News: Manuscripts at Saint Catherine's

For at least the past five years, reports have circulated about the contents of palimpsests (recycled manuscripts) that were discovered in 1975 at Saint Catherine’s monastery.  National Geographic, Smithsonian Magazine, The Atlantic, ScienceBlog, Ancient-Origins, and the BBC have all told readers that major research is underway that involves ancient manuscripts and expensive manuscript-reading equipment. 

            Now the Sinai Palimpsests Project has a website, and visitors can easily get some sense of the scale of the work that is being done with the (relatively) newly discovered manuscripts.  The manuscripts at Saint Catherine’s include all kinds of compositions:  ancient medicine-recipes, patristic sermons, poems, liturgical instruction-books, Old Testament books, and much more. 

Fifteen continuous-text Greek manuscripts are among the newly discovered palimpsests.  All but one of these New Testament manuscripts have been given production-dates in the 500s or earlier.

Also among the new discoveries:

● Syriac manuscripts of Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, Acts, and some of the Pauline Epistles from the 400s and 500s.

● Various New Testament books (including all four Gospels) written in Christian Palestinian Aramaic (formerly known as “Jerusalem Syriac”) from 500-700.

● A substantial manuscript of the Gospel of John in Caucasian Albanian (a virtually extinct language).

● A Latin copy of Mark in insular cursive from the 700s (implying a link between some manuscripts at St. Catherine’s monastery and some manuscripts subsequently used in Ireland). 

            So many of the palimpsests have been assigned production-dates in the 500s that it is tempting to surmise that what we are looking at here is part of a library that was donated to the monastery on the occasion of its official founding by Byzantine Emperor Justinian in 530.  

            Here is a list of most of the New Testament materials that are among the texts being studied by scholars associated with the Sinai Palimpsests Project and the Early Manuscripts Electronic Library.  Some materials are from the New Finds; some have been in the monastery’s library for a long time.  In this list, a “page” = a single side of a two-sided leaf.  Dates are approximate unless based on a colophon.  Yellow-highlighted texts are Greek New Testament materials.

● Arabic 514.  The copyists who made this manuscript recycled

Six pages of the Protevangelium of James in Syriac,

54 pages of the Gospel of Matthew, 

Eight pages of Acts,

Four pages of Hebrews,

Eight pages of Colossians,

88 pages from the Gospel of John (chapters 1-8, 12, and 17-21),

Six pages from First Timothy,

Two pages from Second Thessalonians,

Two pages from Ephesians, and

Two pages from the Gospel of John (chapters 5 and 6) in Syriac. 

The texts in these recycled pages are all in Syriac, and all have been assigned to the 500s.

● Arabic 588.  The copyists who made this manuscript recycled

Eight pages from the Infancy Gospel of Thomas, in Syriac. 500s.

11 pages from the Protevangelium of James, in Syriac.  500s.

● Arabic NF 28.   The copyists who made this manuscript of the Four Gospels in Arabic (Kufic script) in 850-900 (16 folios intact) recycled

20 pages of Exodus in Greek.  500s.

12 pages of Genesis in Greek.  500s.

● Arabic NF 8.  The copyists who made this manuscript of the Four Gospels in Arabic (Kufic script) in 850-900 recycled

            18 pages from a copy of Recipes for different diseases, a Greek medical text.  400-600.

            12 pages from a copy of Hippocrates, De diaeta I-IV, a Greek medical text.  500-600.

Four pages from a copy of Hippocrates, De morbis popularibus (Epidemiae), in Greek.  500-600. 

Eight pages from a copy of Hippocrates, Letters, a Greek medical text.  500s.

56 pages from a Greek copy of the Gospel of John.  500s.

18 pages from a Greek copy of the Gospel of Matthew.  500s.

Four pages from a Greek copy of Genesis.  500s.

12 pages from a Greek copy of Exodus.  500s.

Four pages from a Greek copy of Ecclesiasticus.  500s.

13 pages from a Latin copy of the Gospel of Mark (in insular cursive minuscule script).  700s.

Two pages from a Latin copy of Revelation (in half uncial script).  500s.

One page from a Latin copy of the Gospel of Luke (in Latin majuscule).  500s.

[115v of Arabic NF8 shows Greek letter from underwriting.]

