Codex Sinaiticus
The Codex Sinaiticus, also called the Sinai Bible, is a fourth-century Christian manuscript of a Greek Bible, containing the majority of the Greek Old Testament, including the deuterocanonical books, and the Greek New Testament, with both the Epistle of Barnabas and the Shepherd of Hermas included. It is designated by the siglum [Aleph] or 01 in the Gregory-Aland numbering of New Testament manuscripts, and δ 2 in the von Soden numbering of New Testament manuscripts. It is written in uncial letters on parchment. It is one of the four great uncial codices. Along with Codex Alexandrinus and Codex Vaticanus, it is one of the earliest and most complete manuscripts of the Bible, and contains the oldest complete copy of the New Testament. It is a historical treasure, and using the study of comparative writing styles, it has been dated to the mid-fourth century.
Biblical scholarship considers Codex Sinaiticus to be one of the most important Greek texts of the New Testament, along with Codex Vaticanus. Until German Biblical scholar Constantin von Tischendorf's discovery of Codex Sinaiticus in 1844, the Greek text of Codex Vaticanus was unrivalled. Since its discovery, study of Codex Sinaiticus has proven to be useful to scholars for critical studies of the biblical text.
Codex Sinaiticus came to the attention of scholars in the 19th century at Saint Catherine's Monastery in the Sinai Peninsula, with further material discovered in the 20th and 21st centuries. Although parts of the codex are scattered across four libraries around the world, most of the manuscript is held today in the British Library in London, where it is on public display.
Description
The manuscript is a codex made from vellum parchment, originally in double sheets, which may have measured about 40 by 70 cm. The whole codex consists of quires of eight leaves, a format which came to be popular throughout the Middle Ages. The folios were made primarily from calf skins, secondarily from sheep skins. Tischendorf thought the parchment had been made from antelope skins, but modern microscopic examination has shown otherwise. Most of the quires contain four sheets, save two containing five. It is estimated that the hides of about 360 animals were employed for making the folios of this codex. Each line of the text has some twelve to fourteen Greek uncial letters, arranged in four columns, 48 lines per column, with carefully chosen line breaks and slightly ragged right edges. When opened, the eight columns thus presented to the reader have much the same appearance as the succession of columns in a papyrus roll. The poetical books of the Old Testament are written stichometrically, in only two columns per page. The codex has almost 4,000,000 uncial letters. Each rectangular page has the proportions 1.1 to 1, while the block of text has the reciprocal proportions, 0.91. If the gutters between the columns were removed, the text block would mirror the page's proportions. Typographer Robert Bringhurst referred to the codex as a "subtle piece of craftsmanship". The cost of the material, copying time required for the scribes, and binding, is estimated to have equalled the lifetime wages of one individual at the time.Throughout the New Testament portion, the words are written in scriptio continua in the hand-writing style that came to be called "biblical uncial" or "biblical majuscule". The parchment was ruled with a sharp point to prepare for writing lines. The letters are written along these lines, with neither breathings nor polytonic accents. A variety of types of punctuation are used: high and middle points; colon; diaeresis on initial iota and upsilon; a few ligatures are used, along with the paragraphos: initial letter into margin. A plain iota is replaced by the epsilon-iota diphthong almost regularly, e.g. ΔΑΥΕΙΔ instead of ΔΑΥΙΔ, ΠΕΙΛΑΤΟΣ instead of ΠΙΛΑΤΟΣ, ΦΑΡΕΙΣΑΙΟΙ instead of ΦΑΡΙΣΑΙΟΙ, etc.
Nomina sacra with overlines are employed throughout. Some words usually abbreviated in other manuscripts, are written in both full and abbreviated forms. The following nomina sacra are written in abbreviated forms : , , , , , , , , , , , , , , .
The portion of the codex held by the British Library consists of 346½ folios, 694 pages, constituting over half of the original work. Of these folios, 199 belong to the Old Testament, including the apocrypha, and 147½ belong to the New Testament, along with two other books, the Epistle of Barnabas and part of The Shepherd of Hermas. The apocryphal and deuterocanonical books present in the surviving part of the Septuagint are 2 Esdras, Tobit, Judith, 1 and 4 Maccabees, Wisdom, and Sirach. The books of the New Testament are arranged in this order: the four Gospels, the epistles of Paul, the Acts of the Apostles, the General Epistles, and the Book of Revelation. The fact that some parts of the codex are preserved in good condition while others are in very poor condition suggests they were separated and stored in several places.
