World's oldest Bible published on the Internet

The surviving parts of the world's oldest Bible have been recovered and will be published online on Monday, seen as a key to unlocking its mysteries by biblical scholars.

Almost 800 pages of the 1,600-year-old Codex Sinaiticus, written in the fourth century on animal skin, have been pieced together and published as digital images online after a four-year collaboration between institutions in Britain, Germany, Egypt and Russia.

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

"The Codex Sinaiticus is one of the world's greatest written treasures," Dr Scot McKendrick, head of Western manuscripts at the British Library, said, adding the fact that the document was now online meant the future held plenty of research opportunities.

"This 1,600-year-old manuscript offers a window into the development of early Christianity and first-hand evidence of how the text of the Bible was transmitted from generation to generation," McKendrick said.

This 1,600-year-old manuscript offers a window into the development of early Christianity and first-hand evidence of how the text of the Bible was transmitted from generation to generation

Dr Scot McKendrick

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

"The Codex ...is arguably the oldest large bound book to have survived," said McKendrick, pointing out that each page is 16 inches tall by 14 inches wide.

Codex Sinaiticus, along with the Codex Vaticanus, is considered the world's oldest Bible and was previously kept in a Sinai monastery until it was found in 1844 and split between Egypt, Russia, Germany and Britain.

The manuscript, which was written by a number of people around the time of Constantine the Great, has been made available at the Codex Sinaiticus website and the British Library is marking the achievement with an exhibition from July to September.

In 2008 the British Library published the Book of Psalms and St Mark's Gospel online.

The Codex ...is arguably the oldest large bound book to have survived

McKendrick