[Update (4 February 2026): Unfortunately, I overlooked an important reference as I wrote this post, namely an article by André Binggeli from 2015, in which he already identifies the fragment discussed here as belonging to the Arabic Apocrypha Codex. Here’s the article: André Binggeli, “Early Christian Graeco-Arabica: Melkite Manuscripts and Translations in Palestine“, Intellectual History of the Islamicate World, 3 (2015), pp. 228-247. DOI: 10.1163/2212943X-00301009. Here’s what André writes on p. 231, including footnote 16: “Another fragment (MS Sinai ar. NF parch. 47) complements the mutilated Life of Euthymios by Cyril of Scythopolis in the Leiden hagiographic collection. [n. 16:] The Leiden manuscript has chapters 1–15 (Van Esbroeck, “Remembrement d’un manuscrit,” p. 147), while the Sinai fragment has chapters 17–24 (Meimarēs, Katalogos, p. 32). The codicological and palaeographical features in both parts are identical.]
1. This is the fourth post in a series in which I document identifications associated with the work of early Christian Arabic scribes. You can find the first three posts here (I), here (II), and here (III). This post is about a further membrum disjectum of a Christian Arabic parchment manuscript produced in the Sinai Monastery in the 9th or 10th century CE. In my last post in this series, I suggested the name ‘Arabic Apocrypha Codex’ for this manuscript, as it is an important witness to several early Arabic translations of apocryphal texts, which are paired with homelies and hagiographical texts. Six larger and smaller fragments of this codex have already been identified in earlier research. These are scattered today over three collections. Here I would like to present a seventh fragment preserved among Sinai’s New Finds – it is the only one so far known to have remained in St Catherine’s Monastery.
2. The new fragment has the shelfmark Sinai, St Catherine’s Monastery, Ar. NF M 47. It was catalogued by Ioannis E. Meimaris in 1985.1 The few details he provides can be summarised quickly: The writing material is parchment, the fragment consists of 6 folios measuring 212 x 173 mm. Meimaris does not give a date. The text is the Life of St Euthymius the Great (Sīrat al-Qiddīs ʔAfīmūs [ʔAfṯimiyūs]/Βίος τοῦ μέγαλου Εὐθυμίου, CPG 7535) by Cyril of Scythopolis (6th century), chapters 17 through 24 (or 21 through 28 in the Greek numbering, see below). This is one of several of Cyril’s Lives that would have been present in the second (now lost) part of the original manuscript (including the Lives of saints Sabas, Chariton, and John the Hesychast).2 Meimaris’ catalogue contains a photographic reproduction of one folio page (see fig. 1). More recently, the whole fragment was digitised and is accessible via the Sinai Manuscripts Digital Library. Miriam L. Hjälm also mentions the manuscript in a list of manuscripts that she categorises as Christian Arabic New Style Transitional Scripts.3 Here I’m interested primarily in the codicological context of the fragment. But first, we need to dive briefly into the history of research on the codex.

3. To this day, the main study on the Arabic Apocrypha Codex and its parts remains an article by Michel van Esbroeck written in 1980.4 He begins by saying that the title of his text should actually have been either ‘On the misfortune that attaches to a vanished codex’ (‘du malheur qui s’attache à un codex fugitif’) or ‘On the joy of a manuscript that never left Mount Sinai’ (‘du bonheur pour un manuscrit de ne pas avoir quitté le mont Sinaï’).5 For the first time in over 50 years, van Esbroeck drew attention to the manuscript and meticuously traced where most of its parts were now to be found. He also provided a detailed analysis of the codicological features and the contents. Using the extent table of contents, van Esbroeck was able to show that not even half of the original codex had survived, a manuscript that must once have numbered around 400 folios.6 A few other scholars, beginning with Georg Graf in 1915, had also examined the manuscript before van Esbroeck. Helpfully, Tony Burke has recounted this research history in a blog post in 2020.
