian scholar, ascetic, and the ...

and Jerome - NA27 p. 10. In

John John is a common English name and surname: * John (given name) * John (surname) John may also refer to: New Testament Works * Gospel of John, a title often shortened to John * First Epistle of John, often shortened to 1 John * Seco ...

1:1–8:38, Codex Sinaiticus differs from Vaticanus (B) and all other Alexandrian manuscripts. It is in closer agreement with '' Codex Bezae (D)'' in support of the

Western text-type In textual criticism of the New Testament, the Western text-type is one of the main text types. It is the predominant form of the New Testament text witnessed in the Old Latin and Syriac Peshitta translations from the Greek, and also in quota ...

. For example, in Sinaiticus and

Codex Bezae The Codex Bezae Cantabrigiensis, designated by siglum D or 05 (in the Gregory-Aland numbering of New Testament manuscripts), δ 5 (in the von Soden of New Testament manuscript), is a codex of the New Testament dating from the 5th century wri ...

are the only Greek manuscripts with textual variant (''in him is life'') instead of (''in him was life''). This variant is supported by Vetus Latina and some

Sahidic Coptic (Bohairic Coptic: , ) is a language family of closely related dialects, representing the most recent developments of the Egyptian language, and historically spoken by the Copts, starting from the third-century AD in Roman Egypt. Coptic ...

manuscripts. This portion has a large number of corrections. There are a number of differences between Sinaiticus and Vaticanus; Hoskier enumerated 3036 differences: ::::Matt–656 ::::Mark–567 ::::Luke–791 ::::John–1022 ::::Total—3036. A large number of these differences are due to

iotacism Iotacism ( el, ιωτακισμός, ''iotakismos'') or itacism is the process of vowel shift by which a number of vowels and diphthongs converged towards the pronunciation in post-classical Greek and Modern Greek. The term "iotacism" refers to ...

s and variants in transcribing Hebrew names. These two manuscripts were not written in the same

scriptorium Scriptorium (), literally "a place for writing", is commonly used to refer to a room in medieval European monasteries devoted to the writing, copying and illuminating of manuscripts commonly handled by monastic scribes. However, lay scribes an ...

. According to

Fenton Hort Fenton John Anthony Hort (1828–1892), known as F. J. A. Hort, was an Irish-born theologian and editor, with Brooke Foss Westcott of a critical edition of ''The New Testament in the Original Greek''. Life He was born on 23 April 1828 ...

''Sinaiticus'' and ''Vaticanus'' were derived from a much older common source, "the date of which cannot be later than the early part of the second century, and may well be yet earlier". Example of differences between Sinaiticus and Vaticanus in Matt 1:18–19:

B. H. Streeter Burnett Hillman Streeter (1874–1937) was an English Anglican theologian, biblical scholar, and textual critic. Life Streeter was born in Croydon, London, on 17 November 1874 and educated at The Queen's College, Oxford. He was ordained in ...

remarked there was a great agreement between the codex and the

Jerome Jerome (; la, Eusebius Sophronius Hieronymus; grc-gre, Εὐσέβιος Σωφρόνιος Ἱερώνυμος; – 30 September 420), also known as Jerome of Stridon, was a Christian priest, confessor, theologian, and historian; he is co ...

. According to him,

brought the

that was used in this codex to

Caesarea Caesarea () ( he, קֵיסָרְיָה, ), ''Keysariya'' or ''Qesarya'', often simplified to Keisarya, and Qaysaria, is an affluent town in north-central Israel, which inherits its name and much of its territory from the ancient city of Caesare ...

, and subsequently employed by Jerome for his Latin revision. Between the 4th and 12th centuries, seven or more correctors worked on this codex, making it one of the most corrected manuscripts in existence. During his investigation in Petersburg, Tischendorf enumerated 14,800 corrections in the portion which was only held in Petersburg (2/3 of the codex). According to

David C. Parker David Charles Parker OBE (b.1953) was the Edward Cadbury Professor of Theology (2005-2017) and the Director of the Institute for Textual Scholarship and Electronic Editing at the Department of Theology and Religion, University of Birmingham. His ...

the full codex has about 23,000 corrections. In addition to these corrections some letters were marked by dots as doubtful (e.g. ṪḢ).

Notable omissions

The New Testament portion lacks the following passages: : Omitted verses :* Gospel of - * B L Γ ff k sy sa ::: - B ƒ

157 Year 157 ( CLVII) was a common year starting on Friday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Civica and Aquillus (or, less frequently, year 910 ''Ab urbe condi ...

sy sa bo ::: - * B Θ

Uncial 0281 Uncial 0281 (in the Gregory-Aland numbering), is a Greek uncial manuscript of the New Testament. Palaeographically it has been assigned to the 7th or 8th century. Description The codex contains a small parts of the Gospel of Matthew 6-27, on ...

579 __NOTOC__ Year 579 ( DLXXIX) was a common year starting on Sunday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. The denomination 579 for this year has been used since the early medieval period, when the Anno Domini calendar era ...

892 Year 892 ( DCCCXCII) was a leap year starting on Saturday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. Events By place Europe * Summer – Poppo II, duke of Thuringia (Central Germany), is deposed by King Arnu ...

* e ff sy sa bo ::: - B L* Θ* ƒ ƒ 33

* e ff sy sa bo ::: - B D L Θ ƒ 33

* a aur e ff g vg sy sa bo :* Gospel of - B L Δ* ::: - B C W k sy sa ::: - B C W k sy sa ::: - B L W Δ Ψ

565 __NOTOC__ Year 565 ( DLXV) was a common year starting on Thursday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. The denomination 565 for this year has been used since the early medieval period, when the Anno Domini calendar era ...

700 The denomination 700 for this year has been used since the early medieval period, when the Anno Domini calendar era became the prevalent method in Europe for naming years. Events By place Byzantine Empire * Pannonian Avars, Avar and Sl ...

k l sy sa bo ::: - A B C D Ψ k sy sa bo ::: 16:9–20 (Long ending of the Gospel Mark) - B k sy arm :* Gospel of - * (Likely omitted due to

haplography Haplography (from Greek: haplo- 'single' + -graphy 'writing'), also known as lipography, is a scribal or typographical error where a letter or group of letters that should be written twice is written once. It is not to be confused with haplology, w ...

resulting from

homeoteleuton Homeoteleuton, also spelled homoeoteleuton and homoioteleuton (from the Greek ,Silva Rhetoricae (2006)Rhetorical Figures for Shakespeare and the Scriptures/ref> ''homoioteleuton'', "like ending"), is the repetition of endings in words. Homeoteleuto ...

