Scientists decipher the oldest fragment of "Gospel of Thomas" apocryphal

The discovered fragment of the "Gospel of Thomas". Photo: religiondigital.org

In one of the libraries in Hamburg, an ancient papyrus was found, which turned out to be the oldest of the known fragments of the apocryphal "Infancy Gospel of Thomas".

The papyrus fragment measures 11 by 5 centimeters and contains remnants of 13 lines written in Greek letters, approximately ten letters per line.

It is dated to the late 4th to 5th centuries AD and originates from Egypt. Until now, the oldest known copy of this text was a manuscript from the 11th century.

The "Infancy Gospel of Thomas", also known as the "Gospel of Thomas", allegedly contains stories about the childhood of Jesus that did not make it into the canonical Gospels.

One of such episodes tells the story of five-year-old Jesus playing by the riverbank and molding twelve sparrows out of soft clay. When Saint Joseph reproaches him for working on the Sabbath, Jesus claps his hands, and the sparrows come to life and fly away.

According to scholars, it is precisely this little-known episode from the "Infancy Gospel of Thomas" that was found in Hamburg.

The fragment remained unnoticed in the Hamburg library for decades until recently when Dr. Lajos Berkes and Professor Gabriel Nock were able to establish its true origin and significance.

The Institute of Christianity and Antiquity at Humboldt University in Berlin has declared this fragment to be the oldest of the surviving copies of the "Infancy Gospel of Thomas".

Earlier, it was reported that the Pool of Siloam in Jerusalem will be excavated, where Christ healed the blind man.

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