4. As for the provenance history of the known parts of the codex, here’s a very brief summary: The first person ever to write about part of the Arabic Apocrypha Codex was Georg Graf (1875-1955).7 Around 1915, he gained access to it through the Munich antiquarian bookshop Rosenthal. This part is now Bryn Mawr, Bryn Mawr College Library, Special Collections BV 69.8 It is not yet exactly clear from which source Rosenthal obtained the manuscript, but it was most likely the collector and manuscript dealer Friedrich Grote (1861-1921).9 Later, this and another part of the manuscript (now Leiden, Universitaire Bibliotheken, Or. 14238, 120 ff.) appeared in Karl W. Hiersemann’s (1854-1924) Katalog 500.10 In a blog post for Biblia Arabica, I pointed out that Graf closely tracked the whereabouts of the codex. The two parts from Katalog 500 were purchased by Swiss collector Arnold Mettler-Specker (1867–1945). His heirs kept them in the Zurich University Library until 1948, before they were auctioned off through Parke-Bernett. One part was purchased by American collector Howard Lehman Goodhart (1884–1951), who bequeathed it to Bryn Mawr College. The second one was sold to Leiden University Library in 1978 by Mettler-Specker’s son. It was catalogued in detail by Jan J. Witkam in 1985.11 All these paths were documented by Werner Strohtmann in an article in 1975.12 Two further fragments appeared in yet another one of Hiersemann’s catalogues entitled Orientalische Manuskripte.13 Together with two smaller fragments, they were acquired in 1936 by Alphonse Mingana (1878-1937) through the Leiden-based manuscript dealer Erik von Scherling (1907-1956). The shelfmarks of the four Mingana fragments are: Birmingham, Cadbury Research Library, Mingana Collection, Chr. Ar. 94 (11 ff.), Chr. Ar. Add. 130 (1 f.), 148 (1 f.), 149 (4 ff.).
5. Palaeographically, the new fragment shows the same hand as the six previously known parts of the codex (you can compare the digital copies of Sinai, St Catherine’s Monastery, Ar. NF 47 and Bryn Mawr, Bryn Mawr College Library, Spacial BV 67 or Birmingham, Cadbury Research Library, Mingana Collection, Chr. Ar. 94). The following table lists codicological characteristics of all surviving parts, namely dimensions, folio numbers, and line number as they can be gleaned from the above-mentioned literature, digitised manuscripts, and Mingana’s Catalogue, vols II and III:14
| Manuscript | Folios | Dimensions | Lines/page |
| Bryn Mawr | 40 | 215 × 170 | 16-17 |
| Leiden | 120 | 215 × 175 | 16-19 |
| Mingana 94 | 11 | 218 × 180 | 16 |
| Mingana 130 | 1 | 197 × 153 | 15 |
| Mingana 148 | 1 | 210 × 146 | 17 |
| Mingana 149 | 11 | 218 × 180 | 15-17 |
| Sinai NF 47 | 6 | 212 x 173 | 17-19 |
6. This overview shows that the Leiden fragment, with 120 folios, is the most extensive surviving part of the Arabic Apocrypha Codex. As van Esbroeck has demonstrated, it forms the end of the manuscript in its current form. The last text in this manuscript is the Life of St Euthymius the Great, which is precisely the text we find in the new fragment. In the Leiden fragment, the Life extends from folio 107r to 120v. Witkam pointed out an important paratextual feature, namely that the text contains chapter headings, which are ‘in red, usually centred on a separate line’.15 The headings are composed of the word raʾs (lit. ‘head’) and the Arabic ordinal numbers, e.g. ar-raʔs al-ʔawwal, ‘the first chapter’. These headings enable us to determine exactly how much of the text has been preserved. In the Leiden fragment, chapters 1 through 14 are present in their entirety, while chapter 15 ends abruptly.
7. The new fragment from the New Finds is the continuation of the Leiden fragment. However, at least one folio must have been lost between the two fragments. The new fragment contains the end of chapter 16 (3 lines) and begins with the heading of chapter 17. For comparison, we can take a look at another manuscript containing the same Arabic text (it’s even possible that this second manuscript served as a model for the text of the Life in the Arabic Apocrypha Codex). This manuscript is Vatican City, Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana, Vat. Ar. 71, a manuscript that formerly belonged to and was produced for the Sinai Monastery. The Life can be found on ff. 40r-76v. Chapter 15 begins on f. 50v (penultimate line) and extends over slightly more than two folio pages. Chapter 16 begins on f. 52r (line 5) and extends over almost exactly two folio pages. In the Leiden fragment, chapter 15 ends with ولكن كون ذلك16 عيون مثل الكاروبين وكذلك ينبغي للراهب ان يكون حذر في كل خبر = Vatican, Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana, Vat. Ar. 71, f. 52r, corresponding to the penultimate line of the chapter. The missing text between the Leiden fragment and the new Sinai fragment thus cannot be more than two folio pages.
