Eyewitness testimony proves that the claims of Simonides about Codex Sinaiticus were false
This monograph follows from the work published in 2018 exposing the conspiracy theories of the late Dr William Cooper, David W. Daniels and others, who claimed that the infamous nineteenth century forger, Constantine Simonides, produced the Codex Sinaiticus at a monastery in Mount Athos in 1840. Simonides himself publicly launched this tale in 1862, and in England this ‘Simonides Affair’ rumbled on into 1864, even drawing the attention of William E. Gladstone, who opined that the Russian Emperor was a dupe.
In 2021 Daniels claimed that no one had disproved Simonides’ account by checking with eyewitnesses who knew him in 1840. While such a notion feeds his conspiracy theory, it is wholly untrue. This paper shows for the first time to the English reader how thoroughly the Russian church and state dealt with the Simonides Affair and how their investigations put enquiries in England completely in the shade.
Among the documents brought to light is the testimony of the abbot of the monastery where Simonides was resident in 1840, and twenty other named witnesses who knew Simonides in 1840 and were still alive in 1863 to refute him to the Holy Synod of All Russia.
Click on the document cover image at left to download as a PDF (55 pages)