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November 29, 2008 10:16 PM
Gospel of John sale
LONDON - An unusually large fragment from possibly the oldest copy of part of the Gospel of John will go on sale next month, when the torn piece of papyrus with Greek writing is expected to fetch up to 300,000 pounds ($460,000).
The fragment is believed to date to 200 AD, less than 170 years after the crucifixion of Christ, when Christianity was still illegal and around 100 years after experts believe the original Gospel was first written.
"This is either the first or the second oldest copy of this part of the text of the Gospel of John," Sotheby's specialist Timothy Bolton told Reuters as he held the document displayed between two sheets of clear plastic.
"It is one of the finest and most celebrated of
Gospel fragments, as there are very few pieces
of this spectacular quality."
The appearance of page number 74 in one corner
shows the leaf came from a relatively large volume
of the whole Gospel, he explained, and adds to the
rarity of the piece.
Its Greek text is an account of Jesus preaching
in the temple, where people challenge his right
to give evidence on his own behalf. It includes
the cryptic and prophetic words: "Whither I go,
ye cannot come."
The fragment was discovered in 1922 by British
archaeologists Bernard Grenfell and Arthur Hunt
at the site of the important early Christian
|community at Oxyrhynchus, about 193km from
Cairo. It is believed to have been written in
Alexandria.
Most finds from the site ended up in the Ashmolean
Museum in Oxford and the British Museum, although
some pieces, including the fragment, were sent to
seminaries and colleges.
The U.S. divinity school where it ended up sold the
fragment in New York in 2003, and it fetched $400,000,
which Sotheby's said was the highest price ever paid
at public sale for an early Christian manuscript.
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