; the verse was added by a later corrector in lower margin) ::: - A B L W Δ Θ Ψ ƒ 28 33

:* Gospel of - B C* D W

Minuscule 33 Minuscule 33 (in the Gregory-Aland numbering), δ 48 ( Soden), before the French Revolution was called ''Codex Colbertinus 2844''. It is a Greek minuscule manuscript of the New Testament on parchment, dated palaeographically to the 9th century. ...

d l q vg sy sa bo ::: (Pericope adulterae) - B L N T W X Y Δ Θ Ψ 0141 0211 22 33

124 124 may refer to: *124 (number), a natural number *AD 124, a year in the 2nd century AD *124 BC, a year in the 2nd century BC *124 (New Jersey bus) *124 (turbojet) * "124", a song by Photek from their album ''Modus Operandi'' See also * Unbiquadi ...

209 Year 209 ( CCIX) was a common year starting on Sunday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Commodus and Lollianus (or, less frequently, year 962 ''Ab urbe condi ...

788

828 __NOTOC__ Year 828 ( DCCCXXVIII) was a leap year starting on Wednesday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. Events By place Byzantine Empire * Siege of Syracuse: The Muslims under Asad ibn al-Furat defeat a ...

1230 1241 1241 1253 2193 (see Image "John 7:53–8:11"); :* The Book of - A B C 33 81

614 __NOTOC__ Year 614 ( DCXIV) was a common year starting on Tuesday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. The denomination 614 for this year has been used since the early medieval period, when the Anno Domini calendar era ...

vg sy sa bo

eth (colloquially) , former_name = eidgenössische polytechnische Schule , image = ETHZ.JPG , image_size = , established = , type = Public , budget = CHF 1.896 billion (2021) , rector = Günther Dissertori , president = Joël Mesot , ac ...

::: - A B E L Ψ 81 1241 1505 Byz ::: - A B H L P 049 81 1175 1241 p* s vg co ::: - A B E Ψ

048 48 may refer to: * 48 (number) * one of the years 48 BC, AD 48, 1948, 2048 * ''48'' (novel) * 48'' (magazine) * "48", a song by Tyler, the Creator from the album ''Wolf'' * 48, a phone network brand of Three Ireland * "Forty Eight", a song by ...

33 81 1175 1739 2464 s vg sy co :* Epistle of Paul to the - A B C 81 1739 2464 b vg co Codex Sinaiticus Matthew 6,4-32

: Omitted phrases :* Matthew 5:44: (''bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you'') - B ƒ

205 Year 205 ( CCV) was a common year starting on Tuesday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Aurelius and Geta (or, less frequently, year 958 ''Ab urbe condita'' ...

k sy sa bo BS3/ref> :* : (''For Yours is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, forever. Amen.'') - B D Z 0170 ƒ

l547 a aur b c ff b 1 vg

meg Meg is a feminine given name, often a short form of Megatron, Megan, Megumi (Japanese), etc. It may refer to: People *Meg (singer), a Japanese singer *Meg Cabot (born 1967), American author of romantic and paranormal fiction *Meg Burton Cahill ( ...

bo diat :* : (''Ηe who finds his life will lose it, and'') - * (singular reading) A26/ref> :* : () (''or (his) mother'') - B D a c sy sa :* : (''and be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with'') - B D L Z Θ

084 Area codes 084 and 086 are Nigerian telephone area codes serving the cities of Port Harcourt and Ahoada in Rivers State. They fall under the Southeast Zone in the National Numbering Plan (NNP) restructured in 2003. When in Port Harcourt or Ahoad ...

ƒ ƒ lat sy sa bo :* : (''son of Barachi'ah'') - 59* ℓ ''6'' ℓ ''13'' ℓ ''185'',

Eus Eus ( in both French and Catalan) is a commune in the Pyrénées-Orientales department in southern France. Geography Localization Eus is located in the canton of Les Pyrénées catalanes and in the arrondissement of Prades. Populatio ...

:* : (''the Son of God'') - Θ 28 ℓ ''2211'' sy sa arm geo :* : (''and be joined to his wife'') - B Ψ

ℓ ''48'' sy goth :* : (''and He said: "You do not know what manner of spirit you are of; for the Son of man came not to destroy men's lives but to save them'') - B C L Θ Ξ 33

1241 syr bo :* : (''Jews have no dealings with Samaritans'') - * D a b e j

fay A fairy (also fay, fae, fey, fair folk, or faerie) is a type of mythical being or legendary creature found in the folklore of multiple European cultures (including Celtic, Slavic, Germanic, English, and French folklore), a form of spirit, o ...

( includes the phrase) Some passages/phrases were excluded by the correctors: Codex Sinaiticus John 21,7

:* : (''nor the Son'') - included by the original scribe (as also in B D ƒ 28 1505 ℓ ''547'' a aur b c d f ff ff h q r vg sy arm

geo Diat), marked by the first corrector (a) as doubtful (omitted also in L W Δ ƒ 33

and majority of manuscripts), but the second corrector (b) removed the mark. :* : (''by my Father'') - included by the original scribe (as also in Θ ƒ

1071 1241 1505 a r1 sy bo

), marked by the first corrector as doubtful (omitted also in A B C D L W Δ Ψ ƒ

and majority of manuscripts), but the second corrector removed the mark. :* : (''but deliver us from evil'') - included by the original scribe (as also in A C D W Δ Θ Ψ ƒ 28

and majority of manuscripts), marked by the first corrector as doubtful (omitted also in B L 1

1342 vg sy sa bo arm geo), but the third corrector (c) removed the mark. :* ( Christ's agony at Gethsemane) – included by the original scribe (as also in D L Δ Θ Ψ 0233 ƒ

and majority of manuscripts), marked by the first corrector as doubtful (omitted also in A B N T W

f sy sa bo arm geo), but the third corrector removed the mark. :* Luke 23:34a: ὁ δὲ Ἰησοῦς ἔλεγεν Πάτερ ἄφες αὐτοῖς οὐ γὰρ οἴδασιν τί ποιοῦσιν (''Then Jesus said, 'Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do) – included by the original scribe (as also in A C D L Ψ 0250 ƒ 33 and majority of manuscripts), marked by the first corrector as doubtful (omitted also in B D* Θ 070

1241 a sy sa bo), but a third corrector removed the mark.

