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Saint Ignatius, known as Θεοφόρος, ‘the God-bearer’, was bishop of Antioch. Around the year 107, he was arrested and sent to Rome, condemned to death by being thrown to wild beasts in the amphitheatre. At two stopping points, he was able to write letters to various churches. In his Epistle to the Ephesians he writes,
Ὅθεν πρέπει ὑμῖν συντρέχειν τῇ τοῦ ἐπισκόπου γνώμῃ· ὅπερ καὶ ποιεῖτε. τὸ γὰρ ἀξιονόμαστον ὑμῶν πρεσβυτέριον, τοῦ Θεοῦ ἄξιον, οὕτως συνήρμοσται τῷ ἐπισκόπῳ ὡς χορδαὶ κιθάρᾳ. διὰ τοῦτο ἐν τῇ ὁμονοίᾳ ὑμῶν καὶ συμφώνῳ ἀγάπῃ Ἰησοῦς Χριστὸς ἄδεται. καὶ οἱ κατ’ ἄνδρα δὲ χορὸς γίνεθε, ἵνα σύμφωνοι ὄντες ἐν ὁμονοίᾳ, χρῶμα Θεοῦ λαβόντες, ἐν ἑνότητι ᾄδητε ἐν φωνῇ μιᾷ διὰ Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ τῷ πατρί, ἵνα ὑμῶν καὶ ἀκούσῃ καὶ ἐπιγινώσκῃ, δι’ ὧν εὖ πράσσετε, μέλη ὄντας τοῦ υἱοῦ αὐτοῦ. χρήσιμον οὖν ἐστὶν ὑμᾶς ἐν ἀμώμῳ ἑνότητι εἶναι, ἵνα καὶ Θεοῦ πάντοτε μετέχητε.
So then it becometh you to run in harmony with the mind of the bishop; which thing also ye do. For your honourable presbytery, which is worthy of God, is attuned to the bishop, even as its strings to a lyre. Therefore in your concord and harmonious love Jesus Christ is sung. And do ye, each and all, form yourselves into a chorus, that being harmonious in concord and taking the key note of God ye may in unison sing with one voice through Jesus Christ unto the Father, that He may both hear you and acknowledge you by your good deeds to be members of His Son. It is therefore profitable for you to be in blameless unity, that ye may be partakers of God always.
An icon lamp catches the sunlight at the noonday reading of the Third and Sixth Hours.
The icon lamp in the Chapel of Saint James, First Bishop of Jerusalem, at the beginning of Mesonyktikon, the Midnight Office.
When pilgrims enter the Sinai basilica, they light candles in prayers for those who are living, or in commemoration of those who have gone to their rest.
‘They bee great offerers of Candles’, as the English merchant Richard Chancellor wrote when he visited Moscow in 1553. (The Principal Navigations, Voyages, Traffiqves and Discoveries of the English Nation, published in 1598.)
Sinai Greek 172, folio 67 recto, the beginning of the Gospel according to Mark.
Ἀρχὴ τοῦ εὐαγγελίου Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ υἱοῦ τοῦ Θεοῦ.
The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God.
Sinai Greek 172, folio 66 verso, the illumination of the holy Evangelist Mark.
Sinai Greek 172, folio 11 recto, the beginning of the Gospel according to Matthew.
Βίβλος γενέσεως Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ, υἱοῦ Δαβίδ, υἱοῦ Ἀβραάμ.
The book of the generation of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham.
Sinai Greek 172 is a manuscript of the Four Gospels. On folio 197 recto we read the following inscription.
