The Great Codices

Ancient books were usually scrolls, long strips rolled up on a stick. Early Christians strongly preferred a newer format: the codex, sheets folded and bound together like a modern book. A codex could hold far more, was easier to carry, and let readers flip to a passage.

Once Christianity was legal and supported, churches could afford to produce magnificent full Bibles. Three have survived from the 4th and 5th centuries, written in Greek on parchment made from animal skins.

• Codex Sinaiticus (mid-4th century): the oldest complete New Testament. Found at St. Catherine's Monastery in Sinai in the 1840s–50s; most of it is now in the British Library.
• Codex Vaticanus (4th century): in the Vatican Library since at least the 1400s. One of the most important witnesses to both Testaments, though missing the start of Genesis and the end of the New Testament.
• Codex Alexandrinus (5th century): in the British Library, with nearly the whole Greek Bible.

Surprises inside the codices

These Bibles include a few writings that are not in our New Testament. Codex Sinaiticus ends with the Epistle of Barnabas and part of the Shepherd of Hermas. Codex Alexandrinus includes the letters of Clement. These were respected early writings that were read in some churches but did not become part of the canon.

The ending of Mark

In both Sinaiticus and Vaticanus, the Gospel of Mark ends at 16:8, with the women fleeing the empty tomb, afraid. The longer ending familiar from the King James Bible (16:9–20) is absent. Most later manuscripts include it. Modern Bibles usually print it with a note.