1500 year-old ‘ Syriac ‘ Bible found in Ankara, Turkey : Vatican in shock !
The relic was 'rediscovered' in the depositum of Ankaran Justice Palace, the ancient version of bible is believed to be written in Syriac, a dialect of the native language of Jesus.
The bible was already in custody of Turkish authorities after having been seized in 2000 in an operation in Mediterranean area in Turkey.
The gang of smugglers had been charged with smuggling antiquities, illegal excavations and the possession of explosives and went to trial. Turkish police testified in a court hearing they believe the manuscript in the bible could be about 1500 to 2000 years old.After waiting eight years in Ankara the ancient bible is being transferred to the Ankaran Ethnography Museum with a police escort.
Ancient Bible will be shown in Ankaran Ethnography Museum
The bible, whose copies are valued around 3-4 Mil. Dollars had been transferred to Ankara for safety reasons, since no owners of the ancient relic could be found.
The manuscript carries excerpts of the Bible written in gold lettering on leather and loosely strung together, with lines of Syriac script with Aramaic dialect. Turkish authorities express the bible is a cultural asset and should be protected for being worthy of a museum.
Ancient Bible in Aramaic dialected Syriac rediscovered in Turkey
Syriac is a dialect of Aramaic – the native language of Jesus – once spoken across much of the Middle East and Central Asia. It is used wherever there are Syrian Christians and still survives in the Syrian Orthodox Church in India and a village in the vicinity of Syrian capital Damascus. Aramaic is also still used in religious rituals of Maronite Christians in Cyprus.
Experts were however divided over the provenance of the manuscript, and whether it was an original, which would render it priceless, or a fake. Other questions surround the discovery of the ancient bible, whether the smugglers had had other copies of the relic or had smuggled them from Turkey.
Vatican eyes the faith of the ancient relic
The Vatican reportedly placed an official request to examine the scripture, which was written on pages made of animal hide in the Aramaic language using the Syriac alphabet.
The copy of the ancient Bible is valued as high as 40 million Turkish Liras ( 28 Mil. Dollars)
Why is the dollar value so significant and why do you say the Vatican is in shock? What I want to know is the significance of this artifact in the history of the Bible.
The most important part of it is seeing how it compares to other old manuscript copies of books of the Bible. We already know from the Dead Sea Scrolls that the Bible is virtually unchanged since it was written.
Aramaic is also the language of the Babylonian Talmud, and studied daily by Jews.
No matter what, every view of God seems to have somewhere where peace and caring are most important. To see people who are ‘ enlightened ‘ fight and attack over the very item that would say not to seems a contradiction to the very basis of their own religion and beliefs. I hope this bible’s only words that are legible encourage all to peace, goodwill and caring. 🙂 Best wishes to all of you.
I really don’t think that The Vatican would be shocked because it KNOWS that Jesus spoke a local language there and that the earliest Christians were from this area!
It is Assyrian for sure. I can read it. Nothing to do with Islam!
The language of the Chaldeans.
I find it interesting. Upon reading many of the comments here, this has done it’s job in stirring up faith, imaginations, hate, belief, and disbelief. I imagine it would make the vatican nervous. Just like the remnants of the letters of Kefa/Peter that are of the 1st century that are written in Aramaic also got the vatican nervous. What will be of interest is the testing of the materials used to find a rough age. As one asked if the materials used were available back then? Of course. Golden inks were used for thousands of years before the Messiah. So, once the materials used can be dated, then we can see what the text reads and do the comparison older texts of the similar languages. So, until then, all of the rest of these speculations are just that, speculations. Speculations that are fueled by whatever is motivating the writers. Be it faith, jealousy, hate, fear, etc. Emotions, that is all that I see written here, save a few who have a more scholarly interest. So, until it is tested and translated, shalom.
I hope that the turkish people will realize how precious this book may be to those who believe their Bibles. I pray they will carefully photograph all of it and release those photos to the world.
the writing is the real thing
if you want to i can write down in western letters, what is written there
im shocked. im Aramean and hope, that this bible gonna belong his place. In a monastery or wherever.
Amazing find. If it is found to be authentic it will actually be priceless.
And yet, they are holding the priceless relic open with an open paper clip…lol (lower right hand corner of book)
From an esoteric perspective Jesus “The Christ” was an initiate of The fourth grade (the highest you can attain in a physical body) and so the purest and closest to God/Allah. Gautama ‘the Buddha'(which means the enlightened one) was a third degree initiate while the prophet Muhammed was only a second degree initiate (although after his death he corrected his mistakes and was raisedtto a third initiate). All the rest are man-made religions who claim to be the ‘only true one’. So the truth is always moderate. I respect all Muslims and don’t demonise them but I hope that one day they may encounter the incredible love and mercy of the Christ. This is a mystical process and goes above all religious laws. Peace to all!
I hope the b e a s t church I mean Vatican doesn’t get their hands on it. They perverted the Sabbath and everything else so God only knows what they would do to burry this copy.