The Museum of the Bible in Washington, the United States, has officially returned a rare 1000-year-old Christian manuscript to Eikosiphoinissa Monastery in northern Greece, AP News has reported.
The 11th century gospel was formally presented to the monastery on Thursday in a ceremony attended by Greek Orthodox Archbishop Elpidophoros of America, and officials from the Museum.
According to the Archdiocese of America, the Greek manuscript is one of the world’s oldest handwritten gospels, and is believed to have been made in southern Italy.
It was donated to the Museum in 2014 after being bought at auction.
Museum officials subsequently identified it as one of the roughly 430 manuscripts stolen from the monastery in 1917 by marauding forces from neighbouring Bulgaria. Most are still missing.
At the ceremony on Thursday, Elpidophoros praised the Museum for its “courtesy in recognising where (the manuscript) belongs and returning it.”
“A historical injustice has been redressed,” he said.
