Sinaiticus codex
Sinaiticus codex

What is the…
Sinaiticus codex and why is it important?

(often denoted by the symbol א or 01 in biblical scholarship)

This is one of the most valuable of ancient manuscripts of the Greek New Testament and dates to the 4th century AD. It contains the earliest complete copy of the Christian New Testament and is hand-written in Greek. Codex Sinaiticus is one of the most important witnesses to the Greek text of the Septuagint (the Old Testament in the version that was adopted by early Greek-speaking Christians) and the Christian New Testament.

On the occasion of a 3rd visit (1859) to St. Catherine’s Monastery on Mount Sinai, it was discovered by Dr. Tischendorf. He had on a previous visit in 1844 obtained 43 parchment leaves of the Septuagint, which he deposited in the university library of Leipsic, under the title of the Codex Frederico-Augustanus, after his royal patron the king of Saxony.

In the year referred to (1859) the emperor of Russia sent him to search for more manuscripts, which he was convinced were still to be found in the Sinai monastery.

The story of his finding the manuscript of the New Testament has all the interest of a romance. He reached the monastery on January 31, but his inquiries appeared to be fruitless. On February 4th he had resolved to return home without it.

“On that day, when walking with the provisor of the monastery, he spoke with much regret of his ill-success. Returning from their promenade, Tischendorf accompanied the monk to his room, and there had displayed to him what his companion called a copy of the LXX (Septuagint), which he, the ghostly brother, owned. The manuscript was wrapped up in a piece of cloth, and on its being unrolled, to the surprise and delight of the critic the very document presented itself which he had given up all hope of seeing. His object had been to complete the fragmentary Septuagint of 1844, which he had declared to be the most ancient of all Greek codices on vellum that are extant; but he found not only that, but a copy of the Greek New Testament attached, of the same age, and perfectly complete, not wanting a single page or paragraph.”

This precious fragment, after some negotiations, he obtained possession of, and conveyed it to the Emperor Alexander, who fully appreciated its importance, and caused a facsimile to be published, so as to exhibit correctly the ancient handwriting, written in 4 columns.

The entire codex consists of 346½ folios. Of these 199 belong to the Old Testament and 147½ to the New.

The books of the New Testament stand thus: the 4 Gospels, the epistles of Paul, the Acts of the Apostles, and the Revelation of John.

Also, there was the Catholic Epistles, the ancient documents called the Epistle of Barnabas and the Shepherd of Hermas (see Apocrypha).

German scholar Constantin von Tischendorf showed that this codex was written in the 4th century (330-360 AC), and is thus of about the same age as the Vatican codex (Codex Vaticanus); but while the latter wants the greater part of Matthew and sundry leaves here and there besides, the Sinaiticus is the only copy of the New Testament in Greek uncial characters which is complete. Thus, it is the oldest extant manuscript copy of the New Testament.

Additional fragments of the New Testament Sinaiticus codex were later found in 1975.

Both the Vatican and the Sinai codices were probably written in Egypt.

The Sinaiticus codex heavily influenced the Nestle-Aland and United Bible Societies Greek New Testaments, which underlie nearly all modern translations (except KJV-based ones).

The Codex Sinaiticus is now digitized and jointly held by the:

You can view the full high-resolution digital version at: CodexSinaiticus.org.

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Article Version: October 29, 2025