Historic Bible Pages Recovered, Put Online

LONDON — The surviving pages of the world's oldest Christian Bible have been reunited _ digitally. The early work known as the Codex Sinaiticus has been housed in four separate locations across the world for more than 150 years. But starting Monday, it became available for perusal on the Web at so scholars and other readers can get a closer look at what the British Library calls a "unique treasure." http://www.codexsinaiticus.org

"(The book) offers a window into the development of early Christianity and firsthand evidence of how the text of the Bible was transmitted from generation to generation," said Scot McKendrick, head of Western manuscripts at the British Library.

As it survives today, Codex Sinaiticus comprises just over 400 large leaves of prepared animal skin, each of which measures 15 inches by 13.5 inches (380 millimeters by 345 millimeters). It is the oldest book that contains a complete New Testament and is only missing parts of the Old Testament and the Apocrypha.

The 4th-century book, written in Greek, has been digitally reunited in a project involving groups from Britain, Germany, Russia and Egypt, which each possessed parts of the 1,600-year-old manuscript.

They worked together to publish new research into the history of the Codex and transcribed 650,000 words over a four-year period.

The Codex was both a key Christian text and "a landmark in the history of the book, as it is arguably the oldest large-bound book to have survived," McKendrick said.

Codex Sinaiticus, which loosely translated means "the book from Sinai," was discovered at the Monastery of Saint Catherine at Mount Sinai by German Bible scholar Constantine Tischendorf in the mid-19th century. Much of it eventually wound up in Russia _ just how exactly the British Library won't say, citing lingering sensitivity over the circumstances surrounding its removal from the monastery.

The British Library bought 347 pages from Soviet authorities in 1933. Forty-three pages are at the University Library in Leipzig, Germany, and six fragments are at the National Library of Russia in St. Petersburg. And in 1975, monks stumbled on 12 more pages and 40 fragments stashed in a hidden room at the monastery at Mount Sinai.

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Juan Garces, the Codex Sinaiticus project manager, said putting the book online was a "definitely a historical moment."

"It's special because it's the oldest almost completely preserved bible," Garces said.

Garces said the only other Bible that rivals Codex Sinaiticus in age is the Codex Vaticanus, which was written around the same time but lacks parts of the New Testament.

"It's such an important book _ that's why it should be accessible," Garces said. "If you would have liked to see it before you would have had to travel to four countries in two continents. If you want to see the manuscript right now all you have to do is go online and experience it for yourself."

On the Codex parchment leaves is written around half of the Old Testament and Apocrypha, the whole of the New Testament and two early Christian texts not found in modern Bibles. Most of the first part of the Bible manuscript _ containing most of the so-called historical books, from Genesis to 1 Chronicles _ is missing and presumed to be lost.

Garces said Codex Sinaiticus was handwritten by four scribes. Experts had previously believed there were only three, but researchers at the British Library looked at the script with high quality digital imaging that revealed the hand of a fourth penman.

"From Parchment to Pixel: The Virtual Reunification of the Codex Sinaiticus," an exhibit about the Bible's reunification process, opened at the British Library on Monday and runs until Sept. 7.

The digitized manuscript includes more than 800 pages and fragments, including the pages discovered in 1975 _ published for the first time.

"There's a high demand," Garces said. "Our Web site has crashed because people want to look at it."

___

On the Net: http://www.codexsinaiticus.org

Comments

[max08]

This should prove to everyone that claims based on Genesis (Old Testament) were manufactured, created long after this, the oldest Bible in existence, came into being. Claims that God intended this or that based on the missing books are a sham.

Young Vatican scribes and calligraphers added more stories to the Bible in the first part of the 1400's just before Gutenberg printed the first Bible. These young scribes used old pagan stories and festivals and rewrote them for the Catholic Church. Proof of this is buried deep within the Vatican Library, which still retains the original drawings and attempts to write the text.