[124r of Arabic NF 8 shows Greeks letters from underwriting in blank space.]

[The last page of Arabic NF 8 shows Greek letters from underwriting in blank space.]

  

● CPA NF frg. 12.  The copyists who made this manuscript of Psalms in 800-1000 (12 folios) recycled 24 pages of the book of Psalms in Christian Palestinian Aramaic (henceforth “CPA”).  500s-700s.

● CPA NF frg. 13.  The copyists who made this manuscript recycled one page from a copy of the Gospel of John in CPA.  1100s.

● CPA NF frg. 16. The copyists who made this manuscript recycled

Two folios from the Gospel of Luke (ch. 18) in CPA.  600s. 

Four pages from the Gospel of Luke in CPA.  400-700.

Two pages from the Gospel of Luke in Georgian.  Late 900s.

● CPA NF frg. 7.  The copyists of this manuscript of John Chrysostom’s Homily on the Prodigal Son, in CPA (7 folios) recycled eight pages from the Gospel of Luke, in CPA, 500-700.

● Georgian 10.  The copyists of this Georgian Apostolos (266 folios from 1000-1100) recycled 16 pages of a lectionary (Jerusalem type) in Georgian.  800-900.

● Georgian 49.  The copyists of this Georgian Menaion (119 folios from the 1200s) recycled

Four pages of the Gospel of Matthew, in Syriac.  500s.

Six pages of the Gospel of Mark, in Syriac.  500s.

Four pages of the Gospel of Matthew, in Syriac.  500s.

Six pages from the Life of Saint Pelagia, in Syriac.  500-700.

Ten pages from the Gospel of Mark, in Greek.  500s.

Two pages from the Gospel of John, in Greek.  500s.

Two pages from the Gospel of Luke, in Syriac.  800s.

Two pages from the Gospel of Matthew, in Syriac.  800s.

● Georgian NF 13.  The copyists of this Georgian collection of saints’ biographies from the 900s-1100 (107 folios) recycled

75 pages of the Gospel of John in Caucasian Albanian.  600-800.

90 pages of a lectionary, mainly from the New Testament, in Caucasian Albanian.  600-800.

Some pages of the Pauline Epistles in Georgian (Asomtavruli script).  600s.

12 pages of the Pauline Epistles in Armenian (Erkatagit script).  700-900. 

● Georgian NF 19.  The copyist who made this Georgian manuscript in 980 (61 folios) recycled

            Two pages of the Gospel of Matthew, in CPA.  500-700.

            Eight pages of a liturgy with New Testament readings, in Greek (minuscule).  800-1000.

Two pages of the Gospel of John, in Greek (majuscule).  500-600.

Two pages of the Gospel of Matthew, in Greek (majuscule).  500-600.

Two pages from the Gospel of Luke, in Greek (majuscule).  500s.

Two pages of a New Testament Lectionary, in CPA.  500-700.

[Greek lower writing is visible on 57r and 57v of Georgia NF 19.]

● Georgian NF 55. The copyists who made this Georgian manuscript in the 900s (78 folios) recycled

            66 pages of the Gospel of John in Caucasian Albanian.  600-800,

            41 pages of a New Testament lectionary in Caucasian Albanian.  600-800.

            Eight pages of the Pauline Epistles, in Armenian.  700-900.

            Two pages from Hebrews, in Armenian.  800-1000.

            Four pages from the Gospel of Mark, in CPA.  600-800.

● Georgian NF 71.  The copyists who made this Georgian Gospels-lectionary (8 folios) in the 900s recycled four pages of the Gospel of Matthew in CPA.  500-700.

● Georgian NF 90.  The copyists who made this Georgian manuscript (38 folios) in the 1000s recycled 16 pages of the Gospel of Matthew in Georgian.  500-700. 

● Greek 2053.  The copyists who made this Greek manuscript of Excerpts from Scripture (Acts & Epistles) (34 folios) in the 1200s recycled 16 pages from a Greek Synaxarion.  800s.

● Greek 212.  The copyists who made this collection of lections from the Greek New Testament (including Resurrection-readings) in the 700s or 800s) (114 folios) recycled many pages of a Greek Psalter.  700s.

● Greek NF M 98.  The copyists who made this Greek liturgical manuscript in the 1200s (2 folios) recycled four pages of the Gospel of Luke in Greek.  975-1025.

