Multispectral Imaging Reveals 42 Lost Pages of 6th-Century New Testament Manuscript

A team from the University of Glasgow, led by Professor Garrick Allen, has found 42 pages that were believed to be lost from Codex H, a 6th-century manuscript containing the Letters of St. Paul. Monks at the Great Lavra Monastery in Greece dismantled the manuscript between the 10th and 13th centuries to reuse its pages for other bindings. These pages were located in libraries across several countries, including Italy, Greece, Russia, Ukraine, and France, through the efforts of an 18th-century French monk. Using multispectral imaging with the Early Manuscripts Electronic Library, the researchers discovered 'ghost impressions' of text. Radiocarbon dating confirmed the parchment's age, and the recovered material includes the earliest known version of the Euthalian apparatus, which has notes from the monks. Allen called this discovery 'nothing short of monumental.'