The Birmingham age-herald., 1913-07-06
NEW LIGHT SHED ON
SCRIPTURES BY OLD
GREEK MANUSCRIPT
Were In the Possession of an
Arab Dealer Near
Cairo
WERE DECLINED BY
BRITISH MUSEUM
An American, Discovering Their
Value, Bought the Documents.
The Manuscripts Contain
Four Gospels

IN ARBOR, Mtchi july 5.-tSpe-
"A ial)-In December, 1906,
Charles L. Freer of Detroit
bought four ancient Greek Biblical
manuscripts from one Ali, an Arab
dealer, who lived In Gizeh near Cairo.
Within a year the purchase was found
to be of inestimable value for the new
light which they shed upon the scrip
tures.
Judge of etchings, Mr. Freer was
attracted to these manuscripts because
of the beauty of the few pages which
he saw. They had been offered for
sale to the Royal library at Berlin and
to the British museum But evidently
lthey were not examined with sufficient
care to make their value apparent. Ex-
,amination was very difficult because
two of the manuscripts seemed to be
sshapeless, hard masses of decayed
parchment, while in the other two the
leaves were cemented at the edges.
Mr.. Freer committed to the Univer-
sity of Michigan the responsibility of
opening up the manuscripts and maxi
ing such publication as their value
seemed to warrant. The task was as
signed to Prof. Henry A. Sanders and
he made the first report on the manu-
scripts at meeting of the Archaeo-
logical institute of America in Decem-
ber. 1907. European as well as Amer
lean scholars expressed amazement at
the discovery and urged complete pub
1ication as soon as possible.
Interesting Fragments
The first of the four manuscripts con-
fufn ha nf he re
of Deuteronomy and Joshua; the sec
ond the Greek text of the Psalms, the
third the four Gospels, and the fourth
fragments OF the Epistles of Paul. The
last named is in very bad condition,
and one margin of the manuscript of
the Psalms is badly decayea. The other
two manuscripts are practically COM
plete.
1t was soon perceived that on account
of their Importance the interests of
scholarship would be best subserved by
publishing both manuscripts in fac
simille with accompanying volumes of
text setting forth their readings Mr.
Freer offered to defray the expense,
thus making it possible to present cop
les to the libraries of the principal
universities and theological schools of
the world.
The first facsimile, containing Deu-
teronomy and Joshua, was published in
1910. and Immediately took rank as one
of the authorities for the text of that
part of the Septuagint. 1t was written
in Egypt in the fifth century. few
dictionary notes appear in the margin.
The most interesting one reads: ITO
the memory of the holy fathers to be
read at evening time" This note, ac-
cording to Prof Sanders, may be dated
at the end of the sixth century.
The Four Gospels
But of even greater Importance, both
textually and historically, is the third
manuscript containing the Four Cos
pels. of which the facsimile has just
appeared. This manuscript was writ
ten, as Prof. Sanders has determined
not later than 400 A. D., and probably
that date. 1t is written in small
graceful hand, like that used on papyri
from the second to the fourth centuries
A fragmentary manuscript of the Book
of Enoch from Akhmim and a single
leaf of Sappho's poems also from
Egypt, are perhaps the only parallels
on parchment
On the last page is a subscription
twice changed, which is translated as
follows 20 Holy Christ, be thou with
thy servant Timothy, and all of his"
AS first written it read: 20 Holy Christ,
be thou with thy servant" with an
erased name under the Timothy. When
the manuscript changed hands the sec
ond owner evidently changed the name
and added "and all of his" This is
taken to mean that it came into the
control of some monastery.
The same Timothy is thought by