Constantin von Tischendorf and the Codex Sinaiticus

Wednesday, March 11, 2015 by Pastor Hans-Wolf Baumann

Translation by Merly Abondano

On the 200th Birthday of Constantin von Tischendorf

In 2015, we celebrate the 200th birthday (January 18) of a researcher and scientist who became known far beyond the borders of his country: Constantin von Tischendorf. His birthplace, Lengenfeld in Vogtland, Saxony, commemorates the famous son of the city with a “Tischendorf Square” and a “Tischendorf Street”. His birthplace, which once stood in the floodplain near today's Tischendorf Street, was reduced to rubble and ashes by a fire in 1859.

According to a church book entry, Tischendorf was baptized in the town church of Lengenfeld by Pastor Johann Gottlieb Böhm. His godfather was Christian Tille, who had served as the second pastor in Lengenfeld since 1812. In the great city fire of Lengenfeld in 1856, the entire medieval town center, including the church, school, and courthouse (the former town hall), was completely destroyed. The church, as it stands today, was rebuilt in the same location in 1864. The newly built parish hall next to the town church bears the inscription clearly legible above the entrance: “In memory of Constantin von Tischendorf”. In the stairway to the large hall, a picture reminds visitors of the famous man to whom this house is dedicated. At the inauguration of the Tischendorf House on July 1, 1928, Pastor Dr. theol. Ludwig Schneller (Cologne), Tischendorf's son-in-law, conducted the festive service. Also present was a granddaughter of Tischendorf, Dr. Elisabeth Behrend (Hannover). In Leipzig, a small memorial plaque was placed at the house on Eisenbahn Street No. 8, where Tischendorf lived with his family from 1863 until his death in 1874 (although the street layout today does not correspond to that of the 19th century). His grave at the Johannis Cemetery in Leipzig, where many other famous people are buried, was removed in the 1970s due to a planned new construction. The gravestone and the tomb slab were saved by citizens of Lengenfeld and re-erected next to the entrance (left side) of the Lengenfeld cemetery chapel. On the exterior wall to the right of the entrance is also the tomb slab of Tischendorf's parents.

The Significance of Tischendorf

What made Tischendorf so famous? Why do we still remember him today? What is associated with his name?

Tischendorf dedicated his life to comparing ancient biblical manuscripts to obtain the most accurate and original text possible. Above all, he wanted to refute the biblical critics of his time. He masterfully fulfilled this task. He searched many libraries in Germany and Europe to find and examine ancient manuscripts. He did not shy away from long and dangerous journeys to the East, knowing that there, in remote and unknown places, manuscripts from early Christian centuries still lay dormant. In this search, he discovered in an old monastery on the Sinai Peninsula one of the oldest biblical manuscripts, containing almost the entire Old Testament and the complete New Testament in Greek. These parchment-written sheets were named “Codex Sinaiticus” after their place of discovery. Tischendorf painstakingly copied these sheets, even taking them with him for safekeeping, and today they are well-guarded in libraries in Leipzig, London, St. Petersburg, and also in the Monastery of St. Catherine (Sinai). In recent years, thanks to the collaboration of experts and with great financial effort, they have been digitized and made accessible worldwide on the Internet (www.codex-sinaiticus.net).

Tischendorf became famous and honored during his lifetime. For his merits, he received numerous awards, medals, orders, and honorary doctorates from various universities, and he was even ennobled. The University of Leipzig, where he began his studies in theology and languages and which initially rejected his appointment as a professor due to allegedly insufficient language skills, later recognized him as its most worthy teacher. He was celebrated in specialized journals and newspapers as a research traveler and discoverer of valuable manuscripts. He was in contact with numerous scholars and researchers of his time, such as the naturalist Alexander von Humboldt (1769–1859). Even the Prussian King Frederick William IV (1795–1861), who during his reign (1840–1861) ended the persecution of old Lutherans and released Lutheran pastors from prison, took great interest in Tischendorf's travels. It is said that he remarked: “Wherever Tischendorf goes, he finds something.”

