Paananen's Interview with Quesnell on the Mar Saba Manuscript

Timo Paananen has posted his 2009 telephone interview with Quentin Quesnell on his website.

Some things we learn:

--It appears that on Quesnell's new testimony, Kallistos Dourvas was indeed the last person known to have seen the manuscript ("Kallistos took it to the firm and handled all arrangements with them.")

--The color photographs Quesnell procured do not seem to be the color photographs that Kallistos had and gave to Olympiou.  ("I have them.")  There is perhaps some slight ambiguity remaining here, but I see no reason to suspect Quesnell of being coy with words.

--The École Biblique appears to have become involved somehow.  ("There were some discussions with people at the Ecole, I believe."  This in all likelihood refers to the École biblique et archéologique française de Jérusalem.)  This is perhaps the most interesting piece of information.  What if the manuscript now lies in the hands of someone affiliated with the École?

Let's not forget that it is with this trip that confirmed sightings of the manuscript cease, and all known attempts to view it (or even to view other manuscripts at the same library) become blocked and interfered with.

Quesnell has unfortunately left off responding to Paananen since this interview.  We know that his wife, Jean Higgins (herself a religious scholar) sadly passed away last September, so I suspect he has simply been preoccupied.  (He has also himself been retired since 2004.)

What's very interesting is that even if Quesnell decides to remain silent on the subject, we know there is more material out there regarding this visit and the manuscript in general.  Quesnell cites 1) a written correspondence between himself and Morton Smith, 2) written correspondence between himself and his late wife (still listed as emerita at Smith College for some reason) describing his trip, and 3) unknown "supplemental material".  All of these are sure to be interesting.

Grateful thanks to Timo for posting this very informative interview.