● Greek NF MG 29.  The copyists who made this Octoechos manuscript in the 800s recycled many pages (mostly fragmentary) from the Gospel of Matthew in Greek.  550-600.

● Greek NF MG 32.  The copyists who made this Greek Martyrologion (21 folios) in the 800s recycled eight pages of a Gospels-lectionary in CPA.  400-700.

● Greek NF MG 99.  The copyists who made this Greek liturgical manuscript in the 800s recycled

            12 pages from First Corinthians, in Greek.  425-475.

Two fragments from Colossians, in Greek.  425-475.

Four fragments from Philippians, in Greek.  425-475.

Two fragments from Romans, in Greek.  425-475.

● Syriac 2A.   The copyists who made this Syriac manuscript of the Four Gospels in the 500s (180 folios) recycled

            14 pages from the Gospel of Mark, in Syriac.  425-475.

22 pages from the Gospel of Luke, in Syriac.  425-475.

Four pages from the Gospel of John, in Syriac.  425-475.

● Syriac 30.  The copyists who made this Syriac manuscript of saints’ biographies in 779 (181 folios) recycled

            Eight pages of the Gospel of John, in Greek.  500s.

            44 pages of the Gospel of Mark, in Syriac.  450-600. 

69 pages of the Gospel of Matthew, in Syriac.  450-600.

            98 pages of the Gospel of Luke, in Syriac.  450-600.

            72 pages of the Gospel of John, in Syriac.  450-600.

Syriac 5 - Something else is there! 

● Syriac 5.  A Syriac manuscript of the Epistles of Paul (198 folios). 500s.

● Syriac 7. St.  The copyists who made most of this Syriac lectionary in the 1000s (73 folios) recycled

            Four pages of Hebrews, in Armenian (erkatagir script).  800s.

            Four pages of the Gospel of Matthew, in Greek.  500s.

● Syriac NF 11.  The copyists who made this manuscript of Cyril of Scythopolis’ Life of Sabas in Syriac (112 folios) in 850-1000 recycled

            Two pages of the Gospel of John in CPA (early script).  500-700.

            16 pages of the Gospel of Mark in CPA (early script).  500-700.

            20 pages of the Gospel of Matthew in CPA (early script).  500-700.

            18 pages of the Gospel of Luke in CPA (early script).  500-700.

● Syriac NF 23.  The copyists who made this Syriac Gospels-lectionary (14 folios) in 800-1000 recycled

            Eight pages of the Gospel of John, in Syriac (Old Estrangela script).  450-550. 

Eight pages of the Gospel of Luke, in Syriac (Old Estrangela script).  450-550.

One page from Ephesians, in Syriac (Estrangela script).  500s.

Two pages from First Thessalonians, in Syriac (Estrangela script).  500s.

Two pages from Titus, in Syriac (Estrangela script).  500s.

Six pages from Philemon, in Syriac (Estrangela script).  500s.

Two pages from Hebrews, in Syriac (Estrangela script).  500s.

● Syriac NF 3.   The copyists who made this devotions-book in the 1200s in Syriac (Melkite script) in the 1200s (164 folios) recycled four pages from Second Corinthians, in Syriac (Estrangela script).  500s.  

● Syriac NF 37.  The copyists who made this manuscript of Evagrius Ponticus’ On Prayer (6 folios) in Syriac in 850-1000 recycled

            Four pages of the Gospel of Matthew, in Syriac (Estrangela script).  500s.

            Six pages of the Gospel of Luke, in Syriac (Estrangela script).  500s.

            Two pages from the Gospel of John, in Syriac (Estrangela script).  500s. 

● Syriac NF 38.  The copyists who made this Syriac manuscript of John Climacus’ The Ladder of Divine Ascent, Letter to a Shepherd (Codex Climaci rescriptus) in 800-1000 (8 folios) recycled 16 pages from First-Second Corinthians, in CPA.  500-700.

● Syriac NF 39.  The copyists who made this manuscript of a composition by Diadochos of Photiki in Syriac (18 folios) in 800-1000 recycled

            Six pages of the Gospel of Matthew, in Syriac (Estrangela script).  500s.

Eight pages of the Gospel of Mark, in Syriac (Estrangela script).  500s.

