An almost 1,500-year-old section of the Biblical text has been discovered during a recent study, scientists have revealed.
The researchers used ultraviolet photography to find the chapter, which was hidden under an incredible three layers of text in an old manuscript kept at the Vatican.
The study, published in the journal New Testament Studies, suggests that the chapter represents one of the earliest translations of the Gospels.
The discovery sheds light on a new interpretation of Matthew chapter 12 in the New Testament and has been described as offering a “unique gateway” into the early phase in the history of copying, preserving and spreading the written text of Gospels across generations.
The researchers also believe the fragment is the only known remaining piece of a fourth manuscript that attests to the old Syriac version of the Bible.
The new section highlights the differences in the information contained in different translations. For example, the original Greek version of Matthew chapter 12 verse 1 reads: “At that time Jesus went through the grainfields on the Sabbath; and his disciples became hungry and began to pick the heads of grain and eat”.
The Syriac translation, meanwhile, says: ““…began to pick the heads of grain, rub them in their hands, and eat them.”
“Despite a limited number of dated manuscripts from this period,” the experts said, “Comparison with dated Syriac manuscripts allows us to narrow down a possible time frame to the first half of the sixth century”.
During this time, there was a shortage of parchment paper in the region, so pages were often reused by erasing earlier Biblical text – known as a palimpsest.
Until recently, only two manuscripts were known to contain this Old Syriac translation – one kept at the British Library in London and another discovered in St. Catherine’s Monastery at Mount Sinai, explained one of the researchers, Dr Grigory Kessel from the Austrian Academy of Sciences.
The Peshitta is the oldest surviving Syriac translation of the Bible, translated from the Hebrew text of the Bible in the 2nd century AD.
The New Testament was translated from Koine Greek in the early 5th century. It continues to be used in sermons, poetry, prayers and hymns and remains the standard version used by churches in the Syriac tradition.
“This discovery proves how productive and important the interplay between modern digital technologies and basic research can be when dealing with medieval manuscripts,” said Claudia Rapp, director of the Institute for Medieval Research at the Austrian Academy of Sciences.
