Issue Date: 11/4/2025

What's With These Pages?

Hi Friend, 👋

When I give tours at Chick Publications, I love showing the big poster of the Codex Sinaiticus — with every page in detail. It always gets attention when I point out the white sections. Those are the pages we know were already there in 1844. What about the others?

👨‍🎓 Tischendorf’s First Visit

In 1844, scholar Constantin Tischendorf traveled to St. Catherine’s Monastery in Egypt. He took some of the pages back to the King of Saxony, who locked them away.

Those pages have stayed the same ever since.
Key characteristic: they were white. ⚪

📖 Uspensky Confirms (1845)

A few months later, Porfiry Uspensky, a Russian scholar in charge of monasteries, examined the codex. He described it in Old Church Slavonic as the same color we see in Leipzig today — still white.

I worked through the translation myself.
My results matched his description: white pages.

⏳ A Different Story in 1859

Fast forward to 1859. Tischendorf returned with a Russian delegation and took the rest of the manuscript. But this time, the pages didn’t look the same.

He described them as “sufflava” — yellowed, aged. 🟨
This was a clear contrast to the pages from 1844.

🤔 The Big Question

Why didn’t Tischendorf point out this obvious change?

He had seen the original white pages.
Yet he never mentioned staining, darkening, or damage.

🔍 What Could Have Happened?

Maybe someone else darkened the pages — and he knew about it.
Or perhaps Tischendorf himself (with or without help) was responsible.

❓ But Why Do That?

Who would deliberately stain the supposed “world’s oldest Bible”? Unless Tischendorf realized it wasn’t truly that old, and darkening it would make it look more ancient than it was. That could explain why he never joined the two portions together or raised the issue.

Pop Quiz!

What was the key visual characteristic of the Sinaiticus pages Tischendorf took in 1844?
How did Porfiry Uspensky’s 1845 description support the 1844 findings?
What major difference did Tischendorf report about the pages he took in 1859?
What unanswered question arises from the contrast between the 1844 and 1859 pages?
What is one possible reason someone might have darkened the Sinaiticus pages?

A book titled Just One Bible? by David W. Daniels

Shocking Evidence!

Here is proof that the Sinaiticus, a supposedly ancient Bible text on which modern Bibles are based, is actually a 19th-century fake.

Learn more >

Testimony

"Excellent book - enlightening!"

"An excellent book - enlightening! It will help anyone's understanding of which Bible is THE Bible, the 1611 KJB. David Daniels has disclosed undisputable facts that illuminate the truth -- and reveal the tragedy of people believing the lies behind the modern versions, which only promulgate chaos, confusion and doubt. Sadly, tragically many simply do not know their enemy!!"

— C.W. (Verified Buyer)

Did you complete last week's quiz?

Here are the answers!

It claimed Vaticanus was the oldest and best manuscript, convincing scholars to elevate Alexandrian texts above preserved ones.
Only those who cooperated with Catholic authorities and avoided criticism of the pope were allowed to examine it.
It appeared suddenly with no clear history, showing signs of being hastily copied or even forged for Tischendorf to “find.”
They built the Critical Greek Text from those manuscripts, forming the basis for the Revised Version and most modern Bibles.
It produced confusing, contradictory modern Bibles that make people doubt God’s preserved Word and rely on human scholarship instead.

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