Page images
PDF
EPUB

sacred text, for even these are comparatively few; but to meet with one whose date is assigned, unhesitatingly, by its finder to the earlier half of the fourth century, was enough to turn Tischendorf crazy with joy. His record of his emotions at the moment of discovery is quiet, but the exultation of his feelings could not be disguised: "Quae res quantam in admirationem me conjecerit, dissimulare nequibam."

It appears that in his two previous journeys to the East, of the earlier of which he makes interesting report in his Reise in dem Orient, 1845-48, he had been, beyond expectation, successful in the acquisition of materials for publication, of one sort or another. The second journey-that of 1853, nine years after the first— bears more the character of a great disappointment than the preceding, as a narrative of the circumstances will explain.

In the year 1814 the King of Saxony furnished Professor Tischendorf with funds, to enable him to prosecute his inquiries after parchments and old books in the East. Amongst the acquisitions of that strip was a fragment of a Greek Septuagint, rescued by Tischendorf from the destruction awaiting it, and other unvalued scraps and loose leaves in a basket, where they were carelessly tossed to rot in the damp, or be consumed by ants. A larger fragment of that MS., containing Isaiah and Maccabees, he begged for in vain, because the importunity of the stranger taught the ignorant monks to set a value on their relic which they had not had independent knowledge of their own to appreciate. He obtained, however, enough of the disjointed leaves and smaller portions to constitute a satisfactory specimen of the whole. These fragments Tischendorf published in 1846, under the title of the Friderico-Augustan Codex, in compliment to his royal patron. But the lengthened period of nine years from his first journey did not abate his longing for the remainder of the precious manuscript (ipsis membranis pretiosissimis) which he had left in such unsafe custody, and which his own publications had made so widely known. He expected that, during the interval, the MS. would have found its way into a European library, through the care of some appreciative traveler; but no tidings came of such a destination. This prompted the journey of 1853, undertaken with a determination to transcribe all that remained of the document, and to publish it on his return. But, on his presenting himself at the Convent of Mount Sinai, to his dismay, the document could no where be found. Describing his disappointment in his Mon. Sac. Ined. of 1855, he expresses his belief that it must have come to Europe, and that it lay somewhere concealed. Should it, however, be irrecoverably lost, he very fairly declares himself innocent of neglect of the manuscript, for he had frankly informed its custodians of its value, and urged upon them its more careful preservation.

Matters remained in this position for six years longer-Tischendorf engaged with his professorial duties, and editing his laborious volumes of antiquarian research, together with his Critical Greek Testaments-when, by the intervention of the Prince Von Falkenstein, Prime Minister of the King of Saxony, and the successive Russian Ambassadors at Dresden, the Baron Von Schroeder, Prince Wolkonsky, and Baron Von Kotzebue, aided by the intercession of Von Noroff, Von Kovalewsky, and Theodore Von Grimm, the eager professor's wish was gratified, with the injunction to return to his former scene of action, and secure for the Emperor of Russia what spoil he might of ancient Greek and Oriental literature. On the last day of January, 1859, Tischendorf reached his old quarters in the Convent of St. Catherine, and opened his campaign, or rather foray, with so little success, that four days afterwards he completed his arrangements, by hiring horses and camels, for returning to Cairo on the 7th of February. But an unexpected and most delightful event occurred, meanwhile, that rendered this last journey memorable above all others undertaken by the professor; for, conversing with the sub-prior, on the Septuagint translation, of which Tischendorf had brought with him printed copies, along with his Greek New Testaments, the conventual brother turned out of a piece of cloth, for his inspection, the very document of which he had come in search.

This revelation was a light rising upon his darkness-the flashing of an instantaneous dawn. Turning over the coveted folios, he found them to contain a considerable part of the Old Testament, the whole of the New, and the Epistle of Barnabas, along with the first part of the Shepherd of Hermas. Xenophon's returning ten thousand never hailed the waters of the Black Sea with more gladsome θαλαττα, θαλαττα, after their wearisome march and perilous adventure, than Tischendorf the resurrection of his buried love. Unable to sleep through excess of joy, he bore the treasured parchments to his cell, and spent the night in copying the recovered Barnabas. Starting, nevertheless, on the appointed day, he obtained the promise of the superior that the mutilated Codex would be forwarded after him to Cairo, to be copied as soon as the license to do so should reach the convent from their ecclesiastical head in Egypt. A very few days sufficed to obtain the required permission, and Tischendorf rejoiced in his prize, retaining it in his possession till, with the aid of two friends, he had copied its every word, letter, sign, and variation. Two months sufficed for this Herculean task, which comprised the transcription of upwards of one hundred thousand lines of Greek. This done, his joy was complete.

The original MS., it was suggested, might very appropriately be presented to the Emperor of Russia, a distinguished professor and protector of the Christian faith; and the hint met with unani

mous compliance. As no one, however, had, at the time, the right of making the presentation, in consequence of Archbishop Constantine's death and the non-consecration of his successor, it was concluded to lend the MS., for the purpose of completing an accurate impression of its contents, leaving the question of its final ownership for future determination.

