“The largest impediment to discovering truth; is the belief you already have it.” – Anonymous
All credit, praise, honor, and glory belongs to our beloved God!
© 2018 Peter D. Arvo | (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0) | Last updated: 8/8/2019 | TheTorchbearerSeries.com
Research Notes (raw newspaper notes):
Note: There are still hundreds of newspaper reports yet to be checked, but time doesn’t currently allow for digging deeper.
University Tischendorf worked for: Leipsic University (23),(24),(25),(26)
Tischendorf Letter from Cairo: March 15th 1859 Proclaimed 4th century manuscript while still out in the field. (5),(6),(7)
Tischendorf dated the manuscript: Yes, he immediately dates it, before even leaving where he discovered it, to the 4th century. (5),(6),(7),(10)
Simonides and Tischendorf know each other or met?: [external to the newspaper sources say yes, external sources also say Tischendorf met with the Pope
shortly before discovery Sinaiticus, but these things are not in the newspaper reports]
Simonides head of paleographical committee to examine antiquities: (44)
Simonides knew Syriac, Coptic, Greek, etc.: (28),(29)
Simonides printer at age 14 in 1837: (44)
Simonides clever forgeries: (35),(44)
Simonides for some cause was never prosecuted: (44)
Simonides fraud discovered but he was not put in jail: in 1856 Leipsic (1),(2), 1855 France(3) 1854 Paris & London(3), 1847 Athens(3) [was a powerful
organization protecting him and was he a part of a team of forgers?]
Vaticanus MS mentioned or implied: (5),(6),(7),(9),(10), Vaticanus being republished because of Sinaiticus (21)
Old Testament Greek Septuagint with Apocrypha (23),(31) Vaticanus mentioned (33)
Ink test was done on "History of the kings of Egypt by an Alexandrian supposed 2nd century text" proved forgery: (44)
MS color of pages (light / dark): not mentioned in newspaper reports.
MS how many edited it: 14 people (33)
MS Evidence or lack of evidence: Dr. Tischendorf made notes and many corrections to copies and, "All this put everyone, without seeing the original, in the
position to judge of the value and age of the document". (21.5) That is far too much trust to put in one person who could have other motives.
MS Description: “346 beautifully fine parchment leaves, of such size that only two can have been cut out of one skin” (5),(6),(7) 132,000 lines of the manuscript
are copied (8) 132,000 lines to be copied (9)
MS Appears to be a rough draft: implied based description of errors and mistakes contained in it.
MS Discovered in - Convent in Cairo: (8),(9)
MS Discovered in - Saint Catherine's / South Sinai (Mount Sinai): (9),(23),(24),(25),(26),(27),(31)
MS Discovered in - Mount Athos Monastery, Greece (18)
MS being burned by monks: implied by being in “waste-basket” and by “scattered remains”, and is mentioned in external reports, but not mentioned in
newspaper articles.
MS in Cloth in steward's room: (23),(24),(25),(26),(27)
MS as a Bundle of dusty parchments: (31)
MS in a Basket in 1844: (31), described by Tischendorf as a "waste-basket" (33)
“The largest impediment to discovering truth; is the belief you already have it.” – Anonymous
All credit, praise, honor, and glory belongs to our beloved God!
© 2018 Peter D. Arvo | (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0) | Last updated: 8/8/2019 | TheTorchbearerSeries.com
[the monks at the monastery say that Tischendorf lied and considered what he said about them and waste-basket as slander and he lied and said that he would
return the MSS
https://web.archive.org/web/2019071...ery.com/index.php/en/library/codex-sinaiticus ]
MS Scattered remains in 1844: (33)
MS Tischendorf stayed in Cairo and camel rider brought eight leaves to him at a time: (46)
Simonides (Born 1823 – Died 1867): 1867 Alexandria, Egypt (28),(29),(45) under 50 years of age (30), born 1823 in Greece (44) obituary says he died in the
country of Albania (45)
Tischendorf (born ? – died ?) [newspapers don’t contain information on Tischendorf’s birth and death during the same time period, so the birth and death were
pulled from wikipedia.]
