THE CODEX SINAITICUS

Otago Daily Times, Issue 22208, 10 March 1934, Page 3

THE CODEX SINAITICUS

HOW IT WAS FOUND - A REMARKABLE STORY. (From Oub Own Correspondent.) SYDNEY, March 1. Australian papers have published a remarkable story of the actual finding ot the Codex Sinaiticus version of the Bible, lately purchased by the British Museum from the Soviet Government. It is related by Mr Gustav Tischendorf, a travelling representative of a Melbourne firm, who declares himself to be the grandson of Lobegott Friedrich Konstamn vou Tischendorf, the discoverer of the Codex, and it is declared that he has. ample evidence to prove his bona tides. He has the full story of the career of his famous grandfather. He is the only son of the late Mr Johannes Tischendorf, one-time shipping reporter on the staff of a German newspaper published in Melbourne, and later secretary to the German Consulate, which post he held until his death in 1888. Mr Tischendorf’s grandfather, distinguished scholar, became a .doctor of philosophy at 23. and a year later gave up a professorship at the'Leipzig University to study ancient Bible manuscript at Paris. He gained some reputation and a little financial strength for his deciphering of the Codex Ephraemi Syri Kescriptus, and set off on the first of three pilgrimages to the Holy Land, the last of which made him world famous and won for him admission to the Russian nobility. On his first visit he browsed among works in the monastery of bt. Catherine, at the foot of Mount Sinai, where he sighted a basketful of old parchments in a corner of the Great Han. He was informed that the papers were only “rubbish” with which fires were started. They proyed to be sheets or the Greek Old Testament. He beseached the mystified monks to lead him to the remainder of the papers, but the monks viewed him with distrust and, adopting an antagonistic attitude, said that the rest of the papers were not for his gaze—they had been burned. Fearing reprisals for his venturesomeness, he hurriedly translated the words into German, and on returning to his room he found that his luggage had been searched. He left for his homeland with his precious find concealed beneath his clothing. Theologians and litterateurs were stirred by his discover. He preserved the secret of the locale of his find, but to his dismay the British Government of the day sent a biblical scholar to the East in search of the rest of the manuscript. The investigator reported failure. < After having married a German gin and becoming the father of a family ot five, Dr Tischendorf set out again in 1853 in search of the missing sheets ot the Scriptures, and found an additional sheet of 11 lines of the book of Genesis, which satisfied him that the manuscript originally contained the complete Old Testament. This intensified his desire to probe the monastery records further, but the opportunity did not come until 1850. which year brought about his complete triumph ns a searcher for the missing papers. This time he enjoyed the patronage of Czar Alexander of Russia. After some disappointing searches, and when about to leave for home, he chanced to take a walk with the steward of the monastery, which was in fortuitous circumstances. The steward led Dr Tischendort to his room and handed him n bulky parcel of papers enclosed in red flannel. This was the treasure trove indeed. “ I gave way to transports of joy. savs Tischendorf in his own records; “ 1 knew that I held in my hand one of the most precious Bible records in existence, a document whose age and importance exceeded that of any I had ever seen after 20 years’ study of the subject. The practical interest shown the Czar explains the possession by the Soviet Government of the coveted biblical records, believed to be the oldest extant. When Tischendorf conveyed the parchment personally to the Emperor, ho was raised to the Russian nobility. ’I be papers remained in St. Petersburg (Lenin, grad) until they were recently acquired by the authorities of the British Museum.