Codex Sinaiticus is one of the world's outstanding manuscripts. Together with Codex Vaticanus, it is one of the earliest extant Bibles, containing the oldest complete New Testament. This treasured codex is indispensable for understanding the earliest text of the Greek Bible, the transmission of its text, the establishment of the Christian canon, and the history of the book. Over 400 leaves survive and are held across four institutions: the British Library, Leipzig University Library, St Catherine's Monastery and the National Library of Russia in St Petersburg.
The Codex Sinaiticus is a manuscript of the Christian Bible written in the middle of the fourth century and contains the earliest complete copy of the Christian New Testament. The hand-written text is in Greek and it is considered to be "a window into the development of early Christianity". The New Testament appears in the original vernacular language (koine) and the Old Testament in the version, known as the Septuagint, that was adopted by early Greek-speaking Christians. In the Codex, the text of both the Septuagint and the New Testament has been heavily annotated by a series of early correctors.
The significance of Codex Sinaiticus for the reconstruction of the Christian Bible's original text, the history of the Bible and the history of Western book-making is immense.
It is named after the Monastery of Saint Catherine, Mount Sinai, where it was preserved for many centuries. Leaves and fragments of this manuscript were taken by Constantine Tischendorf on three occasions – in 1844, in 1853 and in 1859 – so that they might be published. The principal surviving portion of the Codex, comprising 347 leaves, was purchased from the Soviet government in 1933 and is now held by the British Library. A further 43 leaves are held at the University Library in Leipzig. Parts of six leaves are held at the National Library of Russia in St. Petersburg. Twelve leaves and forty fragments remain at Saint Catherine’s Monastery, recovered by the monks from the northern wall of the monastery in June 1975.
The recent history of Codex Sinaiticus is even now under investigation. The resulting historical narrative will be based on documents that have never been published. Upon its completion, we shall have a clearer understanding than ever before of the recent history of this important manuscript.
