Steven Avery
Administrator
why do we know that the Sinaiticus ms is an 1800s production?
=================
Let's keep it simple.
For the first three points, let us remember that this information was generally unavailable even to the palaeographic experts that were following the Tischendorf date over the years.
The basics here are in brown, the additional commentary is blue.
=================
1) The condition of Sinaiticus is flexible and supple in a way that is totally inconsistent for a theorized ms. from antiquity that was heavily used for 1,000 years and then stored for 500 more. We can add clean, with special attention to the edges which would show the centuries of grime from handling.
All this is crystal clear from the body of evidences, including the descriptions and comparisons of the ms., the CSP images from 2009 and the video from the BBC. And all this has counterpoint from the many descriptions of the phenomenon of the yellowing and aging of mss, how they will become brittle over time and conservators have to handle them gingerly, with ultra-special care. By constrast, the Sinaiticus parchment is in "phenomenally good condition" (Helen Shenton, 2009) and we can actually actually watch it be handled very lightly and easily, pages turning, as if it were almost new.
The details of all these elements are described in various threads here on the purebibleforum, Sinaiticus section.
The counterpoint to this by authenticity proponents is nothing more than disjointed diversions. When they are asked to give analogous manuscripts that survived long-term in a similar manner, none are given. (Overall, the "exceptional" Sinaiticus with parchment in the "phenomenally good condition" is really explained in one way ... the ms. was produced in the 1800s.)
The Russian scientist Morozov said it point-blank. Too flexible to be more than 600 years old. (Much less yet a heavily used ms for 1500 years.)
Again, authenticity defenders have not responded on this question. Some have questioned the colour distinction that is glaring and crystal-clear in the Codex Sinaiticus Project pictures, taken by professional image specialists following special technical working standards guidelines for consistency and including colour bars. e.g. They can blame shutter-speed or lighting or colour balancing. Not one has actually denied that the Leipzig pictures are white parchment. (Making the objections superficial, diversion irrelevancies.)
3) The comparison of Leipzig and the British Library pages shows that the Codex Sinaiticus Petropolitanus leaves, that went to St. Petersburg in 1859 (and now are in the British Library) were artificially coloured. They were made "yellow with age" by hand between 1850 and 1862 and can be compared with the 1844 Leipzig pages, not one of which is coloured, which left Sinai before the colouring occurred.
An absolutely amazing historical forensics trail, a dream evidence, history before your eyes.
Now, to be clear, by itself the artificial colouring does not prove that the ms. is not authentic. This is simply an evidence that is totally consistent with a modern ms tampered to make it look old. A ms. owner or handler could conceivably help along his opinion of the date and thus artificially colour an ancient ms. They would be demonstrating their own doubts about its age, or at least its appearance of age. And it is very difficult to accept and argue that the ms was both ancient and tampered to look ancient .
And, when the white parchment compared to coloured pages issue is acknowledged, there is no sensible response and historical scenario that fits the evidences that has been offered by authenticity defenders. Only vague allusions to storage or cleaning, none of which actually could fit the present condition and the historical observations.
More on this in the "why do we know.." series here:
why do we know that the 1859 CSP leaves were artificially coloured?
https://purebibleforum.com/index.ph...59-csp-leaves-were-artificially-coloured.230/
=================
Notice that we have three compelling super-evidences that Sinaiticus is not an antiquity ms. even before we examine the lack of provenance and the fabrications created to explain the discovery. Or the alternate historical narratives with Simonides involved in the production, amazingly in the right place at the right time, with the right skills and connections and the right contacts, and the "coincidental" working on Hermas and Barnabas. Nor have we examined a large group of ms anomalies. Or evidences ignored like the Donaldson linguistics. And various amazing coincidences like every verse of the NT surviving in the tattered and supposedly unbound ms.
(In fact, for this study we are keeping it simple, only discussing the principle points.)
These evidences were generally hid from the experts before the analysis of the 2009 reunification of the ms. that was analyzed in the period of 2013-2014 till today.
Thus, all the legion of Tischendorf parrot writing, working off his facsimile editions, deeply entrenching an early Sinaiticus into modern scholarship, is simply irrelevant.
If anyone really wants to defend Sinaiticus authenticity, they must start with the condition of the ms, an area where the truth has been out for only two years, and presented publicly for only a few months.
=================
=================
Let's keep it simple.
For the first three points, let us remember that this information was generally unavailable even to the palaeographic experts that were following the Tischendorf date over the years.
The basics here are in brown, the additional commentary is blue.
=================
1) The condition of Sinaiticus is flexible and supple in a way that is totally inconsistent for a theorized ms. from antiquity that was heavily used for 1,000 years and then stored for 500 more. We can add clean, with special attention to the edges which would show the centuries of grime from handling.
All this is crystal clear from the body of evidences, including the descriptions and comparisons of the ms., the CSP images from 2009 and the video from the BBC. And all this has counterpoint from the many descriptions of the phenomenon of the yellowing and aging of mss, how they will become brittle over time and conservators have to handle them gingerly, with ultra-special care. By constrast, the Sinaiticus parchment is in "phenomenally good condition" (Helen Shenton, 2009) and we can actually actually watch it be handled very lightly and easily, pages turning, as if it were almost new.
The details of all these elements are described in various threads here on the purebibleforum, Sinaiticus section.
