Arabic books having passed through my hands in 1893,) that this was the most
ancient specimen of Arabic calligraphy to be found in the library, and I
therefore photographed all the Biblical part of the volume. I also transcribed
the pages which had become indistinct from pressure against the opposite ones,
and from which I could not therefore obtain anything legible by means of the
camera. After my return home, I copied the distinct pages from my photographs,
which this time were very successful. On a fourth visit to the Convent, in 1897,
I carefully revised my transcription with the MS., and also photographed the
remainder of the volume, so that I got its contents complete excepting a few
pages at the end. Mrs Burkitt put her transcription of the Antilegomena into the
hands of Dr Merx, who edited it in the Zeitschrift für Assyriologie for
December 1897, adding copious notes in the same magazine for April and
September, 1898.
It will doubtless be observed that is a few cases my reading of certain words
differs from that of Mrs Burkitt and Dr Merx. I should hesitate to place my own
judgment in opposition to that of so distinguished a scholar as Dr Merx, were it
not corroborated in nearly every case by the evidence of my photographs.
The Manuscript is on vellum, and measures 18 centimetres by 12 ?. It is in
quires of eight leaves each, but as a number of pages are missing at the
beginning as well as at the end, there are only two leaves in the first existing
quire. In its present state it has 142 leaves. It is divided into three
portions.
1. The Biblical text, written, according to its colophon, by Moses the Monk,
consisting of the Acts of the Apostles, from Chapter vii. v. 37 to the
end of the seven Catholic Epistles.
2. A short story, which I have called صلاة الراهب,
and four aphorisms.
3. A theological treatise on the Triune Nature of God, which I have called
في تثليث الل
ه الواحد
. It must not be supposed that these titles are in the manuscript.
In 1, the Biblical section, the writing is above the line. I counted 20 lines
on most pages, but the number varies a little.