Additions

Matthew 8:13 (see ) : (''and when the centurion returned to the house in that hour, he found the slave well'') - C ( N) Θ ( 0250) ''f''¹ ( 33 1241) g¹ syr^h. Matthew 10:12 (see ) : (''say peace to be this house'' - the reading was deleted by the first corrector, but the second corrector restored it) - D L W Θ ''f'' ¹ 22 1010 (

) it vg^cl. Matthew 27:49 (see ) : (''the other took a spear and pierced His side, and immediately came out water and blood'') - B C L.

Unique and other textual variants

Codex Sinaiticus Paralipomenon 9,27-10,11

Matthew 7:22 : (''numerous'' - "and cast out numerous demons in your name?") - (singular reading) Matthew 8:12 : (''will go out'') - 0250 k syr^{c, s, p, pal} arm Diatessaron. Matthew 13:54 : (''to his own

Antipatris Antipatris (, grc, Αντιπατρίς) was a city built during the first century BC by Herod the Great, who named it in honour of his father, Antipater. The site, now a national park in central Israel, was inhabited from the Chalcolithic Pe ...

'') - (singular reading) : Καισαριας (''to the city of

'') - (singular reading). According to

T. C. Skeat Theodore Cressy Skeat (15 February 1907 — 25 June 2003) was a librarian at the British Museum, where he worked as Assistant Keeper (from 1931), Deputy Keeper (from 1948), and Keeper of Manuscripts and Egerton Librarian (from 1961 to 1972). Skeat ...

they suggest Caesarea as a place in which the manuscript was made. Matthew 16:12 : (''leaven of bread of the Pharisees and Sadducees'') - ff¹ syr^c. : (''Judaea'') – (singular reading) : (''seventy'') - (singular reading) : (''Betharaba'' - a correction by the second corrector; originally reads Βηθανια (''Bethany'') ) -

syr^h(mg). : (''chosen one'') - b e ff² syr^c^, ^s. : (''they had no wine, because the wine of the marriage feast was finished'') - a j. : (''three thousands'') - * (singular reading). Amended to (''five thousand'') by the second corrector. : (''Evangelists'') - (singular reading) : (''not heard'') - (singular reading) : (''harvests'') - (singular reading) : (''Church'') - vg^mss sy^p : (''Gaul'') - C 81

104 104 may refer to: *104 (number), a natural number *AD 104, a year in the 2nd century AD *104 BC, a year in the 2nd century BC * 104 (MBTA bus), Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority bus route * Hundred and Four (or Council of 104), a Carthagini ...

326 {{M1 year in topic __NOTOC__ Year 326 ( CCCXXVI) was a common year starting on Saturday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Constantinus and Constantinus (or, ...

436.

Variants in agreement with the "majority text"

: (''do not defraud'') ::incl. - B Majority of manuscripts ::omit - B* K W Ψ ''f''¹ ''f''¹³ 28

1010 1079 1242 1546 2148 ℓ ''10'' ℓ ''950'' ℓ ''1642'' ℓ ''1761'' syr^s arm geo. : (''and pray'') ::incl. - Majority of manuscripts ::omit - B D. : (''daughter'') - Majority of manuscripts : (''daughter'') - B K L W Θ.

Orthodox-Belief supporting reading

: δι' ὕδατος καὶ αἵματος καὶ πνεύματος (''through water and blood and spirit'') - also in A

424^c

1739^c 2412 2495 ℓ ''598''^m syr^h sa bo

. For other variants in this verse see: Textual variants in the First Epistle of John.

Bart D. Ehrman Bart Denton Ehrman (born 1955) is an American New Testament scholar focusing on textual criticism of the New Testament, the historical Jesus, and the origins and development of early Christianity. He has written and edited 30 books, includin ...

says this was a corrupt reading from a proto-orthodox scribe, although this conclusion has not gained wide support.

History

Early history

Provenance

Little is known of the manuscript's early history. According to Hort, it was written in the West, probably in Rome, as suggested by the fact that the chapter division in the Acts of the Apostles common to Sinaiticus and Vaticanus occurs in no other Greek manuscript, but is found in several manuscripts of the Latin

Robinson Robinson may refer to: People and names * Robinson (name) Fictional characters * Robinson Crusoe, the main character, and title of a novel by Daniel Defoe, published in 1719 Geography * Robinson projection, a map projection used since the 1960s ...

countered this argument, suggesting that this system of chapter divisions was introduced into the Vulgate by

himself, as a result of his studies at

. According to

Kenyon Kenyon may refer to: Names * Kenyon (given name) * Kenyon (surname) Places * Kenyon, Cheshire, United Kingdom, a village * Kenyon, Minnesota, United States, a city * Kenyon, Rhode Island, United States, a village * Kenyon, former name of Pineridg ...

the forms of the letters are Egyptian and they were found in Egyptian papyri of earlier date. Gardthausen, Ropes and Jellicoe thought it was written in

Egypt Egypt ( ar, مصر , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a transcontinental country spanning the northeast corner of Africa and southwest corner of Asia via a land bridge formed by the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Med ...

Harris Harris may refer to: Places Canada * Harris, Ontario * Northland Pyrite Mine (also known as Harris Mine) * Harris, Saskatchewan * Rural Municipality of Harris No. 316, Saskatchewan Scotland * Harris, Outer Hebrides (sometimes called the Isle o ...

believed that the manuscript came from the library of Pamphilus at Caesarea,

Palestine __NOTOC__ Palestine may refer to: * State of Palestine, a state in Western Asia * Palestine (region), a geographic region in Western Asia * Palestinian territories, territories occupied by Israel since 1967, namely the West Bank (including East J ...

. Streeter, Skeat, and Milne also believed that it was produced in Caesarea.

Date

The codex has been dated paleographically to the mid-4th century. It could not have been written before 325 because it contains the

Eusebian Canons Eusebian canons, Eusebian sections or Eusebian apparatus, also known as Ammonian sections, are the system of dividing the four Gospels used between late Antiquity and the Middle Ages. The divisions into chapters and verses used in modern texts ...

, which is a ''

terminus post quem ''Terminus post quem'' ("limit after which", sometimes abbreviated to TPQ) and ''terminus ante quem'' ("limit before which", abbreviated to TAQ) specify the known limits of dating for events or items.. A ''terminus post quem'' is the earliest da ...

