Table Of ContentCODEX SINAITICUS:
The New Testament in English
Translated from the Sinaitic Manuscript
Discovered by Constantine Tischendorf
at Mt. Sinai by H. T. Anderson
And begun in 1861
―ANT)‖
Edited by
Jackson Snyder
Roy Shurtleff Miller
Mr. Anonymous
Copyright ©2004 Jackson H. Snyder II
all rights reserved
Though we have combed the text for errors, you will undoubtedly
find some. Please report them to [email protected].
ATC Web Publishing
www.JacksonSnyder.com
Tallahassee, FL
Codex Sinaiticus: H. L. Anderson New Testament 1
Editor’s Preface
English translations of the
Sinaiticus are rare enough; but
Anderson‘s New Testament is
unique. We hope the reader will
appreciate the literacy, accuracy
and authenticity of this work –
which was the goal of the
translator‘s life and the editors‘
passion.
Anderson did not translate The
Shepherd or Epistle of
Barnabas; The Barnabas we
offer here is based on Hoole
1885 re-edited by Ted Dornan in
2007. The Lightfoot translation
of The Shepherd of Hermas is
offered here to make the corpus complete.
We recommend two books by Bart Ehrman that may be helpful in
understanding the rightful places of Sinaiticus: The Orthodox
Corruption of Scripture: The Effect of Early Christological
Controversies on the Text of the New Testament (1996) and Lost
Scriptures: Books That Did Not make It Into the New Testament
(2003). Also Encountering the Manuscripts: An Introduction to
New Testament Paleography & Textual Criticism, Philip Wesley
Comfort, (2005).
For good measure, we added the Didachē to our collection. It is not a
part of the Sinaiticus, but has a strong affinity with the Epistle of
Barnabas.
Codex Sinaiticus, from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
Codex Sinaiticus (London, Brit. Libr., Add. 43725; Gregory-Aland nº
א (Aleph) or 01) is a 4th century uncial manuscript of the Greek
Bible, written between 330–350. While it originally contained the
whole of both Testaments, only portions of the Greek Old Testament
or Septuagint survive, along with a complete New Testament, the
Epistle of Barnabas, and portions of The Shepherd of Hermas
(suggesting that the latter two may have been considered part of
Biblical canon by the editors of the codex). Along with Codex
Vaticanus, Codex Sinaiticus is one of the most valuable manuscripts
for textual criticism of the Greek New Testament, as well as the
Septuagint. For most of the New Testament, Codex Sinaiticus is in
general agreement with Codex Vaticanus and Codex Ephraemi
Rescriptus, attesting an Alexandrian text-type, but in John 1:1-8:38,
Codex Sinaiticus is in closer agreement with Codex Bezae in support
of a Western text-type. A notable example of an agreement between
the Sinaiticus and Vaticanus texts is that they both omit the phrase
"without cause" from Matthew 5:22.
The entire codex consists of 346½ folios, written in four columns. Of
these, 199 belong to the Old Testament and 147½ belong to the New
Testament, along with two other books, the Epistle of Barnabas and
part of The Shepherd of Hermas. 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.
Of its prior history, little is known. It is speculated to have been
written in Egypt and is sometimes associated with the 50 copies of
the scriptures commissioned by Roman Emperor Constantine after
his conversion to Christianity.
A paleographical study at the British Museum in 1938 found that the
text had undergone several corrections. The first corrections were
done by several scribes before the manuscript left the scriptorium. In
the sixth or seventh century many alterations were made, which,
according to a colophon at the end of the book of Esdras and Esther
states, that the source of these alterations was "a very ancient
manuscript that had been corrected by the hand of the holy martyr
Pamphylus" (martyred AD 309). From this is concluded, that it had
been in Caesarea Maritima in the 6th or 7th centuries. Uncorrected
is the pervasive iotacism, especially of the ει diphthong.
