Codex Gigas – “The Devil's Bible.”

Artefacts or remains of the past are often preserved with utmost care and are usually forbidden to human touch except its caretakers and priests (if required). Yes, you read it right – Priests are often in close contact with such objects.

But why?

Because these objects are remnants of the past, and they’ve been subjected to curses, cult practices & rituals, sacrifices, etc, and their exposure to humans can bring some unwanted menaces with them.

Now some of you won’t digest the fact that these things exist, but, there’s a reason why the respective governments have strictly prohibited the access to such things in museums, art galleries, etc, in any of the tangible forms possible – touch primarily. E.g.:  The Annabelle doll remains in a glass box at The Warrens' Occult Museum in Monroe, Connecticut (U.S.A.).

One such forbidden object weighing 74.8 kg; 92 cm in length; 50 cm in width and 22 cm in thickness is currently preserved at the National Library of Sweden in Stockholm, where it is on display for the general public.

How was it found?

It was 1648 when the Swedish troops invaded the City of Prague during the ‘Thirty Years War’ (between the Catholics & the Protestants) and as per the fundamental rule of war – “Winner Takes All”, Swedish troops looted everything in the city they possibly could. These included the fabulous art collection assembled in Prague Castle, wealth reserves, etc. But apart from this, Swedes found a book whose outer bindings were made of wood & leather and was having some mysterious metal guards and fittings.

It was named “The Codex Gigas”, infamously known as ‘The Devil’s Bible’ and I kid you not this is the largest hand-written book in the world. Forensic studies conducted (although limited) on it suggest that it was crafted in the medieval age. It has 310 pages and astonishingly, all these 310 pages are made from animal skins (Asses most probably), which hint towards ‘animal sacrifices in rituals.’ Earlier the book used to contain 320 pages but today you’ll only find 310.

 Why it is called “The Devil’s Bible”?

Codex Gigas is also known as ‘The Devil’s Bible’ as it has a 48.26 cm image of the devil ‘engraved’ on one of its pages, in which, the evil is sitting in a crouched position and is facing straight towards the viewer or reader. His nails & horns are blood red and is almost naked except an ‘Ermine Loincloth’, which covers his genitals (if he has!). The Ermine Loincloth is an epitome of royalty and it is also believed that the evil dons it when he’s the ‘Prince of Darkness’ (which is also one of his names, yet it’s about vibes).

Right opposite to that page, we can find an image of a heavenly city which most probably represents the ‘Heavenly City of the Jerusalem’, which is an ode to the ‘Book of Revelation’. It is believed that this image signifies a couple of aspects of an individual’s life – ‘God fearing Life & Horrors of a sinful life’.

How “The Devil’s Bible” was written?

According to the traditional folklores & stories, this book was written by a monk in medieval times. Yes, you read it absolutely right – “A monk disobeyed the vows of his state monastery. Who was then convicted to be cemented in wall but in order to save his life, the monk promised the king to craft a book in one night in having all his knowledge till date and it’ll glorify the local monastery as well (yeah no nation-state concept in monarchies!). The king agreed to his offer but when the monk began to write the book, he realised it’s impossible to achieve this feat in a single night and that’s where the fallen one comes into the picture. He completed the book in a single night and as a gesture of gratitude, the monk bothered to include his image in the book.”

But wait, unlike other copy paste bloggers, we won’t leave you in the middle of rumours and fairytales, we’ve got a scientific perspective to it as well (only for you guys!). Codex Gigas, apart from textual content, also contains graphic illustrations, now, how in the world it is possible for a single man to do so much of work in one single night even if he chooses not to take a break?

The font size & its type (typeface) are throughout uniform, which would require about 5 years for a single man to do it. The quantity & quality of these illustrations would easily require approximately 3 decades drawing them with such perfection. Not only drawing continuously with same perfection seems out of human capacity, but also, it’s a well established fact that an individual’s handwriting can’t remain same for such a long period of time.

Variations in handwriting are highly susceptible to emotional changes, physical health, etc. Therefore, a person can’t write a book for 3 decades without changing his handwriting.

What does the “The Devil’s Bible” says?

Codex Gigas is written in Latin, but chunks of Hebrew can also be seen. It also has complete ‘Vulgate Bible’ written in it along with Jewish Wars & their antiquities, the Chronicles of Bohemia, medical practices, penitence and exorcism in detail. The bold letters in font typeface have been shown with red, green, blue, yellow and golden colours and majority of the pages are well presentable & organized.

The missing 10 pages!

As the legends say, this book has been written by Herman the Recluse, the same monk who made the deal with the devil. He was a monk in a monastery in Czech-Republic which was demolished during the Hassite Revolution of 15th century. After keeping in various monasteries, it was finally sent to Prague where emperor Rudolph-II borrowed it to study.

Later on the Swedish troops looted it from Prague and then kept in Swedish Royal Library. On May 07, 1697, the Swedish Royal Library caught large-scale fires and this book was thrown out in order to save it from burning. Since the book fell from a height, therefore, many believe that those 10 pages were lost in the process as the book bindings broke. According to another belief, last 10 pages of Codex Gigas were intentionally destroyed because they possessed rituals to open the gates of hell and summon the ruler of hell!

Now, no one has / no one wants to / no one is permitted to verify the veracity of the same.

Currently, this book is on display of National Library of Czech-Republic and studies are still being conducted on it. National Geography channel has even made a documentary regarding the same, which is available on their official website.

Without evil there’s no existence of good (in Christian faith) and so does the existence of such a book makes sense if there are those who prevent the evil coming into our world! Feel free to accept or reject it, I won’t ask you to develop a faith in it, maybe because we humans don’t have enough evidence. All we have now are logical arguments.

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