''. "The ''terminus ante quem'' is less certain, but, according to Milne and Skeat, is not likely to be much later than about 360." Tischendorf theorized that Codex Sinaiticus was one of the fifty copies of the Bible commissioned from

Eusebius Eusebius of Caesarea (; grc-gre, Εὐσέβιος ; 260/265 – 30 May 339), also known as Eusebius Pamphilus (from the grc-gre, Εὐσέβιος τοῦ Παμφίλου), was a Greek historian of Christianity, exegete, and Christ ...

by Roman emperor

Constantine Constantine most often refers to: * Constantine the Great, Roman emperor from 306 to 337, also known as Constantine I *Constantine, Algeria, a city in Algeria Constantine may also refer to: People * Constantine (name), a masculine given nam ...

after his conversion to Christianity (''De vita Constantini'', IV, 37). This hypothesis was supported by

Pierre Batiffol Pierre Batiffol (27 January 1861, Toulouse, France – 13 January 1929, Paris, France) – was a French Catholic priest and prominent theologian, specialising in Church history. He had also a particular interest in the history of dogma. Batiffol ...

. Gregory and Skeat believed that it was already in production when Constantine placed his order, but had to be suspended in order to accommodate different page dimensions. Frederic G. Kenyon argued: "There is not the least sign of either of them ever having been at Constantinople. The fact that Sinaiticus was collated with the manuscript of Pamphilus so late as the sixth century seems to show that it was not originally written at Caesarea".

Scribes and correctors

Tischendorf believed four separate scribes copied the work (whom he named A, B, C and D), and five correctors amended portions (whom he designated a, b, c, d and e). He posited one of the correctors was contemporaneous with the original scribes, and the others worked during the 6th and 7th centuries. After Milne and Skeat's reinvestigation, it is now agreed Tischendorf was incorrect, as scribe C never existed. According to Tischendorf, scribe C wrote the poetic books of the Old Testament. These are written in a different format from the rest of the manuscript – they appear in two columns (the rest of books is in four columns), written stichometrically. Tischendorf probably interpreted the different formatting as indicating the existence of another scribe. The three remaining scribes are still identified by the letters Tischendorf gave them: A, B, and D. There were in fact more correctors, with at least seven (a, b, c, ca, cb, cc, e). Modern analysis identifies three scribes: * Scribe A wrote most of the historical and poetical books of the Old Testament; almost the whole of the New Testament; and the Epistle of Barnabas * Scribe B was responsible for the Prophets and for the Shepherd of Hermas * Scribe D wrote the whole of Tobit and Judith; the first half of 4 Maccabees; the first two-thirds of the Psalms; and the first five verses of Revelation Scribe B was a poor speller, and scribe A was not much better; the best scribe was D. Metzger states: "scribe A had made some unusually serious mistakes". Scribes A and B used ''nomina sacra'' in contracted forms most often (ΠΝΕΥΜΑ contracted in all occurrences, ΚΥΡΙΟΣ contracted except in 2 occurrences), whereas scribe D mostly used the uncontracted forms. Scribe D distinguished between sacral and nonsacral uses of ΚΥΡΙΟΣ. His spelling errors are the substitution of ΕΙ for Ι, and Ι for ΕΙ in medial positions, both equally common. Otherwise substitution of Ι for initial ΕΙ is unknown, and final ΕΙ is only replaced in the word ΙΣΧΥΕΙ. The confusion of Ε and ΑΙ is very rare. In the Book of Psalms this scribe has ΔΑΥΕΙΔ instead of ΔΑΥΙΔ 35 times, while scribe A normally uses an abbreviated form . Scribe A made the most phonetic errors: confusion of Ε and ΑΙ occurs in all contexts. Milne and Skeat characterised scribe B as "careless and illiterate". The work of the original scribe is designated by the

siglum Scribal abbreviations or sigla (singular: siglum) are abbreviations used by ancient and medieval scribes writing in various languages, including Latin, Greek, Old English and Old Norse. In modern manuscript editing (substantive and mechanica ...

Caesarea Maritima BW 2010-09-23 09-26-26 stitch

paleographical Palaeography ( UK) or paleography ( US; ultimately from grc-gre, , ''palaiós'', "old", and , ''gráphein'', "to write") is the study of historic writing systems and the deciphering and dating of historical manuscripts, including the analysi ...

study at the

British Museum The British Museum is a public museum dedicated to human history, art and culture located in the Bloomsbury area of London. Its permanent collection of eight million works is among the largest and most comprehensive in existence. It docume ...

in 1938 found the text had undergone several corrections. The first corrections were done by several scribes before the manuscript left the scriptorium. Readings which they introduced are designated by the siglum ^a. Milne and Skeat have observed the superscription to 1 Maccabees was made by scribe D, while the text was written by scribe A. Scribe D corrects his own work and that of scribe A, but scribe A limits himself to correcting his own work. In the sixth or seventh century, many alterations were made (^b) – according to a colophon at the end of the book of

Esdras The name 'Esdras' is found in the title of four texts (entitled Ezra, Nehemiah, 1 Esdras, 2 Esdras in most English versions) attributed to, or associated with, the prophet Ezra. The naming convention of the four books of Esdras differs between ...

and

Esther Esther is the eponymous heroine of the Book of Esther. In the Achaemenid Empire, the Persian king Ahasuerus seeks a new wife after his queen, Vashti, is deposed for disobeying him. Hadassah, a Jewess who goes by the name of Esther, is chose ...

, the source of these alterations was "a very ancient manuscript that had been corrected by the hand of the holy martyr Pamphylus" (

martyr A martyr (, ''mártys'', "witness", or , ''marturia'', stem , ''martyr-'') is someone who suffers persecution and death for advocating, renouncing, or refusing to renounce or advocate, a religious belief or other cause as demanded by an external ...

ed in 309). If this is so, material beginning with

1 Samuel The Book of Samuel (, ''Sefer Shmuel'') is a book in the Hebrew Bible, found as two books (1–2 Samuel) in the Old Testament. The book is part of the narrative history of Ancient Israel called the Deuteronomistic history, a series of books (Josh ...

to the end of Esther is Origen's copy of the

Hexapla ''Hexapla'' ( grc, Ἑξαπλᾶ, "sixfold") is the term for a critical edition of the Hebrew Bible in six versions, four of them translated into Greek, preserved only in fragments. It was an immense and complex word-for-word comparison of the ...

