5th-century Gospel manuscript sold at auction for €1.5 million

Pages of the Gospel sold at auction. Photo: ekhokavkaza.com

Georgian billionaire Bidzina Ivanishvili, honorary chairman of the ruling party "Georgian Dream", acquired a 5th-7th century Gospel manuscript at Christie's auction in London for £1.5 million.

The manuscript by the 10th-century Georgian monk John-Zosimas, based on a 5th-7th century Scripture text, was sold for £1.25 million, according to the auction's website.

This is the so-called Sinai Rescriptus, Codex Sinaiticus Rescriptus, written on parchment in Aramaic and Georgian, consisting of 70 leaves.

The manuscript was auctioned in a 10th-century binding created in the Monastery of Saint Catherine on Sinai – the earliest known signed and dated manuscript binding.

The manuscript contains the earliest textual evidence of the Gospel in an Aramaic dialect closest to the one spoken by Jesus Christ. The texts were also rewritten by John-Zosimas in Georgian.

The palimpsest was auctioned under the label "Masterpieces from the Schøyen Collection" – the collection of Norwegian traveler and historian of the last century. His collection is considered the largest collection of ancient manuscripts in the world, numbering more than 13,000 items, the oldest of which is about 5,000 years old.

Bidzina Ivanishvili plans to donate it to the Georgian National Museum.

Previously, the UOJ reported that scientists deciphered the oldest fragment of the apocryphal "Gospel of Thomas".

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