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Lost pages with ‘ghost’ text recovered from one of the world’s most important New Testament manuscripts

Published

2 days ago

May 12, 2026

Researchers recently recovered 42 lost pages from Codex H, one of the world’s most important early New Testament manuscripts.

Codex H, short for Codex Hierosolymitanus, is a palimpsest — meaning parts of the manuscript were reused and rewritten over the centuries.

Researchers were tipped off after discovering the manuscript had been re-inked, leaving faint mirror-image traces of the original text.

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Then they used modern technology, including multispectral imaging, to recover “ghost” text that isn’t visible to the human eye.

The discovery was announced by the University of Glasgow in an April 24 press release.

“The fragments show how 6th-century scribes corrected, annotated and interacted with sacred texts,” the university noted in its release, with the physical state of the manuscript revealing “how sacred works were reused and repurposed once they fell into disrepair.”

The text, which does not contain any new scripture, dates back to the sixth century and is a copy of the Letters of St. Paul.

It was disassembled in the 13th century at the Megisti Lavra monastery on Mount Athos, Greece.

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Since then, its pages have been scattered across libraries in Europe, with only fragments of the original manuscript surviving, including some held by the University of Glasgow.

It was within these fragments that a team of researchers identified the lost pages, including ancient chapter lists, which “differ drastically from how we divide these letters today,” the university said.

Codex H’s significance stems in part from its rarity, said Garrick Allen, a University of Glasgow professor who led the project.

“It’s an important witness to the text of Paul’s Letters in a period where we don’t have that many manuscripts,” the professor told Fox News Digital, referring to the sixth to ninth centuries.

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The practice of marking up biblical texts dates back centuries, much as readers still do today — and Codex H preserves over 1,000 years of annotations.

“Manuscripts of the New Testament and other literature were often annotated and marked up by scribes and readers,” Allen noted.

Codex H, for example, includes “over 70 corrections to the text itself by a scribe who compared its text against another manuscript,” the professor said.

The manuscript also contains “many annotations by at least 15 later readers who left their marks through prayers, poems, grammatical notes and other information.”

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“These types of notes are not unusual but, because Codex H had such a long life in many forms, its pages attracted many interested readers — and these annotations are often the only tangible evidence left that these anonymous people existed,” said Allen.

As for why the manuscript was disassembled, Allen suggested it likely “reached the end of its working life.”

“Six hundred to 700 years is a long time for a book to be kept in working order, even though we know that at least one person attempted to conserve it during this period through re-copying,” he said.

“In a remote location like Mount Athos in a period where parchment was very expensive to produce, it makes sense that the monastery reused this manuscript to keep up other books in their library.”

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Ironically, breaking the manuscript apart helped preserve it, Allen noted — its pages were reused inside other books and eventually spread across European collections.

“The book was re-inked in its entirety at some point in its working life, meaning that someone rewrote over the existing text … in an attempt to keep the book usable for a new generation,” said Allen.

“Eventually, the book was disbound and reused as binding material and flyleaves when librarians at the Megisti Lavra monastery on Mount Athos repaired other books in their collection. It’s this repurposing of this ancient book that led to its continued existence.”

The most surprising part of the discovery, Allen said, was the sense of awe in reading biblical texts that “no longer exist.”

“We have recovered [these pages] only due to the unintended results of a medieval conservationist,” the expert said.

“This process makes me optimistic that many ancient manuscripts still have much more to tell us about the people who made and used them.”

That progress is being driven in part by advances in imaging technology, Allen added.

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“Although each manuscript is by definition unique and presents its own challenges, we think that we’ve developed a model for working with challenging manuscripts like palimpsests at a larger scale,” he said.

“When manuscript and biblical scholars work closely with imaging specialists, data scientists, monastic communities, museums, and other local partners, we can really make progress in our understanding of these important documents.”

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Caitlin Clark gets technical foul after tense interaction with referee in Fever win over Sparks

Published

21 minutes ago

May 14, 2026

Addison Blake

Caitlin Clark was assessed with her first technical foul of the season on Wednesday night after a heated exchange with a referee.

During the Indiana Fever’s game against the Los Angeles Sparks, with 20 seconds remaining in the first half, Clark was called for an offensive foul, giving Los Angeles possession.

Clark later walked over to referee Jason Alabanza and appeared to engage in a verbal spat.

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Alabanza gave Clark a technical before Indiana headed to the visiting locker room for halftime.

Still, the Fever went on to win 87-78.

Clark now has nine technicals in her WNBA career, with six in her rookie season and two in an injury-plagued 2025.