The Codex Sinaiticus was shown to Constantin von Tischendorf on
his third visit to the Monastery of Saint Catherine, at the foot of
Mount Sinai in Egypt, in 1859. The first two trips had yielded parts of
the Old Testament, some found in a basket of manuscript pieces,
which Tischendorf was told by a librarian "were rubbish which was to
be destroyed by burning it in the ovens of the monastery." (However,
this story may have been a fabrication, or the manuscripts in
question may been unrelated to Codex Sinaiticus: Rev. J. Silvester
Davies in 1863 quoted
"a monk of Sinai who ... stated that according to the librarian of the
monastery the whole of Codex Sinaiticus had been in the library for
many years and was marked in the ancient catalogues ... Is it likely ...
Codex Sinaiticus: H. L. Anderson New Testament 3
that a manuscript known in the library catalogue would have been
jettisoned in the rubbish basket."
Indeed, it has been noted that the leaves were in "suspiciously good
condition" for something found in the trash.) Tischendorf had been
sent to search for manuscripts by Russia's Tsar Alexander II, who
was convinced there were still manuscripts to be found at the Sinai
monastery. In May 1975, during restoration work, the monks of St.
Catherine's monastery discovered a room beneath the St. George
Chapel which contained many parchment fragments. Among these
fragments were twelve missing leaves from the Sinaiticus Old
Testament.
The story of how von Tischendorf found the manuscript, which
contained most of the Old Testament and all of the New Testament,
has all the interest of a romance. Von Tischendorf reached the
monastery on January 31; but his inquiries appeared to be fruitless.
On February 4, he had resolved to return home without having
gained his object:
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.
After some negotiations, he obtained possession of this precious
fragment. James Bentley gives an account of how this came about,
prefacing it with the comment, "Tischendorf therefore now embarked
on the remarkable piece of duplicity which was to occupy him for the
next decade, which involved the careful suppression of facts and the
systematic denigration of the monks of Mount Sinai."[5] He
conveyed it to Tsar Alexander, who appreciated its importance and
had it published as nearly as possible in facsimile, so as to exhibit
correctly the ancient handwriting. The Tsar sent the monastery
9,000 rubles by way of compensation.
Regarding Tischendorf's role in the transfer to Saint Petersburg,
there are several views. Although when parts of Genesis and Book of
Numbers were later found in the bindings of other books, they were
amicably sent to Tischendorf, the codex is currently regarded by the
monastery as having been stolen, is a view hotly contested by several
scholars in Europe. In a more neutral spirit, New Testament scholar
Bruce Metzger writes:
Certain aspects of the negotiations leading to the transfer of the
codex to the Czar's possession are open to an interpretation that
reflects adversely on Tischendorf's candour and good faith with the
monks at St. Catherine's. For a recent account intended to exculpate
him of blame, see Erhard Lauch's article 'Nichts gegen Tischendorf'
in Bekenntnis zur Kirche: Festgabe für Ernst Sommerlath zum 70.
Geburtstag (Berlin, c. 1961); for an account that includes a hitherto
unknown receipt given by Tischendorf to the authorities at the
monastery promising to return the manuscript from St. Petersburg
'to the Holy Confraternity of Sinai at its earliest request', see Ihor
Ševčenko's article 'New Documents on Tischendorf and the Codex
Sinaiticus', published in the journal Scriptorium, xviii (1964) pp. 55–
80.
For many decades, the Codex was preserved in the Russian National
Library. In 1933, the Soviet Union sold the codex to the British
Library for £100,000. Visitors in our day report that the monks at St.
Catherine's Monastery display the receipt they received from
Tischendorf for the Codex, in a frame that hangs upon the wall.
One theological controversy arising from the content of the Codex
Sinaiticus are the different writing styles in the Gospel of Mark,
indicating the addition of the Resurrection in a different, more
informal hand (possibly to an earlier, shorter version of Mark that
finished with the empty Tomb).
Present Location
The codex is now split into four unequal portions: 347 leaves in the
British Library in London, 12 leaves and 14 fragments in St.
Catherine's Monastery of Sinai, 43 leaves in the Leipzig University
Library, and fragments of 3 leaves in the Russian National Library in
St Petersburg.
