Source REUTERS, July 22, 2008BERLIN (Reuters) — More than 1,600 years after it was written in Greek, one of the oldest copies of the Bible is now accessible online for the first time.
Sections of the Codex Sinaiticus, which contains the oldest complete version of the New Testament, is available on the Internet, according to the University of Leipzig, one of the four curators of the ancient text.
High-resolution images of the Gospel of Mark, several Old Testament books and notes on the work will be posted on www.codex-sinaiticus.net, in the first step toward publishing the entire manuscript online by next July.
Ulrich Johannes Schneider, director of Leipzig University Library, which holds part of the manuscript, said the publication allows anyone to study a work of fundamental importance to Christians.
“A manuscript is now onto the Net which is like nothing else online to date,” Mr. Schneider said.
Selected translations will also be available in English and German, he said.
The vellum manuscript was brought to Europe piece by piece from St. Catherine’s Monastery near Mount Sinai after a German biblical scholar, Konstantin von Tischendorf, found a number of folios there in 1844. He was allowed to take some to Leipzig.
