They found the oldest manuscript of the Gospel about the childhood of Jesus Christ

A papyrus fragment has been identified The oldest known copy of the Infancy Gospel of Thomas. This text, which describes episodes from Jesus’ childhood and is considered apocryphal, was found in the State and University Library of Hamburg by papyrologists Lajos Berkes and Gabriel Nocchi Macedo. The text of the fragment appears to match the story of “Sparrow’s animation”A famous episode in the Gospel of Thomas where Jesus made clay sparrows that came to life is considered the second miracle according to this scripture.

According to the official statement of the Hamburg institution: “A fragment of papyrus Unnoticed for decades It has been identified as the oldest known copy of the Infancy Gospel of Thomas, which describes the first years of Jesus’ life.” Professor Lajos Berkes from the Faculty of Theology at the Humboldt-Universität highlighted the importance of the find: “The fragment is of exceptional interest for research. We have been able to It dates to between the 4th and 5th centuries.This makes it the oldest known copy, and in addition, we have obtained new data on the transmission of the text.”

For his part, Gabriel Nouchi Macedo, a researcher at the University of Liège, said: “Our findings in this Greek copy of ancient times confirm that the Gospel of the Infancy According to Thomas is the same as that of Thomas.” It was originally written in GreekAs maintained, the papyrus fragment, about 11×5 centimeters, contained thirteen lines of text in Greek. Initially, it was considered an unimportant document because of its crude handwriting. Lajos Berkes explained: “It was thought to be part of an everyday documentLike a personal letter or a shopping list, because the handwriting looks too clumsy.

However, an explanation of the piece revealed its true nature: “First of all We look at the word ‘Jesus’ in the writing. Then, comparing it with several other digitized papyri, we deciphered it letter by letter and immediately realized that it could not be an everyday document,” Berkus said. This discovery not only provides new data on the transmission of the Gospel and the original writing of Thomas’s childhood, but also confirms a longstanding academic hypothesis about his origin and antiquity.