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Talk:Codex Sinaiticus Sources

2007-01-18T10:54:16Z

Wolfgang Uhr:

== Summary ==

Today - if you want to read the orignally text of the Codex Sinaiticus - you have the following possibilites.

a) You can buy a normal greek bible. The Greek Church uses the text of Konstantin von Tischendorf as the text for their new testament.

b) You can buy the book "Codex Sinaiticus" from Nestle Aland

c) You can buy the book "Codex Sinaiticus" from Baader, Grieser (http://www.grieser-verlag.com/en/codex_sinaiticus.html)

And here I plan to list the differences of thoos books. [[User:Wolfgang Uhr|Wolfgang Uhr]] 05:54, 18 January 2007 (EST)

Text:EBD:Sinaiticus codex

2007-01-18T10:47:41Z

Wolfgang Uhr: Adding an Link to CS-Sources

Usually designated by the first letter of the Hebrew alphabet, is one of the most valuable of ancient MSS. of the Greek New Testament. On the occasion of a third visit to the convent of St. Catherine, on Mount Sinai, in 1859, it was discovered by Dr. Tischendorf. He had on a previous visit in 1844 obtained forty-three parchment leaves of the LXX., which he deposited in the university library of Leipsic, under the title of the Codex Frederico-Augustanus, after his royal patron the king of Saxony. In the year referred to (1859) the emperor of Russia sent him to prosecute his search for MSS., which he was convinced were still to be found in the Sinai convent. The story of his finding the manuscript of the New Testament has all the interest of a romance. He reached the convent on 31st January; but his inquiries appeared to be fruitless. On the 4th February he had resolved to return home without having gained his object. "On that day, when walking with the provisor of the convent, he spoke with much regret of his ill-success. Returning from their promenade, Tischendorf accompanied the monk to his room, and there had displayed to him what his companion called a copy of the LXX., which he, the ghostly brother, owned. The MS. was wrapped up in a piece of cloth, and on its being unrolled, to the surprise and delight of the critic the very document presented itself which he had given up all hope of seeing. His object had been to complete the fragmentary LXX. of 1844, which he had declared to be the most ancient of all Greek codices on vellum that are extant; but he found not only that, but a copy of the Greek New Testament attached, of the same age, and perfectly complete, not wanting a single page or paragraph." This precious fragment, after some negotiations, he obtained possession of, and conveyed it to the Emperor Alexander, who fully appreciated its importance, and caused it to be published as nearly as possible in facsimile, so as to exhibit correctly the ancient handwriting. The entire codex consists of 346 1/2 folios. Of these 199 belong to the Old Testament and 147 1/2 to the New, along with two ancient documents called the Epistle of Barnabas and the Shepherd of Hermas. The books of the New Testament stand thus: the four Gospels, the epistles of Paul, the Acts of the Apostles, the Catholic Epistles, the Apocalypse of John. It is shown by Tischendorf that this codex was written in the fourth century, and is thus of about the same age as the Vatican codex; but while the latter wants the greater part of Matthew and sundry leaves here and there besides, the Sinaiticus is the only copy of the New Testament in uncial characters which is complete. Thus it is the oldest extant MS. copy of the New Testament. Both the Vatican and the Sinai codices were probably written in Egypt. (See VATICANUS.)

What can I do, If I want to study the Codex Sinaiticus or other Codices from that time? [[Codex Sinaiticus Sources]]

{{returnto}} [[Easton's Bible Dictionary]] | [[Sinaiticus codex]]

Text talk:EBD:Sinaiticus codex

2007-01-17T15:56:19Z

Wolfgang Uhr: /* Literature */

== Literature ==

There exists a codex sinaiticus in printed form: [http://www.grieser-verlag.com/en/codex_sinaiticus.html The Codex Sinaiticus] If you are interested, I can add some additional Information ...

