Bibliorum Codex Sinaiticus. 



235 



Codices. Certainly as old as the Vatican Codex, which 

 is now commonly attributed to the middle of the 4th 

 century. 



The absence of initial letters is another feature of the 

 Sinai manuscript, declaring its antiquity, because initial 

 letters did not come into use in manuscripts until the 5th 

 century. In a word, the date of the manuscript as fixed 

 by Dr. Tischendorf as at the beginning of the 4th cen- 

 tury, consequently in the time of Constantine the Great, 

 and of the first (Ecumenical councils. 



In the recovery of this long-hidden manuscript, the 

 Christian world has got possession of one of the oldest 

 copies of the Bible, and how interesting is the fact, that 

 that holy mount, hallowed by the far off memories of 

 thousands of years, should again give to mankind, almost 

 as it did in the olden time, through Moses, the inspired 

 teachings and solemn commands of the Deity. 



The Sinai convent, where this interesting manuscript 

 was found, is for the weary pilgrims a veritable oasis in 

 the desert. Tradition ascribes the founding of the monas- 

 tery to the piety of the Emperor Justinian, A. D. 527. 

 The precise period when Christian communities began to 

 settle in the wilderness of Sinai is not fully known, but it 

 was probably during the persecutions which raged in Egypt 

 and Syria, in the first and second centuries. Eusebius 

 quotes authorities referring to them early in the third 

 century. The flight of St. Catharine's body, which ac- 

 cording to the tradition of the church was miraculously 

 transported from Alexandria to the top of the mountain, is 

 attributed to the period A. D. 307. The honored relics 

 now repose in the chancel behind the altar. About that 

 period most of the anchorites, attracted by the solitude of 

 the mountain glens and the wild scenery of the rocks, 

 built themselves hermitages there, which finally grew into 

 the conventual establishment now existing. 



