World's oldest known Bible goes online

Parts of the world's earliest known complete copy of the New Testament went online for the first time on Thursday.

The British Library published the Gospel of Mark and the Book of Psalms from the fourth century Codex Sinaiticus with plans to launch the rest of the manuscript on its website within a year.

The Codex Sinaiticus has been published online as part of a collaborative effort with the three other institutions that hold the remaining parts of the manuscript, the Monastery of St Catherine at Mount Sinai in Egypt, the University Library of Leipzig in Germany and the National Library of Russia.

By the end of July 2009, visitors to the website will be able to browse through the complete manuscript, as well as corrections made over the centuries. Translations of selected books and passages will be provided in English and German.

Scot McKendrick, the British Library's Head of Western Manuscripts, said, "The British Library is excited to be part of the first major milestone towards making the full Codex Sinaiticus available online.

"Only a few people have ever had the opportunity to see more than a couple of pages of the world's oldest Bible.

"The website will make it possible for anyone to see this absolutely unique treasure. The scholarly value of being able to research the text is immeasurable."

The Codex Sinaiticus was written in Greek around the middle of the fourth century AD, making it the earliest known Bible in existence. Altogether, there are over 800 extant pages and more than 40 fragments, which will also be published as part of the project.



On the web: www.codexsinaiticus.org/en/