[ATSJer]

Blah blah blah....insert more tinfoil hat conspiracy nonsense...blah blah blah.

thanks for playing.

[HGMercury]

The biggest conspiracy is to positively aver the existence of superior beings (imaginary friends) based on scraps of writings of unknown origin and motivation.

[suzc]

What is wrong with you people? Do none of you have jobs or families or interests? It is fairly fatiguing to hear atheists prattle on incessantly about how wonderful they think they are and how ridiculous any belief in a higher power than their own finite minds. Methinks the atheist doth protest too much. I'm thrilled to have this ms brought to light and shared with the world. I'd be thrilled even if atheists invented the internet. Thanks for the links to it and the translation. Thanks to all those scholars who worked to bring this to the world. THANK YOU!

[ATSJer]

kai pasa glossa exomologesetai hoti kurios Iesous Xristos eis doxan theou tatros. Phil 2:1

Use the link and you can look it up in the text that predates any of your notions about who is really in charge.

http://www.codexsinaiticus.org

[minimalist syntax]

Do you mean patros?

[Diogenis]

sure...it was a typo......

[minimalist syntax]

Join in the discussion of God (or not God) at Valerie Tarico's blog: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/valerie-tarico/end-times-a-set-of-prophe_b_226676.html
or at Alan Lurie's: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/alan-lurie/looking-for-god-in-all-th_b_219087.html

[POLINUT]

Anyone ever notice that when "God" tells a follower to go screw and make a baby, it's ALWAYS a boy?

Even when "He" told Job to screw his underage daughters...boys.

Think about this perversion next time one of those righteous folks make a crack about Michael Jackson. Seems like God was just as interested in little boys...

[Diogenis]

now I see why your name is Polinut!

[PlaceboStudman]

Considering the original was supposedly written in Hebrew and this is written in Ancient Greek, there is much to be debated and examined about the validity and authenticity of ANY of it. The simple fact that all of it is open to interpretation leads to the conclusion that there can not be "one true God". and the simple fact is, even the idea of God as an anthropomorphic being is rediculous, God simply can not exist, because if said entity did exist and could stand up to empirical scientific method, there would be no need for God as the embodiment of blind faith in the absence of proof.

Besides, there was no such thing as sexual orientation mentioned in the bible, because science and technology could not, and had no intention of ever being implemented in a world where belief is called Truth

[ATSJer]

The original written in Hebrew...first you tip your hand that you don't actually know what you're talking about considering the common language in 1st century Palestine (i.e. Israel) was Greek, as such the Jewish texts were translated into Greek, called the Septuagint (abbreviated LXX) what's more is that when writing the texts for what is known as the New Testament they wrote entirely in the common language of their day....Greek.

BTW, God doesn't play by the false rules that the Enlightenment tried to draw around the Universe, what's more is that if you knew about the trend of epistemology then you would know that the rules of the Enlightenment have failed and Post Modernity has replaced them. Time to catch up to the ramifications of Einstein's relativity principles.

Kleptomania was never mentioned in the Bible either and yet there is a command to not steal...so what's your point?

[TanzaniaTeacher]

Now you tip your hand ATSJer. The language that Yeshua would have spoken was actually Aramaic. The common language of first century Palestine was Aramaic, which was the common langauge in the area for some 3,000 yeaars. So any documents written in Greek, were already a translation and possibly a distortion.

Also since much of the Old Testament was first written in Aramaic, it is likely that the very first versions of the accepted New Testament gospels were as well.

[minimalist syntax]

The Septuagint was written in Greek. The Septuagint was a translation of the OT about the 3rd Cent. BCE.

[max08]

I agree completely with ATSJer. All serious scholars of the Bible OT and NT will tell you that it was written in Greek, what is called Old Greek. The OT was written by rabbinical scribes in Alexandria, Egypt for inclusion in the Library in 3 BCE.

