Codex Sinaiticus

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New Testament manuscripts
papyri • uncials • minuscules
Uncial 03
Name Sinaiticus
Sign א
Text Old and New Testament
Date c. 350
Script Greek
Now at British Library, Leipzig University
Size 38 x 34 cm
Type Alexandrian text-type
Category I
Note Book of Esther

Codex Sinaiticus (London, Brit. Libr., Add. 43725; Gregory-Aland nº א (Aleph) or 01) is a 4th century uncial manuscript of the Greek Bible, written between 330–350. While it originally contained the whole of both Testaments, only portions of the Greek Old Testament or Septuagint survive, along with a complete New Testament, the Epistle of Barnabas, and portions of The Shepherd of Hermas (suggesting that the latter two may have been considered part of Biblical canon by the editors of the codex[1]). Along with Codex Vaticanus, Codex Sinaiticus is one of the most valuable manuscripts for textual criticism of the Greek New Testament, as well as the Septuagint. The text of codex represents alexandrian text-type, with exception for John 1:1—8:38 which represents western text-type. It is only one uncial manuscript with complete text of New Testament, and only one manuscript of New Testament written in four columns per page.

Contents

[edit] Description

Luke 11, 2 in Codex Sinaiticus
Luke 11, 2 in Codex Sinaiticus

The work was written in scripta continua with neither breathings nor polytonic accents. Occasional points and few ligatures are used, though nomina sacra with overlines are employed throughout.

Each line has some twelve to fourteen Greek uncial letters, arranged in four columns (48 lines in column) with carefully-chosen line breaks and slightly ragged right edges.

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 referred to the codex as a "subtle piece of craftsmanship".[2]

The folios are made of vellum parchment made from ass or antelope skin. Most of the quires or signatures contain four leaves save two containing five.

The portion of the codex held by the British Library consists of 346½ folios, 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 and 147½ belong to the New Testament, along with two other books, the Epistle of Barnabas and part of The Shepherd of Hermas. The books of the New Testament are arranged in this order: the four Gospels, the epistles of Paul, the Acts of the Apostles, the General Epistles, and the Book of Revelation. Some parts of codex preserved in good condition, other in very poor condition, it means they were separeted and stored in two places.

For most of the New Testament, Codex Sinaiticus is in general agreement with Codex Vaticanus and Codex Ephraemi Rescriptus, attesting an Alexandrian text-type, but in John 1:1-8:38 Codex Sinaiticus is in closer agreement with Codex Bezae in support of a Western text-type. This portion has a large number of correctopns.[3] A notable example of an agreement between the Sinaiticus and Vaticanus texts is that they both omit the phrase "without cause" from Matthew 5:22. But there is a large number differences between Sinaiticus and Vaticanus. Hoskier enumerated 3036 differences:

Matt – 656
Mark – 567
Luke – 791
John – 1022
Together — 3036.[4]

A large number of these differences are a result of itacysmus, and a different way for a transcription Hebrew names.

[edit] Contain

A portion of the Codex Sinaiticus, containing Esther 2:3-8.
A portion of the Codex Sinaiticus, containing Esther 2:3-8.

Text of Old Testament has some lacks:

  • Gen 23:19–24:46
  • Nu 5:26–7:20
  • 1 Chr 9:27–19:17
  • Esdr-Neh (from Esdr 9, 9).

Text New Testament omitted several passages:

  • Matt 12:47, 16:2-3
  • Mark 16:8-20
  • Luke 22:43-44 marked by first corrector as doubtfull, but third corrector removed that mark.
  • John 5:4, John 7:53-8:11 (Pericope adulterae), and John 21:25
  • Rom doxology followed after 16:23, v. 24 omitted.

All this omissions are typical for alexandrian text-type.

[edit] Early history of codex

Of its prior history, little is known. It is speculated to have been written in Egypt in the fourth century, and is sometimes associated with the fifty copies of the scriptures commissioned from Eusebius by Roman Emperor Constantine after his conversion to Christianity (De vita Constantini, IV, 37)[5].

Tischendorf believed four separate scribes copied the work, and five correctors emended portions, one of them contemporaneous with the original scribes, the others dating to the sixth and seventh centuries. Modern analysis identifies at least three scribes. A paleographical study at the British Museum in 1938 found that the text had undergone several corrections. The first corrections were done by several scribes before the manuscript left the scriptorium. In the sixth or seventh century many alterations were made, which, according to a colophon at the end of the book of Esdras and Esther states, that the source of these alterations was "a very ancient manuscript that had been corrected by the hand of the holy martyr Pamphylus" (martyred AD 309). From this is concluded, that it had been in Caesarea Maritima in the 6th or 7th centuries.[6] Uncorrected is the pervasive iotacism, especially of the ει diphthong.

