The first draft of this novel was completed six months before the Vatican announcement on June 28, 2009, that a probe had in fact been drilled through the lid of the sarcophagus at St. Paul Outside the Walls in Rome and that some purple linen and bone fragments were retrieved that dated back to the first or second century AD. The plot in this novel, then, turned out to be prophetic in imagining how the interior of the sarcophagus might be revealed. As of this date, however, the Vatican has not undertaken any further examination of the interior of the sarcophagus, especially to determine if there is a skull, attached or detached.
That Constantine the Great authorized Eusebius of Caesarea to have fifty elaborate copies of the Bible prepared for use in the early church is absolutely historical. Strangely, not one of these has been found to date, although some scholars think that the Sinaiticus might be one. Whether such a discovery would have included the two documents featured in this novel is not known. But it is indeed possible that either or even both might surface someday or that a biblical manuscript might be discovered that would merit inclusion in the Canon.
Such inclusion would certainly require action by an ecumenical church council. Unfortunately, however, the way any such universal council might be constituted, as set forth in this novel, is quite remote at present. The two largest components of Christendom-Roman Catholicism and Eastern Orthodoxy-have not yet achieved a degree of mutual trust even to hold a joint conclave. Perhaps in decades (or centuries) to come it might indeed be possible, with Protestants participating as well.
Accordingly, the Vatican III ecumenical council referred to in this book is also fictional and first appeared in my prior novel, More Than a Skeleton. A council with such a name, however, might indeed take place in the future.
As for the two new biblical documents “discovered” in this novel, one should not conclude that our present Scriptures are in any way incomplete or insufficient without such addenda. They are merely what many biblical scholars would put at the top of their wish list were such a manuscript discovery to take place in fact.
Finally, the question of whether ancient texts-biblical or secular-may be copyrighted successfully is rather open, especially if the texts require some critical reconstruction. In America, the prevailing view is that such texts are in the public domain and do not have copyright protection; whereas in Europe and elsewhere, this is not necessarily the case. Several years ago, for example, the German Bible Society invoked copyright protection on the Nestle edition of the Greek New Testament, claiming that Zondervan’s New International Version translation relied too heavily (though justifiably) on the Nestle text. Yet it has not brought suit against the Grand Rapids publisher to date.
Thank you for reading these pages.