Simonides Given a Limited Time to Respond
Kallinikos also said that Simonides had not come "in time.” There was a time frame set for Simonides to finish this project. And he was a no-show, even when asked by Constantius, the head of his religion!
Tischendorf Saw the Codex Numerous Times
Kallinikos had Tischendorf’s number. He knew that the wily German had been “perusing and reperusing" the Sinaiticus. That’s in line with Tischendorf’s testimony about Kyrillos/Cyril, the librarian. Kyrillos let him take any manuscripts he wanted to his room. But I think Kyrillos wanted to be paid for anything that Tischendorf decided he wanted to remove from the monastery. So he probably wasn’t happy when he discovered that Tischendorf had stolen 5 quires and 3 folia out of the Codex!
Tischendorf’s Insincere Promises
Kallinikos went on:
"And last of all, coming again [in 1859] to the same monastery, he [Tischendorf] obtained also the remaining portion of it through the
Russian Consul, in exchange for hyperbolical promises, never, in my judgment, likely to be fulfilled." 242
He was so right! The monks of St. Catherine’s still don’t have the codex in their possession in the 21st century. But note that Kallinikos said "coming again," not “coming a third time.” I don’t think Kallinikos was in St. Catherine’s in 1853, during Tischendorf’s second trip to the monastery.
Kallinikos Was a Primary or Secondary Eyewitness
“All these things I know, having been on the spot...”
This was mistranslated: it should say “intimately," or “from my residing in the vicinity" 243
"And I declare them now openly for the sake of truth. And I further declare that the codex which Dr. Tischendorf obtained is the identical codex which Simonides wrote[,] about twenty-two years ago, and none other; inasmuch as I saw it in the hands of Tischendorf, and recognized the work; and I first informed Simonides, who was previously in ignorance thereof, of the abstraction [removal] of his codex from the library of the monastery of Mount Sinai.” 244
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242) JSL Vol. 3 (1863), pp. 212. Emphasis mine.
243) On Dec. 23,1862 (JSL Vol 3, p. 221), Frederick Field wrote that the phrase "on the spot” was translated incorrectly. He wrote:
"In The Guardian, of Dec. 10, Mr. W. A. Wright remarks, sneeringly, on the wonderful coincidence of Callinicus being on the spot, when Tischendorf
visited Mount Sinai in 1844, and again at his second visit in 1853." But I can not see anything like this in the letter, as printed by you. The writer only says, in conclusion, that he knows all these things έκ του πλησίον [ek tou plesion]; that is, I suppose, either intimately, or from my residing in the vicinity." So even if Kallinikos were told by an eyewitness monk, for instance, Kallinikos would still be writing the truth here.
244) JSL Vol. 3 (1863), p. 212. Emphasis mine.