The family coat of arms, created in connection with Tischendorf's ennoblement in 1869 by the Russian Tsar Alexander II (1818–1881), clearly points to Tischendorf's origin and life's work. The upper part shows a charcoal burner with a stoking rod. On his mother's side, the family is said to descend from a charcoal burner who played a role in the liberation of Prince Albert after his kidnapping by Kunz von Kaufungen (1455 in Altenburg). The lower part shows an open Bible with the Greek letters Alpha and Omega, the first and last characters of the Greek alphabet. This also recalls Jesus' words in the Revelation of John: “I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end, the first and the last” (Revelation 22:13).

Origin and Education

On January 18, 1815, Tischendorf was born as the ninth of eleven children in Lengenfeld. His full names are Lobegott Friedrich Constantin. His mother, Christiane Eleonore Thomas, born in 1777 in Lengenfeld and deceased in 1836 in Lengenfeld, had been married since 1800 to the forensic physician Dr. med. Johann Christlieb Tischendorf (1772–1835). His father came from an old paper-making family from Greiz. Six of his siblings died in childhood. A particularly close relationship connected Constantin throughout his life with his ten-year-older brother Julius Valentin, who succeeded his father as a forensic physician in Lengenfeld.

In his early years, the talented boy attended the local school in his hometown. After his confirmation, he attended the grammar school in Plauen from 1829 to 1834. The school was reformed under its new rector and vice-rector, gaining a good reputation reflected in increasing student numbers. Here, the creative activities of the students were encouraged and Tischendorf's linguistic talent was fostered. He completed each school year as the top of his class and was rewarded for it. His graduation speech also reveals his poetic talent. Later, he published a small book of poems and another titled “The Young Mystic or The Three Festivities of His Life”. He remained closely connected with the teachers of the grammar school, as shown by a letter he wrote during his first journey to the East in July 1844 from Jerusalem to his former rector Johann Gottlieb Dölling. In his greetings “from the walls of Jerusalem”, he fondly recalls the school in Plauen, where he once was under fatherly care.

At Easter 1834, Tischendorf enrolled at the University of Leipzig and studied theology and philology. In 1838, he completed his studies and earned a doctorate in philology. As was often the case at that time, he did not take up a pastoral position but accepted a position as a private tutor in the household of Pastor Ferdinand Leberecht Zehme (1789–1858) in Großstädteln near Leipzig. There, he fell in love with the pastor's daughter, Angelika Zehme, and secretly got engaged to her. Only after returning from his first journey to the East did they marry in September 1845 and start a family in Leipzig. The couple had eight children. As Tischendorf also possessed artistic talents, he maintained contacts with the famous composers Felix Mendelssohn-Bartholdy and Robert Schumann during his years in Leipzig. Tischendorf and Mendelssohn were immediate neighbors in Leipzig. He contributed to journals edited by the composers.

In Search of Manuscripts

In 1839/40, at just 24 years old, Tischendorf embarked on his first search for ancient biblical manuscripts. This led him to libraries in southern Germany, Switzerland, and Strasbourg. As a result of this study trip, he published the New Testament in Greek, revised according to new methodological principles. The University of Breslau awarded him an honorary doctorate in recognition of this work. With another work on the text of the New Testament, he demonstrated his scientific qualification to teach (habilitation). Consequently, in 1840, he was appointed as a private lecturer at the Faculty of Theology at the University of Leipzig. Attracting the attention of other universities, he was eventually appointed extraordinary professor of theology to retain this already famous teacher in Leipzig.