[edit] Discovery

Codex was probably seen in 1761 by italian traveller, Vitaliano Donati, when he visited Sinai. His diary was published in 1879[7].

Constantin von Tischendorf in 1870
Constantin von Tischendorf in 1870

In 1844 Tischendorf during his first visit of Monastery of Saint Catherine saw some leaves of parchment in a waste-basket full of manuscript pieces destined to light the oven of the monastery. They "were rubbish which was to be destroyed by burning it in the ovens of the monastery".[8] After examination he realized that it be part of the Septuagint, written in an early Greek uncial script. He retrieved from the basket forty-three leaves contained portions of 1 Chronicles, Jeremiah, Nehemiah, and Esther. Later, for Tischendorf was shown other portions of the same codex, contained all of Isaiah and 1 and 4 Maccabees. He warned the monks how valuable are this old leaves.[9]

The forty-three leaves were permitted for Tischendorf to take, and they were deposited in the university library at Leipzig, where they still remain. In 1846 Tischendorf published their contents, named them the 'Codex Frederico-Augustanus'.

In 1845 archimandrite Porphiryj Uspienski (1804-1885), later archbishop if Sinai, visited monaster and codex was shown to him, together with leaves which Tischendorf did not seen[10].

In 1853 Tischendorf revisited the monastery at Sinai, to get the remaining 86 folios, but without success. The Codex Sinaiticus was shown to Constantin von Tischendorf on his third visit to the Monastery of Saint Catherine, at the foot of Mount Sinai in Egypt, in 1859. (However, 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 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.[11]) Tischendorf had been sent to search for manuscripts by Russia's Tsar Alexander II, who was convinced there were still manuscripts to be found at the Sinai monastery.

Monastery of St. Catherine (litogaphy according picture of archimandrite Porphiryj Uspienski 1857)
Monastery of St. Catherine (litogaphy according picture of archimandrite Porphiryj Uspienski 1857)

The story of how von Tischendorf found the manuscript, which contained most of the Old Testament and all of the New Testament, has all the interest of a romance. Von Tischendorf reached the monastery on January 31; but his inquiries appeared to be fruitless. On February 4, he had resolved to return home without having gained his object:

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.[12]

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."[13] 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. The Tsar sent the monastery 9,000 rubles by way of compensation. Regarding Tischendorf's role in the transfer to Saint Petersburg, there are several views. Although when parts of Genesis and Book of Numbers were later found in the bindings of other books, they were amicably sent to Tischendorf, the codex is currently regarded by the monastery as having been stolen. This view is hotly contested by several scholars in Europe. In a more neutral spirit, New Testament scholar Bruce Metzger 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 St. Catherine's. For a recent 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); 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', see Ihor Ševčenko's article 'New Documents on Tischendorf and the Codex Sinaiticus', published in the journal Scriptorium, xviii (1964) pp. 55–80.[14]

In that time monk Simonides claimed to all world, that he is author of codex, therefore it has not historical value[15].

[edit] Later story of codex

View to the Monastery of St. Catherine.
View to the Monastery of St. Catherine.

For many decades, the Codex was preserved in the Russian National Library. In 1933, the Soviet Union sold the codex to the British Museum[16] for £100,000. After coming to Britain it was examined by Skeat and Milne with using ultra-violet lamp.

One theological controversy arising from the content of the Codex Sinaiticus are the different writing styles in the Gospel of Mark, indicating the addition of the Resurrection in a different, more informal hand (possibly to an earlier, shorter version of Mark that finished with the empty Tomb).

In May 1975, during restoration work, the monks of St. Catherine's monastery discovered a room beneath the St. George Chapel which contained many parchment fragments. Among these fragments were twelve missing leaves from the Sinaiticus Old Testament.

[edit] Present location

The British Library
The British Library

The codex is now split into four unequal portions: 347 leaves in the British Library in London, 12 leaves and 14 fragments in St. Catherine's Monastery of Sinai, 43 leaves in the Leipzig University Library, and fragments of 3 leaves in the Russian National Library in Saint Petersburg.

At the present day, the monastery in Sinai officially regards that codex was stolen. Visitors in our day report that the monks at St. Catherine's Monastery display the receipt they received from Tischendorf for the Codex, in a frame that hangs upon the wall. [17]

In June 2005, a team of experts from the UK, Europe, Egypt, Russia and USA undertaken 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 to photograph the manuscripts to look for hidden information such as erased or faded text.[18] This is to be done in cooperation with the British Library. This project will cost 1 mln $.[19]

The original document is so precious that it has only been seen by four scholars in the last 20 years.