8. Witkam made another very important codicological observation, namely that the Leiden fragment consists of regular quaternions (i.e. quires with four bifolios each). These quires were marked twice. He writes: ‘there are two systems of quire marks: (1) Greek numbers in the upper left corner of the first recto page of the quires (No. 14-20) or in the upper right corner of the last verso page of the quire (Nos. 21-28) and (2) Cursive Coptic numbers also Nos. 14-28 inclusive. These Coptic numbers are written twice on each quire: underneath the text of the first recto page of each quire, and above the text of the last verso page of each quire’.17 In the new fragment, we are missing precisely the bifolium that should exhibit these quire marks. We can therefore say with some certainty that the new fragment was originally one quire (with the outer bifolio now missing). The last quire mark in the Leiden fragment is 28. Thus, the new Sinai fragment is quire 29 of the original codex (see the following reconstruction in fig. 2).

9. To conclude this post, I give an overview of the chapter headings as they can be found in the new fragment. I indicate the folio pages in the fragment and give the incipits and explicits of each chapter. For comparison, I also provide the corresponding Greek text from Eduard Schwartz’s edition.18 Note that the Greek chapter numbering is different from the Arabic.
Folio 1r-1v: Chapter 17 (Gr. 21)
Incipit
Ar.: الذين كانوا مع مار اوفيمس وتدبروا معه زمان هم حدثوا لانبا قرياقوس ما اخبرنا انهم ما ابصروه قط ياكل
Gr.: Τούτου τοῦ μεγάλου Εὐθυμίου οἱ διάδοχοι καὶ συναναστραφέντες αὐτῶι χρόνον ἱκανὸν διηγοῦντο τῶι ταῦτά μοι διηγησαμένωι ἀββᾶι Κυριακῶι λέγοντες ὅτι οὐ κατελαβόμεθα αὐτὸν ἐσθίοντα
Explicit
Ar.: وكان يشفى المرضا ويخرج الشياطين وحتا الان قبره يفعل ذلك
Gr.: περὶ μέντοι ὧν ὑπερέσχε χαρισμάτων τοῦ τε τῶν ἰαμάτων καὶ τοῦ κατὰ πνευμάτων ἀκαθάρτων μαρτυρεῖ τὰ ὁρώμενα ἅπερ μέχρι σήμερον ὁρῶμεν τὴν αὐτοῦ ἀναβλύζουσαν θήκην
Folio 1v-2r: Chapter 18 (Gr. 22)
Incipit
Ar.: ونحن نخبر ببعض ما صنع اللـه على يديه من العجايب وتقدمه المعرفة
Gr.: Περὶ δὲ τοῦ διορατικοῦ χαρίσματος καὶ ὅθεν τὰς τούτου ἀκτῖνας ἐκπέμπειν ἤρξατο καὶ λαμπρότερος φωστήρ ἀνεδείχθη, ἐρῶν ἔρχομαι
Explicit
Ar.: حينيذ قال لهم علاينه حقا انى لم اطعا ولكن كلما عرف اللـه وحده سايكون لان اللـه لا يبطل مواهبه
Gr.: καὶ λέγει εἰς ἐπτήκοον πάντων· ὄντως οὐκ ἠπατήθην, ἀλλ᾽ ὅπερ ὁ θεὸς προέγνω καὶ προώρισεν, πἀντως ἐπιτελέσει· ἀμεταμέλητα γὰρ αὐτοῦ τὰ χαρίσματα.
Folio 2r: Chapter 19 (Gr. 23)
Incipit
Ar.: اطرابون الاعرابى تزوج من جنسه فمكتت معه زمان بغير ولد لانها كانت عاقر
Gr.: Τερέβον ἐκεῖνος ὁ Σαρακηνὸς γυναῖκα ἐκ τοῦ ἰδίου γένους λαβὼν καὶ ἐπὶ συχνὸν χρόνον συζήσας αὐτῆι οὐκ ἔσχεν τέκνον στείρας οὔσης αὐτῆς
Explicit
Ar.: وولدت ابنها البكر وسمته بطرس باسم ابوا [ا]طرابون الذي حدث الابهات بذلك: وولدت بعد بطرس
Gr.: καὶ ἔτεκεν τὸν πρωτόκον, Πέτρον τὸν πατέρα τοῦ ταῦτα συμφώνως τοῖς γέρουσιν διηγησαμένου μοι Τερέβονος. ἐγέννησεν δὲ μετὰ Πέτρον καὶ ἄλλους δύο υἱους κατὰ τὴν προφητείαν τοῦ πνευματοφόρου πάτρος.