While large portions of the Old Testament are missing, it is assumed the codex originally contained the whole of both Testaments. About half of the Greek Old Testament survived, along with a complete New Testament, the entire Deuterocanonical books, the Epistle of Barnabas and portions of The Shepherd of Hermas.
Text
Contents
The text of the Old Testament contains the following passages in order:| 1 | Genesis 23:19 – Genesis 24:46 – fragments | 13 | 4 Maccabees |
| 2 | Leviticus 20:27 – Leviticus 22:30 | 14 | Book of Isaiah |
| 3 | Numbers – fragments | 15 | Book of Jeremiah |
| 4 | Book of Deuteronomy - fragments | 16 | Book of Lamentations |
| 5 | Book of Joshua - fragments | 17 | Minor Prophets |
| 6 | Book of Judges 5:7 - 11:2 + fragments | 18 | Book of Psalms |
| 7 | 1 Chronicles 9:27–1 Chronicles 19:17 | 19 | Book of Proverbs |
| 8 | Ezra–Nehemiah. | 20 | Ecclesiastes |
| 9 | Book of Esther | 21 | Song of Songs |
| 10 | Book of Tobit | 22 | Wisdom of Solomon |
| 11 | Book of Judith | 23 | Wisdom of Sirach |
| 12 | 1 Maccabees | 24 | Book of Job |
The text of the New Testament is arranged in the following order:
| 1 | Gospel of Matthew | 10 | Philippians | 19 | Acts |
| 2 | Gospel of Mark | 11 | Colossians | 20 | James |
| 3 | Gospel of Luke | 12 | 1 Thessalonians | 21 | 1 Peter |
| 4 | Gospel of John | 13 | 2 Thessalonians | 22 | 2 Peter |
| 5 | Romans | 14 | Hebrews | 23 | 1 John |
| 6 | 1 Corinthians | 15 | 1 Timothy | 24 | 2 John |
| 7 | 2 Corinthians | 16 | 2 Timothy | 25 | 3 John |
| 8 | Galatians | 17 | Titus | 26 | Jude |
| 9 | Ephesians | 18 | Philemon | 27 | Revelation |
The codex includes two other books as part of the New Testament:
Text-type and relationship to other manuscripts
For most of the New Testament, Codex Sinaiticus is in general agreement with Codex Vaticanus and Codex Ephraemi Rescriptus , attesting the Alexandrian text-type.A notable example of an agreement between the text in Sinaiticus and Vaticanus is they both omit the word εικη from Matthew 5:22: "But I say unto you, that whosoever is angry with his brother without a cause shall be in danger of the judgement".
In John 1:1–8:38, Codex Sinaiticus differs from Vaticanus and all other Alexandrian manuscripts. It is in closer agreement with Codex Bezae in support of the Western text-type. For example, in John 1:4, Sinaiticus and Codex Bezae are the only Greek manuscripts with textual variant ἐν αὐτῷ ζωὴ ἐστίν instead of ἐν αὐτῷ ζωὴ ᾓν. This variant is supported by Vetus Latina and some Sahidic manuscripts. This portion has a large number of corrections.
There are a number of differences between Sinaiticus and Vaticanus; Textual critic Herman C. Hoskier enumerated 3036 differences:
According to textual critic Fenton Hort, Sinaiticus and Vaticanus were derived from a much older common source, "the date of which cannot be later than the early part of the second century, and may well be yet earlier".
Example of differences between Sinaiticus and Vaticanus in Matt 1:18–19 :
| Codex Sinaiticus | Codex Vaticanus |
| Του δε | Του δε |
| English Translation | English Translation |
| Now the birth of Jesus Christ was as follows: was betrothed His mother Mary to Joseph. Before they had sexual intercourse, she was found to be pregnant by the Holy Spirit. As Joseph her husband was righteous and did not want to publicly shame her, he planned to divorce her quietly. | Now the birth of Christ Jesus was as follows: was betrothed His mother Mary to Joseph. Before they had sexual intercourse, she was found to be pregnant by the Holy Spirit. As Joseph her husband was righteous and did not want to make a show of her, he planned to divorce her quietly. |
Biblical scholar B. H. Streeter remarked there was a great agreement between the codex and the Vulgate of Jerome. According to him, Origen brought the Alexandrian text-type that was used in this codex to Caesarea, and it was subsequently employed by Jerome for his Latin revision.
Between the 4th and 12th centuries, seven or more correctors worked on this codex, making it one of the most corrected manuscripts in existence. During his investigation in Petersburg, Tischendorf enumerated 14,800 corrections in the portion which was only held in Petersburg. According to textual critic David C. Parker, the full codex has about 23,000 corrections. In addition to these corrections some letters were marked by dots as doubtful.