History of the Acquisition of the Sinai Bible by Russia in the Light of Recent Discoveries in Russian Archives
- Introduction
- Original Agreement
- Confrontation between Arch. Cyril and the Sinai Monastic Community
- Donation Document of the Sinai Bible
- Financial Settlement of Problems for the Sinai Monastery
- Conclusions
Original Agreement between Archbishop Cyril, C. Tischendorff and Prince A.B. Lobanov-Rostovsky
From the letters of C. Tischendorff, Prince A.B. Lobanov-Rostovsky, A.E. Lagovsky (Russian consul in Egypt) and Archbishop Callistratus of Sinai, it follows that between Tischendorff, the Russian envoy in Constantinople and the Father Superior of the Sinai monastery in 1859, there really was an agreement that the Bible would be presented as a gift to Emperor Alexander II in return to the support of the Russian government in the ordination and confirmation of Cyril in the rank of Archbishop of Sinai. The letter of guarantee by Prince Lobanov-Rostovsky, dated September 10 / Old style / 1859, concerning the loan of the manuscript for publication, was regarded as a provisional step in expectation of Cyril's ordination. The extract, taken from this letter, is translated below:
<…> Mr. Tischendorff informs me that the reverend community of Sinai intends to present some ancient biblical manuscript as a gift to His Majesty Emperor Alexander II, through his mediation. As such the donation cannot be formalized until the newly elected Archbishop is recognized by the Sublime Porte, Mr. Tischendorff would like to borrow the above-mentioned manuscript and take it to St Petersburg in order to compare his printed copy with the original text.
Supporting Mr. Tischendorff in this intention, I declare that, if you decide to meet his request, the manuscript will remain the property of the Sinai Community until Father Superior officially presents it to His Imperial Majesty on behalf of the brethren …12 (read the document …)
How exactly Archbishop Kirill, Prince Lobanov and Tischendorff agreed, is described in detail in Tischendorff's memo to Minister of Public Education, E.P. Kovalevsky, dated 30 March / 11 April 1860: 13
<…>Thus the manuscript was formally given to me exactly for the publishing purpose. While the matter is of utmost importance for the scholarly community, I also regarded the agreement as a means of presenting the original to the Imperial Government. The community was in full accord with the purpose. Finding that they also wanted their representative to present the manuscript, I chose Father Agathangelos, Cairo House Superior and former Kiev House Superior. The Archbishop approved my choice. So we agreed that Prince Lobanov would telegraph to me after ordination, and the representative would leave immediately to meet me in St Petersburg … (read the document …)
From the date of discovery, Tischendorff describes a sequence of events in letters to his wife Angelica14 and members of the Russian Government15. The desire of Sinai brethren to present the Bible to Alexander II is first mentioned by Tischendorff in a letter to his wife, dated 1 May /New style/ 185916, and another to Russian Envoy to Dresden, A.N. Volkonsky, dated 4 May /New style/ 1859,17, and then to Minister of Public Education, E.P. Kovalevsky, dated 12/24 August 1859.18Information from Tischendorff about the acquisition and publication of the Sinai Bible was regularly brought to the attention of the Emperor.19 In November 1859, Tischendorff comes to St Petersburg, reports on his voyage and discusses manuscript publishing prospects.20 In January 1860, already in Leipzig, he received news of Archbishop Cyril's ordination. Tischendorff informs the Minister of Public Education about this:
<…> Therefore, according to the agreement concluded by me and Prince Lobanov with the Sinai Community, there are no obstacles to presenting the Sinai manuscript to His Imperial Majesty. I have also written to the Archbishop that I expected to be in St. Petersburg again no later than Easter and will be pleased to see a delegate of Mt Sinai there, with whom - I hope, guided by Your Excellency, I should formally present the manuscript to His Imperial Majesty …21 (read the document …)
However, the representative of Mt Sinai, expected at the official Bible presentation, did not arrived in St Petersburg.
In addition to Tischendorff's letters, the desire of the Sinai community to present the Bible to Alexander II is attested by Russian Evoy to Constantinople, Prince A.B. Lobanov-Rostovsky, and Russian Consul in Egypt, A.E. Lagovsky.