[TanzaniaTeacher]

Seriously, the OT was written in Greek? The OT was written in wait for it... Biblical Hebrew. Hence the name. Parts, such as the book of Daniel were also written first in Aramaic. As stated above by miminalist syntax the first translation of the Hebrew Bible was the Septuagint, around the 3rd century BCE. The OT was not "written" for the first time by scribes in 3 BCE. You are seriously trying to say that the first time the OT, the books of the Jewish people, was written down was 2 centuries after the death of Yeshua?

[IDIOTA]

The history of religion is one filled with usurpation. One religion gets toppled by the next which in turn gets toppled by another. It may not seem like it, but Jupiter and Yahweh are related words. Baal and Zeus are titles not particulars. The Codex Sinaiticus is about history and belief, not the truth of God's existence.

[Diogenis]

....idiot a !

[IDIOTA]

Thanks.

[AFVet1A251]

What amazes me is how people claim this is "The Word Of God"... when in reality, it is the oral tradition of many different people passed down from generation to generation, by mouth, until someone finally wrote it all down. Ever play "telephone"? How did that work for you?

No one KNOWS, for an absolute fact, what the truth is... You can believe and have faith, but don't argue it as fact.. I can say you pick your nose while driving, and provide a manuscript from your mom saying such and have faith in it all I want, but that doesn't make it a fact.

The FACT is: organized religion has done more harm to this world than good. Name me one major war in the history of the world that wasn't fought over a religion in one way shape or form! Bet ya can't do it.

It's great to have ideas and ideals, live your life by them. Don't argue them as fact and attempt to force everyone else to believe or conform.

[whit4brains]

Well said.

[minimalist syntax]

World War I, World War II. The Korean War. The Vietnam War. The Russian Revolution. The American Revolution.

[minimalist syntax]

And the US Civil War.

[AFVet1A251]

To ATSJer and daffey:

The fact (and it is a fact) that other cultures have stories similar to the ones found in the Bible is NOT evidence that the Bible, is in fact, true. It simply points to one form of religion trying to give itself credibility by copying parts of another. There are hundreds of thousands of different stories about how the Earth was created, just because other cultures also have stories about that doesn't make the one in the Bible any more or any less credible. It's just another story like all the thousands of other stories.

Early Christians were splintered, there was no cohesion and as such, the early Church was being picked apart. They needed to solidify under one version of events... so they picked the most popular one and created this "faith" out of that. There are thousands of books which tell the tale of Jesus, how did only these certain few come to be part of the collection of stories known as the Bible? They picked the most popular ones, the ones that fit with their idea of what this religion should be, the ones they could most verify (using other cultures versions) and the ones that weren't waaaayyy out in left field. And thus, the Bible.

[ATSJer]

Let me ask you a serious question and to this I would like a serious answer and an honest one at that. If you were a first hand witness to a person's life and teachings and someone else came along and tried to portray that person in a way that was contradictory to the way that you knew and experienced that person would you not try to set the record straight?

Ok, that was a bit rhetorical, because its a simple answer...of course you would, because if you didn't then you'd be a fool to allow someone else to defame what you knew to be true, so that leads to the next question...how are you any different than they?

Further, you propose an argument that would suggest that the Christian Messiah in Jesus was totally fabricated rather than being the net result of Juadistic Messianic prophecies. I'm sorry, but your argument like so many others relies upon your own set of facts which are quite different to reality.

[roald]

Let me reword the question a bit...If you were a first hand witness to a person's life and teachings and someone else came along a hundred plus years later and tried to portray that person in a way that was contradictory to the way that you knew and experienced that person would you not try to set the record straight?

Of course not, you would be dead. Unfortunately, this is how some of the gospels were written.

