TwoNoteableCorruptions
Well-known member
Vitaliano's description, though more general, also notes some of the very same major characteristics of the Codex Sinaiticus that Uspensky did:
“Atti della Reale Accademia delle scienze di Torino”
Volume 8 (1873)
Page 482
My largely literal translation
Book 2, Page 27: “In this monastery I found the largest quantity of parchment codices, many of which are hidden away in a library, and others are loose in a jumble [Or: “helter-skelter, higgledy-piggledy, pell-mell” “randomly” “every which way” “disordered way”] in a atrocious [Or: “lousy” “execrable” “stinking” “nasty” “very bad” “dreadful”] warehouse facility. Almost all of them are parchments, for the greatest part, Greek ones ; there are many Saints, Fathers, and Biblical expositors [Or: “exhibitors”], various [Or: “miscellaneous”] codices of the lives of the Saints, a few historians [Or: “historical-ones”] ; and a few writers on other subjects [Or: “of other material”]. Some of them, not a few, to me they looked to be anterior to the seventh century, and one Bible in particular, in [Italian Superlative] thee most beautiful parchments, [Italian Superlative] very large, thin-ones, [Italian “quadre”] square-shaped-ones, which is written in [Italian Superlative] thee most beautiful [Italian “rotondo”] round characters ; then they keep in the Church a [Lit., “one”] Greek Evangelisty in [Italian “rotonda”] round golden characters, that too should be very ancient. In addition to the Greek Codices, and they do not have very many in other languages, different ones are in Arabic, Syrian, Chaldean, Illyrian, Ethiopian ; nor did I see a wisp of any Latin ones either. Between [Or: “among” “amid”] the said Codices, I observed a few Greek treatises on ancient music, and many volumes, extremely long ones, for liturgical use...”
Compared with Uspensky's detailed description:
[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 неполный88 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 точки89. 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.
[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 Testament88 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]: In addition to 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.
To Uspensky, the Codex Sinaiticus took first place among the four best Greek manuscripts at St Catherine's. This was the same for Vitaliano - that "one Bible especially" or "in particular" ALSO stuck out to him nearly 100 years earlier.
Uspensky noted it was on the "thinn-est" (Superlative) parchment!
This is also a striking parallel with Vitaliano, who also remarked on the thinness of the parchment of that "special" one Bible.
Uspensky had unparalleled access to the Codex Sinaiticus and therefore was ALLOWED to examine it's contents minutely, unlike Vitaliano.
“Atti della Reale Accademia delle scienze di Torino”
Volume 8 (1873)
Page 482
My largely literal translation
Book 2, Page 27: “In this monastery I found the largest quantity of parchment codices, many of which are hidden away in a library, and others are loose in a jumble [Or: “helter-skelter, higgledy-piggledy, pell-mell” “randomly” “every which way” “disordered way”] in a atrocious [Or: “lousy” “execrable” “stinking” “nasty” “very bad” “dreadful”] warehouse facility. Almost all of them are parchments, for the greatest part, Greek ones ; there are many Saints, Fathers, and Biblical expositors [Or: “exhibitors”], various [Or: “miscellaneous”] codices of the lives of the Saints, a few historians [Or: “historical-ones”] ; and a few writers on other subjects [Or: “of other material”]. Some of them, not a few, to me they looked to be anterior to the seventh century, and one Bible in particular, in [Italian Superlative] thee most beautiful parchments, [Italian Superlative] very large, thin-ones, [Italian “quadre”] square-shaped-ones, which is written in [Italian Superlative] thee most beautiful [Italian “rotondo”] round characters ; then they keep in the Church a [Lit., “one”] Greek Evangelisty in [Italian “rotonda”] round golden characters, that too should be very ancient. In addition to the Greek Codices, and they do not have very many in other languages, different ones are in Arabic, Syrian, Chaldean, Illyrian, Ethiopian ; nor did I see a wisp of any Latin ones either. Between [Or: “among” “amid”] the said Codices, I observed a few Greek treatises on ancient music, and many volumes, extremely long ones, for liturgical use...”
Compared with Uspensky's detailed description:
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
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 неполный88 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 точки89. 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.
[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 Testament88 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]: In addition to 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.
To Uspensky, the Codex Sinaiticus took first place among the four best Greek manuscripts at St Catherine's. This was the same for Vitaliano - that "one Bible especially" or "in particular" ALSO stuck out to him nearly 100 years earlier.
Uspensky noted it was on the "thinn-est" (Superlative) parchment!
This is also a striking parallel with Vitaliano, who also remarked on the thinness of the parchment of that "special" one Bible.
Uspensky had unparalleled access to the Codex Sinaiticus and therefore was ALLOWED to examine it's contents minutely, unlike Vitaliano.
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