Sinaiticus (discovered March 15th 1859)(5),(6),(7) and more details in (33)
*Any mention of the below involvement*
Russia/Emperor Involvement: Yes, Tischendorf (5),(6),(7),(10),(13),(22),(23),(24),(25),(26),(27),(31), Simonides in Russia (45) transferred to St. Petersburg (46)
Roman Church/Pope Involvement: It appears, yes. (21.5) List of positive words spoken by the Pope about Dr. Tischendorf (a supposed Protestant) and his crucial
discovery: "Of great value to scholars of the Catholic persuasion", "Congratulate you", "celebrity you", "your noble sentiments", "Illustrious Sir", "greetings!",
"splendid edition of the Sinaitic Manuscript", "illustrious sir", "a present", "so great a work", "filled us with admiration", "extra ordinary zeal", "the zeal", "so
adroitly", "enormous labour", "extraordinary manuscript", "new life", "glory you possessed", "crowned by this last work", "magnitude", "its importance", "great
part", "highly prized", "fruits of so many travels", "cheerfully", "happily executed", "advances of Christian knowledge", "rich measure”, “the favor of God",
"embrace you as a dearest son", "bond with us", "bonds of perfect love", "we beseech of God for you illustrious Sir", "we express our gratitude to you", "assure
you of our high esteem".(21.5) At the end another said that "the cardinal's hat would be his reward.” Saying the Pope heaped praise on Dr. Tischendorf is an
understatement! In 1559 & 1560 A.D. ancient MSS and authentic records proving the antiquity of the Waldenses churches (Protestants) were committed to
flames by their persecutors (the Vatican papacy) with tens of thousands of Waldenses murdered for the crime of not recognizing Papal Roman authority, so it
wouldn’t make sense that the Pope would be so exceedingly happy with Dr. Tischendorf and what he found, unless it was of a HUGE benefit to the Roman
church, so huge there is without question a definite strong motive for the Pope and the Roman church to be involved, but that doesn’t necessarily mean that
they needed to be, but the Roman Catholic Russian Emperor could have easily acted as an intermediary. I’ve never heard so many positive words spoken by a
Pope for a Protestant, unless they are of course not a true Protestant.
Meeting with Pope/Rome (what year?): Yes, at least once on September 2, 1863 (according to an external source).
*People Named and documents they are in*
Simonides (1),(2),(3),(4),(11),(12),(13),(14),(15),(18),(28),(29),(30),(32),(34),(35),(44),(45) it is said that detailed information on Simonides could be located in a
file the Guardian has for August 13th, 1862 (or March 11th, 1863), which contains his autobiography. (this autobiography has not been able to be obtained, but
would like to)
Tischendorf (5),(6),(7),(8),(9),(10),(13),(18),(19),(21.5),(23),(24),(25),(26),(27),(31),(33),(35),(46)
Professor Lepsius - Leipsic University (1),(2),(3)
Professor Dindorf - Leipsic University (1),(4)
Dr. Stieber (1),(2)
King of Prussia (1)
“The largest impediment to discovering truth; is the belief you already have it.” – Anonymous
All credit, praise, honor, and glory belongs to our beloved God!
© 2018 Peter D. Arvo | (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0) | Last updated: 8/8/2019 | TheTorchbearerSeries.com
Professors of the Greek University(3)
Professor Anger - Leipsic University (4)
Minister of Saxony (5),(6),(7)
Mr. Joseph Mayer - eminent antiquarian of Liverpool (12),(14),(35)
Mr. Wright (16)
Dr. Mill (16)
Dr. Leonidas Drachachis (possible accomplice to Simonides) (16)
Mr. Cull (16)
Master of Trinity (16)
Tischendorfites - people supporting Tischendorf (18)
Rev. H. Hansell B.D. of Magdalen College has a lecture on Codex Sinaiticus, Feb. 11, 1863 (19)
Williams and Norgate publish part of Sinaiticus (20)
D. Heidenheim works in the Vatican to prepare Codex Vaticanus (21)
Mr. Francis Fry received copies of Sinaiticus from Emperor of Russia (22)
Mr. Tayor librarian of Bristol Library Society received the Sinaiticus copies from Mr. Fry, Jan 2, 1864 (22)
Mr. Deputy Bower (23),(24),(25),(26)
Baron Brunnow - Russian Ambassador (23),(24),(25),(26),(27)
Monks (23)
Mr. Coxe - a Bodleian librarian who detected fraud of Simonides (28)
Professor Lambros - discovered six leaves of Athos MS (Shepherd of Hermas) (34) #34 should have more text from the newspaper.
Bryennios Archbishop of Nicomedia - said to have discovered 4th century MS (36)(37) (per Wikipedia he was born in Constantinople, he was educated at the
universities of Leipzig, Munich, and Berlin.), MS said to be "almost a duplicate of the Sinaitic" (41) contains “the same peculiarities of the text” as Sinaiticus
[Forgery?] (43)
Ch. Paradopulus (an Athenian writer), not Bryennios, is said to have discovered a MS identical to Sinaiticus [Forgery?](40) MS called "Damascus Manuscript" (42)
Westcott and Hort (36),(37),(38),(39) [the above two leads should be pursued]
Ismael Pasha the Minister of Public Works of Constantinople (44),(45)
Sir Thomas Phillips an amateur antiquarian paid $2,500 to Simonides (44)
S.P. Tregelles (45)
Canon Hort (45)
Rev. Donald Owen (45)
German critic Wolff (45)
Duke of Sutherland (45)
Two Germans (46)
Pope (21.5)
*Areas / Cities / Countries mentioned*
Berlin (1)
“The largest impediment to discovering truth; is the belief you already have it.” – Anonymous
All credit, praise, honor, and glory belongs to our beloved God!
