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Authorship, Date, and Context
Codex Sinaiticus (catalogued as Aleph or 01) is the earliest extant complete manuscript witness to the Christian Greek New Testament and major portions of the Septuagint. British Museum codicologists H. J. M. Milne and T. C. Skeat demonstrated that the text was inscribed by three distinct scribes (designated A, B, and D) in the middle of the fourth century CE (circa 330-360 CE), likely in Caesarea Maritima or Alexandria.
Produced on fine parchment prepared from calves and sheep, the codex embodies imperial book production following the peace of Constantine. Marginal notations by sixth- and seventh-century correctors link its readings to the library of Pamphilus and Eusebius at Caesarea before its centuries-long preservation at Saint Catherine's Monastery.
Structure
The monumental volume is structured into five comprehensive bibliographic divisions encompassing ancient Christian scripture.
The first division holds the historical books of the Septuagint from Genesis through Chronicles, Ezra-Nehemiah, Esther, Judith, Tobit, and 1 and 4 Maccabees. The second division gathers poetic and sapiential books (Psalms, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, Song of Songs, Wisdom of Solomon, Sirach, and Job), laid out in two columns per folio. The third division contains the prophetic corpus, spanning the Minor Prophets, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Lamentations, Ezekiel, and Daniel. The fourth division comprises the full twenty-seven books of the New Testament, uniquely placing Hebrews before the Pastoral Epistles. The fifth division preserves the sub-apostolic literature: the complete Greek text of the Epistle of Barnabas and the Shepherd of Hermas.
Themes and Key Passages
The codex represents the premier witness to the Alexandrian text-type, recognized for its terse readings free from late conflations. Significant omissions include the longer ending of Mark (16:9-20), the story of the adulteress (John 7:53-8:11), and Christ's bloody sweat in Gethsemane (Luke 22:43-44).
At the opening of the fourth Gospel on folio two hundred fifty-four, the scribe penned: 'In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.'
Summary by Parts
Octateuch and Historical Chronicles (division 1): Surviving folios of the law and historical books illustrate the expansive Greek canon utilized by patristic congregations.
Poetry and Wisdom Lore (division 2): Davidic psalmody and royal wisdom are transcribed in poetic lines across dual columns, emphasizing divine wisdom and Job's resilience.
Major and Minor Prophecies (division 3): Prophetic admonitions proclaim judgment against idolatry and announce the Messianic kingdom, supplemented by Greek editions of Daniel.
The Complete New Testament (division 4): Contains all twenty-seven apostolic writings written four columns per page in continuous majuscule script without modern punctuation.
Apostolic Fathers Collection (division 5): Barnabas interprets biblical covenants christologically, while Hermas shares parables regarding penance, angelology, and ecclesial purity.
Reception
The manuscript was recovered in stages by biblical scholar Konstantin von Tischendorf at Saint Catherine's Monastery between 1844 and 1859. Forty-three leaves were placed in Leipzig University Library, while the main codex (347 leaves) went to Tsar Alexander II of Russia in Saint Petersburg.
In 1933, the Soviet government sold the Saint Petersburg volume to the British Museum for one hundred thousand pounds. Additional fragments were unearthed in Sinai in 1975, and in 2009 the international Codex Sinaiticus Project virtually reunited the entire manuscript online.
Sources
- Francis Gigot, The Sinaitic Manuscript (The Catholic Encyclopedia) (1908).
- Encyclopaedia Britannica, Codex Sinaiticus: Earliest Known Biblical Manuscript (2026).