Folio 2v-3v: Chapter 20 (Gr. 24)
Incipit
Ar.: وايضا كان في الدير اخ من ناحية رومية يُقال له امليانوس
Gr.: Ἀδελφός τις ἦν ἐν τῆι λαύραι Ῥωμαῖος μὲν τῶι γένει, Αἰμιλιανός δὲ τῆι κλήσει
Explicit
Ar.: ومن ذلك اليوم اُعتق امليانوس من تلك الافكار وصار مختار
Gr.: καὶ ἀπὸ τότε ἠλευθερώτη ὁ Αἰμιλιανὸς ἀπὸ τοῦ αὐτοῦ λόγισμου καὶ ἐγένετο σκεῦος ἐκλογῆς.
Folio 3v-4v: Chapter 21 (Gr. 25)
Incipit
Ar.: في ذلك الزمان احتبس المطر لم ينزل
Gr.: Κατ᾽ αὐτὸν δὴ τὸν χρόνον ἀβροχίας τῆι γῆι ἐπικειμένης
Explicit
Ar.: ودام المطر ومنعه من النزول الى البريه ايام كثيره واخصبت تلك السنه جدا كما سبق القديس وقال
Gr.: ἔμεινεν δὲ ἡ βροχὴ ῥαγδαίως καταφερομένη ὥστε μὴ δύνασθαι αὐτὸν ἐπὶ πολλὰς ἡμέρας κατελθεῖν εἰς τὴν πανέρημαν. εὐλογήθη δὲ ὁ ἐνιαυτὸς ἐκεῖνος ὑπὲρ τὰ λοιπὰ ἔτη κατὰ τὸν λόγον τοῦ πνευματοφόρου πάτρος.
Folio 4v: Chapter 22 (Gr. 26)
Incipit
Ar.: انبا ينة الاسقف الحبيس وانبا تالاليوس القسيس الذين كانا في سيق انبا سابا القديس اخبرونا عن الفاضل مارى سابا وساير الشيوخ
Gr.: Ὁ ἀββᾶς ᾽Ιωάννης ὁ ἐπίσκοπος καὶ ἡσυχαστὴς καὶ ὁ ἀββᾶς Θαλλέλαιος ὁ πρεσβύτερος οἱ ἐπὶ τοῦ παρόντος ἐν τῆι λαύραι τοῦ μακαρίου Σάβα ἀγωνιζόμενοι διηγήσαντό μοι λέγοντες ὅτιπερ καὶ ὁ μακάριος Σάβας καὶ ἄλλοι πλεῖστοι γέροντες
Explicit
Ar.: وكان مناصب لهاهلا جدا لان روح القدس علمته الحكمه
Gr.: [no corresponding text]19
Folio 5r: Chapter 23 (Gr. 27)
Incipit
Ar.: لما بلغ اوثوميوس خمسة وسبعين اجتمعت سنودس خلكذونيه
Gr.: Τῶι ἑβδομηκοστῶι πέμπτωι τῆς τοῦ μεγάλου Εὐθυμίου ἡλικίας χρόνωι γέγονεν ἡ ἐν Χαλκέδονι σύνοδος
Explicit
Ar.: فاقام مار افيمس في البريه حتا طرح تيذس
Gr.: ἔμεινεν γὰρ ἐκεῖσε ὁ μέγας Εὐθύμιος ἕος οὗ ἐκποδὼν γἐγονεν ὁ Θεοδόσιος
Folio 6v Chapter 24 (Gr. 28)
Incipit
Ar.: ومن بعد سنتين طلع مار اوفيمس القديس من الروب الى السيق
Gr.: Οὗτος ὁ μἐγας καὶ πεφωτισμένος Εὐθύμιος διὰ δύο χρόνων ἐπανελθὼν ἀπὸ τοῦ Ῥουβᾶ ἐπὶ τὴν λαύραν
Published: 8 January 2026. Last updated: 4 February 2026. Licence: CC BY-NC 4.0.
