by Gertrude Burford Rawlings
New York D.Appleton and Company 1901
Greek, to which the name of ΛΟΤΙΑ ΙΗΣΟΥ, or Sayings of our Lord, has been given. This leaf is at present
assigned to a date between 150 and 300 A.D. The Logia are eight in number, and while three of them are
closely similar to certain passages in the Gospels, the rest are new. Another valuable document was the
fragment of St. Matthew's Gospel alluded to above, which, written in the third century, is a hundred years
older than any New Testament manuscript hitherto known. Classical documents also were found in great
numbers, and included a new Ode of Sappho, which, however, is unfortunately imperfect. It was
transcribed probably about the third century A.D.
Many Coptic, Syriac, and Arabic manuscripts have been recovered from the numerous monasteries of
Palestine, Asia Minor, and Egypt. Several travelers who have managed to overcome the suspicion of the
monks and their unwillingness to open their literary hoards to strangers, or to part with any of the
volumes, have found immense numbers of books hidden under dust and rubbish in vaults and cellars or
stowed away in chests, where they were probably thrust at some time when danger threatened them.
Books written in these monasteries themselves in earlier days, or brought thither from other monasteries
further east, have thus lain forgotten or neglected for centuries, or, if they were noticed at all, it was only
that they might be put to some ignoble use.
Thus some were found acting as covers to two large jars which had formerly held preserves. “I was
allowed to purchase these vellum manuscripts," says the author of Monasteries of the Levant, "as they
were considered to be useless by the monks, principally, I believe, because there were no more preserves
in the jars." In another case some large volumes were found in use as footstools to protect the bare feet
of the monks from the cold stone floor of their chapel.
As we have already seen, Christian scribes not only preserved the writings of the Fathers of the Church,
as well as the Holy Scriptures, but also directed much of their attention to the classic works of poetry and
philosophy. In every monastery from Ireland to Asia Minor, from Seville to Jerusalem, the work of
transcribing and transmitting sacred and secular literature was carried on, and had we at the present day
one half of the fruits of this labour we should be rich indeed. But we have also seen that many causes
have contributed to the destruction of old writings, of which carelessness and ignorance are by
no means the least.
The well-known story of Tischendorf's discovery of the oldest copy of the New Testament in existence, in
a basket of fuel at a monastery near Mount Sinai is but a single example, and that a modern one, of the
dangers to which these ancient books were liable, and to which they too often fell victims. The danger
was long ago recognized, however, and a canon of the third Council of Constantinople, held in 719 A.D.,
enacted "That nobody whatever be allowed to injure the book of the Old and New Testament, or those of
our holy preachers and doctors, nor to cut them up, nor to give them to dealers in books, or perfumers,
or any other person to be erased, except they have been rendered useless by moths or water or in some
other way. He who shall do any such thing shall be excommunicated for one year." The same Council also
ordered the burning of heretical books.
With the revival of learning in the fourteenth century there came an awakened interest in ancient writings.
They were eagerly sought for in the monasteries of Europe, and the learned of Italy were especially
instrumental in recovering the neglected classical works. It has been said that almost all the classical
authors were discovered or rediscovered either in Italy or through the researches of Italians. Petrarch,
with whose name the Renaissance is inseparably associated, and a contemporary of our Richard de Bury,
took great pains to form a collection of the works of Cicero, whose Epistles he was fortunate enough to
rescue from destroying oblivion.
He tells us that when he met strangers, and they asked him what he desired from their country, he would
reply," Nothing, but the works of Cicero." He also sent money to France, Germany, Spain, Greece, and
England that these books might be bought for him, and if while traveling he came across any ancient
monastery he would turn aside and explore its book treasures.
Poggio Bracciolini, a learned Italian of the fifteenth century, has also made himself famous by his ardent
pursuit of the remains of classical literature, and by aiding the interest in them which the Renaissance had
awakened. He searched Europe for manuscripts to such a good purpose that he unearthed a valuable
text of Quintilian's Institutes, "almost perishing at the bottom of a dark neglected tower," in the
monastery of St. Gall, and recovered many other classical writings by his industry, including some of the
Orations of Cicero; Lucretius; Manilius, and others. He also rescued the writings of Tertullian.
We may perhaps believe that even by this time the surviving treasures of the old storehouses of
literature have not yet been all brought to light. Renan discovered in the large collection of manuscripts
still preserved in the monastery of Monte Casino in Italy, some unpublished pages of Abelard's Theologia
Christiana, and other valuable finds besides, and it is quite possible that many more surprises are
awaiting an enterprising and diligent searcher.