Expert: Fr. Michael - 11/15/2005

Question
Fr. I am discussing our Roman Catholic faith with a Mormon, He says that the Original New Testament writings of Paul, John, Peter etc. are "gone" and no one knows where they are.
Is this true or are they perhaps in the Vatican Library or another place can you give me refrences?
Thanks
Jeff Myers OR, USA

Answer
We have no autograph manuscriptions for ANY ancient authors.  That includes Cicero, Vergil, Plato, Thucycides, and all the rest of antiquity.  What we have are copies of the originals, dated from about the fourth century on.  Through the techniques of recension and textual criticism, we can establish the original texts relatively easily.

Although St. Matthew's Gospel may originally have been written in Aramean and St. Mark's Gospel in Latin, the Greek versions we have are the canonic versions used in the Church.  Just as the version of the Old Testament in Hebrew that we have dates from the 9th century A.D., but the venerable Greek Septuagint dates from the 2-3rd century B.C.  Thus, the canonic version is not necessarily the "original" one.

For further information, see www.traditio.com/tradlib/bible.txt