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| The Hebrew letter Aleph stands for Sinaiticus, the "oldest Bible in the world," and yet the newest discovered. |
Dear Pastor Jackson,
I was reading your service post, Matthew 24:24-28, and I thought of this.
For there shall arise false Christs, and false prophets, and shall shew great signs and wonders; insomuch that, if it were possible, they shall deceive the very elect. Behold, I have told you before. Wherefore if they shall say unto you, Behold, he is in the desert (Sinaiticus); go not forth: behold, he is in the secret chambers (Vaticanus); believe it not. For as the lightning cometh out of the east (Byzantium), and shineth even unto the west; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.
***
GJ - I think this is a brilliant analogy, because Sinaiticus was found in the desert monastery, where Tischendorf was directed to find it. Vaticanus was held by the Vatican and has no clear origin. Constantin Tischendorf is the one who promoted both codices, which have no children. They are sterile and useful only for old men (Kurt Aland) who believe nothing and deny that the Four Gospels were written by the Apostles and their associates.
Byzantium is the name for the Eastern Roman Empire, which was Greek and Christian, lasting from Constantine the Great until 1453 AD when the last of the Eastern Roman Empire (the city of Constantinople) fell to the Ottoman Empire.
The Fall of Constantinople led to the escape of Greek scholars with their treasures, including many copies of the Bible. Sometimes this tradition is called the Byzantine Text (Stephanos text, Biblegateway.com) because of their protection of the Scriptures by Christian scholars. It is also called the Majority Text, because those manuscripts agree with one another to an astonishing extent, given the many centuries from the Apostolic Age to those examples. The text parents, grandparents, great-grandparents etc were worn out through copying but the text remained 90-95% the same.
Theodore Letis uses the term Ecclesiastical Text, because the believing Church continued reproducing from the original texts. A few called it the Textus Receptus, because Erasmus used a few manuscripts (received text), all he had at the moment, to create the first Greek New Testament in the modern age, which sparked the Reformation when Luther translated it into German.
The Fall of Constantinople was tragic, but it unleashed the Renaissance as scholars and artists headed for Europe. Their new hosts re-discovered the glory that was Greece -
- The Republic,
- History,
- Philosophy,
- Law,
- Literature,
- Poetry,
- Drama,
- Comedy,
- Math,
- Architecture,
- Engineering,
- Astronomy -
all components for the future nation founded as America.
As I suggested, the Traditional Text was preserved by believers in the Church. All the modern texts are sold to the public by various businesses, including the Beck Bible sold by Christian News, later having as many names as the RSV. But that is OK. All Bibles are inspired, as declared by Mirthless Mark Schroeder, the bookkeeper for the Wisconsin Sect.
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| Constantinus Tischendorf - how impressive. This emperor has no clothes (codices). |
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| This is the codex that was discovered pure white and supple, pretty good for 1500 year old skin! Now it has a nice tan, both parts, so we can pretend it is ancient. |