18 pages of the Gospel of Luke, in Syriac (Estrangela script).  500s.

Four pages of the Gospel of John, in Syriac (Estrangela script).  500s.

● Syriac NF 42.  This Syriac Gospels-lectionary in CPA (8 folios) was made in the 1100s.

● Syriac NF 56.  The copyists who made this Syriac Gospels-lectionary (121 folios) in 933 recycled

            14 pages of the Gospel of Matthew in CPA.  550-700.

            66 pages of the Gospel of Mark, in CPA (calligraphic script).  550-700.

● Syriac NF 64.  The copyists who made this Syriac copy of Genesis (Peshitta version) in the 800s (4 folios) recycled four pages of Hebrews, in CPA.  600-800.

● Syriac NF 66.  The copyists who made this Syriac liturgical text in 800-1000 (8 folios) recycled 16 pages of Acts in Syriac (Estrangela script).  600-800.

            Stay tuned for more news about the Greek texts hiding in the lower writing of the palimpsests at Mount Sinai!

John 7:53-8:11: Why It Was Moved - Part 3

            In the first post of this series, we saw why, in two Greek manuscripts of John, the section about the adulteress appears before John 7:37 instead of in its usual location after 7:52:  the copyists of those two manuscripts thus turned the lection for Pentecost (John 7:37-52 + 8:12) into one continuous block of text, simplifying things for the Scripture-reader in the worship service. 

Georgian script from the
Gospel of John
(Georgian MS 28 at the BnF).

            In the second post, we learned about the notes which precede the pericope adulterae in a small group of manuscripts after the end of the Gospel of John.  We saw that in minuscules 1 and 1582, the note mentions that the passage had previously been present in a few copies in Eusebian Section 86 (which we know as John 7:45-8:18).  A misunderstanding of such a note accounts for the insertion of the pericope adulterae following John 7:44 (that is, at the beginning of Section 86) in three medieval Georgian copies. 

          This brings us to consider the form of text used by the Georgian copyist who inserted the pericope adulterae at the beginning of Section 86:  the arrangement in the chief manuscripts of family 1.  Family 1 is a cluster of manuscripts which share, to different extents, a particular assortment of textual variants.  One of those textual variants, displayed in minuscules 1, 1582, and about 25 other manuscripts, is the presence of the pericope adulterae at the end of the Gospel of John instead of after John 7:52.  Another feature of minuscules 1 and 1582 (as described previously) is the presence of an introductory note before the pericope adulterae (for details, see the previous post) which states that the passage had been found in the text after John 7:52 and was excised from there to be deposited at the end of the Gospel.
          

            Let that sink in.  Consider the implications:
            First:  the manuscripts which have the pericope adulterae at the end of John’s Gospel are not independent witnesses; they echo an ancestor-manuscript that had the pericope at that location, along with an introductory note. 
            And second:  the introductory note asserts that the reason why the pericope adulterae was at that location was due to a decision, in light of its absence in most manuscripts and the non-use of the passage by some commentators of the late 300’s and early 400’s (specifically, John Chrysostom, Cyril of Alexandria, and Theodore of Mopsuestia), to remove it from the place where it had been found in a few manuscripts, after John 7:52.  In other words:  the flagship-manuscripts of the group of manuscripts in which John 7:53-8:11 is found after the end of John’s Gospel attest that the passage was found in the text of a few manuscripts after John 7:52, before being extracted and relocated. 

            Although the manuscripts with the pericope adulterae at the end of John are medieval (1582 was produced in the mid-900’s by Ephraim the Scribe, who was also responsible for the important minuscule 1739), they echo a form of the text which is much earlier.  The relocation of the pericope adulterae to follow John 21 preceded the production of these manuscripts by centuries.  This is shown by a comparison to the Palestinian Aramaic version.

            In the Palestinian Aramaic version (formerly called the Jerusalem Syriac, or the Palestinian Syriac – the script is Syriac but the language is Aramaic), which is extant in a collection of lectionary-manuscripts, there are two unusual features involving the treatment of the pericope adulterae.  (Although it was described by Agnes Lewis and Margaret Gibson in the 1890’s in the course of their publication of the contents of two Palestinian Aramaic lectionary manuscripts from 1104 and 1118 (collated with a third manuscript at the Vatican Library from 1030), not much notice seems to have been taken of this witness in recent studies of the pericope adulterae.)  It might be best to simply describe the Palestinian Aramaic evidence before offering some analysis:
            ● In the manuscript at the Vatican Library, the 200th lection consists of John 8:1-11. 

