Skeleton 03 - The Constantine Codex (47 page)

The debates were long and, at times, impassioned, but they largely stayed on track. Both Shannon and Jon were asked to testify in detail as to their discovery of the Constantine Codex.

Before Shannon stepped up to the dais, she asked him, “Is this really happening, Jon? My addressing the council?”

“History is being made at this very moment, my darling. A woman has never before addressed a church council, and it’s high time.”

“I’m . . . just a bit nervous.”

“Don’t be, sweetheart. Break a leg! Just be yourself and tell it like it was.”

Shannon did just that. Jon was never more proud of her, as she once again recounted the chain of events that began with the dig at Pella. She was poised, confident, and convincing. Knowing that there were a few misogynists at the council, Jon mused,
I’ll bet they’re shocked that a
woman
could even bring this off.

When it came to his turn, Jon continued the improbable story of the Constantine Codex but never made any recommendations as to its canonicity. He even applauded the Vatican for “discovering” the remains of St. Paul without tying this into the codex. His objectivity was obvious, although everyone could read between the lines.

His testimony was followed by that of Christianity’s most authoritative Greek manuscript scholars. When their opinions were added to the scientific evidence, the debate over the authenticity of the codex concluded rather quickly.

As Jon and Shannon left the convention hall that afternoon, Katie Couric of CBS News buttonholed them and asked, “It looks rather good for opening the Canon, doesn’t it, Professor Weber?”

Jon shook his head. “Authenticity of the codex is one thing, but including the new material in the Canon is quite another.”

“Do you mean that the council, after all this evidence, might
still
vote against including the last of Mark and Second Acts in the Canon?”

“That’s exactly what they might do.”

The date was July 10. The time was 3 p.m. Every argument on both sides of the issue had been aired. A few church magnates, known to be garrulous, tried to extend debate so that their set speeches would also be included in the official record of the council. That prompted Shannon’s whisper to Jon, “Everything’s been said, but not everyone has said it.”

Jon chuckled, leaned over, and kissed her cheek. “Oh, oh,” he murmured, “I wonder if
that’s
ever been done before at an ecumenical council?”

She grinned and tickled his ribs. “Or that either.”

Now, by a vast majority vote, the council voted to end further discussion. All knew what would come next. A hush of silence filled the vast hall. The atmosphere was electric with expectation. Jon and Shannon clutched hands.

His All Holiness Bartholomew II now stood and led the entire council in a solemn prayer, invoking God the Holy Spirit to guide their vote. Then he announced solemnly, “My colleagues in Christ, if it is your sacred conviction that the newly discovered ending to the Gospel of Mark should be regarded as valid by the church and added to the canonical Gospel of Mark after chapter 16, verse 8, then please vote Yes on your keypads. If not, vote No. Please vote . . .
now
!”

On a giant computer screen hanging over the dais, the data came on slowly. The first image on the screen gave the statistic: “Of 2,797 votes cast, 2,790 are valid.”

“Why’s that?” Shannon asked Jon, in a whisper. “What about the other seven?”

“Seven delegates probably pressed both yes and no. Or they tried to change their vote.”

“Oh.”

Endless moments seemed to pass. The screen remained dark. All Jon and Shannon’s efforts over the past months—the whole extraordinary odyssey—was now compressed into electronics that would fire pixels on a screen declaring their success or failure. Jon’s grip on Shannon’s hand tightened even more.

Suddenly the screen came alive. To the left was a tall green column, showing 2,694 votes in favor. On the right side was a very low graph in red, showing only 96 negative votes. Jon and Shannon embraced each other in tears. The convention center erupted in deafening applause and cheering.

When Bartholomew finally reestablished order, he said, “The Holy Spirit has indeed spoken through you, my beloved colleagues. I prayed that this would be your decision! I now turn the gavel over to my most esteemed brother in Christ, the Bishop of Rome.”

Jon wiped his eyes and whispered, “The next vote is still in doubt, darling. The Mark ending doesn’t really open the Canon. Second Acts will.”

She nodded. “They could call Mark’s a textual variant. Well, half a loaf is better than none.”

Benedict XVI stood and also solemnly invoked the Holy Spirit to guide their decision. Then he announced, “My colleagues in Christ, if it is your sacred conviction that the newly discovered Third Treatise to Theophilus, popularly known as Second Acts, should be regarded as valid and added to the canon of the New Testament following the canonical book of Acts, please vote Yes on your keypad. If not, vote No. Please vote . . .
now
.”

Again Jon and Shannon were taut with tension. For some reason, the phrase
“You win some; you lose some”
flitted across his mind, causing his heart to pound.

Again the huge screen came to life and reported, “Of 2,794 votes cast, 2,794 are valid.”

“Looks like they all got it right this time,” Jon whispered.

“But there are three fewer votes. Wonder what happened . . .”

“Three delegates probably had to go to the john,” he responded.

“Happens,” she chuckled, grateful for a wisp of humor to relieve their anxiety.

Again it seemed an eternity, waiting for the screen to return to life. Shannon had closed her eyes. Jon assumed she was probably in prayer to a God who could intervene even in electronics if it came to that. Their clasped hands showed knuckles in white.

The screen flashed on. Two graph columns again materialized. To the left stood a tall green column that registered 2,665 votes in favor, and to the right its stubby red neighbor with only 129 votes.

Jon grabbed Shannon in a crushing hug. Thunderous applause and boisterous cheering followed. Benedict indulged it all for several minutes before banging his gavel, fruitlessly. Again, it was a super-super-majority.

