A rare ancient manuscript that contained the oldest complete versions of two books of the Bible and is said to have “revolutionized the study of Christianity” sold at auction on Tuesday for nearly $3.9 million.
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The manuscript, known as the Crosby-Schøyen Codex, dates back to the “middle third century into fourth century,” and was found buried in a jar in the sands of Egypt in the early 1950s by two farmers. In addition to containing one of the earliest and most complete texts of Melito’s tractate on the Passover and one of the earliest witnesses of Maccabees in any language, the manuscript includes the oldest complete versions of 1 Peter and Jonah and is widely considered to be a Christian lectionary for the Easter season.
“This codex is a self-consciously assembled compilation of texts,” said Eugenio Donadoni, a senior specialist in books and manuscripts at Christie’s London, which hosted the auction. “Particularly significant for celebrating one of the earliest Easters and for its connection to monastic communities in Upper Egypt.”
According to the auction listing, the Book of 1 Peter is considered a “baptismal homily appropriate to the Easter season,” while the Book of Jonah was “perceived as a prefiguration of the Easter story: the three days and three nights Jonah spends inside the whale were seen as a Christological foreshadowing of the death and resurrection of Christ.”
The manuscript was written on papyrus and put together in book or pamphlet form. It is believed to have been scribed by a religious monk, which was a new practice in the world at the time. St. Pachomius was the author of the first cenobitic rule for Christians in the early 300s, and the scribe may have been one of his followers. The book was originally expected to sell for $2.6 million to $3.8 million.
“This is the oldest known book in private hands, and at the same time one of the oldest books in existence,” Mr. Donadoni said. “There is evidence that codices existed earlier, but none has survived. That makes this a unique object in the history of Christianity and of information technology.”
“The Codex is of monumental importance,” he added. “It tells us about the spread of the new faith within a few generations of the life of Christ, and little more than 100 years after the last gospel was written.”
The Crosby-Schøyen Codex was purchased by an undisclosed buyer after previously being owned by Norwegian businessman and rare book collector Martin Schøyen.
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Marissa Mayer is a writer and editor with more than 10 years of professional experience. Her work has been featured in Christian Post, The Daily Signal, and Intellectual Takeout. Mayer has a B.A. in English with an emphasis in Creative Writing from Arizona State University.