First Bible 'vindicated' after Vatican release shows Epistles based on Marcionite scripture

ROME, Vatican City State - July 6, 2020 - PRLog -- Recently, the Vatican Library began the massive undertaking of digitizing thousands of ancient manuscripts, documents, drawings and paintings and releasing them to the public.

Among them, the Marcionite Christian Church has discovered a manuscript from Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana, titled S. Pauli Apostoli Epistolae and bearing the authors names Marcion di Sinope and Hieronymus (St. Jerome - known within the Catholic Church as the 'Bible Translator').

The illustrated manuscript and its contents put to rest any question about the provenance of the Epistles of Paul and show they were translated from Greek to Latin by the Catholic Church directly from Marcionite scriptures. Moreover, several of the epistles show no annotation of Marcion's name - which is exactly what the Marcionite Church would have expected. They are Timothy I & II, Titus and Hebrews - epistles not found in the first Christian bible as transcribed by Marcion of Sinope in 144 A.D. Where did they come from? Only the Catholic Church can answer that question.

https://digi.vatlib.it/mss/detail/214664 (Manuscript as displayed on the Vatican Library web site)

Marcion, who is credited by religious scholars not only for transcribing the first Christian bible but also for the inclusion of the New Testament in today's modern bible, was excommunicated in 144 A.D. and this is the first reference to his name by the Catholic Church that Marcionites are aware of in the last 1,600 years. Marcion's schism with church authorities centered on his belief that the deity represented in the Old Testament was not the same Christian God found in the New Testament.

"There's a feeling of vindication to be sure," says Darren Kelama, Outreach Director for the Marcionite Christian Church. "It proves Marcion was first and his followers were in fact following the word of God but we have a lot more questions for the Vatican, and will be asking for their assistance in locating a copy of 'Antithesis.'"

Editor and publisher of The Very First Bible (Marcion's original Christian bible), A.W. Mitchell, says there was also a feeling of relief when he read the digitized manuscript for the first time. "I kept saying to myself 'please don't be there, please don't be there' as I looked over the annotations of the Epistles. Had I seen Marcion's name next to Hebrews or Timothy it would have been game over - theologically speaking. But everything was just as the Marcionite Church said it would be."

https://www.amazon.com/Very-First-Bible-Marcion-Sinope/dp/0578641593