The Mysterious Case of The Devil’s Bible

We love reading old books especially the books that we classify as the "mysterious" ones. There's something in it, it could be the ancient feel on it by the paper's smell, usage of words with very deep meaning into it and more. There is a book that a lot of people are curious to read and it is dubbed as The Devil’s Bible.

The Devil’s Bible or also known as The Codex Gigas which weighs in at a hefty 165 pounds is considered to be the largest book in the world. Its pages were made from donkey skins and measures as 36 inches tall, 19.7 inches wide, and 8.6 inches thick. The Codex Gigas is bound with old wood wrapped in leather. Quite interesting, eh? What makes The Codex Gigas mysterious to read?

It is because half of The Codex is the Old and New Testaments from the Vulgate Bible which is a late fourth-century translation of the Bible that in the 16th century became the official Latin Bible of the Catholic Church. There are also writings about the earth, the universe, buildings, metals, war, ships, humans, animals, medicine, law, religions, and the hierarchies of saints and angels. Another reason for its mysterious vibe is the legend of its scribe.

There was a monk who broke his monastic vows and was sentenced to be walled up alive. In order to forbear this harsh penalty, he promised to create in one single night a book to glorify the monastery forever, including all human knowledge. Near midnight he became sure that he could not complete this task alone, so he made a special prayer, not addressed to God but to the fallen angel Lucifer, asking him to help him finish the book in exchange for his soul. The devil completed the manuscript and the monk added the devil's picture out of gratitude for his aid. In tests to recreate the work, it is estimated that reproducing only the calligraphy, without the illustrations or embellishments, would have taken 5 years of non-stop writing.

There are also other mysteries that revolve around the Devil's Bible, one of it was the odd picture of the City of Heaven which contains no people. The pages also surround the picture of the Devil. It is easy for anyone to get the eerie feeling as these illustrations are considerably darker than the other pages contained in the book. The Catholic Church has admitted that their archives and files contain no records regarding spells and exorcisms that are listed in the Codex.


The Devil's Bible is known for its curse as well. Legends tell that its sadness and tragedy will forever haunt the footsteps of anyone who possesses the Codex. One incident claims that one of the previous owners, a monastery, was struck with one of the worst episodes of bubonic plague on record after taking possession of the Devil’s Bible. There's also a lot of claims made by other people who got to see it and claimed unusual things that occurred to them after reading it.


Written by Kent McGrath, Lucis Philippines contributor.