Codex Sinaiticus

The codex is a handwritten book made of leaves bound along one side, a forerunner of the modern book. Appearing in the 1st century AD, it was widely adopted by the early Christians to transmit the Scriptures. More practical and durable than the scroll, it promoted the spread of religious and literary texts. Among the most famous examples are the Codex Sinaiticus, the Codex Vaticanus and the Codex Alexandrinus, manuscripts essential for the textual criticism of the Bible.

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The Codex Sinaiticus is a Greek biblical manuscript dating from the 4th century, discovered at Saint Catherine's Monastery on Mount Sinai by Tischendorf in 1844. It contains the entire New Testament, a large part of the Old Testament in Greek (Septuagint), as well as the Epistle of Barnabas and the Shepherd of Hermas. An Alexandrian-type text, it is crucial for textual criticism. Divided among the British Library, Saint Petersburg, Leipzig and Sinai, it is fully digitized and can be consulted online.

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In 1844, Constantin von Tischendorf discovered ancient parchments at Saint Catherine's Monastery on Mount Sinai that were destined to be burned. After three journeys, in 1859 he identified and recovered the Codex Sinaiticus, one of the oldest complete manuscripts of the Greek Bible (4th century), containing the Old and New Testaments as well as the Epistle of Barnabas and the Shepherd of Hermas. This major discovery profoundly influenced biblical textual criticism.

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The Textus Receptus is a compilation of the Greek text of the New Testament first published by Erasmus in 1516. Revised by Estienne, Beza and the Elzevir brothers, it served as the basis for major translations such as the King James Bible and Luther's Bible. In the 19th century, the discovery of older manuscripts such as Codex Sinaiticus revealed its limitations. Modern critical editions (Nestle-Aland, UBS) have since replaced it, although it remains an essential historical reference.

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