Page "Gospel of Barnabas" Paragraph 8

In 478, during the reign of the Emperor Zeno, archbishop Anthemios of Cyprus announced that the hidden burial place of Barnabas had been revealed to him in a dream.

The saint's body was claimed to have been discovered in a cave with a copy of the canonical Gospel of Matthew on its breast ; according to the contemporary account of Theodorus Lector, who reports that both bones and gospel book were presented by Anthemios to the emperor.

Some scholars who maintain the antiquity of the Gospel of Barnabas propose that the text purportedly discovered in 478 should be identified with the Gospel of Barnabas instead ; but this supposition is at variance with an account of Anthemios's gospel book by Severus of Antioch, who reported having examined the manuscript around the year 500, seeking to find whether it supported the piercing of the crucifed Jesus by a spear at Matthew 27: 49 ( it did not ).

According to the 11th century Byzantine historian Georgios Kedrenos an uncial manuscript of Matthew's Gospel, believed to be that found by Anthemios, was then still preserved in the Chapel of St Stephen in the imperial palace.