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London, 15th March 2005 (CNA)
- The British Library in London has announced
it has signed an agreement to digitalize and
reunite the Codex Sinaiticus, the oldest Greek
copy of the Bible, whose different sections are
currently in libraries in Egypt, Germany, Russia
and the United Kingdom.
The manuscript dates from the time of the
expansion of Christianity in the territories
controlled by the emperor Constantine.
During centuries it was kept at the
Monastery of St. Catherine on Mount Sinai, until
in the 19th century it was divided and
the Old and New Testaments were distributed
between the University of Leipzig Library in
Germany, the National Library of Russia in St.
Petersburg, the British Library and the same
Monastery of St. Catherine.
Now the manuscripts will be reunited in
digital form.
The agreement was signed by Archbishop
Damianos, representing the Monastery of St.
Catherine of Sinai, Ekkehard Henschke, Alexander
Bukreyev and Lynne Brindley, directors of the
respective libraries. Archbishop Damianos
said the monks were anxious to reunite the
different fragments of the manuscript.
The project will take around four years and
will cost over $1,300,000
dollars. |