In the autumn of 1840, he researched the “Codex Ephraemi Rescriptus” in Paris, which was considered unreadable. This is a so-called palimpsest, a parchment manuscript from the 5th century, overwritten in the 12th century with a new text to economize on expensive writing material. One can imagine how difficult it was at that time to accomplish this task without the aids available to us today. Before Tischendorf, others had attempted unsuccessfully. After a university colleague, Professor Florenz Fleck, treated the codex with a chemical, Tischendorf succeeded in deciphering this text with great effort. In 1843 and 1845, the 64 folios with texts from the Old Testament and 145 folios from the New Testament were published for the first time by Tischendorf. One can imagine that this achievement was appreciated and further funds for his research were provided from various sources, without which it would not have been possible.

From Paris, he traveled on to England, Switzerland, and Italy. In Rome, he was particularly interested in the Codex Vaticanus, which is still one of the oldest and most significant manuscripts from the first half of the 4th century, kept under lock and key in the Vatican Library. Tischendorf had only limited access there.

First Journey to the East

In March 1844, Tischendorf embarked from Livorno (a port city at the mouth of the Arno, about 20 km southwest of Pisa) to Alexandria and searched the libraries of Egypt for ancient manuscripts. He then received a tip about the “Monastery of Saint Catherine” on the Sinai Peninsula. It is one of the oldest monasteries and was built in the 6th century AD at the foot of Mount Sinai, where God once spoke to Moses from the burning bush (Exodus 3). This monastery was never destroyed and houses many treasures in the form of precious icons and early Christian writings.

Tischendorf immediately set out with a small caravan through the rugged rocky landscape and finally reached the monastery. High walls protect the monastery from unwanted visitors. Visitors at that time could only be hoisted over the monastery wall in a basket. Tischendorf searched the library, where many old documents and manuscripts with biblical texts and various church fathers' writings were stored haphazardly. The monks were devout but quite uneducated and not interested in reading and organizing the numerous manuscripts.

In a corner of the monastery library, Tischendorf accidentally discovered some parchment sheets in a wastebasket. The scholar pulled out the bundle and immediately recognized that these were parts of an ancient Greek biblical manuscript. Upon closer examination, he found that these sheets belonged to one of the oldest and almost complete biblical manuscripts from the 4th century (later named “Codex Sinaiticus” after its place of discovery). One can imagine how his researcher's heart nearly overflowed with excitement. After long negotiations, the monks finally allowed him to take 43 sheets while they kept the remaining 86 sheets. However, they allowed him to copy the remaining sheets in the monastery.

Overjoyed, Tischendorf returned to Leipzig at the end of 1844 from his successful journey. Before that, he had to undergo a 14-day quarantine in Greece, like all travelers from the East, to prevent the spread of diseases. He used the forced stay to record his travel adventures, which he later published in a book titled “Journey to the East”. From Jerusalem, he had already announced in a letter to his brother that he would visit his hometown at Christmas and preach in the church on Christmas Day.

One can vividly imagine the anticipation with which the widely traveled and now famous son of the city was awaited. Although there was no radio or television at that time, newspapers reported on his long journeys and discoveries. His Christmas sermon impressed the listeners so much that his friends asked him to publish it. Tischendorf gladly complied with this request. Today, the well-founded Christmas sermon can be read in the Tischendorf Reader: “Biblical Research in Travel Adventures”.

The sheets brought as a gift from the Sinai monastery were handed over to the University Library in Leipzig after their publication. However, Tischendorf did not reveal the source of this find. He did not want hordes of “researchers” to set out in search of the other parchment sheets to besiege the monastery and beat him to publication. Before him, an Italian naturalist had written about this codex, and shortly after his first stay at the monastery, the Russian archimandrite Porfirij Unspenskij (1804–1885) had the sheets in his hands without recognizing their significance.

Meanwhile, the University of Leipzig had offered Tischendorf an extraordinary professorship. In 1859, he became a full professor of theology and biblical paleography. His lectures at the faculty were not only attended by students. Many inquisitive experts from other fields of research also attended. Even the later nihilist and philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche was part of the interested audience during his stay in Leipzig.