From May to September Tischendorf was free to traverse Palestine in search of hidden MSS., and was at Jerusalem at the same time with the Duke Constantine, who lent his royal countenance to his labors. In Constantinople the Russian Ambassador, Prince Lobanow, received him as his guest in his palace, a circumstance we feel pleasure in recording, the priesthood of letters receiving due homage at the hands of the princes of the people. From this enlightened nobleman, Tischendorf learned of the existence of another notice since his own of the Sinaitic Codex, namely, one from the pen of the Archimandrite Porphyry, who, in 1846, had examined its peculiarities, when he visited the monastery in the desert. These he describes in his publication of 1856 at St. Petersburg, but makes such mistakes as would naturally occur in the case of a person not conversant with textual criticism. The Greek divine, for instance, supposes the MS. to follow the Euthalian prescript in its stichometry; and, as this arrangement of the text dates about four hundred and forty-six, that the MS. may be of the fifth century. From this surmise he conjectured that its corrections belong to the same age, and that, by means of these, a peculiar text-call it the Alexandrian-was brought into harmony with that of the universal Church. These suppositions are gratuitous and incorrect. The arrangement is not Euthalian; nor if it were, would its age be decided thereby its upward limit would, indeed, be fixed, but not its downward. Its corrections are made by many distinct hands, the two most important being of a date several centuries after the original writing of the MS.; and the corrections, though often concurrent with the orthodox and received text, more frequently diverge from it. The learned priest, moreover, though duly impressed with the archaic aspect of the document, adopted no measures for transcribing it, or making it available for critical purposes. He knew nothing of the fact that the Shepherd of Hermas in Greek was a desideratum of scholars, as well as the earlier part of the epistle of Barnabas, or he would probably have had these, at least, transcribed for the satisfaction of the Christian world. The venerable Archimandrite was evidently more of the amateur than the connoisseur. No man is great in every line. Non omnes omnia possumus.

On his return to St. Petersburg, in October, 1859, Tischendorf was graciously received by the Emperor and Empress, who examined seriatim the professor's stores. By Alexander's command they were exhibited publicly for a fortnight, and the Sinaitic Codex

was ordered to be prepared for the press with the least possible delay. The preservation of such a monument of ancient learning and piety, where such losses had accrued to its cotemporary literature, was providential; and in recognition of the divine care, the precious boon should no longer be withheld from the world of letters and religion.

The plan of publication pursued will be to represent the original text by fac-simile types, the regularity of the letters greatly favoring this method; but even minute varieties of character will be exhibited also. The alterations by the chief correctors will be given in the margin, together with other peculiarities, such as punctuation, accents, etc., while the less important or most modern alterations will be exhibited in the commentary. Twenty pages of lithographic fac-simile, drawn from photographs, will exhibit to the eye of the student an exact picture of the appearance of the original. Approved artists at St. Petersburg will make the drawings; the firm of Giesecke and Deverient, at Leipzig, are to be the printers, and each page, as it issues from the press, will engage the ever-vigilant and active supervision of the learned editor himself. What an acquisition this will be to the Church and the learned world we need not say, and what a monument of the industry, talent, and ingenuity of the German textuary, who publishes a great work like this in the course of a couple of years, leaving nothing to desire on the score of accuracy, cheapness, and accessibility, after the painful disappointment we have so recently experienced in the wretched, unscholarly, and extortionate Vatican imprint of Cardinal Mai.

The three hundred costly fac-simile copies the Emperor of Russia will retain himself, for the purpose of gifts to the learned bodies of Europe; but cheap editions, in ordinary type, to be printed with equal accuracy and beauty at the same time, will gratify the curiosity of purchasers, and diffuse the information the manuscript contains as wide as the world.

A

The whole imprint of the Codex will occupy three volumes, of which two will contain the Old Testament and one the New. supplementary volume will include the fac-simile plates, and a lengthened commentary upon all the emendations in the manu. script and its palæography. F. A. Brockhaus, of Leipzig, is to have charge of the ordinary Greek type edition. The whole work is designed to be completed in the middle of 1862-a year memorable in the annals of Russia, as it will be the thousandth year of its existence; and it is desired to associate this great literary achievement with the celebration of the military and social progress of the empire.

[merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][ocr errors][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][ocr errors][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][ocr errors][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][ocr errors][ocr errors][merged small][merged small][merged small][ocr errors][merged small][ocr errors][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][ocr errors][merged small][ocr errors][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][ocr errors][merged small][ocr errors][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][ocr errors][merged small][merged small][ocr errors][merged small][merged small][merged small][ocr errors][merged small][ocr errors][merged small][ocr errors][merged small][ocr errors][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][ocr errors][merged small][ocr errors][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][ocr errors][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][ocr errors][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][ocr errors][merged small][merged small][merged small][ocr errors][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small]
« PreviousContinue »