CODEX IN LONDON

Gisborne Times, Volume LXXIII, Issue 12139, 29 December 1933, Page 5

CODEX IN LONDON

INSTALLED IN BRITISH ■ ST.U S£7U M QUEUE FORM TO INSPECT - 'FAAJOUS MANUSCRIPT. ' (U.P.A. by Elec. Tel. Copyrigbt) S ' (Roc. 'Dec. 28, ; 8.15 p.im) ' LONDON, Dec. 27. The Codex, within a red gold-enam-elled box, arrived at the British Museum from RussiaU this morning, wrapped in brown paper and cotton woof. . j , ; ‘ , . . Dr. Bell, Keeper of Manuscripts at the museum,' spent two hours testing its authenticity, after' which lie installed it in the entrance hall, where a queue speedily formfed. Three thousand five hundred inspected the Codex, 80 per cent placing a contribution, sometimes a Treasury note, in the box alongsideThe visitors generally were amazed at the wonderful preservation and clearness of the manuscript. , ■ PRECIOUS MANUSCRIPT. ORIGIN AND HISTORY OF CODEN ;\,j\ : ' BINAICTUS The story of the Codex Sinaitcns, which has .featured in the cable news recently;' formed the theme of an address delivered to an interested congregation at Palmerston North by the' Rev. U. L. Richards, of Cuba Street Methodist ‘ Church. The speaker, opened by explaining how jvo had obtained! our Bible, the books of which were at first read as separate copies, and not hound into one. complete whole as We have i,t now. In the days of Christ's ministry on earth there ' were no stenographers as we understand the term, and no' such things a.s typewriters. The sayings and teachings of our Lord! were preserved by memorisation, and handed down .from one to another. It was not until about 50 or 80 A.D. that the followers ot Christ, realising.that His Second coming was not as imminent as they had thought, and fearful lest His words should be lost to mankind, committed them to writing. They were written, first on papyrus.' and later on vellum, in Greek; not the classical Greek of the old masters, but everyday Greek, which was then the universal language of Western Asia, and part of Europe. The first MSS. were written in capital letters and were known as Uncials; it was not until some time after that cursive writing was used. Of these great Uncials there are in exsitenco four very important ones: (a) The Codex Vatieanus, written probably between 350 and 400 A.D., now in the Vatican norary at Rome ; (b) the Codex Sinaitieus; (e) Th e Codex Alexandrinus; (d) the Codex Bezno. the last two being in the custody of Great- Britain. The story of the Codex Sinaitkus is most interesting. In the year 1844 a learned German, Dr. Tisc-hendor.t, set out on a journey through Eastern Europe and Asia Minor in search o original Biblical writings. Far and nvide be travelled meeting with many disappointments, but he did not give up hope. At last he came to the Monastery qf St. Catharine, at the foot of bit. Sinai. Here he found in a waste paper basket 40 sheets written in Uncial letters. The doctor's heart beat with excitement as he handled the precious sheets. Realising from his excitement that, the papers were of value, the monks refused to part with'the greater portion of them, and the doctor returned to Germany with the 40 only. Sure in his mind that further treasures were to be discovered, he returned .15 years later to the same mon astery, where he was .received as before with great kindness. A monk with whom he happened to be walking in the garden casually mentioned that lie had some old papers in his cell. Would the doctor care to see them? Of course he would. Away they went to the cell; and there, on ii high shelf, wrapped in an old red cloth and thickly coated with dust, lay a priceless manuscript.- The doctor, having been given permission to look at it, pored over it in the cell, his heart athrob with the wonder of his discovery. Carefully concealing his inward delight, he returned the manuscript, advising the owner to care for it, as it was worth having. Back once more to his native lanu went Dr. Tischendorf, and set in train negotiations for the pqscssiou of this last-found treasure. The Emperor of- Germany, .became interested in the matter, and it was agreed that he best course was to approach the Orthodox Greek Church then the Nu tional church of Russia. The Czar became interested, and through bis influence the precious papers, now known as tpe Codex Sinaiticus, were presented t Dr. .TiSclieiidorf, .who in turn presented them to the Czar of Russia. Grave fears were entertained that the Revolutionists of Russia, Iu their wholesale destruction of• religious literature, might have destroyed the Codex. It' was therefore ‘ a great roy to all 'Christian people to 'learn..that Great Britain -had successfully, negotiated with- the Soviet Government fof the purchase of this document, which now passes into the safe keeping - -t the British Government. The purchase price was £IOO,OOO.