[edit] See also

[edit] References

  1. ^ Origen considered these books as canonical.
  2. ^ Bringhurst, Robert (2004). The Elements of Typographic Style (version 3.0), pp. 174–75. Vancouver, Hartley & Marks. ISBN 0-88179-205-5.
  3. ^ G.D. Fee, Codex Sinaiticus in the Gospel of John, NTS 15 (1968-9), pp. 22-44.
  4. ^ H.C. Hoskier, Codex B and Its Allies, a Study and an Indictment, London 1914, p. 1.
  5. ^ T.C. Skeat, The Codex Sinaiticus, The Codex Vaticanus and Constantine, Journal of Theological Studies 50 (1999), 583-625.
  6. ^ Bruce M. Metzger, the Text of the New Testament, its Transmission, Corruption and Restoration, Oxford University Press, 1992, p. 46.
  7. ^ “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” (G. Lumbroso, Atti della R. Accademia dei Lincei, 1879, p. 501). “Bibbia in membrane bellissime” it is probably Codex Sinaiticus.
  8. ^ Skeat, T. C. "The Last Chapter in the History of the Codex Sinaiticus." Novum Testamentum. Vol. 42, Fasc. 3, Jul., 2000. p. 313
  9. ^ K.v. Tischendorf, When Were Our Gospels Written? An Argument by Constantine Tischendorf. With a Narrative of the Discovery of the Sinaitic Manuscript, New York: American Tract Society, 1866.
  10. ^ Uspienski discribed: «Первая рукопись, содержащая Ветхий Завет неполный и весь Новый Завет с посланием ап. Варнавы и книгой Ермы, писана на тончайшем белом пергамене. (…) 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.)
  11. ^ Davies words are from a letter published in The Guardian on 27 May 1863, as quoted by J.K. Elliott in Codex Sinaiticus and the Simonides Affair, (Thessaloniki: Patriarchal Institute for Patristic Studies, 1982), 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.
  12. ^ See Constantin von Tischendorf, The Discovery of the Sinaitic Manuscript, Extract from Constantin von Tischendorf, When Were Our Gospels Written? An Argument by Constantine Tischendorf. With a Narrative of the Discovery of the Sinaitic Manuscript [New York: American Tract Society, 1866].
  13. ^ James Bentley, Secrets of Mount Sinai (Garden City, NY: Doubleday, 1986), p. 95.
  14. ^ Bruce A. Metzger, The Text of the New Testament: Its Transmission, Corruption and Restoration, Oxford University Press, 1992, p. 45.
  15. ^ J.K. Elliott in Codex Sinaiticus and the Simonides Affair, (Thessaloniki: Patriarchal Institute for Patristic Studies, 1982), p. 16.
  16. ^ After 1973 in British Library.
  17. ^ Ο Σιναϊτικός Κώδικας.
  18. ^ Oldest known Bible to go online. BBC.com. August 3, 2005. Accessed June 08, 2006.
  19. ^ E. Henschke, Digitizing the Hand-Written Bible: The Codex Sinaiticus, its History and Modern Presentation, Libri, 2007, vol. 57, pp. 45-51.

This entry incorporates text from the public domain Easton's Bible Dictionary, originally published in 1897.


[edit] External links

[edit] Facsimile of Codex Sinaiticus

[edit] Articles

[edit] Bibliography

  • Constantin von Tischendorf, When Were Our Gospels Written? An Argument by Constantine Tischendorf. With a Narrative of the Discovery of the Sinaitic Manuscript, New York: American Tract Society, 1866.
  • Kirsopp Lake, Codex Sinaiticus Petropolitanus: The New Testament, the Epistle of Barnabas and the Shepherd of Hermas, Clarendon Press, Oxford 1911.
  • H. J. M. Milne and T. C. Skeat, Scribes and Correctors of the Codex Sinaiticus, British Museum, 1938.
  • F. G. Kenyon, Our Bible and the Ancient Manuscripts (4th ed.), London 1939.
  • B. H. Streeter, The Four Gospels. A Study of Origins the Manuscripts Tradition, Sources, Authorship, & Dates, MacMillan and Co Limited, Oxford 1924.
  • B. M. Metzger, Manuscripts of the Greek Bible: An Introduction to Palaeography, Oxford University Press, Oxford 1991.
  • B. M. Metzger, The Text of the New Testament: Its Transmission, Corruption, and Restoration, Oxford University Press, New York, Oxford 1980.
  • P. Magerson, Codex Sinaiticus: An Historical Observation, Bib Arch 46 (1983), 54-56.
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