Hi. Please feel free to add any information and edit any articles that you see fit. If you want to edit or add information about the Sinaiticus codex, you can do so at the overview encyclopedia article here: [[Codex Sinaiticus (overview)]]. The article [[Sinaiticus codex (EBD)]] is the public domain Easton's Bible Dictionary entry on the Sinaiticus Codex. --[[User:Graham grove|Graham grove]] 20:32, 14 January 2007 (EST)

Ok, I'll add my first attempt to this discussion. [[User:Wolfgang Uhr|Wolfgang Uhr]] 10:56, 17 January 2007 (EST)

== First Attempt ==

The story of Codes Sinaiticus is the story of a seed which has died to grow up and to bring up a lot of fruit (Johannes 12.24).
The text has been born in Alexandria somewhere in the 4th century, mainly between 330 and 350. The youth, this text has spend in an oriental metropolis of Jewish–Hellenistic education. Later in 530 A.D. the monastery at the Sinai has been founded by the emperor Justinian.

This monastery never has been a subject to pillage or destruction. We do not know, if the Codex has been stored there to have a security copy of it or if the monks really studied the texts in the first years. In 642 the library of Alexandria has been burned down and the city has been destroyed by the Arabians. The details of this time are unknown. The other copies of the codex had been destroyed and this version had been forgotten.

Darkness!

More than 1.000 years later in 1815 A.D. a man was born, who should live give this text a rebirth Konstantin von Tischendorf. It was a these of some defamers – “There is no valid text and neither any proof that the “legends” of the bible itself are not a legend”. So the task of the live of Tischendorf had become to prove the validity of the New Testament.

Several expeditions to different monasteries in Europe had been done, different texts are copied, the Codex Ephraemi has been decoded and then in 18th February 1859 he has been in the monastery at the Sinai. At this time a monk wanted to burn some old papers. Tischendorf took one of them and the second life of the codex began.

Either the story of the monk, and the burning codex or the following story are not confirmed by the monks of Sinai today. They have a different story, but this will be described later. Tischendorf travels back to Europe, having a small part of the text and negotiated with the monks, and the German and later with the Russian government. The Russian tzar has been protective saint of the monastery and so Tischendorf overnext vist he has hat a creditial document of the Russian tzar in his luggage.

So the Codex Sinaiticus had become a present to the Russian tzar. Tischendorf tooks back this text to Germany, spends 3 years to study the text, develop own letterpress letters and produced a reprint of xxx Versions. Then he visits the tzar, delivered the original and yyy reprints. The other reprints had been delivered to the different Universities of Europe.

The next event is the Russian revolution in 1905. The family of the tzar has been killed and the Codex has been added to the booty of the communists. 1933 the British Library in London bought the Codex – its price: 100.000 £ payed by private persons and Britannia government. Up to now, it is the last station.

Today the monks of Sinai tell a different story. Tischendorf has stolen the codex. But firstly: If you really employ the life of Tischendorf, you will figure out, that this is absolutely impossible. Tischendorf was a Christ and he really lived his faith. On the other side – if the Codex has been stolen, today the monastery is still the owner of the text. And for a monastery in the desert in may be an attractive element for getting something more tourism.

But let us study the story of Tischendorf again. The Russian tzar has been the protective saint of the monastery. Let us assume that you are a monk in a desert monastery and someone detected such an important text. What will you do? How do you secure this text? A group of ten persons or less are easily able to organize a robbery, kill the monks and take the text away. What did you do in this situation?

The monastery belongs to the east church und the tzar is its protective saint. So the codex should be ideally made to be a present to this person. It is a present to the protective saint and not to the tzar. It is a present having a message: You can secure this text, we cannot. If you read the present in this way, you understand the motivation of the monks. And then you should know: The codex has been stolen by the communists and bought out by the British Library, but normally you cannot by a stolen text. So the owner of this text is still the Church of the East.

But furthermore: Assume that you will put a glass case to the monastery of Sinai today. And assume that we will put in there 10 kg gold. What do you think, how long can they secure it today?

The story of Codes Sinaiticus is the story of a seed which has died to grow up and to bring up a lot of fruit (Johannes 12.24). In his second live, the codex become to be the most important reference of the New Testament. It originally contains a gapped Septuaginta (Translation of the Old Testament), the Epistle of Barnabas, portions of The Shepherd of Hermas and – most important – the complete New Testament.

Text talk:EBD:Sinaiticus codex

2007-01-14T20:44:53Z

Wolfgang Uhr: /* Literature */

Text talk:EBD:Sinaiticus codex

2007-01-14T20:44:09Z

Wolfgang Uhr:

== Literature ==

There exists a codex sinaiticus in printed form: [http://www.grieser-verlag.com/en/codex_sinaiticus.html The Codex Sinaiticus]