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Show - D - value of the "Codex Arabicus" confined to it being simply and solely an object of archaeological curiosity as a tri-lingual quintuple palimpsest? The answer is certainly in the negative, for, since the Expedition, I consulted several noted New Testament scholars and Syriologists in mors than one country, and I should like to sum up the result of my enquiries In order to give the reader some idea as to the contents of these texts. Let us consider these layers of writing from the top downwards in succession. The top layer is in perfect condition, though its explicit has gone probably with a final colophon showing the name of the scribe and fixing the date of the manuscript. Nevertheless, I estimate it to be ninth century A.D. The text provides us with new interesting material on the lives of some early Christian Saints together with a number of martyrdoms from the time of Alexander Severus, Maximiri and Diocl#tian, in addition to what Is probably the oldest Arabic version of the Book of Job. Next comes an older Kufic text, very difficult to determine, but likely to be the earlies Arabic translation of a Gospel from the first Hejira century, that is, seventh to eighth century A.D. The third is a Greek Lectionary of St. Paul's Epistle to the Corinthians with some minor variants from the Greek text extant, and is evidently late sixth to early seventh century A.D. Finally, the Syriac is undoubtedly the oldest and most important of all. So far. portions of the Gospels of St, Matthew, St. John and St. Mark have been identified, and they present several palaeographical characteristics of great antiquity. The Gospel of St. Mark In particular a considerable number of variants of importance from the current Peshitta text and is believed to be the most ancientMfcflac text of this Book in existence. If so, it will bring us another step nearer to the original version of the Gospels in the Age of the Disciples. On the other hand, it would be somewhat unwise to go further in judging the Codex at this juncture. For the right evaluation of its contents, it is necessary to study the whole text of the Syriac Gosoels at our disposal. As this task is Impossible with the naked eye, we*have to experiment on separating the multiple layers of writing by applying the most modern technique of Infra-red and ultra-violet photography to the palimpsest. We can only hope that the Library of Congress, which sponsored this epoch-making Expedition to Mt. Sinai, will continue to lend its moral and material support to the project. Whether the results will justify our expectations In part or in full, the "Codex Arabicus" has become part of the heritage of the great Fathers of primitive Christianity. The examination of this Codex, however, is not the only niece of work remaining to be done in the Monastery of St. Catherine. "The situation is still pregnant with possibilities of the highest order. Apart from the icons and the mosaics to which I have referred, the papyrus presents us with another field of virgin soil. Though the papyrus did not cone under my jurisdiction as editor of the Arabic microfilms, my sense of scientific curiosity led me to undertake some work of reconnaissance in this field. I have found three categories of papyrus in the Monastery. The first, consisting of a miscellany of Biblical texts, is not unknown and is preserved undei glass. The second is a unique Psalter in Georgian on Egyptian papyrus in codex form which I have found and called "Codex Georgianus" during the latter days of the Expedition. This must necessarily belong to the earliest period of the advent of the Georgian monks to Sinai. Since the Expedition, I have mounted its leaves on glass for better preservation. The third is a series of bundles of papyrus sheets used by later tcsIoec lxrhltiaespvc.tet icdoinvs ecaornvsde , rs feacondrudi n btdeIh s ihi sati vn tet ho pia rcdtdo iuncnataglatli eyntg hodseri ysxl mtebahaynt thtsleoher eds e ebrovi nencnedhti ahnsng pc ceeoc nfiitm nuet rnhaye finGruro memobe wektnr h wBeooi frbA klrmsiabc.nia uclI |
