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Mt Sinai evidence casts doubt on resurrection

The codex Sinaiticus - arguably the greatest find in Egypt's St Katherine's monastery - throws up a Di Vinci-esque dilemma. It's one of the earliest bibles known to man - and it doesn't mention the resurrection of Christ.

Since the original writings of the New Testament authors are lost, early manuscripts like the St Katherine's codex are the best clues to the story of Jesus. Here, the problem lies in the codex's gospel of St Mark. Mark's version appears to be the basis for what Matthew, Luke and John later wrote, and yet the ending has no mention of Jesus' return to life. So where did the idea of his' resurrection come from?

The codex is thought to be from around 340 AD - at this time the newly converted Emperor Constantine put great effort into reproducing Christian scriptures. Yet no one knows exactly when it was written - at that time St Katherine's was not yet built.

The codex has been modified: the presence of nine correctors can be found on its pages. But by far the greatest omission in the codex is the non-mention of the resurrection of Jesus. According to the codex's version of St Mark, three women bring oils to anoint the dead body of Jesus as it lies in his tomb. They are amazed to find the huge stone at the tomb's entrance rolled away, and inside a youth wearing a white robe. He tells them that Jesus of Nazareth is not there, because he has risen.

Then the youth gives a message to the women to give to the disciples: 'He will go before you into Galilee and you will see him there, as he told you.') But according the codex gospel, 'they went out and ran away from the tomb, beside themselves with terror. They said nothing to anybody, for they were afraid.' And so the text ends, underlined with a fine artistic squiggle, before going on to the beginning of the Gospel of Luke.

Mark's gospel is commonly thought to be the second of the four gospels. (Matthew, Mark, Luke then John). Yet by looking at which of the other gospels agree with Mark, scholars have recently concluded that Mark's was the first. And if the other writers based their account on Mark's, then who added the story about the resurrection?

Religious scholars to this day debate the meaning of the lack of resurrection in the codex. Few doubt that the author of St Mark's Gospel believed that Jesus was somehow still alive. But the discovery in the monastery of St Katherine's now means that Jesus' appearance to his disciples is now an open question.