. From this colophon, the corrections are concluded to have been made in

Caesarea Maritima Caesarea Maritima (; Greek: ''Parálios Kaisáreia''), formerly Strato's Tower, also known as Caesarea Palestinae, was an ancient city in the Sharon plain on the coast of the Mediterranean, now in ruins and included in an Israeli national par ...

in the sixth or seventh centuries. The pervasive

, especially of the diphthong, remains uncorrected.

Discovery

The Codex may have been seen in 1761 by the Italian traveller,

Vitaliano Donati Vitaliano Donati (8 September 1717 – 26 February 1762), born in Padua in Italy, was an Italian doctor, archeologist, and botanist. He took the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in 1739. He was interested in the flora and fauna of the Adriatic, and ...

, when he visited the

at Sinai in

. His diary was published in 1879, in which was written:

In questo monastero ritrovai una quantità grandissima di codici membranacei... ve ne sono alcuni che mi sembravano anteriori al settimo secolo, ed in ispecie una Bibbia in membrane bellissime, assai grandi, sottili, e quadre, scritta in carattere rotondo e belissimo; conservano poi in chiesa un Evangelistario greco in caractere d'oro rotondo, che dovrebbe pur essere assai antico.

''In this monastery I found a great number of parchment codices ... there are some which seemed to be written before the seventh century, and especially a Bible (made) of beautiful vellum, very large, thin and square parchments, written in round and very beautiful letters; moreover there are also in the church a Greek Evangelistarium in gold and round letters, it should be very old.''

The "Bible on beautiful vellum" may be Codex Sinaiticus, and the gold evangelistarium is likely Lectionary 300 on the Gregory-Aland list. Tischendorf um 1870

German Biblical scholar

wrote about his visit to the monastery in ''Reise in den Orient'' in 1846 (translated as ''Travels in the East'' in 1847), without mentioning the manuscript. Later, in 1860, in his writings about the Sinaiticus discovery, Tischendorf wrote a narrative about the monastery and the manuscript that spanned from 1844 to 1859. He wrote that in 1844, during his first visit to the Saint Catherine's Monastery, he saw some leaves of parchment in a waste-basket. They were "rubbish which was to be destroyed by burning it in the ovens of the monastery", although this is firmly denied by the Monastery. After examination he realized that they were part of the Septuagint, written in an early Greek uncial script. He retrieved from the basket 129 leaves in Greek which he identified as coming from a manuscript of the

. He asked if he might keep them, but at this point the attitude of the monks changed. They realized how valuable these old leaves were, and Tischendorf was permitted to take only one-third of the whole, i.e. 43 leaves. These leaves contained portions of 1 Chronicles, Jeremiah, Nehemiah, and Esther. After his return they were deposited in the

Leipzig University Library Leipzig University Library (german: Universitätsbibliothek Leipzig), known also as ''Bibliotheca Albertina'', is the central library of the University of Leipzig. It is one of the oldest German university libraries. History The library was foun ...

, where they remain. In 1846 Tischendorf published their contents, naming them the 'Codex Friderico-Augustanus' (in honor of Frederick Augustus and keeping secret the source of the leaves). Other portions of the same codex remained in the monastery, containing all of Isaiah and 1 and 4 Maccabees. In 1845,

Archimandrite The title archimandrite ( gr, ἀρχιμανδρίτης, archimandritēs), used in Eastern Christianity, originally referred to a superior abbot ('' hegumenos'', gr, ἡγούμενος, present participle of the verb meaning "to lead") wh ...

Porphyrius Uspensky Bishop Porphyrius (russian: Епи́скоп Порфи́рий, secular name Konstantin Aleksandrovich Uspensky, russian: Константи́н Алекса́ндрович Успе́нский; 8 September 1804 - 19 April 1885), was a Russian ...

(1804–1885), at that time head of the Russian Ecclesiastical Mission in Jerusalem and subsequently Bishop of

Chigirin Chyhyryn ( uk, Чигирин, ) is a city and historic site located in Cherkasy Raion of Cherkasy Oblast of central Ukraine. From 1648 to 1669 the city was a Hetman residence. After a forced relocation of the Ruthenian Orthodox metropolitan see ...

, visited the monastery and the codex was shown to him, together with leaves which Tischendorf had not seen.Uspienski described: "Первая рукопись, содержащая Ветхий Завет неполный и весь Новый Завет с посланием ап. Варнавы и книгой Ермы, писана на тончайшем белом пергаменте. (...) Буквы в ней совершенно похожи на церковно-славянские. Постановка их прямая и сплошная. Над словами нет придыханий и ударений, а речения не отделяются никакими знаками правописания кроме точек. Весь священный текст писан в четыре и два столбца стихомерным образом и так слитно, как будто одно длинное речение тянется от точки до точки." (Порфирий (Успенский), ''Первое путешествие в Синайский монастырь в 1845 году'', Petersburg 1856, с. 226.) In 1846, Captain C. K. MacDonald visited Mount Sinai, saw the codex, and bought two codices (

495 __NOTOC__ Year 495 ( CDXCV) was a common year starting on Sunday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Viator without colleague (or, less frequently, year 1248 ...

and

496 __NOTOC__ Year 496 ( CDXCVI) was a leap year starting on Monday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. In the Roman Empire, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Paulus without colleague (or, less frequently, ye ...

) from the monastery. AlexII

In 1853, Tischendorf revisited the Saint Catherine's Monastery to get the remaining 86 folios, but without success. Returning in 1859, this time under the patronage of Tsar

Alexander II of Russia Alexander II ( rus, Алекса́ндр II Никола́евич, Aleksándr II Nikoláyevich, p=ɐlʲɪˈksandr ftɐˈroj nʲɪkɐˈlajɪvʲɪtɕ; 29 April 181813 March 1881) was Emperor of Russia, King of Poland and Grand Duke of Fin ...

