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Show U U C C U AH u »*± «<* 11111 ' -* £ ' The monastery library is the most remarkable .part of the monastery. Much has been said and written about this extraordinary library; but, after a recent inspection of its contents, one feels unable to accept the mithority of past writers without reserve. / There are manuscripts ia eleven languages, Greek, Arabic, Syriac, j Georgian, Armenian. Slavonic, Rassi-sa, Coptic, Latin, Turkish and / P er sian: mTttTF^XMJSZMimEBZE&mxh£Z^ 5~zrov a^j.H-ustUj The total oolleotion undoubted iy/surpasses "T*-^ S-SOe- volumes^ the Greek manuscripts alone amount to 22bQ\ vhile the f »\ Arabio_jamount___to_>66i5, whereas the Syriac, Armenian, Georgian, Coptic / "t q-TBthioplc. aad ~§lavonlo, m-saufecr-lps t rc aohi-ag- s evi»alH±ttndTOTrs~iiave~sti-il 0 %\ to-be eyamiae-a-aad-definaj_, Several of these are even older than the I. -d / ^r! foundation of the Monastery, for the moaks of Mount Sinai sid not only £ write manuscripts in the monastery since the sixth century, but alsQ / *• k brought with them priceless codices written in earlier times. <- CN 5 ... ... ,__.._ sir The Monks also made acquisitions from various £J r A parts of the Empire, and these included works written in the fourth \ s fj f' (century. The most outstanding example, now of international fame, is \4f t_ J the Codex Slnaitious, which was takea first to old St. Petersberg in the; |i f-, inineteenth century by the German Scholar Tisohendarf, and then recently j ^4- {*, (purchased during the time of the Soviet fievo lutioa by the British \ "^£ Museum in London for the sum of 100,000 pound sterliag in gold. The \ ^.A: Codex Syriac us , another treasure, however still remains in the monastery \ vA ; library. This is the fifth century Syriac translation of the Bible based; r?-;: on a second century Greek text and is thus believed to be the most \t\" ancient recension of the h0iy Scripture ^-| To these must now be added the'Codex Atabicus discovered by Prof. Atiya during the present expedition. This was one L| of the outstanding discoveries of the recent expeaiti6n, and one of the highest importance in the field of Arabic Manuscripts. In additi on...to these monumental works the | Library or rather the Monastry Archives.contain"a unique set of official documents in 'die form of rolls of varying lengths, sometimes reaching several metres. These are the charters of Liberties or "Firmans", issued hy the Caliphs and Sultans if Islam in favour of the monks of St, Catherine and JTE±E1XXEX consist of about 2.0C0 scrolls. They represent several Mohammadan Dynasties from the twellveth to the nineteenth century. A preliminary investigation shows that the oldest document is dates" 524.A.H./1130 A.D. . and is contemporary with the foundation of the Mosque under Fatimft rule. This set is the fullest>^ known official source on the evolution of Arabic court-hand and Mfcfslfcyfm Diplomat^ The very cxistance of daese documents is an outstanding demonstration of the soirit of tolerance which narked the relations /. between the Sultans and their Christian ^ b j e e t s . ^ ^ g ^ C ^ l According .o or^ifeinal plans the photographic of half a million ^ko3Los or a million pages was contemplated. But the expedition was a'clcf thanks to the unremitting activity of its members to microfilm nearly double the amount contemplated at the beginning. Much Unknown material of the highest'importance and value was iound, especially in the.Arabic section, and work had to be XXS£XXKXK prolonged J for a longer period than that which had been envisaged. The Monks of Mo*unt Sinai are Greek Orthodox and wsre consequently able to appreciate Greek manuscripts and keep them in a eood state of preservation. The Arabic collection which is ohly second to the Greek in numerical order, on the contrary, suffered very much since the Arabic speaking monks stopped going to Sinai from the fourteenLh centuty. This explains the lack of knowledge of the contents and of ixaxxxxmaarxscEKE the importance of these manuscripts JLUItil the recent expedition which unvieled this set to the world of scolarship. This Arabic--, collection is almost entirely written before the fourteenth century "and it included manuscripts dating as far back as the seventh e^XK century : It is the moat ancMent and the most varied collection of its type in the whole world. • ••'••/ l UtZZZZA^ Apart from old BibjLe translationand Theological treatises '» A* contains works of history, Jhilosophy, Geography, Phylclog'l ;M6Lt£tea&-t4-s=&» Medicine and Hatural Science, Our knowledge of Bible studies will have to be revised ia the light of/its contents and, certainly the current Arabic transalation of „he Gospels will have to be re- ;;> •'placed V^_th}£_E°rfc o f the Older Medieval masters, - ".'•• A :.- ':•-"."••••-,•-*- • •- • ' • -' - - : . " ' . ' . * jtr^ -'•-•: \ /•-'•' •••"- ••:•'•••••••: -•-: .-.:.•••, ,** •"-..-.. ' >.. " ^y ± ^^.s |
