This story began in May 1844, when the German scientist from Leipzig Konstantin von Tischendorf, after a 13-day journey on a camel, reached the Sinai Peninsula. Soon he found himself in front of a granite rock ridge, where, according to the Bible, God appeared before the prophet Moses. It was in this biblical place that Tischendorf's travel destination was located - a real spiritual fortress, the monastery of St. Catherine, founded in 550 after the birth of Christ.
Brothers of the world's oldest surviving monastic community still live here today. Soon, for fifteen hundred years now, the bell has been calling them to the morning worship.
Barely alive after crossing the Tischendorf desert, a Greek Orthodox monk lifted him on a rope to the entrance to the monastery wall. What the scientist soon saw surpassed all expectations: in a large trash can, T-Shendorf found a pile of scattered parchment sheets. Later, during two more trips to Sinai, he discovers a total of 400 leaves from a tome containing the oldest complete text of the New Testament, the compilation of which dates from the second half of the 1st to the 4th century.
Konstantin von Tischendorf
The texts found were inked on the bovine skin with brown or black ink made from the juice of Gallilean apples and soot. Greek letters all over the pages. The names of the psalms were highlighted in red ink.
The discovery of the Codex Sinaiticus became a worldwide sensation. Tischendorf reported it to the Pope. The Russian emperor provided the scientist with the means to carry out the work, which helped him make his final trip to Sinai.
Monk Studying the Codex Sinai
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However, the ancient tome was scattered, and its sheets were scattered throughout the world. Of these, 47 are today in Tischendorf's homeland, Leipzig. 347 ended up in Russia, because the scientist convinced the abbot of the monastery to give them to the Russian tsar, who knows how to be grateful. The parchment sheets were delivered to Russia, where they lay in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs until 1869, and then were transferred to the state archive. Sinai monks were sent 9,000 gold rubles. They wanted to get another small steamer, but this was refused. In Stalin's time, the sheets were sold to London for a huge sum then - 100,000 pounds sterling. 12 pages continue to be owned by the Monastery of St. Catherine.
The five pages of the Codex, which are still in the Russian National Library in St. Petersburg, have a special story. The Sinai Monastery twice - in 1845 and 1850, was visited by a specialist in icon painting from the Holy Synod, Porfiry Uspensky. During his last visit, he received these five ancient parchments as a gift from Orthodox monastic brothers. Until now, no specialist has been able to read the entire ancient text.
This situation should, apparently, change in the near future. Scientists, paleographers and researchers of religion from a number of countries, including Germany, England, Russia and the United States, are participating in the general project of restoring the manuscript. The Sinai monks do not want to stand aside either. The fact is that in 1975, during construction work in one of the abandoned premises of the monastery, new sheets of the Code were found, which are still inaccessible to researchers.
Scientists need to carefully examine each sheet, examine its condition, the presence of remarks and carry out the necessary restoration.
Exhibit in the museum - old copies of the "Sinai Code"
In Germany, 200 thousand euros have been allocated for this preparatory work, it is already being actively carried out in Leipzig. London researchers plan to conduct multispectral analysis of the sheets. They were interested in the mystery of the holes on the sheets for their fastening. The tome certainly had a cover.
Monastery on the Sinai Peninsula
The history of the Codex from the Sinai Monastery is steeped in legends. It belongs to one of the first books on earth. According to many scholars, it was created by order of the Roman emperor Constantine, known as the patron saint of Christianity. In 313, Constantine lifted all the prohibitions imposed on the followers of Jesus and began building churches. In the Roman Empire, the spread of the Bible began, at this time the Codex found at Sinai could appear.
Scientists have a lot of work to do to return the Sinai Codex to the world in its full form.
