Tischendorf and Sinaiticus

In 1859 Constantin von Tischendorf visited, for the third time, St. Catherine's monastery in Sinai. His first trip to the monastic community in 1844 was slightly successful while his second, in 1853, was fruitless.

Tischendorf was Indiana Jones one hundred years before the Indiana Jones trilogy was set. He was on a quest to discover ancient manuscripts of the Greek Bible in hopes of compiling them according to the discipline known as textual criticism, a process initiated by Erasmus three hundred years earlier.

When Tischendorf arrived at St. Catherine's for the first time in 1844 he made a disheartening discovery: a large amount of parchment, considered rubbish, was in a waste-basket in queue to start fires. The "rubbish" was actually an early manuscript of the Septuagint, the Greek translation of the Old Testament. Tischendorf attempted to save the parchment, but tipped his hand and the monks, understanding that Tischendorf viewed these ancient documents as valuable, only allowed him to take a one third of the "rubbish."

Tischendorf did not return to St. Catherine's until 1853, seeking to complete the set he had begun collecting nine years earlier. But his trip was insuccessful.

Then on January 31, 1859, Tischendorf made a final visit to the monastic community by request of the Czar of Russia, Alexander II. Tischendorf arrived and, like his 1853 experience, found nothing. Then, after he resolved to leave the monastery, he made an incredible discovery. Tischendorf recorded his finding on February 4, 1859:

"On the afternoon of this day I was taking a walk with the steward of the convent in the neighbourhood, and as we returned, towards sunset, he begged me to take some refreshment with him in his cell. Scarcely had he entered the room, when, resuming our former subject of conversation, he said: "And I, too, have read a Septuagint"—i.e. a copy of the Greek translation made by the Seventy. And so saying, he took down from the corner of the room a bulky kind of volume, wrapped up in a red cloth, and laid it before me. I unrolled the cover, and discovered, to my great surprise, not only those very fragments which, fifteen years before, I had taken out of the basket, but also other parts of the Old Testament, the New Testament complete, and, in addition, the Epistle of Barnabas and a part of the Shepherd of Hermas."

This was what would become known as Codex Sinaiticus, arguably the most important Greek manuscript of the New Testament (not to mention parts of the Septuagint and Apostolic Fathers) to this day.

Tischendorf spent all night reading it for he thought that he held in his hands a great treasure. And he had found a great treasure indeed.