Freethought & Rationalism Archive

Toto · 04-23-2008, 12:47 PM

This will be of interest to some here:

National Archive in Tirana, Albania, contains a trove of early Christian manuscripts

Quote:

Daniel B. Wallace of Dallas Theological Seminary started the Center for the Study of New Testament Manuscripts in 2002 because he saw an opportunity to record, duplicate, and transmit New Testament manuscripts with greater ease and fidelity as digital photo technologies improved. . . . .

This past June a four-member CSNTM team of graduate students and technicians traveled to Tirana, Albania, to photograph the manuscripts stored in the National Archive, the first group of Western scholars to be granted access to the collection in several decades. Working long hours in 100-degree heat, the crew discovered there was far more in the National Archive than any Western scholar realized — and more than they had time to photograph. . .

CSNTM Press Release

I am curious about how these manuscripts ended up in Albania in a national archive. Albania was under communist rule during the cold war and was shut off to American (but not European) scholars; it had one of those strange dictators who tried to preserve its national purity by keeping development out. After the fall of communism it went through some wild times of near anarchy and financial chaos - but all through this period librarians, including employees of a communist state, were carefully preserving ancient copies of the Greek New Testament - and this in a majority Muslim country.

Ben C Smith · 04-23-2008, 01:23 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Toto

...but all through this period librarians, including employees of a communist state, were carefully preserving ancient copies of the Greek New Testament - and this in a majority Muslim country.

From the link:

The oldest manuscript in the collection is Codex Beratinus, a codex that had been dyed in purple, with silver and gold letters written on it.

This may explain one or two of the manuscripts.

But, really, is it so surprising that scholiastic people like librarians would preserve books? Even banned or restricted ones?

That urge is perhaps too close to home to surprise me, at any rate.

Ben.

Roger Pearse · 04-23-2008, 03:48 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Toto

I am curious about how these manuscripts ended up in Albania in a national archive. Albania was under communist rule ....

Communist states often ended up with archives of manuscripts by expropriating monasteries (which nearly always have libraries). Indeed the same process contributed largely to holdings in many western countries too, notably the French bibliotheque nationale.

<guessing> I don't know whether there were Greek monasteries in Albania, but I don't see why not. There are certainly Serbian orthodox monasteries in Kosovo. Both Greece and Albania were part of the Ottoman empire.

Or perhaps they were collected by the much-missed King Zog of Albania, beloved of undergraduates?

All the best,

Roger Pearse

Toto · 04-23-2008, 03:57 PM

Yes, it appears so. Greeks were a significant minority in the southern part of Albania, which they still call North Epirus.

Quote:

. . .in 1967 the campaign by Albania’s communist party,the Albanian Party of Labour (PLA), to eradicate organised religion, a prime target of which was the Orthodox Church. Many churches were damaged or destroyed during this period, and many Greek-language books were banned because of their religious themes or orientation.

WWJD4aKlondikeBar · 04-23-2008, 04:14 PM

Interesting news, Toto. I almost wish I didn't hear about it so I won't have to wait an untold number of intervening months wondering what important things they reveal.

As for their preservation in Albania, we easily forget that even in countries ruled by religious extremists there is still a majority of moderate people. Thank FSM for that!

Toto · 04-23-2008, 04:22 PM

More on the Greek monasteries in Albania

Quote:

CP: Could you briefly explain historically or geographically why there are so many manuscripts in Albania?

Wallace: I think the reason is because there was an old Roman road that went through Albania – this is one of the reasons – so there was a lot of travel through Albania in ancient times. And they did have monasteries that grew up during the last couple of centuries.

These monasteries were where more than likely these manuscripts were actually produced, but not all of them would be produced in Albania. You have monasteries in a number of ancient sites in both Europe and the Middle East and this is especially where manuscripts get produced. But say a new monastery is built in the 10th century, what often happens is a very important benefactor would donate to that new monastery an ancient manuscript of the Scriptures. And so we don't know where that manuscript came from because typically there is no record of that kind of thing.

. . .

What they did is they put [the purple codex] on display three or four years ago and, in many respects, Albania treats that one manuscript as their greatest national treasure. It has been classified with UNESCO (United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization) as a world treasure and the line of people to get in to see that manuscript wrapped around several blocks. I believe it was a quarter-of-a-mile long, for people to just come in to view it for a few minutes.