The counterpoint to this by authenticity proponents is nothing more than disjointed diversions. When they are asked to give analogous manuscripts that survived long-term in a similar manner, none are given. (Overall, the "exceptional" Sinaiticus with parchment in the "phenomenally good condition" is really explained in one way ... the ms. was produced in the 1800s.)
The Russian scientist Morozov said it point-blank. Too flexible to be more than 600 years old. (Much less yet a heavily used ms for 1500 years.)
2) The Leipzig Codex Friderico-Augustanus 43 leaves, from the 1844 heist, are white parchment. They simply are not "yellow with age" as was claimed for Sinaiticus when the early date was pushed by Tischendorf, Scrivener (who had not actually seen the ms.) and others. A fiction was used to help push the early ms. date. There is no analogous heavily used antiquity ms that is white parchment. This is empirical and evidentiary proof of the late production date rather than the 300s date, for which all the pages of the ms. would yellow. This fact was never even discussed publicly until 2014 and the Leipzig conservators will not comment on it today.Helpful Note:
Let's remember that the provenance theories of the ms. only support two possibilities.
1) An early antiquity ms as claimed by Tischendorf .. 4th century. Or, more precisely, some time up to the 5th-7th century, as some have argued. Either way, with heavy antiquity usage, corrections, notes and other changes virtually each century up to the 1500s is theorized. This is the poof provenance theory where Sinaiticus suddenly appears in Sinai, no catalogues, missed by ms. hunters, until Tischendorf.
2) The 1800s. A Mt Athos production, brought to Sinai, where it was handled and mangled.
With Sinaiticus, there is no middle ground production possibility that makes any sense. i.e. While physically, the ms. possibly could have been made in the 1500s, corrected and stashed away quickly, this does not align with any historical narrative. Historical forensics includes looking at both the physical and the historical evidences.
Again, authenticity defenders have not responded on this question. Some have questioned the colour distinction that is glaring and crystal-clear in the Codex Sinaiticus Project pictures, taken by professional image specialists following special technical working standards guidelines for consistency and including colour bars. e.g. They can blame shutter-speed or lighting or colour balancing. Not one has actually denied that the Leipzig pictures are white parchment. (Making the objections superficial, diversion irrelevancies.)
3) The comparison of Leipzig and the British Library pages shows that the Codex Sinaiticus Petropolitanus leaves, that went to St. Petersburg in 1859 (and now are in the British Library) were artificially coloured. They were made "yellow with age" by hand between 1850 and 1862 and can be compared with the 1844 Leipzig pages, not one of which is coloured, which left Sinai before the colouring occurred.
An absolutely amazing historical forensics trail, a dream evidence, history before your eyes.
This is reinforced by the unusual colour variance within the British Library pages, specifically highlighted by the Codex Sinaiticus Project in the days before authenticity concerns. A variance that is consistent with artificial staining and for which we have not seen an analogy in any other ancient ms. Remember, the 43 Leipzig pages, taken out of Sinai from before the colouring, are uniformly white parchment, with close to zero variation.Special Note:
Which is then corroborated (below, in the historical section) by the historical narrative dream evidence, the noting of this exact phenomenon. Even pointing to the culprit, the motive, the excuse, the time and the technique, lemon-juice. This historical corroboration of what we can only see today, that was hidden for 155 years, was a supposedly blind narrative made by an individual who, supposedly, did not know anything of the ms!
Now, to be clear, by itself the artificial colouring does not prove that the ms. is not authentic. This is simply an evidence that is totally consistent with a modern ms tampered to make it look old. A ms. owner or handler could conceivably help along his opinion of the date and thus artificially colour an ancient ms. They would be demonstrating their own doubts about its age, or at least its appearance of age. And it is very difficult to accept and argue that the ms was both ancient and tampered to look ancient .
And, when the white parchment compared to coloured pages issue is acknowledged, there is no sensible response and historical scenario that fits the evidences that has been offered by authenticity defenders. Only vague allusions to storage or cleaning, none of which actually could fit the present condition and the historical observations.
More on this in the "why do we know.." series here:
why do we know that the 1859 CSP leaves were artificially coloured?
https://purebibleforum.com/index.ph...59-csp-leaves-were-artificially-coloured.230/
=================
Notice that we have three compelling super-evidences that Sinaiticus is not an antiquity ms. even before we examine the lack of provenance and the fabrications created to explain the discovery. Or the alternate historical narratives with Simonides involved in the production, amazingly in the right place at the right time, with the right skills and connections and the right contacts, and the "coincidental" working on Hermas and Barnabas. Nor have we examined a large group of ms anomalies. Or evidences ignored like the Donaldson linguistics. And various amazing coincidences like every verse of the NT surviving in the tattered and supposedly unbound ms.
(In fact, for this study we are keeping it simple, only discussing the principle points.)
These evidences were generally hid from the experts before the analysis of the 2009 reunification of the ms. that was analyzed in the period of 2013-2014 till today.
Thus, all the legion of Tischendorf parrot writing, working off his facsimile editions, deeply entrenching an early Sinaiticus into modern scholarship, is simply irrelevant.
If anyone really wants to defend Sinaiticus authenticity, they must start with the condition of the ms, an area where the truth has been out for only two years, and presented publicly for only a few months.
=================
Last edited: