230 



Bibliorum Codex Sinaiticus. 



the consent of the king of Saxony, to visit the east with 

 the view of examining and ^purchasing ancient manu- 

 scripts, both Greek and Oriental, particularly such as 

 might be serviceable in promoting the advancement of 

 biblical and ecclesiastical learning. It was not however, 

 until January, 1859, that he arrived again at the convent 

 on Mount Sinai, where he remained several days with his 

 old friends the monks there, but without success in finding 

 the desired treasure which his discovery some years before 

 of the loose portions of manuscript had given him reason 

 to hope for, and despairing of further success, he had 

 ordered his dragoman to fetch his Bedouins with their 

 camels to carry him back to Cairo. When his friend the 

 steward of the convent proposed a walk, during which he 

 intimated to Dr. Teschendorf that he 'had in his posses- 

 sion a manuscript copy of the Septuagint. Returning to 

 the convent, they proceeded together to the steward's dor- 

 mitory, where he brought out from a hidden recess the 

 long sought for manuscript, "wrapped up in a red cloth," 

 — a manuscript which Dr. Teschendorf found that the 

 Codex Vaticanus alone could presume to rival in point 

 of age, and in comparison with which even the choicest 

 of the literary treasures of Rome must give place, lacking 

 as they do the Pastoral Epistles, the Apocalypse and other 

 parts of the New Testament, all of which appear in their 

 integrity in this newly discovered Codex. 



With the permission of the steward Dr. Tischendorf 

 carried the manuscript to his bed-room, where examining 

 it at his leisure, the value of his discovery became evident, 

 and to quote his own words, he praised and "gave God 

 thanks for bestowing so great a favor upon the church, 

 upon literature and upon himself." He could not think 

 of sleeping, for it seemed to him in such a moment a crime 

 to sleep, so he set himself at work, and spent the night in 

 copying the letter of Barnabas. 



