the official doctored history of Sinaiticus

[Steven Avery]

From the CSP site.
139 History of Codex Sinaiticus, as found 011 the website at:
http://www.codexsinaiticus.org/en/codex/liistory.aspx

Also at:

https://imgur.com/a/WXrtmFG

What is the first recorded mention of the Codex Sinaiticus? Vitaliano Donati- born in Padua in Italy, was an Italian doctor, archeologist, and botanist. He took the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in 1739. The first written record of the Codex Sinaiticus may be identifiable in the journal of an Italian visitor to the Monastery of Saint Catherine in 1761. In it the naturalist Vitaliano Donati reported having seen at the Monastery ‘a Bible comprising leaves of handsome, large, delicate, and square-shaped parchment, written in a round and handsome script’.

Who retrieved the Codex from Saint Catherine's Monastery? -Constantin von Tischendorf Born-18 January 1815 Lengenfeld, Kingdom of Saxony Died- 7 December 1874 (aged 59) Leipzig, Saxony, German Empire Over eighty years later, in 1844, Codex Sinaiticus re-emerges from the mists of history. Sometime between 24 May and 1 June, the monks at Saint Catherine’s brought to the attention of the visiting German biblical scholar, Constantine Tischendorf, 129 leaves of the Old Testament portion of the Codex. According to his own published account (no other record has so far been identified), Tischendorf then obtained 43 of these leaves from the Monastery. In January 1845, he returned to Leipzig, together with this portion of the Codex and many other manuscripts that he had collected during his travels in the Eastern Mediterranean. The following year, Tischendorf published the 43 leaves now at Leipzig under the title of Codex Friderico-Augustanus. He did so in honour of King Frederick Augustus II of Saxony, who had supported Tischendorf’s journeys in 1843 and his edition of 1846. At that point the leaves were described merely as ‘from a monastery in the Orient’, a phrase which has given rise to various interpretations. Subsequently the 43 leaves became part of the collections of Leipzig University Library. After 1844 several sightings of the Codex were recorded by visitors to the Monastery. According to his own account, the Russian Archimandrite Porfirij Uspenskij examined 347 leaves of the Codex during his visit in 1845. The leaves that he saw included the 86 seen, but not removed by Tischendorf in 1844. During the same visit Uspenskij obtained three fragments of two pages of the Codex, which had previously formed part of the bindings of books at the Monastery. Together with other manuscripts and artefacts that he had obtained from his extensive travels in the Middle East, these fragments were taken to Russia by Uspenskij. Subsequently, in 1883, they were acquired by the Imperial Library in Saint Petersburg. During his second visit to the Monastery in 1853, Tischendorf obtained several other manuscripts, including a fragment of the Codex that had originally formed part of the same leaf as one of the fragments acquired by Uspenskij. According to Tischendorf, this latest fragment was discovered serving as a bookmarker. It was later acquired by the Imperial Library. In 1911 a further fragment, taken from a binding, was identified in the collection of the Society of Ancient Literature, Saint Petersburg.

In 1859, Tischendorf made his third and final visit to Saint Catherine’s, this time under the patronage of the Russian Tsar Alexander II. According to his own account, he first saw the 347 leaves of the Codex on 4 February. Recognising the significant benefit to biblical scholarship of transcribing their complete text, but also the difficulties of doing so at the Monastery, Tischendorf requested that all the leaves be transferred to the Monastery’s metochion in Cairo. On 24 February, the Codex was brought to Cairo, and for three months, from March to May, Tischendorf was allowed access to the Codex, one gathering at a time. This detailed examination confirmed the German scholar’s belief that the 347 leaves were ‘the most precious biblical treasure in existence’. After further travels in the Middle East, Tischendorf returned to Cairo on 12/24 September, and four days later on 16/28 September, he signed a receipt for the loan of the 347 leaves. In the receipt Tischendorf stated that the purpose of the loan was to enable him to take the manuscript to Saint Petersburg and there compare his earlier transcription with the original as part of his preparations for its publication. He promised to return the Codex to the Monastery intact and as soon as it was requested, but at the same time referred to additional conditions stated in an earlier letter from the then Russian Ambassador to the Porte, Prince Lobanov, to the Monastery. Dated 10/22 September 1859, this letter refers to Tischendorf’s assertion that the community at Saint Catherine’s wished to donate the Codex to the Tsar. As the Donation could not be taken for granted, the Ambassador recognized that up and until, and always provided that it would be realized, ownership of the manuscript remained with the Holy Monastery, to which the manuscript ought to be returned, at its earliest request. In their reply to Lobanov, dated 17/29 September, the community expressed their support for Tischendorf in his endeavours and devotion to the Tsar, but made no explicit reference to the issue of donation.