, he was shown Codex Sinaiticus. He would later claim to have found it discarded in a rubbish bin. (This story may have been a fabrication, or the manuscripts in question may have been unrelated to Codex Sinaiticus: Rev. J. Silvester Davies in 1863 quoted "a monk of Sinai who... stated that according to the librarian of the monastery the whole of Codex Sinaiticus had been in the library for many years and was marked in the ancient catalogues... Is it not likely... that a manuscript known in the library catalogue would have been jettisoned in the rubbish basket." Indeed, it has been noted that the leaves were in "suspiciously good condition" for something found in the trash.Davies' words are from a letter published in ''The Guardian'' on 27 May 1863, as quoted by Elliott, J.K. (1982) in ''Codex Sinaiticus and the Simonides Affair'', Thessaloniki: Patriarchal Institute for Patristic Studies, p. 16; Elliott in turn is quoted by Michael D. Peterson in his essay "Tischendorf and the Codex Sinaiticus: the Saga Continues", in ''The Church and the Library'', ed. Papademetriou and Sopko Boston: Somerset Hall Press (2005), p. 77. See also notes 2 and 3, p. 90, in Papademetriou.) Tischendorf had been sent to search for manuscripts by Russia's

Tsar Tsar ( or ), also spelled ''czar'', ''tzar'', or ''csar'', is a title used by East and South Slavic monarchs. The term is derived from the Latin word ''caesar'', which was intended to mean "emperor" in the European medieval sense of the te ...

Alexander II, who was convinced there were still manuscripts to be found at the Sinai monastery. The text of this part of the codex was published by Tischendorf in 1862: * Konstantin von Tischendorf: ''Bibliorum codex Sinaiticus Petropolitanus.'' Giesecke & Devrient, Leipzig 1862. This work has been digitised in full and all four volumes may be consulted online. It was reprinted in four volumes in 1869: * Konstantin von Tischendorf, G. Olms (Hrsg.): ''Bibliorum codex Sinaiticus Petropolitanus. 1. Prolegomena.'' G. Olms, Hildesheim 1869 (Repr.). * Konstantin von Tischendorf, G. Olms (Hrsg.): ''Bibliorum codex Sinaiticus Petropolitanus. 2. Veteris Testamenti pars prior.'' G. Olms, Hildesheim 1869 (Repr.). * Konstantin von Tischendorf, G. Olms (Hrsg.): ''Bibliorum codex Sinaiticus Petropolitanus. 3. Veteris Testamenti pars posterior.'' G. Olms, Hildesheim 1869 (Repr.). * Konstantin von Tischendorf, G. Olms (Hrsg.): ''Bibliorum codex Sinaiticus Petropolitanus. 4. Novum Testamentum cum Barnaba et Pastore.'' G. Olms, Hildesheim 1869 (Repr.). The complete publication of the codex was made by

Kirsopp Lake Kirsopp Lake (7 April 187210 November 1946) was an English New Testament scholar, Church historian, Greek Palaeographer, and Winn Professor of Ecclesiastical History at Harvard Divinity School. He had an uncommon breadth of interests. His m ...

in 1911 (New Testament), and in 1922 (Old Testament). It was the full-sized black and white facsimile of the manuscript, "made from negatives taken from St. Petersburg by my wife and myself in the summer of 1908". The story of how Tischendorf found the manuscript, which contained most of the Old Testament and all of the New Testament, has all the interest of a romance. Tischendorf reached the monastery on 31 January; but his inquiries appeared to be fruitless. On 4 February, he had resolved to return home without having gained his object: Sinai litografia

On the afternoon of this day I was taking a walk with the steward of the convent in the neighbourhood, and as we returned, towards sunset, he begged me to take some refreshment with him in his cell. Scarcely had he entered the room, when, resuming our former subject of conversation, he said: "And I, too, have read a Septuagint" – i.e. a copy of the Greek translation made by the Seventy. And so saying, he took down from the corner of the room a bulky kind of volume, wrapped up in a red cloth, and laid it before me. I unrolled the cover, and discovered, to my great surprise, not only those very fragments which, fifteen years before, I had taken out of the basket, but also other parts of the Old Testament, the New Testament complete, and, in addition, the Epistle of Barnabas and a part of the Shepherd of Hermas.

After some negotiations, he obtained possession of this precious fragment. James Bentley gives an account of how this came about, prefacing it with the comment, "Tischendorf therefore now embarked on the remarkable piece of duplicity which was to occupy him for the next decade, which involved the careful suppression of facts and the systematic denigration of the monks of Mount Sinai." He conveyed it to Tsar Alexander II, who appreciated its importance and had it published as nearly as possible in facsimile, so as to exhibit correctly the ancient handwriting. In 1869 the Tsar sent the monastery 7,000

ruble The ruble (American English) or rouble (Commonwealth English) (; rus, рубль, p=rublʲ) is the currency unit of Belarus and Russia. Historically, it was the currency of the Russian Empire and of the Soviet Union. , currencies named ''rub ...

s and the monastery of

Mount Tabor Mount Tabor ( he, הר תבור) (Har Tavor) is located in Lower Galilee, Israel, at the eastern end of the Jezreel Valley, west of the Sea of Galilee. In the Hebrew Bible (Joshua, Judges), Mount Tabor is the site of the Battle of Mount T ...

2,000 rubles by way of compensation. The document in Russian formalising this was published in 2007 in Russia and has since been translated. Regarding Tischendorf's role in the transfer to Saint Petersburg, there are several views. The codex is currently regarded by the monastery as having been stolen. This view is hotly contested by several scholars in Europe.

wrote:

Those who have had much to do with Oriental monks will understand how improbable it is that the terms of the arrangement, whatever it was, were ever known to any except a few of the leaders.

In a more neutral spirit, New Testament scholar

Bruce Metzger Bruce Manning Metzger (February 9, 1914 – February 13, 2007) was an American biblical scholar, Bible translator and textual critic who was a longtime professor at Princeton Theological Seminary and Bible editor who served on the board of th ...

writes:

Certain aspects of the negotiations leading to the transfer of the codex to the Tsar's possession are open to an interpretation that reflects adversely on Tischendorf's candour and good faith with the monks at Saint Catherine's Monastery. For an account intended to exculpate him of blame, see Erhard Lauch's article 'Nichts gegen Tischendorf' in ''Bekenntnis zur Kirche: Festgabe für Ernst Sommerlath zum 70. Geburtstag'' (Berlin, c. 1961), pp.15-24; for an account that includes a hitherto unknown receipt given by Tischendorf to the authorities at the monastery promising to return the manuscript from Saint Petersburg 'to the Holy Confraternity of Sinai at its earliest request'.

Simonides

On 13 September 1862

Constantine Simonides Constantine Simonides (1820–1867) was a palaeographer and dealer of icons, known as a man of extensive learning, with significant knowledge of manuscripts and miraculous calligraphy. He was one of the most versatile forgers of the nineteenth cen ...

(1820–1890), skilled in calligraphy and with a controversial background with manuscripts, made the claim in print in ''

The Manchester Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and '' The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the G ...

