And get this - it was found in a manuscript that has been stored away in the hallowed halls of the Vatican Library. Can you even imagine the excitement and wonder that this incredible discovery must be generating amongst historians and religious scholars alike?
We can hardly wait to see what kind of insights this amazing find will reveal about one of the most important books in human history!
All That's Interesting reports that the previously lost section represents one of the earliest translations of the Gospels, written in Old Syriac script, which long eluded scholars for a rather simple reason: the text had been erased over a millennium ago.
Per a report from The Independent, the practice of erasing and reusing manuscripts was relatively common during the Middle Ages. Parchment was scarce, so when scribes were tasked with updating translations of the Bible and other books, it often meant fully replacing the original text.
Grigory Kessel, a researcher from the Austrian Academy of Sciences, analyzed one updated script, utilizing UV light to reveal traces of the ancient Syriac text. He and his team then uncovered the long-lost Syriac interpretation of chapters 11 through 12 from Matthew.
“The tradition of Syriac Christianity knows several translations of the Old and New Testaments,” he said. “Until recently, only two manuscripts were known to contain the Old Syriac translation of the gospels.”
Wow, what an incredible discovery!
It's not every day that scientists uncover a hidden chapter of the Bible written over 1,500 years ago, but that's exactly what has happened.
