Codex
Sinaiticus. It is believed that this copy was made around 340
A.D. It contains the Old Testament in Greek, the entire New Testament, and the
epistle of Barnabas and part of the Shepherd of Hermas. It consists of 347
leaves of the finest vellum, 131/2 by 15 inches. For the thrilling story of Dr.
Tischendorf’s discovery of the manuscript in the monastery of St. Catherine at
Mr. Sinai in 1859, see Cobern.7
In 1844 Tischendorf obtained 43 leaves of the Old Testament which were
deposited in the University Library at Leipsic. Fifteen years later he again
visited the monastery and discovered the remainder of the manuscript which was
eventually taken to Russia and placed in the Imperial Library at St. Petersburg
(Leningrad). In 1933 the Soviet government sold it to the British Museum for
100,000 pounds ($510,000 at current rate of exchange). The monastery of St.
Catherine’s was built by Emperor Justinian in 527 and it is possible that he
presented this manuscript to the monastery.
7 Cobern, op. cit., pp. 133, 134.
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