            ● In all three manuscripts, the 48th lection begins at John 7:37 and ends with John 8:2.

            ● In the manuscript at the Vatican and in one of the others, a heading-note appears following John 8:2:  “The Gospel of John was completed in Greek in Ephesus.”  In the third manuscript, after John 8:2, a note reads, “The Gospel of John was completed by the help of Christ.”  John 8:3-11 is not in the text of the two manuscripts from Saint Catherine’s monastery. 

            As the textual critic J. Rendel Harris discerned in the 1890’s, the heading-note that follows John 8:2 is a particular kind of note:  a subscription, that is, a note which copyists sometimes added when they reached to the conclusion of the text they were copying.  (Some medieval Greek manuscripts of the Gospels have similar notes, stating that the Gospel of Matthew (or Mark, or Luke, or John, whichever one the note follows) was completed a certain number of years after the ascension of Christ, or that the copyist gives thanks to God for the grace to finish the task of copying the Gospel, or, occasionally, a short sentimental poem.)    

            We can make some interesting deductions from this evidence.

            First:  this note shows that somewhere in the ancestry of the Palestinian Aramaic text, continuous-text manuscripts of the Gospel of John had these notes after the end of John 21:25.      

            Second:  After this note in those ancestor-manuscripts, John 8:3-11 was written. 

            Third:  this implies that prior to the production of the Palestinian Aramaic lectionary, copies of John existed in which John 8:3-11 had been relocated to the end of the Gospel of John.

            Fourth:  in ancestor-manuscripts of the Palestinian Aramaic lectionary, John 8:3-11 was relocated to the end of the Gospel, not as a critical decision based on a consideration of its absence in various copies or its non-use by revered patristic commentators, but as a means of doing the same thing that the copyists of minuscules 225 and 1138 did when they moved John 7:53-8:11 to a location before John 7:47:  joining together the components of the Pentecost lection as a single block of text.  In the Palestinian Aramaic lectionary itself, however, the Pentecost-lection apparently consisted of John 7:37-8:2, rather than John 7:47-52 + 8:12.    

            There is evidence that the Pentecost-lection had similar contours (but with 8:12 included) in a Greek transmission-line:  in Codex Λ (039), produced in the 800’s, the υπερβαλε (“skip forward”) symbol is at the end of John 8:2 rather than at the end of 7:52.  Codex Λ also has asterisks in its margin alongside John 8:3-11 (but not alongside 7:53-8:2).  Also, in minuscule 105 (Codex Ebnerianus), John 8:3-11 is likewise found at the end of the Gospel of John.   And in 18 other Greek manuscripts (such as minuscule 759), John 7:52 is followed by 7:53-8:2 but the remainder (8:3-11) is absent. 

            The cause of these phenomena is not difficult to perceive:  when continuous-text copies of John were supplemented with marginalia to signify the beginnings and ends of lections, asterisks or similar marks were put alongside (or at the beginning and end of) the portion of John which was to be skipped in the Pentecost-lection.  In most cases, the portion to be skipped consisted of all of John 7:53-8:11, but in an alternate form of the Pentecost-lection it was 8:3-11. 

            Subsequent copyists, when making manuscripts based on such exemplars, either relocated the marked verses (as a means of simplifying things for the lector) or else they misunderstood the marks as if they meant that the marked verses should not be perpetuated in subsequent copies.  (Adding another layer of complexity, in some copies, the υπερβαλε and αρξου symbols were inserted at the beginning of 7:53 and at the end of 8:11, respectively, but asterisks were added alongside 8:3-11 to signify the extent of the lection for the feast-day of Saint Pelagia (Oct. 8).)               