+ Ἐτελειώθη σὺν θ(ε)ῶ ἡ θεόπνευστος βίβλος αὕτη· διὰ χειρὸς ζαχαρίου πρεσ(βυ)τ(έρου) πανελαχίστου, του πραιτωριότ(ου)· ἐξεπιτροπῆς θεοδώρου μ(ε)γ(άλου) ὑπάτ(ου) καὶ τεποτ(ηρη)τ(οῦ) κολωνείας τοῦ γαβρᾶ· καὶ τῆς αὐτοῦ συνεύνου εἰρήνης· πρὸς σκέπην καὶ διατήρησιν καὶ ὑγείαν καὶ σ(ωτη)ρίαν καὶ ἄφεσιν τῶν ἁμαρτιῶν αὐτῶν· + μηνὶ μαΐω ινδ(ικτιῶνος) Ε΄· ἔτους ͵ϛφοε΄· επὶ βασιλέως αὐτοκράτορος ῥωμαίων κων(σταν)τ(ίνου) τοῦ δοῦκα + οἱ ἀναγινώσκοντες, εὔχεσθε ὑπὲρ τοῦ γράψαντος ἅμα τῷ κτησαμένω την βίβλον ταύτην· + διὰ τὸν κ(ύριο)ν· +
+ This God-inspired book, finished with the (help) of God by the hand of the presbyter Zacharias, the smallest, the praetoriotes, on the commission of Theodoros Gabras, great hypatos and tepoteretes (governor) of Koloneia and his wife Irene; for protection, preservation, health, salvation, and forgiveness of their sins; in the month of May, indiction 5, year 6575 (1067) in the reign of Constantine Doukas, emperor of the Romans. + May the readers (of this book) pray for him who wrote this book as well as for him who acquired it + for the sake of the Lord. +
Theodore Gabras recaptured Trebizond from the Seljuks in 1075. Alexis I Komnenos appointed him governor of Chaldia, the historical region in northeast Anatolia. In the late eleventh century, Theodore Gabras was de facto independent ruler of Chaldia. In 1098, he was defeated in battle and given an ultimatum, ‘Renounce your faith, or die’. He confessed his faith in Christ, for which he suffered many torments. He remained steadfast, and at last received the martyr’s crown. His memory is celebrated on October 2. Saint Theodore the Great Martyr is held in special veneration by the Greeks from Pontus.
Sinai Greek New Finds Majuscule 2 is a manuscript of the Epistles of Saint Paul in parallel Greek and Arabic, dated to the early tenth century.
On folio seven recto, we read in Galatians 1:3-4, ‘Grace be to you and peace from God the Father, and from our Lord Jesus Christ, who gave himself for our sins, that he might deliver us from this present evil age.’ Three red dots in the text lead to a comment written below in red, Πονηρὸν αἰῶνα τοῦτον καλεῖ διὰ τῆς ἀμαρτίας, ‘Evil age, this he says because of sin.’
Καὶ δείκνυσιν, ὅτι καὶ τῶν προτέρων ἡμᾶς ἀπήλλαξεν ὁ Χριστὸς ἁμαρτημάτων, καὶ πρὸς τὸ μέλλον ἠσφαλίσατο. Τῷ μὲν γὰρ εἰπεῖν, Τοῦ δόντος ἑαυτὸν ὑπὲρ τῶν ἁμαρτιῶν ἡμῶν, ἐκεῖνο ἐδήλωσε· τῷ δὲ προσθεῖναι, Ὅπως ἐξέληται ἡμᾶς ἐκ τοῦ ἐνεστῶτος αἰῶνος πονηροῦ, τὴν πρὸς τὸ μέλλον ἀσφάλειαν ἐνέφηνεν.
Αnd he shows that Christ has both delivered us from our offenses, and secured us for the future. The first he has declared in the words, ‘Who gave Himself for our sins’; and by adding, ‘that He might deliver us out of this present evil age’, he has pronounced our future safety.
Saint John Chrysostom
Ἐνεστῶτος, the present transitory age, as opposed to the other age, the age of eternity. Christians live on the frontier between two ages, and the Gospel transfers us across the threshold of the age to come, the age of God’s kingdom.
Sinai Greek Two is a beautifully written manuscript of the tenth century, containing the text of Genesis, Exodus, and Leviticus. The generous margins around each page are filled with commentary written in a minute script. These annotations are drawn from the writings of twenty-four different authors.
Cyril of Alexandria composed two commentaries on the Pentateuch, The Adoration and Worship of God in Spirit and in Truth, and the Glaphyra, both early works. These are highly allegorical, in keeping with the Alexandrian tradition.
On folio 81 verso we read, ‘Cyril. Now, Moses went from the land of the Egyptians into Midian, in the same way Christ did from Judaea into Galilee.’
This quotation is more than just a parallel between the life of Moses and the life of Christ. It invites us to see the entire life of the prophet Moses as a type of Christ. This understanding is very early. We find a specific reference to Moses as a type of Jesus in the Epistle of Barnabas, which dates to the end of the first century AD.
Moses was born at a time when Pharaoh had commanded that all male children of the Hebrews be put to death. He fled to Midian to escape the wrath of the king. He drove away the evil shepherds, and gave life-sustaining waters to the flock. He wrought signs and wonders before Pharaoh, and delivered the children of Israel from bondage. He led them into the wilderness, where they were nourished by food from heaven, and drank water that flowed forth from the rock. When the children of Israel had sinned, Moses was their mediator with God. He revealed to them the Law and will of God. He fashioned a serpent of bronze, and all who looked to it were healed. When he stretched out his hands in the form of a cross, the Amalekites were defeated. He brought the children of Israel to the Promised Land, a land flowing with milk and honey.
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