'' that he had written the codex himself as a 19-year-old boy in 1839 in the Panteleimonos monastery at

Athos Athos may refer to: Fictional or mythical characters * Athos (character), one of the title characters in the novel ''The Three Musketeers'' (1844) by Alexandre Dumas père * Athos (mythology), one of the Gigantes in Greek mythology * Athos Fadi ...

, who worked with numerous Bible manuscripts, was known as somewhat flamboyant, and had ambitiously sought money from several royal families for his ventures, who had indeed funded his trips. Simonides had a somewhat obscure history, as he claimed he was at Mt. Athos in the years preceding Tischendorf's contact, making the claim at least plausible. Simonides also claimed his father had died and the invitation to

Mt. Athos Mount Athos (; el, Ἄθως, ) is a mountain in the distal part of the eponymous Athos peninsula and site of an important centre of Eastern Orthodox monasticism in northeastern Greece. The mountain along with the respective part of the penin ...

came from his uncle, a monk there, but subsequent letters to his father were found among his possessions at his death. Simonides claimed the false nature of the document in ''The Manchester Guardian'' in an exchange of letters among scholars and others, at the time. Henry Bradshaw, a British librarian known to both men, defended the Tischendorf find of Codex Sinaiticus, casting aside the accusations of Simonides. Since Bradshaw was a social 'hub' among many diverse scholars of the day, his aiding of Tischendorf was given much weight. Simonides died shortly after, and the issue lay dormant for many years. In answer to Simonides in ''

Allgemeine Zeitung The ''Allgemeine Zeitung'' was the leading political daily journal in Germany in the first part of the 19th century. It has been widely recognised as the first world-class German journal and a symbol of the German press abroad. The ''Allgemeine ...

'' (December 1862), Tischendorf noted only in the New Testament were there many differences between it and all other manuscripts. Henry Bradshaw, a bibliographer, combatted the claims of Constantine Simonides in a letter to ''The Manchester Guardian'' (26 January 1863). Bradshaw argued that Codex Sinaiticus brought by Tischendorf from the Greek monastery of Mount Sinai was not a modern forgery or written by Simonides. The controversy seems to regard the misplaced use of the word 'fraud' or 'forgery' since it may have been a repaired text, a copy of the Septuagint based upon Origen's Hexapla, a text which has been rejected for centuries because of its lineage from

who introduced Arian doctrine into the courts of Constantine I and II. Not every scholar and Church minister was delighted about the codex find. Burgon, a supporter of the

Textus Receptus ''Textus Receptus'' (Latin: "received text") refers to all printed editions of the Greek New Testament from Erasmus's '' Novum Instrumentum omne'' (1516) to the 1633 Elzevir edition. It was the most commonly used text type for Protestant deno ...

, suggested that Codex Sinaiticus, as well as codices Vaticanus and

, were the most corrupt documents extant. Each of these three codices "clearly exhibits a fabricated text – is the result of arbitrary and reckless recension." The two most weighty of these three codices, and B, he likens to the "two false witnesses" of However, independent discoveries of other fragments of the codex in recent history (see below) prove its authenticity, and disprove all theories of it being a forgery.

Recent history

In the early 20th century

Vladimir Beneshevich Vladimir Nicolayevich Beneshevich (russian: Влади́мир Никола́евич Бенеше́вич; August 9, 1874 – January 17, 1938) was a Russian scholar of Byzantine history and canon law, and a philologer and paleographer of ...

(1874–1938) discovered parts of three more leaves of the codex in the bindings of other manuscripts in the library of Mount Sinai. Beneshevich went on three occasions to the monastery (1907, 1908, 1911) but does not tell when or from which book these were recovered. These leaves were also acquired for St. Petersburg, where they remain. Russian National Library building

For many decades, the Codex was preserved in the

Russian National Library The National Library of Russia (NLR, russian: Российская национальная библиотека}), located in Saint Petersburg, is the first, and one of three national public libraries in Russia. The NLR is currently ranked amo ...

. In 1933, the

Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, ...

sold the codex to the

(after 1973

) for £100,000 raised by public subscription (worth £ in ). After coming to Britain it was examined by Skeat and Milne using an

ultra-violet Ultraviolet (UV) is a form of electromagnetic radiation with wavelength from 10 nm (with a corresponding frequency around 30 PHz) to 400 nm (750 THz), shorter than that of visible light, but longer than X-rays. UV radiation i ...

lamp. In May 1975, during restoration work, the monks of Saint Catherine's Monastery discovered a room beneath the St. George Chapel which contained many parchment fragments.

Kurt Aland Kurt Aland (28 March 1915 – 13 April 1994) was a German theologian and biblical scholar who specialized in New Testament textual criticism. He founded the ''Institut für neutestamentliche Textforschung'' (Institute for New Testament Textual ...

and his team from the

Institute for New Testament Textual Research The Institute for New Testament Textual Research (german: Institut für neutestamentliche Textforschung — INTF) at the University of Münster, Westphalia, Germany, is to research the textual history of the New Testament and to reconstruct its G ...

were the first scholars who were invited to analyse, examine and photograph these new fragments of the New Testament in 1982. Among these fragments were twelve complete leaves from the ''Sinaiticus'', 11 leaves of the

Pentateuch The Torah (; hbo, ''Tōrā'', "Instruction", "Teaching" or "Law") is the compilation of the first five books of the Hebrew Bible, namely the books of Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy. In that sense, Torah means the ...

and 1 leaf of the

. Together with these leaves 67 Greek Manuscripts of New Testament have been found (uncials 0278 – 0296 and some minuscules). In June 2005, a team of experts from the UK, Europe, Egypt, Russia and USA undertook a joint project to produce a new digital edition of the manuscript (involving all four holding libraries), and a series of other studies was announced. This will include the use of

hyperspectral imaging Hyperspectral imaging collects and processes information from across the electromagnetic spectrum. The goal of hyperspectral imaging is to obtain the spectrum for each pixel in the image of a scene, with the purpose of finding objects, identify ...

to photograph the manuscripts to look for hidden information such as erased or faded text. This is to be done in cooperation with the British Library. More than one quarter of the manuscript was made publicly available a
The Codex Sinaiticus Website
on 24 July 2008. On 6 July 2009, 800 more pages of the manuscript were made available, showing over half of the entire text, although the entire text was intended to be shown by that date. The complete document is now available online in digital form and available for scholarly study. The online version has a fully transcribed set of digital pages, including amendments to the text, and two images of each page, with both standard lighting and raked lighting to highlight the texture of the parchment. Prior to 1 September 2009, the University of the Arts London PhD student, Nikolas Sarris, discovered the previously unseen fragment of the Codex in the library of Saint Catherine's Monastery. It contains the text of Book of Joshua 1:10.

