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PreviewAdvancedSpecial charactersHelpHeadingLevel 2Level 3Level 4Level 5FormatInsertLatinLatin extendedIPASymbolsGreekGreek extendedCyrillicArabicArabic extendedHebrewBanglaTamilTeluguSinhalaDevanagariGujaratiThaiLaoKhmerCanadian AboriginalRunesÁáÀàÂâÄäÃãǍǎĀāĂ㥹ÅåĆćĈĉÇçČčĊċĐđĎďÉéÈèÊêËëĚěĒēĔĕĖėĘęĜĝĢģĞğĠġĤĥĦħÍíÌìÎîÏïĨĩǏǐĪīĬĭİıĮįĴĵĶķĹĺĻļĽľŁłŃńÑñŅņŇňÓóÒòÔôÖöÕõǑǒŌōŎŏǪǫŐőŔŕŖŗŘřŚśŜŝŞşŠšȘșȚțŤťÚúÙùÛûÜüŨũŮůǓǔŪūǖǘǚǜŬŭŲųŰűŴŵÝýŶŷŸÿȲȳŹźŽžŻżÆæǢǣØøŒœßÐðÞþƏəFormattingLinksHeadingsListsFilesDiscussionReferencesDescriptionWhat you typeWhat you getItalic''Italic text''Italic textBold'''Bold text'''Bold textBold & italic'''''Bold & italic text'''''Bold & italic textDescriptionWhat you typeWhat you getReferencePage text.<ref>[https://www.example.org/ Link text], additional text.</ref>Page text.[1]Named referencePage text.<ref name="test">[https://www.example.org/ Link text]</ref>Page text.[2]Additional use of the same referencePage text.<ref name="test" />Page text.[2]Display references<references />↑ Link text, additional text.↑ Link text=== Discovery === The Codex may have been seen in 1761 by the Italian traveller [[Vitaliano Donati]], when he visited the [[Saint Catherine's Monastery]] at Sinai in [[Egypt]]. His diary was published in 1879, in which was written: <blockquote>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.<ref>Lumbroso, G. (1879). ''Atti della R. Accademia dei Lincei'', p. 501.</ref></blockquote> <blockquote> ''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.'' </blockquote> The "Bible on beautiful vellum" may be Codex Sinaiticus, and the gold evangelistarium is likely [[Lectionary 300]] on the Gregory-Aland list.<ref name="kirsopp-sinai">{{Cite book | first=Kirsopp | last=Lake | author-link=Kirsopp Lake | year=1911 | title=Codex Sinaiticus Petropolitanus: The New Testament, the Epistle of Barnabas and the Shepherd of Hermas | location=Oxford | publisher=Clarendon Press }}</ref>{{rp|V}} [[File:Tischendorf um 1870.jpg|thumb|left|140px|[[Constantin von Tischendorf|Tischendorf]] in 1870]] German Biblical scholar [[Constantin von Tischendorf]] 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",{{r|Skeat-lastchap|p=313}} 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 [[Septuagint]]. 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]], where they remain. In 1846 Tischendorf published their contents, naming them the 'Codex Friderico-Augustanus' (in honor of [[Frederick Augustus II of Saxony|Frederick Augustus]] and keeping secret the source of the leaves).<ref>[[Constantin von Tischendorf]], [https://archive.org/stream/Tischendorf.iv.monumentaSacraInedita.newcollection.subscript.6vols.1857-1870/02.MonumentaSacraInedita.NCVP.FragSacra.v2.Tischendorf.Subscript.1860.#page/n269/mode/2up ''Monumenta sacra inedita''] (Leipzig 1855), vol. I, pp. 211 ff.</ref> Other portions of the same codex remained in the monastery, containing all of Isaiah and 1 and 4 Maccabees.<ref>Tischendorf, C. v. (1866). ''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.</ref> In 1845, [[Archimandrite]] [[Porphyrius Uspensky]] (1804–1885), at that time head of the Russian Ecclesiastical Mission in Jerusalem and subsequently Bishop of [[Chigirin]], visited the monastery and the codex was shown to him, together with leaves which Tischendorf had not seen.<ref group="n">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.)</ref> In 1846, Captain C. K. MacDonald visited Mount Sinai, saw the codex, and bought two codices ([[Minuscule 495|495]] and [[Minuscule 496|496]]) from the monastery.{{r|Gregory|pp=195–196}} [[File:AlexII.JPG|thumb|The codex was presented to [[Alexander II of Russia]]]] 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]], 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.<ref group="n">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.</ref>) Tischendorf had been sent to search for manuscripts by Russia's [[Tsar]] [[Russian Emperor Alexander II|Alexander II]], who was convinced there were still manuscripts to be found at the Sinai monastery.