Pataphysician · 04-24-2008, 07:47 AM

Well Enver Hoxha did make the whole city of Berat a "Museum City" , and I believe many of the manuscripts come from this ancientest of Albanian city's. So it's not really too surprising they survived Hoxha's regime, who was an ardent nationalist more than anything, so unlikely to destroy ancient artifacts of Albania's greatness, nor sell them. What's more surprising is that the manuscripts have stayed in Albania during the 1990's corrupt Ponzi scheme "market" driven economy, I would have imagined everything of value would have been sold off.

PhilosopherJay · 04-24-2008, 12:00 PM

Hi Toto,

No Marxist-Leninist communists have ever been in favor of destroying religious artifacts. Communists are scientific socialists, so they believe that religious artifacts need to be preserved and studied for their historical value.
They are in favor of taking them out of the hands of priests who promote them for their mystical values, and putting them in libraries and museums where all people can study and evaluate them. They believe that they are the common property of the entire human race.

Warmly,

Philosopher Jay

Quote:

Originally Posted by Toto

This will be of interest to some here:

National Archive in Tirana, Albania, contains a trove of early Christian manuscripts

Quote:

Daniel B. Wallace of Dallas Theological Seminary started the Center for the Study of New Testament Manuscripts in 2002 because he saw an opportunity to record, duplicate, and transmit New Testament manuscripts with greater ease and fidelity as digital photo technologies improved. . . . .

This past June a four-member CSNTM team of graduate students and technicians traveled to Tirana, Albania, to photograph the manuscripts stored in the National Archive, the first group of Western scholars to be granted access to the collection in several decades. Working long hours in 100-degree heat, the crew discovered there was far more in the National Archive than any Western scholar realized — and more than they had time to photograph. . .

CSNTM Press Release

I am curious about how these manuscripts ended up in Albania in a national archive. Albania was under communist rule during the cold war and was shut off to American (but not European) scholars; it had one of those strange dictators who tried to preserve its national purity by keeping development out. After the fall of communism it went through some wild times of near anarchy and financial chaos - but all through this period librarians, including employees of a communist state, were carefully preserving ancient copies of the Greek New Testament - and this in a majority Muslim country.

Roger Pearse · 04-24-2008, 01:31 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by PhilosopherJay

No Marxist-Leninist communists have ever been in favor of destroying religious artifacts.

You might want to ask the Russian Orthodox church whether they agree with that. Rather a lot of churches got demolished.

Quote:

They are in favor of taking them out of the hands of priests who promote them for their mystical values, and putting them in libraries and museums where all people can study and evaluate them. They believe that they are the common property of the entire human race.

I think that felt the same about everybody else's property. "What's mine is mine; what's yours is the property of the entire human race." Judging by their attitude to tax policy, this might be a general view on the left.

All the best,

Roger Pearse

Toto · 04-24-2008, 03:08 PM

Let's just be thankful that Albanian librarians, whether atheistic-Communist or Muslim or whatever, took care of Greek manuscripts, in spite of their linguistic, national, and religious differences.

Are there similar finds waiting in the Republic of Macedonia? Although it appears that most of those monasteries date to the 11th century at the earliest.

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04-23-2008, 04:14 PM	#5
WWJD4aKlondikeBar Veteran Member Join Date: Nov 2005 Location: Ann Arbor, MI Posts: 3,076	Interesting news, Toto. I almost wish I didn't hear about it so I won't have to wait an untold number of intervening months wondering what important things they reveal. As for their preservation in Albania, we easily forget that even in countries ruled by religious extremists there is still a majority of moderate people. Thank FSM for that!

04-24-2008, 07:47 AM	#7
Pataphysician Junior Member Join Date: Mar 2007 Location: Chicago Posts: 38	Well Enver Hoxha did make the whole city of Berat a "Museum City" , and I believe many of the manuscripts come from this ancientest of Albanian city's. So it's not really too surprising they survived Hoxha's regime, who was an ardent nationalist more than anything, so unlikely to destroy ancient artifacts of Albania's greatness, nor sell them. What's more surprising is that the manuscripts have stayed in Albania during the 1990's corrupt Ponzi scheme "market" driven economy, I would have imagined everything of value would have been sold off.

04-24-2008, 03:08 PM	#10
Toto Contributor Join Date: Jun 2000 Location: Los Angeles area Posts: 40,549	Let's just be thankful that Albanian librarians, whether atheistic-Communist or Muslim or whatever, took care of Greek manuscripts, in spite of their linguistic, national, and religious differences. Are there similar finds waiting in the Republic of Macedonia? Although it appears that most of those monasteries date to the 11th century at the earliest.

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