In Letter No. 356 from Constantinople to Egor Kovalevsky, Director of Foreign Ministry Asian Department, dated 5/17 April 1860, A.B. Lobanov-Rostovsky states:
[fol. 20v] <…>The desire of Sinai brethren to present the manuscript to His Majesty the Emperor was communicated to me by Cyril Archbishop of Sinai before he was ordained in Constantinople; in doing so, the Sinai community meant both oblige His Majesty the Emperor who sent Mr. Tischendorff to Sinai to find old copies of the Script, and obtain our Mission's support for their Archbishop's appointment. On ordination, Archbishop Cyril visited me but did not mention the manuscript any more. For my part, I did not consider it proper to resume the conversation about this subject …22
Probably when staying in Constantinople in October and November 1859, Archbishop Cyril sent to Tischendorff the (undated and unsigned) letter published by Archimandrite Grigory Peradze, suggesting the need for support from the Russian Government:
<…> The Berat issue seems to be delayed by the intriguing Patriarch of Jerusalem. The latter declares infringement upon his ecclesiastical rights, without being able to prove them, providing multiple and totally unsubstantiated arguments, he managed to confuse the Turks so that the Gentile Power is hesitating at every turn; that is why an Orthodox Power must intercede. The Patriarch only wants to gain as much time as possible to stir controversies among the Sinai brethren, manipulating the envoyees (?). A strong arm is needed to support argumentation of the weeker party …23
Another piece of evidence is found in confidential message no. 52 of 29 April / 11 May 1860 from Consul General in Alexandria, A.E. Lagovsky, to E.P. Kovalevsky, Director of Foreign Ministry Asian Department:
[fol. 24] <…> he [Tischendorf] asked me to persuade the Father Superior to let him have, or at least take the said manuscript to Cairo for duplication. The Superior maintained that the community could not sell the manuscript but agreed [fol. 26v.] with my request to send it to Cairo and hand it to me, against a letter of guarantee, for duplication. While copying the manuscript, Mr. Tischendorff negotiated with the Sinai community the presentation of the manuscript to the Emperor, promising adequate compensation from our Government. On my part, pointing out to the Sinai brethren that the manuscript, lost in obscurity on Mt Sinai and already considerably damaged, would certainly be more useful for science and better preserved in a European metropolitan depository, [fol. 27] I also maintained that His Majesty the Emperor would undoubtedly accept the gift of Mt Sinai community with favor and kindly reward them, adding that I could not give any definite promise, and the community should not define the reward in advance. Failing a Father Superior at the time, the community could not decide on the matter until the Archbishop was ordained. Having copied the manuscript, Mr. Tischendorff went to Constantinople and came back with a written document, signed by His Excellency Prince Lobanov-Rostovsky, to the effect that our Mission, asking Mt Sinai community to let Mr. Tischendorff take the manuscript to St Petersburg, undertook to return it unless the new Archbishop agreed to eventually surrender it. Against this document, an Act was made by fathers superiors of all Sinai communities coming to Cairo to elect the Archbishop, and the manuscript was handed over to Mr. Tischendorff.
The above indicates that neither the Consulate General not Mr. Tischendorff had any knowledge of the manuscript [fol. 25] until the latter's last voyage to Mt Sinai; that without assistance from the Consulate and the Mission he would be unable to see or copy, much less take out the manuscript. The idea of presenting the manuscript to His Majesty the Emperor was suggested to Mt Sinai community by Mr. Tischendorff, and the new ordained Archbishop Cyril has kept, and is probably still keeping the intention, though I cannot make certain thereof as he left for Constantinople [fol. 25v.] on a monastic business mission …24
On ordination, Archbishop Cyril made no request to return the Bible but was in no hurry to formalize the presentation. Judging from previously published documents, his apprehensions were caused by the hostile attitude of the Patriarch of Jerusalem, and the Greek public resenting alienation of the manuscript.25
When the four-volume Sinai Bible was printed, on 29 October /Old style/ 1862 Tischendorff presented the ancient original to Alexander II. There was no doubt that the manuscript would remain in possession of Mt Sinai community until the presentation was formalized. That was what the Russian Government expected on the basis of Tischendorff's interim reports and counting on his intercession.The latter continued writing to Archbishop Cyril until 1868, without receiving any definite answer.26 Tischendorff hoped to travel back to Sinai at the expense of the Russian Government and deliver the reward, thus convincing the Archbishop to make the donation.27 His initiative was not sustained, however. The matter was entrusted to the Foreign Ministry, with the manuscript kept in a safe at the Ministry Archive. Moreover, the new Minister for Public Education, A.V. Golovnin wrote to Chancellor A.M. Gorchakov:
[fol. 36] <…> In the printed edition, the manuscript is seen as belonging to Petersburg, published under his Majesty's Patronage and universally recognized as the property of the Russian Gover- [fol. 36v] nment. For this reason and considering general interest in this published manuscript, I find it highly desirable to bend every effort to have the original manuscript presented, as the Archbishop of Mt Sinai had suggested, on behalf of the Sinai Monastery as a gift to His Imperial Majesty, or even purchased for the Russian Government, the more so that various scholarly societies and even private persons in England are surely prepared to make every sacrifice and resort to all sorts of tricks to purchase the original from Mt Sinai community in the event that it is returned there.
Also, I consider it my duty to add that, according to Full Privy Councilor Norov who visited the Sinai community this year, the Archimandrite and the brethren actually wish to present the manuscript to the Emperor…28
Russian Evoy to Constantinople, E.P. Novikov, for his part informs N.P. Ignatyev (then Director of Foreign Ministry Asian Department):
[fol. 39v.] <…> While Mt Sinai community has not appealed to the Imperial Mission with regard to the manuscript, general scholarly concern about the publication of this treasure may induce them to demand either excessive reward or return to the possession of the monastery.
Therefore I fully agree with the Ministry of Public Education about the need to make a decision [fol. 40] on the ownership of the Sinai manuscript in our favor as soon as possible.
To attain the goal, we could either follow the suggestions of Full Privy Councilor Norov and entrust negotiations on eventual acquisition of the Sinai Bible to Russian traveling scholars, or resort to the agency of our Mission in Constantinople. In the latter case, I suggest not to begin negotiations with Mt Sinai community formally in the name of the Mission's leader but rather in a private and confidential manner, in correspondence of a person attached to the Mission with the Archbishop of Sinai.29
In the meantime, Mt Sinai community faced grave internal problems delaying decision on the Sinai Bible for years.