Further Journeys to the East

In 1853, Tischendorf, with the support of the Saxon government, embarked on a second journey to the Monastery of Saint Catherine on Sinai, unfortunately without success. The monks could or would not provide any information about the remaining sheets of the codex.

In 1859, he finally set out on a third journey to the East, this time commissioned by the Russian government. He wanted to search again for the missing sheets in the monastery. Again, it seemed he would have no success. No one could tell him where the remaining sheets were. Then, on the evening of February 4, a monastery steward casually pointed out some parchment manuscripts. Tischendorf was almost speechless! What he held in his hands were not only the sought-after remaining 86 sheets of the codex but also another 260 sheets that contained the complete New Testament, written around 350 AD. “I had tears in my eyes, and my heart was gripped as never before,” he wrote to his wife. The monks, of course, did not want to give up the sheets. But how could he make this treasure accessible to biblical research?

After long and arduous negotiations, it was agreed that Tischendorf could take the sheets to Cairo to copy them in a monastery of the same order there. A strenuous task! However, he received help from a doctor and a pharmacist who knew Greek and whom he had met in Cairo. Meanwhile, the attitude of the monks in the Sinai monastery also changed. They were now willing to gift the sheets to the Russian Tsar. The monastery belonged to the Eastern Orthodox churches and was therefore under the supervision of the Tsar. The Tsar had co-financed Tischendorf's third journey. The handover did not take place until ten years later. In return, the monastery received 9,000 gold rubles.

In this matter, Tischendorf was repeatedly accused of dishonesty and even of stealing the codex. In the museum of the Sinai monastery, a plaque still claims this to this day. However, this has been refuted. Recent research has shown that Tischendorf acted honestly and uprightly. In the course of the research project, the old files from the Tsar's archive have resurfaced in Moscow, including the donation deed from the monastery to the Tsar from 1869 with the monastery's seal and the signatures of the monks. The Russians have also published the donation deed and other documents related to the acquisition history of the Codex Sinaiticus on the Internet, where anyone can verify them.

However, in 1933, Stalin sold almost all the sheets of the codex for just over 100,000 pounds to the British Museum in London to obtain foreign currency. There, the people of London could see the unique treasure for weeks in display cases. The German collaborator on the Codex Sinai Project, Prof. Christfried Böttrich from Greifswald, made it clear in his latest report on the history of the Codex Sinaiticus, in an enlightening documentation, that Tischendorf was not only a gifted researcher but also an honorable man to whom we owe the discovery of this approximately 1,700-year-old biblical manuscript. It is understandable that the monastery lamented the loss of these valuable manuscripts. However, they now know how to handle other equally valuable manuscripts with greater care and have conserved and securely stored the books and individual pieces in the monastery library. It would be desirable to stop the false accusations against Tischendorf and focus instead on the editing and publication of the Codex Sinaiticus.

The Publication of the Codex Sinaiticus

Tischendorf dedicated himself entirely to this important task in the years following the spectacular discovery. With tireless diligence and great conscientiousness, he continued the work on the New Testament text. He compared and evaluated the existing manuscripts. In numerous lectures, he reported on his research travels and the discoveries made. He made Leipzig a center of New Testament research. In 1859, the university established a chair specifically for this purpose, which continued to be filled after his death. In 1862, a deluxe edition of the Codex Sinaiticus was published for the first time.