Clark appears to have had a combative dynamic with referees since the beginning of her professional career. In the Fever’s season-opening loss to the Dallas Wings, Clark appeared to suggest certain fouls were not called on her throughout the game.

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“I think especially if they’re going to call it the way they’re going to call it this year, I think I honestly could have probably got a couple more calls on a few of them, but that’s okay,” Clark said to reporters after the game when asked about plays when she drove to the basket on Saturday.

Whether officials are calling enough fouls against Clark has been a point of controversy since she entered the league in 2024. Many fans complained that Clark was frequently being targeted with hard contact by opposing players and referees weren’t doing enough to protect her.

Meanwhile, Clark came one technical foul shy of taking a one-game suspension during her rookie year.

Clark herself has also made comments seemingly directed at referees in the WNBA. During the WNBA postseason in September, while Clark was injured, she said she was fined $200 for tweeting “Refs couldn’t stop us” after Indiana’s Game 2 win over Atlanta in the first round.

“Got fined $200 for this lol,” she wrote on X, adding a series of crying laughter emojis. “BENCH MOB WILL BE EVEN MORE ROWDY TOMORROW LETS GOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!”

Clark was previously seen getting into disagreements with referees during a game against the Connecticut Sun last July.

“Are you f—-ing kidding me?” Clark appeared to say while Fever assistant Briann January dragged her back to the bench.

As officials continued to look at the replay, the ESPN broadcast showed Clark yelling over toward the officials again: “That’s just rude. Grow up. Come here, come here. Unbelievable.”

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Shakira, Madonna and BTS co-headline first-ever World Cup Final halftime show

Published

2 hours ago

May 14, 2026

Addison Blake

The world’s largest sporting event, the 2026 FIFA World Cup, is just a few weeks away, returning to North America and the United States for the first time since 1994.

FIFA announced their first ever halftime show for the World Cup Final at MetLife Stadium in New Jersey. In a post on X, featuring Elmo, Coldplay announced that the halftime show would be curated by lead singer Chris Martin and feature BTS, Madonna and Shakira. Shakira is set to release the official song of the World Cup, “Dai Dai,” later Thursday.

The show will also “raise funds for the FIFA Global Citizen Education Fund,” dedicated to “improving access to quality education and football for children around the world.”

FOX broadcasts the entire tournament, with opening matches kicking off on June 11 in Mexico. El Tri hosts South Africa in Mexico City, while South Korea takes on Croatia in Guadalajara.

Then the next day, the other two hosts play their first group stage matches. Canada plays Bosnia and Herzegovina in Toronto in Group B. Then the US Men’s National Team, coming off a rocky past few months of friendlies, plays its first match against Paraguay in Los Angeles. They then head to Seattle to play Australia on June 19, before closing out the group stage against Turkey back in LA on June 25.

Unsurprisingly, given the scale and scope of the tournament, and the stage hosting in the US offers, FIFA is pulling out all the entertainment stops.

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Already, soccer’s governing body has set up an extensive list of entertainment to kick off the tournament in the host countries. An opening ceremony in Los Angeles on June 12 will feature music acts like Katy Perry, Future, Anitta, LISA, Rema and Tyla.

“This opening ceremony in Los Angeles represents the extraordinary scale of what the FIFA World Cup 2026 will become,” FIFA President Gianni Infantino said in a statement. “The lineup of artists reflects the cultural diversity of the United States and the vibrancy of its many diasporas, highlighting the nation’s rich influence on music, entertainment and pop culture, while showcasing the power of music to bring people together across the country.”

That ceremony will kick off 90 minutes before the start of the US match, and will complement two additional opening ceremonies in Canada and Mexico. The opening match in Toronto will feature performances by Alanis Morissette, Alessia Cara, Elyanna, Jessie Reyez, Michael Bublé, Nora Fatehi, Sanjoy, Vegedream and William Prince.

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In Mexico, opening ceremony headliners include Alejandro Fernández, Belinda, Danny Ocean, J Balvin, Lila Downs, Los Ángeles Azules, Maná and Tyla.

Prior performers at World Cup finals include stars like Carlos Santana and Wycleaf Jean at the 2014 tournament in Brazil. Will Smith was among those who sang at the 2018 finale in Russia, and Davido, Aisha, Ozuna were part of the 2022 closing ceremony in Qatar.

Over 100 matches. 16 cities hosting in three countries. Over a month’s worth of action, culminating in a momentous finale in New Jersey. The World Cup never fails to deliver.