To receive daily emails from Breaking Christian News to your inbox CLICK HERE

St. Catherine's Monastery, the world's oldest, plans to use technology to bring a greater understanding of some of the earliest Christian texts, including some pages from the oldest surviving Bible. The Codex Sinaiticus, written between 330 and 350 AD, is believed to be one of 50 copies of the Scriptures commissioned by the Roman Emperor Constantine.

The process, known as "hyper-spectral imaging," photographs the pages at various wavelengths of light, enhancing text that has faded over time. It is hoped that the technique will allow scholars to better understand corrections that were made to the ancient Bible.

Monastery librarian, Father Justin, explained, "If you look at all the corrections made by each scribe, then you can come out with a principle on which he was correcting the text."

St. Catherine's had once loaned the bulk of the manuscript to a German scholar who promised to return it, but never did, the Bible later being sold to the British library in 1933. In 1975, the monks discovered 12 pages and 15 fragments of the Codex Sinaiticus hidden under a collapsed ceiling with thousands of other parchment leaves.

In addition to the ancient Bible, the hyper-spectral imaging technique will be used in hopes of viewing another writing in the monastery's possession, the Codex Syriacus, a faint copy of the 2nd century translation of the Gospels of the New Testament.

The Codex Syriacus is in the form of 5th century text that lies underneath some 8th century writing on parchment. Chemicals were once applied to the document by scholars which made the underlying text temporarily visible, but it also made the parchment brittle. The new technology would be a safer way to view the text without damaging the manuscript.

To receive daily emails from Breaking Christian News to your inbox CLICK HERE

Egyptian Farmer's Find Reveals Giant Statue of Pharaoh Linked to Biblical Exodus

Elon Musk Wows the World: Unveils Flying Tesla Roadster at SpaceX Texas Site

Illegal Alien Busted Allegedly Hauling Enough Fentanyl To Potentially Kill State's Entire Population—Twice

Trump's Fraud Task Force Recovers Nearly $6 Billion While Targeting Medicare/Medicaid Duplicate Coverage

Now More Than Ever, the Survival of the Constitution Is on the Ballot

Turnout Surge among GOP Seniors Could Be Midterm's Biggest Surprise

Fact Check: Breaking Down Talarico's Claims at CNN Town Hall

Prayer Alert: Deadly Oregon Elementary School Shooting Could've Been Worse, But For Heroic Armed Bystander Who Stopped Teen Gunman

'I Still Can't Believe What God Did!' 550 Baptized in Freezing Waters of England

Christian Mom Fights Homeschool Battle: 'Government Cannot Exclude Religious People' (Video)

Facts Don't Lie: Republicans Dominate 5 Financially Healthiest State Governments, Democrats Run the 5 Worst

Social Security to Grant 3.6% Cost-of-Living Boost

491 Fugitives—'Dangerous Drug Traffickers, Rapists, and Sex Offenders'—Hiding in Public Housing Arrested in Nationwide Sweep

What We Know About the Omar Raid and the Allegations Behind It

President Trump Says Pentagon Won't Livestream Execution of Fort Hood Shooter

Virginia, Colorado Suspend Medicaid Coverage of Trans Procedures for Minors after Federal Rule Takes Effect

Dallas Cowboys QB Dak Prescott Says God's at Center of Team Culture: 'That's Who I Am' (Video)

Pope Leo Diagnosed with Cancer Following Surgery to Remove a Third of His Right Lung

Victor Davis Hanson: Genocide Hypocrites

FBI Arrests OpenAI Engineer Over a Hidden Listening Device

Steve Shultz, Managing Editor
Founder and Owner

Aimee Herd, Editor