Josh’s Thoughts

I was reading a bit of history about biblical manuscripts this morning, and I found the history of the Codex Vaticanus to be particularly interesting. As recorded in “Gospel Parallels-NRSV : A comparison of the Synoptic Gospels”:

[The] Codex Vaticanus, fourth century….was considered by Westcott and Hort, and after them by many other scholars, to be the best single extant text of the New Testament…

This codex appears in the earliest catalogue of the Vatican library, published in 1475, but no one knows when it was taken there or any of its earlier history. There is, then, no interesting story in connection with a “discovery” of this manuscript, as it has been preserved in the Vatican for almost five hundred years. But the way in which it was guarded by Vatican authorities is interesting. For hundreds of years nobody in the outside world knew what Vaticanus’ text was like, as no one was allowed to copy it or to study a section long enough to remember it. It was first made known in 1553 when a correspondent of Erasmus, one Sepulveda, sent him some selected readings from it. In 1669 a collation (or list of its various readings) was made by Bartolocci, a Vatican librarian, but it was never published and no one knew anything more of it for a hundred and fifty years. Napoleon carried the manuscript off to Paris as a victory prize, and while there it was studied by Hug. He was the first to make known its great age and supreme importance (1810). In 1815 it was returned to its home as were the many other treasures which Napoleon had robbed from the various libraries of Europe. Again it became practically inaccessible to scholars. In 1843, after waiting for several months, Tischendorf was finally permitted to look at it for six hours. In 1844 de Muralt was allowed to examine it for nine hours. In the next year the great English scholar, Tregelles, was permitted to see it on condition that he would not copy a word. And so before he entered the precinct where the manuscript was kept, his pockets were searched for all potential writing materials; and when he seemed to be looking too intently at any particular passages, the two guards who stood next to him snatched the manuscript away. Meanwhile in 1857 Cardinal Mai published an edition of the work, and in 1866 Tischendorf again applied for the opportunity to study it. His request was granted on condition that he examine it for no longer than three hours a day, and not copy any of it. By the end of eight days, however, he had managed to copy out eight whole pages. His permission was then revoked, but on special entreaty it was renewed for a period of six days. This gave Tischendorf enough time to enable him to publish, in 1867, the best edition of the manuscript then available. Finally, in 1889–90 a photographic copy was made of the whole manuscript and it became the common property of all scholars. [1]

Some might fault the Vatican for their behavior, but I like their style. I think the way they treated the Bible is the proper way. Lock it up, hide it, don’t let anyone know about it, don’t let anyone touch it, don’t let anyone copy it, and take it away if they look too closely at it. That’s the type of behavior that makes Jesus proud.