Tischendorf continuously worked on new editions of the Greek New Testament to improve them. The highlight is undoubtedly the famous “Editio octava critica maior” from 1869-1872. With this, he was able to improve the text in over 3,000 places compared to previous Bible editions. It is still considered a standard work in the critical text work of the New Testament. Today, it is often criticized that Tischendorf overvalued the Codex Sinaiticus in his publications and did not give the “Textus receptus”, as it existed since the 16th and 17th centuries and was used by Luther for his translation, the rank it deserved. However, it is entirely understandable that, in his discoverer's enthusiasm, Tischendorf based the Greek edition of the New Testament on the Codex Sinaiticus. He worked strictly scientifically, including variants of other manuscripts in the apparatus so that everyone could evaluate the textual witnesses and form their own judgment. Even before him, some textual researchers recognized the weaknesses of the “Textus receptus”, which Tischendorf corrected with his new editions. Therefore, it is exaggerated for some biblicist circles today to consider the “Textus receptus” as inspired and as the only valid basis for translations. The current editions of the Greek New Testament have taken up and continued Tischendorf's work, providing a reliable working text.

Textual Research or Biblical Criticism?

Tischendorf's textual research or textual criticism should not be confused with “biblical criticism”. Biblical criticism understands the transmitted biblical texts as testimonies of different time and cultural epochs. With a wealth of diverse and often contradictory hypotheses, it attempts to decipher the supposedly original meaning of a text. This “historical-critical method” was developed as a result of the Enlightenment by the so-called Tübingen School under Ferdinand Christian Baur (1792–1860) and adopted and developed by many other interpreters of the Bible (literary criticism, redaction criticism, transmission criticism, form criticism, and tradition criticism). Despite many contradictions and subjective judgments, this method is still adhered to today. It has had devastating effects on biblical interpretation and preaching. Crucial salvific truths are reinterpreted based on questionable theories, and the foundations of the Christian faith are destroyed.

Tischendorf opposed the liberal theologian Adolf Hilgenfeld (1823–1907) from Jena in his time, who, as a representative of the Tübingen School, with his “literary criticism”, questioned the authenticity of the Gospels. As editor of the Journal for Scientific Theology, he published his critical theories with others. However, he could not support these theories with testimonies from the church fathers or other writings. Tischendorf considered this approach completely wrong and in contradiction with solid textual research. He proceeded scientifically by attempting to get as close as possible to the original text. He was well aware that many ancient biblical manuscripts had been lost, especially during the Christian persecutions when manuscripts were irretrievably destroyed. This changed only in 313 AD under Emperor Constantine. Therefore, for evaluating a textual variant, not only the number of manuscript witnesses but also their age and transmission play a role.

Basically, it can be stated that, despite all the textual variants, which often concern only minor details, the content of the Bible could not be questioned. Despite the mass of later-found manuscripts, it is highly unlikely that even in individual cases, meaning-changing corrections need to be made. Thus, Tischendorf's critical textual work confirmed the reliability of the transmission of the biblical text.

In his search for ancient biblical texts, Tischendorf also came across numerous apocryphal writings, which he made accessible in collections. Among his exegetical writings, two became particularly popular: “When Were Our Gospels Written?” (1865) and “The Authenticity of Our Gospels” (1869).

Last Years in Adversity

The success of his great discoveries and manuscript research brought Tischendorf not only praise and recognition but also attracted some opponents and critics who wanted to dispute his fame. Among them was the already mentioned Russian Oriental expert Porfirij Uspenskij. He had traveled several times to the East and visited the monastery on Sinai. There, he had held the 346 folios of the codex in his hands before Tischendorf but did not recognize their value. Only when the “Lutheran professor” appeared at the Russian Tsar's court in 1862 with his folios and pointed out their unique value did Uspenskij claim the discovery's fame for himself. Finally, he tried to question the orthodoxy of the Codex Sinaiticus in a pamphlet to prevent its publication by Tischendorf. However, he was not successful. This obviously false claim was refuted in writing by the Russian Minister of Education and scholar Avraam Norov. Later, Tischendorf also responded to the false accusation. Thus, the relationship between the two researchers remained quite tense.

From England, the Greek Constantin Simonides claimed that he himself had written the Codex Sinaiticus discovered by Tischendorf in a monastery on Mount Athos, using various sources. Tischendorf exposed this claim as an obvious lie. However, one can imagine that such brazen lies were picked up and spread by the press, as they made for sensational headlines. Incidentally, Constantin Simonides also caused a stir in other cases with forgeries in the scholarly world. Therefore, he went down in history as the greatest forger of the 19th century.