Present location

The codex is now split into four unequal portions: 347 leaves in the

in London (199 of the Old Testament, 148 of the New Testament), 12 leaves and 14 fragments in the Saint Catherine's Monastery, 43 leaves in the

, and fragments of 3 leaves in the

Saint Petersburg Saint Petersburg ( rus, links=no, Санкт-Петербург, a=Ru-Sankt Peterburg Leningrad Petrograd Piter.ogg, r=Sankt-Peterburg, p=ˈsankt pʲɪtʲɪrˈburk), formerly known as Petrograd (1914–1924) and later Leningrad (1924–1991), i ...

. Saint Catherine's Monastery still maintains the importance of a letter, handwritten in 1844 with an original signature of Tischendorf confirming that he borrowed those leaves.Ο Σιναϊτικός Κώδικας
However, recently published documents, including a

deed of gift A deed of gift is a signed legal document that voluntarily and without recompense transfers ownership of real, personal, or intellectual property – such as a gift A gift or a present is an item given to someone without the expectati ...

dated 11 September 1868 and signed by Archbishop Kallistratos and the monks of the monastery, indicate that the manuscript was acquired entirely legitimately.''"История приобретения Синайской Библии Россией в свете новых документов из российских архивов"''
А.В.Захарова, ''Монфокон: исследования по палеографии, кодикологии и дипломатике'', Ι, Москва—С.-Петербург, 2007, 209–266 This deed, which agrees with a report by

on the matter, has now been published. This development is not widely known in the English-speaking world, as only German- and Russian-language media reported on it in 2009. Doubts as to the legality of the gift arose because when Tischendorf originally removed the manuscript from Saint Catherine's Monastery in September 1859, the monastery was without an archbishop, so that even though the intention to present the manuscript to the Tsar had been expressed, no legal gift could be made at the time. Resolution of the matter was delayed through the turbulent reign of Archbishop Cyril (consecrated 7 December 1859, deposed 24 August 1866), and the situation only formalised after the restoration of peace. Skeat in his article "The Last Chapter in the History of the Codex Sinaiticus" concluded in this way:

This is not the place to pass judgements, but perhaps I may say that, as it seems to me, both the monks and Tischendorf deserve our deepest gratitude, Tischendorf for having alerted the monks to the importance of the manuscript, and the monks for having undertaken the daunting task of searching through the vast mass of material with such spectacular results, and then doing everything in their power to safeguard the manuscript against further loss. If we accept the statement of Uspensky, that he saw the codex in 1845, the monks must have worked very hard to complete their search and bind up the results in so short a period.

Impact on biblical scholarship

Along with

, Codex Sinaiticus is considered one of the most valuable manuscripts available, as it is one of the oldest and likely closer to the original text of the

Greek New Testament Greek New Testament refers to the New Testament in Koine Greek. It may also refer to the following texts: * ''Novum Instrumentum omne'' * ''Textus Receptus'', the basis of the King James Bible * ''Novum Testamentum Graece'', a critical edition of t ...

. It is the only

manuscript with the complete text of the New Testament, and the only ancient manuscript of the New Testament written in four columns per page which has survived to the present day. With only 300 years separating Codex Sinaiticus and the lifetime of Jesus, it is considered by some to be more accurate than most New Testament copies in preserving readings where almost all manuscripts are assumed by them to be in error. For the

Gospel Gospel originally meant the Christian message (" the gospel"), but in the 2nd century it came to be used also for the books in which the message was set out. In this sense a gospel can be defined as a loose-knit, episodic narrative of the words a ...

s, Sinaiticus is considered among some people as the second most reliable witness of the text (after Vaticanus); in the Acts of the Apostles, its text is equal to that of Vaticanus; in the

Epistles An epistle (; el, ἐπιστολή, ''epistolē,'' "letter") is a writing directed or sent to a person or group of people, usually an elegant and formal didactic letter. The epistle genre of letter-writing was common in ancient Egypt as part ...

, Sinaiticus is assumed to be the most reliable witness of the text. In the

, however, its text is corrupted and is considered of poor quality, and inferior to the texts of

, , and even some minuscule manuscripts in this place (for example,

Minuscule 2053 Minuscule 2053 (in the Gregory-Aland numbering), Oα31 ( von Soden), is a Greek minuscule manuscript of the New Testament, on 138 parchment leaves (26.8 by 21 cm). Paleographically it has been assigned to the 13th century.K. Aland, M. Welt ...

2062 In contemporary history, the third millennium of the anno Domini or Common Era in the Gregorian calendar is the current millennium spanning the years 2001 to 3000 (21st to 30th centuries). Ongoing futures studies seek to understand what is l ...

Notes

References

External links

Codex Sinaiticus Project

BBC video clip
handling Codex Sinaiticus at the British Library

Facsimiles of Codex Sinaiticus

Codex Sinaiticus
at the ''Center for the Study of NT Manuscripts'' (JPG)
Codex Sinaiticus
digital reproduction at ''A.P. Manuscripts'' *
Codex Sinaiticus: Facsimile Edition
' ()

Articles

Differences between the Sinaiticus and the KJV

at the ''Encyclopedia of Textual Criticism''

Codex Sinaiticus Project at the British Library website

Codex Sinaiticus entry for the British Library collection

* ttps://www.birmingham.ac.uk/schools/ptr/departments/theologyandreligion/research/projects/codex-sinaiticus.aspx Joint project managed by ITSEE for digitizing the codex
E. Henschke, The Codex Sinaiticus, its History and Modern Presentation

Who Owns the Codex Sinaiticus
Biblical Archaeology Review Library
The Codex Sinaiticus and the Manuscripts of Mt Sinai in the Collections of the National Library of Russia
The National Library of Russia, 2009

The Telegraph {{Authority control 4th-century biblical manuscripts British Library additional manuscripts

Sinaiticus The Codex Sinaiticus ( Shelfmark: London, British Library, Add MS 43725), designated by siglum [Aleph] or 01 (in the Gregory-Aland numbering of New Testament manuscripts), δ 2 (in the von Soden numbering of New Testament manuscript ...

Saint Catherine's Monastery Septuagint manuscripts