A new page had been turned in the history of Christianity. Its Holy Bible now had sixty-seven books rather than sixty-six.

Now the entire Ecumenical Council rose and joined in singing the Common Doxology in dozens of different languages, though with the same melody:

Praise God from Whom all blessings flow,

Praise Him, all creatures here below;

Praise Him above, ye heavenly host,

Praise Father, Son, and Holy Ghost!

Although Jon and Shannon had sung the familiar verse hundreds of times, it never carried more meaning for them than at the present moment. Tears filled their eyes and everyone else’s as well. The profound unity in diversity among Christians at the council, they hoped, would serve as a model for the future.

Benedict now called on Jon to address the council. He had asked the pope for a brief opportunity to do so
if
the votes so warranted it. He walked up to the dais. “Thank you, Your Holiness,” he began. “I would respectfully ask all of you, distinguished church leaders, to remind your followers of something extremely important; namely, that this council has
not
approved ‘a new Bible,’ as it were, and has
not
replaced the traditional Scriptures. The ‘old family Bible’ is as relevant as ever with its sixty-six books. The sixty-seven-book version simply enhances the text of that great traditional document which has served the church so well for almost two thousand years. My wife and I now commend the enhanced edition and its reception in the church to the providence of God.”

As he left the dais, shouts of “Amen” and even “Hallelujah” ricocheted throughout the vast reaches of the hall. No one present would ever forget that memorable day, which became a milestone in church history.

Jon and Shannon were treated to endless rounds of congratulations by the church’s great, which they vigorously tried to deflect. In fact, they were the last to leave the convention hall. Jon looked into Shannon’s sapphire eyes, still a bit misty, and said, “Thanks, my darling, for—how did you put it?—for finding the two missing pieces in that sacred mosaic called the Holy Bible and setting them safely into place.”

Epilogue

Although the decisions of the Jerusalem Council were not binding on individual church bodies, 96 percent of world Christianity did adopt them in fact. Holdouts were the extremely conservative sects, rigorist splinter groups, and the Appalachian churches that practiced snake-handling as a centerpiece of their worship. The assurance that not one syllable of the newly discovered material contradicted any part of Scripture fell on deaf ears. As one of their elders put it, “If the King James Bible was good enough for St. Paul, it’s good enough for us.”

Publication of the sixty-seven-book Bible became the greatest statistical phenomenon since Gutenberg invented movable type printing. When Jon and the ICO had first permitted the fresh addenda to be published separately as part of the public domain, publishers privately deemed them “crazy,” in view of the incredibly valuable property they were giving away. Now they called them “crazy like a fox,” since publishing any new Bible with the addenda would have certain strings attached, spelled “royalties.” The newly discovered Greek texts in the codex and any translations thereof were fully protected if they became part of any new edition of the New Testament or the Bible.

Jon explained that the reason for the copyright was far more than royalties. A restriction clause in all publishing contracts gave the ICO the right to approve any translation. A “dirty little secret” in Bible publishing had been the intrusion of denominational interests in slight shadings in translating some verses of Holy Writ.

To be sure, new Bible editions had been flooding the market of late. A whole cavalcade of specialty Bibles were crowding the bookstores, such as women’s Bibles, men’s Bibles, Scriptures for the young, for the aged, and every niche market imaginable. Jon once cracked to Shannon, “Next there will be
A Bible for Left-handed Mothers-to-be in the Second Trimester of Their Pregnancy
.” But all these were only adaptations of the traditional text. The new sixty-seven-book Bible rewrote the sales records in Bible publishing.

The ICO had authorized the Boston law firm of Allen, Stover, Gemrich, Haenicke, and Hume to handle the crush of publishers lining up at their doors. Known for their expertise in international rights and permissions, they monitored worldwide sales of the new edition so well that a record 93 percent of global sales were legitimate. There were exceptions, of course. Customs officials in Long Beach, California, had to seize a whole boatload of the new Bibles because they were pirated editions printed in China with a fake Zondervan imprint.

Although Jon and Shannon disliked the name “The New Bible” because it could suggest that the traditional version was now supplanted, this was the name bestowed on it by the vast public. And because global sales of the New Bible quickly reached truly biblical proportions, the phrase “an embarrassment of riches” had fresh meaning for Jon and the ICO. Their royalties were not large; they were simply prodigious.

Meetings of the ICO were now devoted to the happy task of deciding how to share the wealth. The repository was the Institute of Christian Origins Foundation, and interviews with Warren Buffett and officers of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation were helpful. While theirs were secular in nature, the ICO Foundation would serve primarily Christian and biblical interests. Accordingly, the primary beneficiaries were:

• The Institute of Christian Origins, Cambridge, Massachusetts

Charity began at home. A large endowment fund was established to underwrite an expanded research program for the ICO in all its endeavors, present and future.

• The Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople

The enclave in Istanbul was landlocked and needed to expand. Now it could buy up surrounding properties in overcrowded Istanbul and enjoy something that actually resembled a campus. This was but a debt repaid.

• The Center for the Study of New Testament Manuscripts

Its program of photographing and/or purchasing biblical manuscripts across the world could now be fully funded and, in fact, prioritized because of the race against time to secure the texts before inevitable deterioration.

• Endowment for Interfaith Dialogue

In greater efforts toward Christian unity, far more interchange between Eastern and Western Christendom was necessary, as well as between Protestants and the rest of Christendom.