Tischendorf's last years were overshadowed by a personal conflict. In the summer of 1871, he participated in a delegation of the Evangelical Alliance to Russia to advocate before Tsar Alexander II for persecuted Lutherans in the Russian eastern provinces. Unfortunately, this mission was unsuccessful. In a publication, Tischendorf was blamed for the mission's failure. He defended himself with a counterstatement, leading to further disputes. In the end, Tischendorf could not respond due to health reasons, leaving the dispute unresolved.

A stroke confined him to bed in the summer of 1873. Tischendorf died on December 7, 1874, a few weeks before his 60th birthday. He was buried with great attendance at the Johannis Cemetery in Leipzig. A detailed report on this has been published.

All controversies and hostilities cannot diminish Tischendorf's fame and merits. On the contrary, with great zeal and diligence, he dedicated himself to researching ancient biblical texts, sparing no effort or hardships. The discovery of the Codex Sinaiticus in the Monastery of Saint Catherine and its publication are inseparably linked to his name. He proceeded with great expertise and set new standards in evaluating biblical manuscripts. An exhibition at the University Library of Leipzig in the venerable Bibliotheca Albertina in 2011 recalled Tischendorf's life achievements as one of the most important scientists of the 19th century.

Literature: Besides the already mentioned literature, I am grateful for contributions and cooperation from Alexander Schick (Sylt/www.bibelausstellung.de) and Friedrich Machold from Lengenfeld.

Hans-Wolf Baumann

(The author was pastor of the Evangelical Lutheran Free Church in Hartenstein from 1970 to 2008 and professor of Old Testament at the Lutheran Theological Seminary in Leipzig from 1989 to 2007. He is from Lengenfeld/V. and lives there in retirement.)

Source: Theological Handbook and Information 2015/1

New publication: Alexander Schick, Tischendorf and the Oldest Bible in the World – The Discovery of the Codex Sinaiticus in the Monastery of Saint Catherine, Jota Publications, ISBN: 9783935707800, 19.95 euros.

[1] Codex = ursprünglich ein Gesetzbuch, später allgemein für „alte Handschrift“.

[2] Dr. Alfred Lindner hat über Tischendorfs Abstammung und seine Familie einen ausführlichen Beitrag in der Mitteilung des Roland Dresden geschrieben (Verein zur Förderung der Stamm-, Wappen- und Siegelkunde e.V. und der Sächs. Stiftung für Familienforschung 12, 1927, S. 71-77).

[3] Dieser Brief befindet sich mit einer Transkription in der Handschriftensammlung des Stadtarchivs von Plauen.

[4] Palimpsest = eine abradierte und wieder beschriebene Handschrift.

[5] Aus der Feder des syrischen Kirchenvaters Ephraem (306-373).

[6] Herausgegeben von Christfried Böttrich, Leipzig EVA 1999.

[7] Paläografie = Lehre von den alten Schriften und Büchern.

[8]www.nlr.ru/eng/exib/CodexSinaiticus/zah/

[9] Chr. Böttrich, Der Jahrhundertfund, Entdeckung und Geschichte des Codex Sinaiticus, Leipzig EVA 2011.

[10] Textus receptus = der allgemein anerkannte Text.

[11] Nestle-Aland, Novum Testamentum Graece, 28. Auflage.

[12] Am Sarge und Grabe des Dr. th .Constantin von Tischendorf, gestorben am 7., bestattet am 10. Dec. 1874, Fünf Reden und Ansprachen, nebst einem Rückblick auf das Leben und einem Verzeichnis sämtlicher Druckwerke des Verstorbenen, Leipzig 1875.

[13] Im Internet unter: http://www.ub.uni-leipzig.de/tischendorf/thema.html