Did Columbia University professor Morton Smith forge the famous Clement letter containing two passages from a secret—and different—copy of the Gospel of Mark?
A number of scholars have concluded, on inadequate grounds in our view, that Smith was a forger.
In a four-part treatment, including contributions by eminent New Testament scholars Helmut Koester and Charles Hedrick, BAR concluded that Smith, now dead, was innocent.a
Oddly enough, despite the scores of articles and books that have been written on the subject, no one has bothered to consult a handwriting expert in the language in which the alleged forged letter is written: Greek. To Smith’s detractors, that was apparently unnecessary. According to critic Bart Ehrman, “With any skill at all, and a little practice,” it would be easy for Smith to learn to fake the 18th-century handwriting in which the Clement letter is written. Yet no one ever followed through by consulting a Greek handwriting expert.
BAR has now done so—in fact, we consulted two.
Venetia Anastasopoulou is a prominent handwriting expert living in Athens who has frequently testified in Greek courts.1BAR retained her to compare the handwriting in which the Clement letter was written with Greek handwriting known to be Smith’s.
Our second expert, who also lives in Athens, is Agamemnon Tselikas, who has published more than 150 articles on Greek paleography.2
According to Anastasopoulou, the Greek writing of the Clement letter contains “several paleographic peculiarities (abbreviations and ligatures) which were used in the 18th century … This kind of writing was learned and used by few people because of its difficulties in writing or rather in drawing them.” Anastasopoulou compared this handwriting to numerous samples of Smith’s Greek handwriting, including a transcription of the entire Clement letter. In this, she found differences “in notes and scripts.”
“Although [the Clement letter] is a difficult style,” she says, “and needs a lot of practice in order to be able to write in this way, the text is written spontaneously with an excellent rhythm … The graphic movement is plastic, soft and flexible … It is written at high speed … The whole writing shows freedom, spontaneity and artistic flair. It also shows a skillful penmanship of a well-educated and trained writer.”
She notes that Smith’s English handwriting “is spontaneous and unconstrained with a very good rhythm.” Nevertheless, in his Greek handwriting, “the movement is constrained.” Smith’s Greek letters are “round, clear, written with care, always legible.” Smith’s English handwriting “is written in high speed, whereas the Greek is written in a low to medium speed … There is an obvious difference in his mother-tongue writing and in his Greek writing.” His Greek is “written letter[-by]-letter as copying a book at a lower speed, without ease and the range of variations is very limited. His [Greek] is like that of a school student. It is obvious that his hand is not familiarized in Greek writing so as to be able to use it freely and with ease.”
Anastasopoulou’s examination found “substantial non-agreement” between the handwriting of the Clement letter and Smith’s Greek handwriting in numerous categories, including spontaneity, writing rhythm, size, slant, writing movement, speed, depth, format and shape, connections and conjunctions, letter endings and unconscious individual habits. “The experienced writer is one who focuses on his thoughts and the text rather than the actual process of writing.” That does not characterize 079Smith’s Greek handwriting.
Anastasopoulou compares numerous letters, parts of letters and words in the Clement letter with Smith’s Greek handwriting in her 36-page report. We are putting the entire document on our Web site for those sufficiently familiar with Greek handwriting to understand and appreciate her examination. Anastasopoulou concludes, “The level of [Morton Smith’s] ability concerning his Greek-language handwriting characteristics is like that of young school children who have not started to use writing in a practical way expressing thoughts and ideas … It is highly probable that Morton Smith could not have simulated the document of ‘Secret Mark.’”
Agamemnon Tselikas, on the other hand, has concluded that Morton Smith forged the letter containing Secret Mark. I report this conclusion based on several very pleasant telephone conversations with Dr. Tselikas. However, Dr. Tselikas has failed to submit a written report, missing several agreed deadlines, the last of which was shortly before we went to press. When and if we receive a written report, we will let our readers know.
Based on our conversations, this is the basis for Dr. Tselikas’s conclusion: He has examined other manuscripts from Mar Saba and concluded that the Secret Mark letter was not written by a monk there. He has located another document at another monastery that he believes was written by the monk whose handwriting Smith was attempting to imitate. He has also learned that Smith was at this other monastery examining manuscripts. This, as best as I can reconstruct it from our telephone conversations, is Dr. Tselikas’s reasoning. If I have erred, I hope Dr. Tselikas will correct me.—H.S.
018
We thank the following people for contributing to the support of the Anastasopoulou report:
Brant Abrahamson, Margaret A. Arighi, Richard C. Bennett, James A. Bryan, Ethne H. Chesterman, John Paul Clelland, Judith Corallo, Charles A. Graham, Dale G. Graham, Nita N. Grover, Delton Handley, Charles Hedrick, Frederick J. Hoyt, Peter Jeffery, Wayne Johnson, Arthur Gilbert Johnston, Larry S. Jones-Emery, Joseph Knecht, Dolores Magraw, William H. McLaughlin, Eugene J. Miller, Erika C. Muhsen, Richard Nieman, Allan Pantuck, Edwin J. Prior, Michelle L. Sugarman, Robert R. Weilacher
Did Columbia University professor Morton Smith forge the famous Clement letter containing two passages from a secret—and different—copy of the Gospel of Mark?
A number of scholars have concluded, on inadequate grounds in our view, that Smith was a forger.
You have already read your free article for this month. Please join the BAS Library or become an All Access member of BAS to gain full access to this article and so much more.
She is a member of the National Association of Document Examiners (U.S.A.) and the International Graphology Association (U.K.). She holds a Certificate in Forensic Sciences from the University of Lancashire (U.K.) and a diploma in Handwriting Analysis from the International Graphology Association (U.K.).
2.
He is director of the Center for History and Palaeography of the National Bank of Greece Cultural Foundation and also of the Mediterranean Research Institute for Palaeography, Bibliology and History of Texts. He has pursued postdoctoral studies in paleography at the École Pratique of the Sorbonne in Paris.
