An ancient manuscript recently interpreted is now recognized as the most aged written depiction of the early life of Jesus Christ.
This papyrus, scripted in either the 4th or 5th century, had been part of Hamburg, Germany’s library collection for years and was mistakenly considered to be of little importance.
However, it has now been deciphered by two scholars who affirm that it is the oldest existent version of the Infancy Gospel of Thomas.
“This papyrus piece is tremendously significant for academic research,” suggested Lajos Berkes, a theology academic who, along with another colleague, successfully decoded the writing, according to a press statement.
“Initially thought to be mundane—perhaps a personal correspondence or a list of errands—due to its seemingly unsophisticated script, we identified the word ‘Jesus’ within the text. Further analysis against a wealth of digitized papyrus texts revealed its true nature, distinct from any ordinary document,” the scholar elucidated.
Originating from a Christian community in late antique Egypt, the Greek-script papyrus bears 13 lines of text.
Amongst its recorded narratives is the “vivification of the sparrows”—a childhood tale of Jesus where he animates clay sparrows.
The manuscript recounts Jesus at five years old playing by a stream, forming sparrows from clay. After a reprimand from Joseph, Jesus is said to have clapped, breathing life into the clay figures, marking this as his second miracle.
This narrative is a key element of the Infancy Gospel of Thomas (IGT), tracing back to Jesus’ childhood, a text widely known across Antiquity and medieval times but not included in canonical scriptures due to questions over its authenticity.
While the IGT’s original drafting is pegged to the 2nd century, the eldest Greek copy known before this discovery dated to the 11th century.
This freshly translated papyrus precedes that text by over half a millennium.
“Our analysis confirms what has been assumed—that the Infancy Gospel according to Thomas was indeed first transcribed in Greek,” stated Gabriel Nocchi Macedo, Berkes’s partner in deciphering the fragment.
The two researchers hypothesize that the manuscript was likely used for academic purposes in a monastery or a school setting.
“Drawing from parallels to other manuscripts of this Gospel, we are convinced that our fragment is the earliest instance to date,” Berkes confirmed.