Manuscripts

Codex Sinaiticus

Era: c. AD 330-360
Location: St. Catherine's Monastery, Mount Sinai
Discovered: 1844 / 1859

A 4th-century Greek codex containing the entire New Testament and most of the Old Testament (in the Septuagint version) — one of the two oldest complete copies of the Christian Bible in existence.

The find

Discovered by Constantin von Tischendorf at St. Catherine's Monastery, Sinaiticus is a parchment Bible from the mid-4th century. It contains the complete New Testament and is a primary witness used in every critical edition of the Greek New Testament since.

Why it matters

Sinaiticus gives us a substantially complete Greek Bible only about 250–300 years after the New Testament was written — vastly closer to the originals than for any other ancient work. It's exactly the kind of manuscript that lets scholars demonstrate how stable the New Testament text has been from the very beginning.

Cross-linked Scripture

Doctrine check

Sources

·Codex Sinaiticus Project
·Metzger, B.M. & Ehrman, B.D. (2005). The Text of the New Testament, 4th ed.