In June 2005, a joint project to produce a new digital edition of the
manuscript (involving all four holding libraries) and a series of other
Codex Sinaiticus: H. L. Anderson New Testament 5
studies was announced. This will include the use of hyperspectral
imaging to photograph the manuscripts to look for hidden
information such as erased or faded text. This is to be done in
cooperation with the British Library.
Bibliography
Bruce M. Metzger, The Text of the New Testament, its Transmission, Corruption and
Restoration, Oxford University Press, 1992, p. 46.
Skeat, T. C. "The Last Chapter in the History of the Codex Sinaiticus." Novum
Testamentum. Vol. 42, Fasc. 3, Jul., 2000. p. 313
Davies words are from a letter published in The Guardian on 27 May 1863, as quoted
by J.K. Elliott in Codex Sinaiticus and the Simonides Affair, (Thessaloniki: Patriarchal
Institute for Patristic Studies, 1982), p. 16; Elliott in turn is quoted by Michael D.
Peterson in his essay "Tischendorf and the Codex Sinaiticus: the Saga Continues", in
The Church and the Library, ed. Papademetriou and Sopko (Boston: Somerset Hall
Press, 2005), p. 77. See also notes 2 and 3, p. 90, in Papademetriou.
Constantin von Tischendorf, The Discovery of the Sinaitic Manuscript, Extract from
Constantin von Tischendorf, When Were Our Gospels Written? An Argument by
Constantine Tischendorf. With a Narrative of the Discovery of the Sinaitic Manuscript
[New York: American Tract Society, 1866].
James Bentley, Secrets of Mount Sinai (Garden City, NY: Doubleday, 1986), p. 95.
This entry incorporates text from the public domain Easton's Bible Dictionary,
originally published in 1897.
The editors accessed this article from Wikipedia October 25, 2007.
Henry T. Anderson was born in Caroline County, Va., January 27,
1812. His parents were natives of that State and were of the Baptist
faith; however, they were liberal in their views. The early training of
young Anderson was in harmony, in a large measure, with the simple
teachings of the Bible. In his father‘s home the Bible was a daily
textbook, and its teaching had a powerful influence upon the
youthful mind of H. T. Anderson. At the age of twenty-one he
confessed his faith in his Lord and was baptized by his elder brother.
His brother had left the Baptist Church and was only a Christian.
Henry T. renewed his prayerful study of the Bible and made rapid
progress in developing his spiritual life. He began to preach in May,
1833, about ten months after his baptism.
He had a unique method of studying the Scriptures. He left nothing
without mastering to the best of his ability every word and sentence
of the New Testament. He had been educated in the best schools of
Virginia at that time, and he brought his learning into use in the
study of the New Testament. He began early to study the New
Testament in the original Greek as well as in the English. He became
as familiar with the Greek text of the New Testament as he was with
the English text. He never ceased to study the New Testament in
Greek.
He remained in Virginia and preached in his native county and
surrounding counties until 1837, at which time he moved to
Kentucky, and taught school for a number of years in Southern
Kentucky. He never ceased to preach the gospel as opportunity was
given him. He preached much in Christian and Todd counties. In
1841 he was invited to come to Nashville, Tenn. He accepted the
invitation and labored with the congregation in Nashville for several
months. Part of this time he made his home with Tolbert Fanning,
who lived near Nashville. In 1847 he was called to preach for the
Walnut Street Church, Louisville, Ky., and continued his work with
that church for six years. After leaving the Walnut Street Church he
resumed his teaching and taught successfully in various parts of
Kentucky.
In 1861 he began the translation of the New Testament from the
Greek into the English language. He gave the best part of his life to
this work. He levied tribute on all of the resources of his classical
mind and liberal education and gave all to the great task of
translating the New Testament. This was the masterpiece of his life‘s
work. He saw from the reading of the Authorized Version that there
was a need for this translation, and with a consecrated heart he
dedicated his all to the task. He speaks of his work as follows: ―The
work has been carried on under many adverse circumstances, but, by
the good providence of God, it has been completed.‖ He was about
three and a half years making this translation. After he had
completed it he breathed a prayer of thanksgiving to God for
permitting him to finish the task. He sent his translation out with
this prayer: ―May it go forth, under the divine blessing, to establish
and comfort the hearts of those who love the truth.‖ Many scholars
have pronounced this translation the best in the English language.
