Glasgow, April 28, 2026
Photo: ancient-origins.net
An international research team led by the University of Glasgow has recovered 42 lost pages from Codex H, a 6th-century Greek manuscript containing the Letters of St. Paul, using multispectral imaging technology.
The manuscript, formally known as GA 015, was disassembled at the Great Lavra Monastery on Mount Athos, Greece, in the 13th century. Its parchment pages were re-inked and repurposed as binding material and flyleaves for other manuscripts, a common medieval practice when writing materials were costly. The surviving fragments are now scattered across libraries in Italy, Greece, Russia, Ukraine, and France, reports Ancient Origins.
The breakthrough came from a physical phenomenon identified by the researchers. Professor Garrick Allen explained that when the manuscript was re-inked, the chemicals in the new ink caused "offset" damage to facing pages, creating mirror images of the text on opposite leaves. Working with the Early Manuscripts Electronic Library, the team employed multispectral imaging to capture the manuscript under multiple wavelengths of light, from ultraviolet to infrared, revealing ink traces barely visible to the naked eye and effectively retrieving "ghost" text that no longer physically exists. The team also collaborated with experts in Paris to perform radiocarbon dating, confirming the parchment's 6th-century origin.
The recovered text contains known portions of Paul’s Letters but offers insight into how the New Testament was understood and transmitted in the early centuries of the Church. The findings include the earliest known examples of chapter lists for Paul’s Letters, which differ from the chapter divisions used in modern Bibles. The fragments also reveal how 6th-century scribes corrected, annotated, and interacted with their sacred texts.
The manuscript contains the letters of the Apostle Paul accompanied by the Euthalian apparatus, a framework comprising chapter lists, prefaces, cross-references, and historical notes that guided early readers through the scriptures.
The project, titled “Annotating the New Testament: Codex H, Euthalian Traditions, and the Humanities,” was funded by the Templeton Religion Trust and the Arts and Humanities Research Council (UK). It was conducted in partnership with the Brotherhood of the Great Lavra, who granted researchers access to the eight folia they hold of the manuscript.
The project has produced an open-access digital edition of Codex H, available at codexh.arts.gla.ac.uk, as well as a forthcoming print edition.
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