A 1,750-year-old chapter of the Bible that was previously unknown, according to an Austrian expert, has been found. The Matthew text in question is found in chapters 11 and 12.
A manuscript containing the Syriac translation of the Bible was examined using ultraviolet photography by medievalist Grigory Kessel of the Austrian Academy of Sciences. Kessel came to the conclusion that Syriac Christianity required the reader, who was concealed beneath three levels of other texts.
Only two manuscripts holding the Old Syriac translation of the gospels were known up until recently, despite Syriac Christianity’s lengthy history of translating the Old and New Testaments. Our understanding of the Bible’s early years may change as a result of Kessel’s discovery, which shows a completely new source of ancient literature.
As specialists use a variety of approaches to unearth the mysteries concealed in these volumes, the scientific study of ancient manuscripts has become more and more well-liked in recent years.
In their ongoing quest to solve the mysteries of the past, academics are using a variety of methods, including ultraviolet photography.
A secret chapter in a manuscript kept at the Vatican Library has been discovered by medievalist Grigory Kessel, who is affiliated with the Austrian Academy of Sciences. This part of the document was previously concealed, but Kessel utilized UV light to make it visible.
The academic community has learned fresh information about the historical context of this particular document as a result of this wonderful discovery. Kessel’s use of cutting-edge technology demonstrates the ability of contemporary scientific methods to unearth long-hidden historical secrets.
In the Middle Ages, manufacturing parchment was a time-consuming and expensive process, making it a prized commodity. As a result, scribes frequently removed the original writing from manuscripts when they were no longer needed and used the parchment instead.
A third-century Syriac manuscript that was copied in the sixth century was one of these, and it was probably erased because of the scarcity. In 2010 and 2020, the manuscript was rediscovered and scanned.
Reportedly, the recently unearthed document was known to experts as early as 1953. It wasn’t discovered again in Palestine until 2010, though. The text was scanned in 2020, and photos taken in daylight and ultraviolet light were added to the Digital Vatican Library.
Given that there are only two manuscripts that include the Old Syriac translation of the gospels, this finding is crucial for biblical academics. The oldest continuously operating monastery in the world, St. Catherine’s Monastery, is home to one, while the British Library in London is home to the other.
A third manuscript has been found by the Sinai Palimpsests Project, which aims to recover erased passages from manuscripts in St. Catherine’s library.
To recover previously deleted text and parts, this research used imaging techniques like multispectral imaging and reflectance transformation imaging.
The finding of this third manuscript completes the riddle of Syriac Christian literature, which has been essential in providing a glimpse into the early days of Christianity.
A new development has been named by Grigory Kessel as the “fourth textual witness”. Matthew 12, verse 1, is translated differently in a Syriac translation that Kessel found.
While the Greek translation asserts that the disciples ate the seed heads, the Syriac translation depicts the disciples rubbing grain heads in their hands before consuming them.
Kessel’s discovery was praised by Claudia Rapp, director of the Austrian Academy of Sciences’ Institute for Medieval Study, as evidence of the potent mix of modern digital technologies with crucial research for studying and assessing medieval manuscripts.