ARE THE GOSPELS RELIABLE ? - PART SEVEN

                                       ARE THE GOSPELS
     RELIABLE ?

  PART SEVEN 

    (copied from         
     Y-Jesus.com)


The Discovery of Sinaiticus

In 1844 the German scholar, Constantine Tischendorf, was searching for New Testament manuscripts. By accident, he noticed a basket filled with old pages in the library of the monastery of St. Catherine at Mount Sinai. The German scholar was both elated and shocked . He had never seen Greek manuscripts that old.

Tischendorf asked the librarian about them and was horrified to learn that the pages had been discarded to be used as fuel. Two basket loads of such documents had already been burned!

Tichendorf's enthusiasm made the monks wary, and they would not show him any more manuscripts. However, they did allow Tichendorf to take the 43 pages he had discovered.

Fifteen years later, Tichendorf returned to the Sinai  monastery, this time with the help of the Russian Tsar Alexander 11. Once he was there, a monk took Tichendorf to his room and pulled down a cloth-wrapped  manuscript that had been stored on a shelf  with cups and dishes. Tichendorf immediately recognized the reliable remaining portions of the manuscripts he had seen earlier.

The monastery agreed to present the manuscript to the tsar of Russia as protector of the Greek Church. In 1933 the Soviet Union sold the manuscript to the British Museum for 100,000 pounds.

Codex Sinaiticus is one of the earliest complete copies of  the New Testament we have,and it is among the most important. Some speculate that it is one of the 50 Bibles the emperor Constantine commissioned  Eusebius to prepare in the early fourth century. Codex Sinaiticus  has been of enormous help to scholars in verifying the accuracy of the New Testament.


next post tomorrow 19th July