The Testimony of Constantine Simonides who claimed to be the author of Codex Sinaiticus

I haven't seen Tares Among the Wheat yet, it must be in my mailbox, hope to get out there soon, but meanwhile Chris Pinto is doing some radio shows giving information about one of the most interesting parts of the film for some of us: the claim by Greek paleographer Constantine Simonides that he was the actual maker of the manuscript Codex Sinaiticus, which is one of the "Alexandrian" texts used by Westcott and Hort in their revision of the Bible in 1881.  

On today's show Chris reads from a letter Simonides wrote to the British newspaper The Guardian explaining how he came to create the manuscript: The First Letter of Simonides.  There was a lengthy exchange of letters and discussion in other publications on this subject that lasted a few years starting in 1862.  Chris reads from a book that contains the whole exchange, titled Codex Sinaiticus and the Simonides Affair. Unfortunately the book is not available online and is extremely expensive to buy outright.

Codex Sinaiticus had been presented as an authentic ancient manuscript by Constantine von Tischendorf, and when Simonides saw it publicized he came forward to tell his story.  He wasn't believed and the Codex is today revered as authentic and is used in the critical texts that underlie our modern Bibles. 

Simonides is usually represented as a professional forger and his testimony about this manuscript is treated as fraudulent but from the sound of it, as Chris Pinto reads his letter on his show, the man is quite credible.  He gives all sorts of particular circumstances connected with his claim -- names, dates, specifics concerning events, even the fact that he had to write around a worm hole in the parchment.

The worm hole is particularly telling it seems to me, since if the manuscript is really as ancient as is claimed by the textual critics, it would originally have been written on fresh parchment and the hole would have eaten into the writing itself later, but apparently it is quite clear that the writing was done around the hole, showing that the parchment was already old when the writing was done, which is consistent with Simonides' testimony.

There will be more on this subject on Chris Pinto's radio show on Monday, so I plan to keep adding to this information.