Reader’s Reply

New Mt. Sinai Manuscripts

To the editor:

In 1978 a friend sent me a clipping from the Los Angeles Times (May 6, 1978), entitled “Hoard of Early Christian Texts Reported.” According to this Associated Press report, “Greek Orthodox monks on Mt. Sinai are hoarding a major discovery of early Christian texts they found by accident in their monastery two years ago. West German biblical scholar Martin Hengel says the monks found the treasure when they tore down an old wall and found a storage cavity. The piles of manuscripts, written by early inhabitants of the monastery, are now in 47 large cartons, he said. … He said the thousands of parchment and papyrus fragments, some dating back to before A.D. 300, include at least one real sensation—eight missing pages from the Codex Sinaiticus, a priceless, fourth-century Greek Bible manuscript now in the British Museum.”

Since then, I’ve wondered why I have not heard more of it—until I read BAR’s reports on the 40-year delay in the publication of certain Dead Sea Scroll materials. I began to perceive a pattern: I hope I am wrong, but will we have to wait 40 years for the publication of the Mt. Sinai documents, like the Israelites waiting in the Sinai wilderness?