[Joethepauper]

How old is it? If we can get one that pre-dates the cannonization and all the translations, we might get something that makes sense. For instance: How can a ground-dwelling bird (the dove), , which nests and spends most of it's life on the ground, and only flies when chased by a predator, find land when the entire surface of the globe is flooded? With nothing to land on, a dove would have a heart attack. Try it with a dove in a wind tunnel.....You will have a dead dove in a matter of minutes. It's like sending a quail or a pheasant to find land. Send a roadrunner, maybe it can run on water! If you want to find land in your boat (made entirely of wood with no iron structure, full of two {or seven} of every species of animal on the planet), you send an albatross or a sea gull. Does this miraculous book explain how Cain's wife had to be his sister (since Adam and Eve were his parents and they were the only people on earth)? I doubt it. Does it explain where Jesus went for about half of his life? If this book doesn't have some answers to those and many other nonsensical parts of the bible, this isn't news.

[Harmony1812]

There are texts that predate the canonized books. They are the texts from Nag Hammadi and Cumran. The church's don't want their followers to know about them because it threatens what they have been teaching. Also they shed light on passages that present day Christians have trouble understanding because they take so much of it literally and out of context from what people from Jesus' day understood.

[ATSJer]

You are asking questions of a text that the text was never written to answer. In short what you are doing is asking a history book why it doesn't tell you how to determine the radius of a circle and then claiming that because the book doesn't contain the answer you seek then there is no way to determine the radius of a circle.

try again.

[roald]

Not really. We are asking a history book how it can claim the area of a circle is four times the square of the radius. You can answer that it was a miracle or the answer is unknown, but cannot claim that the question is irrelevant.

[Weirdwriter]

Fascinating! Just when I start to feel grumpy about the Internet, something like this reminds me that it has marvelous gifts to offer.

[ModernTimes1]

Seconded.

[cofactory]

Strangely this bible does have all three chapters, A new Hope, The Jews Strike Back, and Return Of the Christians­...Thankfu­lly they leftr Jar-Jar out of this one.

[ModernTimes1]

But they certainly inserted plenty of Darth Vader throughout.

[PresidentRobertBooth]

This version of the Bible mentions a Spinosaurus.

[ATSJer]

yawn........next plz.

[ModernTimes1]

Sardonic quip by Friedrich Nietzsche:
"It was subtle of God to learn Greek when he wished to become an author—and not to learn it better."

[ATSJer]

LOL, that would be funny if God had written the Bible instead of Jesus' disciples.

Yet, another pathetic attempt by an atheist to throw cold water on something they know nothing about, while wanting everyone to think they are so well informed.

[ModernTimes1]

Are you attacking me or Nietzsche?

[PWM]

We know the story of Jesus is full of contradictions. For example, who did he first appear to and when?

Depends on what gospel you read, or Paul's imput.

[rulintheroost]

Is this the one that has all the juicy stuff about Jesus and Mary Magdalene ?

[ATSJer]

Well considering that those books were never part of the Christian canon of scripture but instead part of the Gnostic heresies, and written nearly a 100 years after the 1st generation of Christians had written the scriptures and had died...I would say no.

[PWM]

Actually, the Gnostics predated the Christians. Look it up.

[ModernTimes1]

It is always great to post for everyone to see an important historical artifact.

[swanie]

Even though the VAST MAJORITY of viewers CANNOT READ A WORD OF IT ! !

Where is the English translation (and I DO NOT MEAN British English).
.

[ModernTimes1]

Consider toning down your h.ysterical tone.
People with sufficient patience and basic surfing ability can easily find both the transcription and translation functions of this Codex.

http://www.codexsinaiticus.org/en/manuscript.aspx?book=2&lid=en&side=r&zoomSlider=0

[ATSJer]

You didn't even bother clicking the link did you? Because if you had you would see that there is a translatio­n..../sigh

[Diogenis]

Well, I have no trouble reading it.

[Chauncey1186]

Rather than rail against the lack of an (presumably) American English translation, here's a thought - how about furthering your education and perhaps learning some ancient greek so you can understand the nuances of the original text and perhaps broaden your perspective just a wee bit?

Oh wait a minute....that takes work, doesn't it?