© 2018 Peter D. Arvo | (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0) | Last updated: 8/8/2019 | TheTorchbearerSeries.com
Leipsic (1),(2),(3),(24),(44)
France (3)
Paris (3),(44)
London (3),(44)
Athens (3)
Cairo (5),(6),(7),(8),(31),(46)
Alexandria, Egypt (28),(29),(30)
Saxony, Germany (5),(6),(7)
Russia (5),(6),(7),(10), (13),(45),(46)
Liverpool (11), (12)
Mount Athos Monastery (18)
Constantinople (23),(24),(25),(26),(44)
Lancashire and Cheshire (35)
Asia (44)
England (44)
Prussia (1)
St. Petersburg (46)
*MS Forged by Simonides*
Three historical books of Egyptian kings by Uranios (an Alexandrian writer) (1),(2),(3)
Thirty manuscripts forged by Simonides in 1853 (2)
Works of Sophocles (3)
Forty-seven comedies of Menander (3)
Lexicon by Chemeron (3)
Eleven folio volumes of a catalogue of the Alexandrian Library (3)
Twenty Greek MSS (3)
Shepherd of Hermas (8)(9) [what is the odds that both Simonides and Tischendorf discover 2nd century versions of the Shepherd of Hermas] (3), March 27, 1856
(4),(5),(6),(7) - Later it was proven a fraud (34)
St. Matthew's Gospel 1st century MS (11),(12),(14),(15),(35)
Codex Sinaiticus (13),(18),(19),(20),(21), published in Constantinople by Emperor of Russia (23),(24),(25),(26),(27) Sinaiticus mentioned (33), Codex Aleph
(Sinaiticus) mentioned (37),(38),(39),(40),(41),(42),(43)
Homer (44),(45)
Will of Symia, Anacreon (44)
Ancient Greek work on hieroglyphics and history of Armenia - for which he demanded the sum of one million dollars (44)
History of the kings of Egypt by an Alexandrian supposed 2nd century text (44)
Aristotle (45)
Memorandum by General Belisarius to Emperor Justinian (45)
“The largest impediment to discovering truth; is the belief you already have it.” – Anonymous
All credit, praise, honor, and glory belongs to our beloved God!
© 2018 Peter D. Arvo | (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0) | Last updated: 8/8/2019 | TheTorchbearerSeries.com
Two apocryphal letters from Aleibiades to Pericles (45)
*Forgeries sold to*
Royal Library at Berlin (2)
British Museum (2),(3),(44),(45)
King of Prussia (in compliance with the request of the Berlin Academy) (1)
Greek University (3)
Private libraries (3)
Leipsic University (3) [there are different spellings used for Leipsic]
Gersdorf Leipsick Repertory (4)
Mr. Mayer - eminent antiquarian of Liverpool (12)
Sir Thomas Phillips a amateur antiquarian paid $2,500 to Simonides (44)
Private individual (History of the kings of Egypt by an Alexandrian supposed 2nd century text) for $2,000, then to Prussian government for $5,000 (44)
Prussian government for $5,000 (44)
Duke of Sutherland purchased two apocryphal letters from Aleibiades to Pericles(45)
*MSS "discovered" or purchased by Tischendorf*
Greater and Minor Prophets - March 15th, 1859 (5),(6),(7),(8),(9),(10)
Psalms - March 15th, 1859 (5),(6),(7),(8),(9),(10)
Book of Job - March 15th, 1859 (5),(6),(7),(8),(9),(10)
Book of Jesus Sirach - March 15th, 1859 (5),(6),(7),(8),(9),(10)
Proverbs - March 15th, 1859 (5),(6),(7),(10)
Wisdom of Solomon (8),(9)
Song of Solomon - March 15th, 1859 (5),(6),(7),(10)
Several Apocryphal Books of the Old Testament Greek Septuagint - March 15th, 1859 (5),(6),(7),(8),(9),(10),(24),(25),(26),(27),(31),(33)
Complete New Testament - March 15th, 1859 (5),(6),(7),(8),(9),(10),(20),(23),(24),(25),(26),(27),(31),(33)
Epistle of Barnabas belonging to the 2nd century (found previous to March 15th, 1859)
(5),(6),(7),(8),(9),(10),(20),(23),(24),(25),(26),(27),(31),(33),(36),(37),(38),(39)
Shepherd of Hermas belonging to the 2nd century (found previous to March 15th, 1859)
(5),(6),(7),(8),(9),(10),(20),(24),(25),(26),(27),(31),(33),(34),(36),(37),(38),(39)
One purchased [wasn't tracking this one until #24] (24),(25),(26),(27)
