Simonides, making up and revising his stories as he went along, said in his
letter to The Guardian, August 26, 1863, (source Kevin McGrane, Review, Page 69-70) imagined that the Codex Sinaiticus was sitting on a shelf in the rare manuscript library, saying:
"And twice I have seen it myself in the Library of Sinai, first in 1844 and then in 1852...and replaced the book in its original place, and commenced my philological investigations (for there were in that library many valuable manuscripts) and pursuing them with diligence I discovered many things of great importance..."
Simonides caught himself out here.
Because Uspensky (among other witnesses), who was there between those time's (1844-1852) and studied the manuscript in detail, unambiguously said that the four best Greek manuscripts (and the Sinaiticus Codex, obviously being ranked number 1 to him) were
хранятся в настоятельских келлиях "stored in the rector's cells".
Not "the library", on a shelf, as Simonides imagined.
Первое путешествие в Синайский Монастыŕ в 1845 году Архимандрита Порфиря Успенскаго
First trip to the Sinai Monasteries in 1845 Archimandrite Porfiry Uspensky
By Porfirij Bischof v. Tschigirin, 1856
[Page 225] Самые лучшие рукописи греческие хранятся в настоятельских келлиях. Их только четыре; но они весьма драгоценны по своей
древности, редкости и особенности почерков, по содержанию своему, по изяществу живописных ликов святых и по занимательности чертежей и рисунков. Первая рукопись, содержащая Ветхий Завет неполный
88 и весь Новый Завет с посланием апостола Варнавы и книгой Ермы, писана на
тончайшем белом пергамине в четвертую долю длинного и широкого листа. Буквы в ней совершенно похожи на церковно-славянские. Постановка их – прямая и сплошная. Над словами нет придыханий и ударений, а речения не отделяются никакими знаками правописания, кроме точек. Весь священный текст
[Page 226] писан в четыре и в два столбца стихомерным образом и так слитно, как будто одно длинное речение тянется от точки до точки
89. Такая постановка букв без грамматической просодии и такой способ писания священного текста, придуманный александрийским диаконом Евфалием около 446 года по Рождестве Христовом и вскоре покинутый по той причине, что между столбцами оставалось много пробелов на дорогом пергамине,
доказывают, что эта рукопись
издана была в пятом веке. Она достопримечательна во многих отношениях. В ней усматриваются: особый порядок священных книг, вразумительное изложение Псалтири и Песни Песней, множество разных чтений на полях новозаветного текста и особенное наречие. Историческая часть Ветхого Завета окончена книгами Товит, Юдифь и Маккавейскими; потом следуют Пророчества, и за ними Псалтирь, Притчи, Екклезиаст, Песнь Песней, Премудрость Соломона и книги Сираха и Иова. Далее непосредственно начинается Новый Завет без всякого предисловия. Сперва написаны Евангелия Матфея, Марка, Луки и Иоанна, потом Послания апостола Павла к римлянам, к коринфянам два, к галатам, ефесеям, филипписеям, колоссаям, к солунянам два и к евреям, далее его же Послания к Тимофею,
[Page 227] к Титу два и к Филимону; за ними следуют Деяния апостольские, все Соборные послания в нашем порядке и Апокалипсис; а под конец помещены: Послание апостола Варнавы и книга Ермы под названием Ποιμὴν, т.е. «Пастырь».
[Page 225, Footnote 88]: Кроме книг Товит, Юдифь и Маккавейских, утрачены все прочие исторические бытописания и пророчества Иеремии, Иезекииля, Даниила, Осии и Амоса.
[Page 226, Footnote 89]: Смотри снимки между синайскими видами.
https://www.google.co.nz/books/edition/Pervoe_putešestvie_v_Sinajskij_Monasty/hIlCAAAAcAAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&pg=PA225&printsec=frontcover
[Page 225] The best Greek manuscripts are kept in the rector's cells. There are only four of them; but they are
very precious in their antiquity [Or: "because of being ancient" "because of their great age" "because of their being very old"], rarity and peculiarity of the handwriting, in their content, in the elegance of the picturesque faces of the saints and in the amusingness of the drawings and pictures. The
first manuscript, containing the incomplete Old Testament
88 and the entire New Testament with the Epistle of the Apostle Barnabas and the Book of Hermas, was written on
the thinnest [Or: "wafer-thin"] white parchment in the fourth part of
a long and wide sheet. The letters in it are completely similar to Church Slavonic. Their
setting is straight and solid. There are no aspirations and stresses above the words, and speeches are not separated by any spelling marks, except for periods. The entire sacred text
[Page 226] is written in four and two columns in a verse manner and so seamlessly, as if one long utterance stretches from point to point.
89 Such a setting of letters without grammatical prosody
and such a way of writing the sacred text, invented by the Alexandrian deacon Euthalius around the year 446 after the Nativity of Christ and soon abandoned for the reason that there were many gaps between the columns on expensive parchment,
prove [Or: "demonstrate" "confirm" "substantiate" "provide clear evidence"] that this manuscript was published [Or: "issued" "written"] IN THE FIFTH CENTURY. She is remarkable in many ways. In it are seen: a special order of the sacred books, an intelligible presentation of the Psalter and the Song of Songs, many different readings in the margins of the New Testament text, and a special dialect. The historical part of the Old Testament ended with the books of Tobit, Judith and Maccabees; then come the Prophecies, and then the Psalter, the Proverbs, the Ecclesiastes, the Song of Songs, the Wisdom of Solomon, and the books of Sirach and Job. Then the New Testament begins directly without any preface. First, the Gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John were written, then the Epistles of the Apostle Paul to the Romans, to the two Corinthians, to the Galatians, Ephesians, Philippiseians, Colossians, to the Thessalonica two and to the Jews, then his Epistles to Timothy,
[Page 227] to Titus two and to Philemon; they are followed by the Acts of the Apostles, all the Epistles in our order, and the Apocalypse; and at the end are placed: the Epistle of the Apostle Barnabas and the book of Hermas called Ποιμὴν, i.e. "Shepherd".
[Page 225, Footnote 88]: Other than the books of Tobit, Judith, and Maccabees,
all other historical writings and prophecies of Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Daniel, Hosea, and Amos
have been lost.
[Page 226, Footnote 89]: See pictures between Sinai views.
P.S. Note Simonides
favorite sales pitch "I discovered many things of great importance" in his 1863 letter to the Guardian.