On the Migration of MSS from Ancient Monasteries (Egypt to Mar Saba back to Egypt)
Posted: Thu Sep 09, 2021 12:28 pm
From Roger Pearse today https://www.roger-pearse.com/weblog/202 ... alimpsest/
Again, the Letter to Theodore might well be a forgery. But there simply is no firm evidence that would prove that assumption. If it were confirmed it would simply be attributable to a 'lucky hit' where a 'gut feeling' or prejudice was borne out.The ancient manuscript of the Hieroi Logoi from which these sheets come was written in Egypt in the 5-6th century AD. But in the 10th century it was recycled, the pages erased and turned into blank parchment. A text of more use to the owners, an Arabic text of the lives of the Palestinian saints, was written on the pages at the monastery of Mar Saba. (I have not seen any information on which text precisely this is). The new volume was originally some 300 pages. It migrated to Sinai, where it was reduced to fragments by the removal of leaves, sold to European libraries. The remains now have the shelfmark Ms. Sin. ar. NF 66. The relevant leaves are f. 2v + frg. 7v + frg. 8r, and presumably their reverse.