            So:  although the note in minuscules 1 and 1582 offers an explanation of the relocation of the pericope adulterae to the end of John, when we see the same treatment of John 8:3-11, that explanation is not altogether satisfactory, and might be subsequent to its author’s discovery of an exemplar in which John 7:53-8:11, unaccompanied by such a note, was found at the end of the Gospel of John.  Perhaps the annotator merely offered what he thought must have been the reason for the relocation.  In any case, it is evident that the Greek manuscripts that have John 7:53-8:11 after John 21, and the Greek manuscripts that have John 8:3-11 after John 21, and the Palestinian Aramaic lectionaries’ ancestor-copies, and the Greek manuscripts in which John 8:3-11 is absent, all imply that when the pericope adulterae was moved, it was moved (or, most of it was moved) from its location following 7:52.   It is also evident that the relocation happened long before the production-date of any of the witnesses that attest to it.
     

Passages: Coming to California in April 2015

Coming soon to the Los Angeles area.

Passages, a mobile exhibit of items in the Green Collection of Biblical artifacts, is scheduled to open this coming April in Santa Clarita, California.  This exhibit will feature some of the most significant objects in the Green Collection.  If previous displays may be considered indications of what can be expected, then visitors are in for a real treat.

            The exhibit will have four areas, each dedicated to a specific aspect of the history and impact of the Bible:  (1) the transmission of the text of the Bible, (2) the translation of the Bible, (3) the cultural impact of the Bible, and (4) controversies involving the Bible.  Aspects of all four areas can be seen in The Living Word, a beautiful video about the Bible's history and its enduring influence.  Exhibit-pieces range from cuneiform tablets to New Testament papyrus fragments, to medieval Bibles, to a letter by Martin Luther.  A working replica of Gutenberg's printing-press and the small Lunar Bible that was taken to the moon on Apollo XIV are also expected to be part of the exhibit.
            For the New Testament textual critic, the first area is bound to be the most interesting.  Visitors should be on the lookout for Papyrus 39, a fragment of text from John 8:14-22.  This fragment's text agrees with the text of Codex Vaticanus (images of which were recently placed online by the Vatican Library).  Papyrus 39 was found at Oxyrhynchus, about 120 miles south of Cairo, Egypt.

Early fragment of Greek text from the opening verses of First Samuel.
(Aggregate image from video from Museum of the Bible.)

            Old Testament manuscripts are in the Green Collection, too, including fragments from the Dead Sea Scrolls, one of which contains text from Genesis 32:3-7.  The exhibit may also include a small fragment of First Samuel from the Septuagint version. (I don't know what production-date has been assigned to this fragment, but it looks very early.)  
            Pages from the Codex Climaci Rescriptus will be on display too.  Considering the age and extent of this manuscript, it is probably the most important item in the collection.  Agnes Smith Lewis encountered individual pages of the manuscript in 1895, and eventually she was able to collect the rest, which she published in 1909.
            Codex Climaci Rescriptus is, in a way, several manuscripts all rolled into one.  It contains (1) fragments of a Greek Gospels-Harmony, consisting primarily of extracts from Matthew and John, (2) the Greek text of Psalm 150, (3) part of a sermon in Palestinian Aramaic, in which the author utilized several passages from the Gospels and from the Pauline Epistles, (4) part of a legend about Peter and Paul, in Palestinian Aramaic, (5) text from Second Peter 3:16-18 in Palestinian Aramaic, (6) text from First John 1:1-9 in Palestinian Aramaic, (7) text from Second Peter 1:1-12 in Palestinian Aramaic, (8) text from Isaiah 63:9-11 in Palestinian Aramaic, and (9) Palestinian Aramaic text, arranged for liturgical reading in church-services, from the books of Hebrews, Philemon, Titus, Second Timothy, Second Thessalonians, First Thessalonians, Colossians, Philippians, Ephesians, Galatians, Second Corinthians, First Corinthians, Romans, Acts, John, Luke, Mark, and Matthew (with sporadic introductions consisting of phrases from Psalms) and excerpts from Jeremiah 11-12, Isaiah 40:1-8, First Samuel 1-4, and 6, Job 6-7, Proverbs 1, Micah 4, Deuteronomy 6-7, Leviticus 11-12, Exodus 4, and Joel 2.           
            Any one of these texts could easily be the centerpiece of a respectable private collection of artifacts.  When Codex Climaci Rescriptus was purchased in 2010 from Westminster College (where it had resided ever since being entrusted to that institution by Agnes Smith Lewis herself), the Green Collection thus acquired the second-most important New Testament manuscript in North America, second only to Codex W.

