TATTERED PAPYRI

Evening Post, Volume CXIX, Issue 88, 13 April 1935, Page 15

TATTERED PAPYRI

OLDEST GOSPEL EXTANT

SIMILAR TO ST. JOHN'S

The oldest Christian manuscript in the world, containing : part of.what is believed to be a hitherto undiscovered fifth Gospel of the Bible, lies today between two glass plates in a carefullyguar.ded showcase in the Ancient Manuscript Gallery of the British Museum.

It looks like a collection of browri shavings covered closely with faded black hieroglyphics. Dr. Ri.Flower, the deputy keeper of manuscripts, drew aside a green cloth protecting it from the light in order to tell a "Christian Science Monitor" correspondent about it. ~ • ■ '

The material on which it is written is papyrus,-the pith of the papyrus reed which grows in swamps of the, Nile. Papyrus decays and crumbles into dust quite rapidly in damp climates; and has therefore to be treated with preservatives and otherwise protected now that it is in London. > ORIGIN UNKNOWN. But in the dry atmosphere of Egypt it remains unaffected for immense periods of time. These particular scraps were brought in with other manuscripts by an Egyptian dealer who has been unable to ascertain precisely how they were found. No record is thus available as to where they have lain throughout the seventeen centuries^ that have gone by since. some second' century Christian copied them from a yet earlier record possibly written by an actual eye-wit-ness of the Crucifixion. The methods by which experts are able to decide the age of such manuscripts depend. Dr. Flower said, upqn a number j pf- considerations. In this case minute examination ,of the script has shown that it is in all probability, to be dated' not later than 150 A.D. This, papyrus is, then, the earliest:, Christian document y.ei discovered and,;. like the- third-century Beatty papyri,;! it has obviously; formed; part of a book, which, as opposed to the roll, appears to have been the characteristic early Christian form of publication. ■', ■ INDEPENDENT WITNESS. Their value is difficult to assess, but they■ '.are< of immense interest, to all Biblical scholars, since they indicate, the existence of an independent narrative of the Gospel comparable to those of the four evangelists of the New Testament. They are thus likely to represent one of the documents referred to in the opening words of St^Luke, "Many have taken in hand to set forthte order a declaration of those things which are most surely believed. among us." ,; The new" Gospel affords'an independent witness to the truth of the New Testament story. It is most closely related to the Gospel of St. John. One of the fragments contains an episode which presents striking parallels to passages in St. John. . ' ' . I HEALING A LEPER. . A i "They bade the multitude," a museum translation says, "c(arry) together the stones and stone him. And the rulers laid their hands on him that they might take him and (hand him over) to the multitude, and they could not take him because the hour of his betrayal was not yet come. And he himself, even the Lord, going out through the midst of them, departed from them. And behold there cometh unto him a leper and saith, .''Master Jesus, journeying with lepers and eating, with them in the inn, myself also became-a leper. If therefore thou wilt, I am made clean.' The Lord then said until him, 'I will; be thou clean.' And straightway the leprosy departed from him. (And the Lord said unto him) go (and show thyself) untd the priests." In the middle of the third line of one" scrap of manuscript is a hieroglyphic which looks like IH surmounted by a line. This stands for the name lesous (Jesus). It is an early version of the IHS of later documents, the I being the initial of the name and the H the Greek form of its second letter.