Oldest Christian Bible gets digital makeover

The Codex Sinaiticus was hand- written by four scribes in Greek on animal hide, known as vellum, in the mid-fourth century around the time of the Roman emperor Constantine the Great who embraced Christianity.

Not all of it has withstood the ravages of time, but the pages that include the whole of the New Testament and the earliest surviving copy of the Gospels written at different times after Christ's death by the four Evangelists: Matthew, Mark, Luke and John.

The Bible's remaining 800 pages and fragments - it was originally some 1400 pages long - also contain half of a copy of the Old Testament. The other half has been lost.

The texts include numerous revisions, additions and corrections made during its evolution down through the ages.

The assembly and transcription of the book includes previously unpublished pages of the Codex found in a blocked-off room at St. Catherine's Monastery, at the foot of Mount Moses, Sinai, in 1975, some of which are in a poor condition and have been difficult to study; Kazinform refers to China Daily. See www.chinadaily.com.cn for full version.