Pages from Codex Climaci Rescriptus
Photo credit:  Museum of the Bible

            The portion of Codex Climaci Rescriptus with substantial excerpts of New Testament books is generally thought to have been produced in the 500s.  Dr. Scott Carroll assigns an earlier date to this Aramaic material.  In the 2011 Passages Exhibition Catalog on page 17, he writes:  "While the Aramaic script was written in the late 4c [fourth century, that is, the 300s], the uncharacteristic script replicates a Greek biblical bookhand of the 2c [second century, that is, the 100s], suggesting that it may have been translated from a 2c Greek exemplar."  I am skeptical about such a claim, despite not knowing Palestinian Aramaic, simply because its basis seems precarious and because I have not heard a chorus of Aramaic-specialists rise in unified agreement; Lewis' initial assessment seems to have satisfied the experts in the early 1900s and today.  But even though Codex Climaci Rescriptus is not "a direct witness to a lost 2c Greek text of the Bible" (as Dr. Carroll wrote on page 16 of the 2011 Passages Exhibition Catalog), it is nevertheless a very important manuscript - and the scholars in the Green Scholars Initiative seem willing to assign part of the manuscript to the 400s.

            Codex Climaci Rescriptus has not (yet) received the level of fame given to some other early Biblical manuscripts such as Codices Vaticanus (B), Sinaiticus (À), Alexandrinus (A), Ephraimi Rescriptus (C), and Bezae (D).  There are several reasons for this -- some of which are fair, and some of which are not:
            (1)  The major uncials are older.
            (2)  The major uncials are written in Greek instead of in Palestinian Aramaic.
            (3)  The major uncials, except for C, have the Biblical text in a neat, continuous format, whereas the pages in Codex Climaci Rescriptus are not in order.

Another page from Codex Climaci Rescriptus
Photo credit:  Museum of the Bible
(Slightly altered from the original image)

            (4)  The major uncials, except for C, are not palimpsests; they remained intact as Biblical manuscripts and were not recycled.  The pages of Codex Climaci Rescriptus, however, were recycled in the early Middle Ages (probably in the 800s) when someone washed the parchment (not very thoroughly, fortunately) and re-used the parchment by writing upon it the text of translations of two compositions by John Climacus, a monk who lived in the 600s.  Gordon Campbell explains this in the second half of an online video about highlights of the 2014 Passages exhibit that was at Springfield, Missouri.
            It thus takes extra effort to read the older text in the manuscript:  not only does one need to know Palestinian Aramaic, but one needs to develop the skill to accurately read the older writing that is hidden below the younger writing.  (Fortunately Agnes Smith Lewis did all the hard work already; her 1909 transcription of the older writing -- accompanied by a retro-translation into Greek, with an apparatus indicating textual variants in the base-text! -- is a masterpiece.  It is still distributed by Cambridge University Press.)
            (5)  Technically, the New Testament text in Codex Climaci Rescriptus is formatted as a lectionary, so in the early 1900s, instead of getting a prominent letter or number to represent it in the textual apparatus, it was initially designated Lectionary 1561, which does not sound very important.  (Lectionaries are listed last in apparatus-entries, after patristic references.)  Currently it is categorized as an uncial, 0250.

            All things considered, Codex Climaci Rescriptus deserves far more attention than it has received from New Testament textual critics.  Agnes Smith Lewis' impressive work on the manuscript did not settle every question about its contents.  She noted that in some parts of the manuscript, the text was very faint and difficult to read, and advised future researchers to use care if they used a reagent (a chemical that makes the older writing more visible) on the parchment.  Last year, Jamie Klair, a student researcher at Tyndale House at the University of Cambridge found additional writing on pages of Codex Climaci Rescriptus -- texts by the Greek poet Aratus.  This led to additional research, and additional discoveries.  Avoiding chemical reagents (which risk harming the parchment), the researchers of the Green Scholars Initiative resort instead to multi-spectral imaging, which, as the name implies, uses different bandwidths of light to reveal the otherwise nigh-imperceptible writing.

            The Passages exhibit at Santa Clarita, California will be well worth visiting in 2015 -- but it is just a sample of the treasury of Bibles and Bible-related artifacts that will be housed at the Museum of the Bible, which is scheduled to open in 2017 in Washington, D.C.