Certainly it has many merits and is a monument to the love,
scholarship, and prayerful work of a man who loved supremely the
word of God. The brotherhood has been blessed and the literature of
the disciples of Christ has been enriched by this very valuable
contribution in the field of translation.
Henry T. Anderson had a strong mind which was adorned with
classical training. His preaching was not so eloquent, but simple and
practical. He was no pulpit orator and laid no claims to such, but he
Codex Sinaiticus: H. L. Anderson New Testament 7
was a teacher both in the classroom and in the pulpit. He was no
lover of money, but was contented with just enough food and raiment
to live upon. Oftentimes, like many other faithful preachers of the
gospel then, he struggled through much poverty and suffering. He
was very poorly supported both as a teacher and a preacher. It is
thought that the brotherhood generally did not know of his deep
poverty and necessity of the simple things of life. He did not possess
those winning traits of character which draw people very close to
him. He was kind and gentle to all, but he was a student. He was so
absorbed in his study that he had not time, as he thought, to make
and retain friends. Possibly he saw this weakness, but his love for
study caused him to neglect the cultivation of the society of his
brethren and sisters. He suffered in poverty without complaint. He
did not censure the church or his brethren for his poverty.
He believed firmly in the word of God. He trusted in God to bring all
things to Christ for his own glory and the salvation of his servant. He
had firm convictions, and he had the courage to stand by these
convictions. He did not believe that a Christian should take
vengeance or retaliate. In the prime of his manhood, under the
solemn conviction that Christians are not allowed to take vengeance
or retaliate, he submitted gracefully to a scourging or whipping from
one who had become offended at him. He did not complain, but took
the chastisement in the name of the Lord and suffered meekly
without any effort to strike back. He had complete mastery of
himself. He had the courage and determination to suffer for Christ‘s
sake.
Probably no one had a faith more simple and wonderful than did H.
T. Anderson. While he was poor with respect to the worldly things of
this life, yet he was rich in faith and strong and courageous in his
conviction. When he began his translation of the New Testament, he
had a large family to support and a very meager salary or income; yet
he believed that the Lord would provide. In speaking of his work in
translating the New Testament, he said that the Lord did provide and
would continue to do so unto the end.
H. T. Anderson was a ―man of one book.‖ He studied the Christian
religion only; and the Bible, either in Greek or English, was the only
book he wanted or would have. He had no desire to study other
matters. He may have made a mistake in not studying more in a
general way, for near the close of his life he unfortunately gave
utterance to some undigested metaphysical conclusions which were
held against him. Many made his conclusions a ground of criticism.
The enemies of the truth used them as weapons against the truth. If
he had given his attention to the study of these questions earlier in
life, he would not have made such a blunder, and the enemies would
not have had the occasion to turn much of his good life and teaching
into weapons against the truth.
He was forced near the close of his life to give his services to the
government for bread. He accepted a governmental position of minor
importance and went to Washington, D. C., and labored hard for his
meat and bread. This was sad, as he desired to give all of his time to
the study of the Bible and the teaching of the same to his fellows. He
was stricken with disease and suffered extremely before his death.
He died in the city of Washington, September 19, 1872. He had a
pilgrimage on earth of sixty years, eight months, and eight days. He
died in the full assurance of the Christian faith.
Biographical Sketches of Gospel Preachers, H. Leo Boles, GA c.1932 page
165-169. Information with thanks from Scott Harp, www.restoration.com.
Codex Sinaiticus: H. L. Anderson New Testament 9
The Anderson New Testament
)
with the additions of
The Letter of Barnabas
The Shepherd of Hermas
The Didachē
Description:Codex Sinaiticus: H. L. Anderson New Testament 1 Editor’s Preface English translations of the Sinaiticus are rare enough; but Anderson‘s New Testament is