- Iōannēs E. Meïmárēs, Κατάλογος των νέων αραβικών χειρογράφων της Ιεράς Μονής Αγίας Αικατερίνης του όρους Σινά (Athens: Ethnikón Idruma Ereunōn, 1985), p. 32 and ٣٢ + fig. 45. [↩]
- On the Arabic transmission of Cyril’s Lives, see André Binggeli, “The Transmission of Cyril of Scythopolis’ Lives in Greek and Oriental Hagiographical Collections“, manuscript cultures, 13 (2019), pp. 47-62, esp. 54-55. The Arabic Apocrypha Codex is not mentioned there. [↩]
- See Miriam L. Hjälm, “A Paleographical Study of Early Christian Arabic Manuscripts“, Collectanea Christiana Orientalia, 17 (2020), pp. 37-77, at p. 70 [↩]
- Michel van Esbroeck, “Remembrement d’un manuscrit sinaïtique arabe de 950”, in: Samir K. Samir (ed.), Actes du premier colloque international d’études arabes chrétiennes (Goslar, septembre 1980), Orientalia Christiana Analecta, 218 (Rome: Pontifical Institute of Oriental Studies, 1980), pp. 135-147. [↩]
- M. van Esbroeck, “Remembrement”, p. 135. [↩]
- M. van Esbroeck, “Remembrement”, p. 139. [↩]
- Georg Graf, “Alte christlich-arabische Fragmente“, Oriens Christianus, Neue Serie, 4 (1915), pp. 338-341. [↩]
- This shelfmark comprises several parts that do not belong to the same production unit or codicological unit. Part 1 (ff. 1r-2v) consists of two folios of a fragment that originates from another codex. Part 2 begins with a title page and a table of contents (ff. 3r-4v), both of which have been restored and constitute a separate production unit; the main part of the codex comprises ff. 5r-40v and 49r-52v; in between is Part 3, a piece that was bound in later (ff. 41r-48v). The most original or most ancient part of the manuscript, excluding the title page and table of contents, therefore comprises 40 folios. [↩]
- See Peter Tarras, “Friedrich Heinrich Ludwig Grote (1861-1922) und die christlich-orientalischen Diasporahandschriften vom Sinai: Biographie eines Sammlers”, Oriens Christianus, 106 (2023 [2024]), pp. 209-280, at p. 253. [↩]
- Karl W. Hiersemann, Katalog 500: Orientalische Manuskripte: Arabische, syrische, griechische, armenische, persische Handschriften des 7.-18. Jahrhderts [sic]: meist theologischen, vorzüglich kirchen- u. liturgiegeschichtlichen Inhalts von hoher Bedeutung z. gr. Tl. Inedita und Unica (Leipzig: Karl W. Hiersemann, 1922), nos 15 and 16. [↩]
- Jan J. Witkam, Catalogue of the Arabic Manuscripts in the Library of the University of Leiden and Other Collections, vol. 3, fasc. 3, Codices Manuscripti Bibliothecae Universitatis Leidensis, 21/3 (Leiden: Brill, 1985), pp. 329-336. [↩]
- See Werner Strothmann, “Die orientalischen Handschriften der Sammlung Mettler (Katalog Hiersemann 500)“, Zeitschrift der Deutschen Morgenländischen Gesellschaft, Supplement III, 1: XIX. Deutscher Orientalistentag (1975) (1977), pp. 285-293. [↩]
- Karl W. Hiersemann, Orientalische Manuskripte: Eine Sammlung hervorragender Stücke aus dem 9.-19. Jahrhundert (Leipzig: Karl W. Hiersemann, s. a.), nos 1 and 1a. [↩]
- See Alphonse Mingana, Catalogue of the Mingana Collection of Manuscripts Now in the Possession of the Trustees of the Woodbrooke Settlement, Selly Oak, Birmingham, vol. II: Christian Arabic and Additional Syriac Manuscripts, Woodbrooke Catalogues, II (Cambridge: W. Heffer & Sons, Ltd., 1936), pp. 121-122; idem, Catalogue of the Mingana Collection of Manuscripts Now in the Possession of the Trustees of the Woodbrooke Settlement, Selly Oak, Birmingham, vol. III: Additional Christian Arabic and Syriac Manuscripts, Woodbrooke Catalogues, III (Cambridge: W. Heffer & Sons, Ltd., 1939), pp. 9-10, 20-21, 44-45. [↩]
- J. J. Witkam, Catalogue, p. 335. [↩]
- Witkam has كلك. [↩]
- J. J. Witkam, Catalogue, p. 329. [↩]
- Eduard Schwartz (ed.), Kyrillos von Skythopolis, Texte und Untersuchungen zur Geschichte der altchristlichen Literatur, Archiv für die von der Kirchenväter-Commission der Preußischen Akademie der Wissenschaften unternommene Ausgabe der älteren christlichen Schriftsteller, 4. Reihe, 4/2 = 49/2 (Leipzig: J.C. Hinrichs Verlag, 1939). [↩]
- The chapter appears in a heavily abbridged version. Cp. also MS Vatican City, Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana, Vat. Ar. 71, ff. 55v-56r. [↩]
OpenEdition suggests that you cite this post as follows:
Peter Tarras (January 8, 2026). Miscellaneous Identifications IV: A Missing Quire of the Arabic Apocrypha Codex among the New Finds. Membra Dispersa Sinaitica. Retrieved February 12, 2026 from https://doi.org/10.58079/15gvd