23 September 2015 A.D. Tischendorf on Trial for Removing Codex Sinaiticus, the Oldest New Testament
23 September 2015 A.D. Tischendorf
on Trial for Removing Codex Sinaiticus, the Oldest New Testament
White, Ellen. “Tischendorf on Trial
for Removing Codex Sinaiticus, the Oldest New Testament.” Biblical Archaeology. 23 Sept 2015. http://www.biblicalarchaeology.org/daily/biblical-topics/bible-versions-and-translations/tischendorf-codex-sinaiticus-oldest-new-testament/.
Accessed 23 Sept 2015.
Tischendorf
on Trial for Removing Codex Sinaiticus, the Oldest New Testament
Legendary Leipzig scholar Constantine Tischendorf would be
200 this year, but he died surrounded by controversy at the relatively young
age of 59. Known for his skills at discovering and deciphering rare ancient
manuscripts, Tischendorf’s chance finding of Codex Sinaiticus, the oldest New
Testament manuscript, at St. Catherine’s Monastery in the Sinai—and his later
removal of the manuscript—made him both famous and infamous. In “Hero or Thief? Constantine Tischendorf Turns Two Hundred”
in the September/October 2015 issue of Biblical Archaeology Review, eminent
New Testament scholar Stanley Porter reexamines the allegations against
Tischendorf in light of new evidence from the Russian archives.
Tischendorf, who spent his career at the
University of Leipzig, travelled extensively in search of lost and forgotten
manuscripts of the Bible. His deep religious commitments drove him to search
for the oldest surviving manuscripts of the Bible. It was on such an expedition
that Tischendorf succeeded in finding the oldest complete copy of the New
Testament: Codex Sinaiticus, which dates
to the mid-fourth century C.E.
He claimed that one night while
visiting the Eastern Orthodox monastery of St. Catherine’s, he spied an
ancient-looking manuscript in a basket of fire kindling. Upon closer
inspection, he discovered a very old copy of the Bible, now known as Codex
Sinaiticus. Tischendorf could not contain his excitement and immediately
requested it. The monks, tipped off to its value by his enthusiasm, only
allowed him to take 43 sheets with him.
Constantine Tischendorf was said to
have salvaged sheets of Codex Sinaiticus—the oldest New Testament—from a basket
of fire kindling at St. Catherine’s Monastery in the Sinai. Is he a hero or
thief? Photo: Courtesy of St. Catherine’s Monastery.
This small prize was not enough to satisfy Tischendorf, and
after a failed attempt to buy the manuscript, he returned to St. Catherine’s
hoping to examine the rest of the manuscript, but he was almost entirely
unsuccessful. Not one to give up, Tischendorf returned a third time to the
monastery under the patronage of the Czar of Russia. It looked like it was
going to be another fruitless trip until just before he was scheduled to
depart. On February 4, 1859, a monk revealed the remaining sheets of Codex
Sinaiticus to Tischendorf. This time Tischendorf was careful to contain his
delight, but he did request permission to borrow the manuscript in order to
make an identical copy. Granting this favor was complicated due to a power
struggle within the church leadership, but eventually, Tischendorf was allowed
to remove Codex Sinaiticus with a promissory note for its safe return; it has
never returned to St. Catherine’s.
Tischendorf did complete a facsimile
edition of the text, but Codex Sinaiticus was gifted to the Russian Czar and
remained in the Russian National Library until an economic downturn made it
necessary for them to sell it to the British. To date, the majority of the
Codex remains in the British Library. These facts have colored the recovery of
this important manuscript with accusations against Tischendorf, its revealer,
of theft.
The text of Codex Sinaiticus differs in numerous
instances from that of the authorized version of the Bible in use during
Tischendorf’s time. Read “What’s Missing from Codex Sinaiticus, the Oldest New
Testament?” to compare these differences.
Stanley Porter, the Dean of McMaster Divinity College, argues that many salient details are omitted from this all too common telling of the events. At the time of Tischendorf, there was nothing uncommon about removing, buying or gifting ancient manuscripts in this manner. He also demonstrates that from the beginning, there were discussions about donating the manuscript to the Russian Czar, as would be appropriate for an Eastern Orthodox monastery, but that the succession problems within the church leadership lead to a more complicated than normal process, which allowed allegations against Tischendorf to linger. Stanley Porter explains how newly revealed documents from the Russian archives exonerate Tischendorf and provide the rest of the story of Codex Sinaiticus’s long journey west.
This promissory note left by Constantine Tischendorf in
exchange for the oldest New Testament, Codex Sinaiticus, has been the basis of
theft accusations, but scholar Stanley Porter argues that this is only one part
of the story. Photo: Tischendorfarchive Alexander Schick ©
www.bibelausstellung.de / Courtesy of St. Catherine’s Monastery.
Physically, Codex Sinaiticus is located
in four places: the 43 original sheets in Leipzig; a few remnants forgotten in
the Russian National Library; the majority of the text in the British Library;
and approximately a dozen sheets that were later discovered after an earthquake
at St. Catherine’s. But the digital age has brought the entire manuscript back
together in a virtual online museum at www.sinaiticus.com.
Learn more about the controversy
surrounding Constantine Tischendorf and his removal of Codex Sinaiticus by
reading “Hero or Thief? Constantine Tischendorf
Turns Two Hundred” by Stanley Porter in the
September/October 2015 issue of Biblical Archaeology Review.
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