The full text of the Codex Sinaiticus will be made available to internet users by July 2009 says The British Library. A preview of the Codex, which also has some parts of the Old Testament, will hit the Web on Thursday, July 23, 2008, including the entire Book of Psalms and the Gospel of Mark.

Scot McKendrick, the British Library's head of Western manuscripts, was quoted in an AP interview saying "Only a few people have ever had the opportunity to see more than a couple of pages of the (Codex), The Web site will give everyone access to a 'unique treasure'."

German Bible scholar Constantine Tischendorf  originally discovered the manuscript at the Monastery of Saint Catherine at Mount Sinai in the mid-19th century. A large portion of the Codex eventually made its way to Russia — just exactly how, the British Library seems to be closed mouthed about, citing sensitivities over the nature of the circumstances surrounding its actual removal from the monastery in Mount Sinai.

In 1933, The British Library bought 347 pages from Soviet authorities. Another forty-three pages are at the University Library in Leipzig, Germany, and six fragments remain at the National Library of Russia in St. Petersburg. In a serindipitous occasion in 1975, monks stumbled on 12 more pages and 40 fragments that had been filed away in a secret room at the monastery.

Most bible scholars are ecstatic that the Codex Sinaiticus, separated by so much time, space and politics since 1844, is finally being put back together, even if it is only in a 'virtual' sense. Up till now, seeing the document first hand would have required one to approach the British Library "on bended knee," according to Christopher Tuckett, a professor of New Testament studies at Oxford University, in an AP article.

"To have it available just at the click of a button is fantastic," he said. "You could do in two seconds what would take hours and hours of flicking through the leaves."

The original manuscript was handwritten in Greek over 1,600 years ago in an unknown location. The 400 or so pages that remain of the original, carry a version of the New Testament that is in places, different from the Bible used by Christians today.

One of the more disturbing differences is in the Gospel of Mark, which ends abruptly after Jesus' disciples discover his empty tomb. Mark's last line indicates they all left in fear.

"It cuts out the post-resurrection stories," said Juan Garces, curator of the Codex Sinaiticus Project. "That's a very odd way of ending a Gospel."

According to James Davila, a professor of early Jewish studies at St. Andrews University in Scotland, the Codex also includes religious works foreign to the Roman Catholic and Protestant canons. Books such as the "Epistle of Barnabas" and the "Shepherd of Hermas," which is full of visions and parables.

Davila feels that this does not mean the works were necessarily considered Scripture by early Christians: It is possible they could have been bound with the Bible to save money.

The Codex itself is a fascinating artifact, representing the best of Western bookmaking, Garces said. The parchment was arranged in little multipage booklets called quires, which were then numbered in sequence.

"It was the cutting edge of technology in the 4th century," he said.

The British Library bound its quires into two volumes after their purchase from the Soviets, one of which is kept on show in a climate-controlled, bulletproof display case. Visitors can peer at the ancient book, but only see two pages at a time.

By next July, the entire Codex will be available for free — along with transcription, translation and search functions — on the Internet.