stephan huller

I have been working at following Morton Smith's original lead of connecting the eighteenth century school at Zagoras which grew up around the Patriarch Callinicus III (IV) to the document. As it turns out the guy who is recorded as sending Voss's Ignatius book to the city in 1762 has a matching handwriting sample. Here is the link http://stephanhuller.blogspot.com/20...saba-john.html

I am getting two experts - one of whom supports the forgery proposition, i.e. Agamemnon Tselikas, to evaluate my claims. Hope to post them here soon.

DCHindley

Stephan,

I kid you a great deal, but I think you are onto something there!

The Voss volume published in Amsterdam in a library that otherwise contained volumes published in the east and Venice has long been a stumbling block suggesting a "plant", but I have to agree that it is better to figure out how or why such a book made its way to Mar Saba than to smugly wave it away.

Dave

stephan huller

But seriously everyone, I am not one of these people who believes every thought that comes into my head (having been embarrassed more times than I care to remember). Please look at the image and let me know if there is something to this.

andrewcriddle

Hi Stephan

I must emphasise that paleography is not something I have ever properly studied. But the text by John Priggos seems to resemble the Mar Saba letter more in terms of some of its letter shapes than in its general impression.

The Priggos letter seems to be a rapid confident example of a crude cursive. There is not a sense IMVHO that the author is trying to write in a script that does not come easily to him.

Andrew Criddle

stephan huller

I agree Andrew it's not a perfect match yet but everyone agrees I with Smith when he describes the handwriting in the following terms: "In general, the hand is remarkably cursive. As the manuscript progresses the cursive character of the hand becomes more marked." This is very rare among handwriting samples I've seen so far in the library.