<ref name="Parker">{{Cite book | first=D. C. | last=Parker | author-link=David C. Parker | title=Codex Sinaiticus: The Story of the World's Oldest Bible | publisher=The British Library | location=London | year=2010 | isbn=978-0-7123-5803-3 }}</ref>{{rp|140–142}} 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.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.teylersmuseum.nl/en/collection/books/141a-9-bibliorum-codex-sinaiticus-petropolitanus-auspiciis-augustissimis-imperatoris-alexandri-ii-ex-tenebris-protraxit-in-europam-transtulit-ad-iuvandas-atque-illustrandas-sacras-litteras-edidit-constantinus-tischendorf|title=Bibliorum Codex Sinaiticus Petropolitanus : Auspiciis augustissimis Imperatoris Alexandri II; ex tenebris protraxit in Europam transtulit ad iuvandas atque illustrandas sacras litteras edidit Constantinus Tischendorf|website=Teylers Museum}}</ref> 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]] 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".{{r|kirsopp-sinai}} 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: [[File:Sinai litografia.jpg|thumb|right|[[Lithograph]] of [[Saint Catherine's Monastery]], based on sketches made by [[Porphyrius Uspensky]] in 1857.]] <blockquote> 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.<ref>See {{Cite book | first=Constantin von | last=Tischendorf | title=When Were Our Gospels Written? An Argument by Constantine Tischendorf, with a Narrative of the Discovery of the Sinaitic Manuscript | year=1866 | publisher=American Tract Society | location=New York | url=https://archive.org/details/whenwereourgospe0000tisc/page/n5/mode/2up}}</ref> </blockquote> [[File:Chappel of bush litografia.jpg|thumb|left|The Chapel of the [[Burning bush|Burning Bush]] in Saint Catherine's Monastery; a lithograph from the album of Porphyrius Uspensky]] 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."<ref>Bentley, James (1986). ''Secrets of Mount Sinai''. Garden City, NY: Doubleday, p. 95.</ref> He conveyed it to Tsar [[Alexander II of Russia|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]]s and the monastery of [[Mount Tabor]] 2,000 rubles by way of compensation.{{r|kirsopp-sinai|p1=VI|Parker|pp2=145–146}} The document in Russian formalising this was published in 2007 in Russia and has since been translated.<ref>[http://lenta.ru/news/2010/02/18/sinaiticus/ В архивах МИД РФ нашли документ о правах на Синайский кодекс] at the Lenta.ru</ref> The codex is regarded by the monastery as having been stolen, which is proven by a receipt given by Tischendorf to the authorities at the monastery promising to return the manuscript from St. Petersburg ‘to the Holy Confraternity of Sinai at its earliest request’, a copy of which is on display in the publicly-accessible area of the monastery.<ref>Ihor Ševčenko’s article ‘New Documents on Tischendorf and the Codex Sinaiticus’, published in the journal Scriptorium, xviii (1964) pp. 55–80.</ref> This view of Tischendorf's role in the transfer to Saint Petersburg has been contested by several scholars in Europe. New Testament scholar [[Bruce Metzger]] wrote: <blockquote> 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 [i.e., before 1964] 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'.<ref>See Ihor Ševčenko, "New Documents on Tischendorf and the Codex Sinaiticus", published in the journal ''Scriptorium'', xviii (1964), pp. 55–80.</ref>{{r|metz-ehrman|p=64}} </blockquote> [[File:St Catherines From Sinai.JPG|thumb|View of Saint Catherine's Monastery]] Summary: Please note that all contributions to Christianpedia may be edited, altered, or removed by other contributors. If you do not want your writing to be edited mercilessly, then do not submit it here. You are also promising us that you wrote this yourself, or copied it from a public domain or similar free resource (see Christianpedia:Copyrights for details). Do not submit copyrighted work without permission! 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