"That list of manuscripts, to any person who knows anything about early Syriac Christianity, immediately make that person like a child in a toy store," Bishop Soro said.

It is also only the first phase of the project. The Vatican recently gave final approval to the DVD and raised the possibility of completing the project, which Reynolds assumes would mean the digitization of another 50 to 100 manuscripts.

Ephrem's fourth-century writings were copied in the early sixth century and then purchased by Moses of Nisibis for the Egyptian Monastery of the Syrians between 900 and 1000. The dry, warm desert air preserved the manuscripts until emissaries from the Vatican Library obtained them — and nearly lost them when their barge capsized on the Nile.

For centuries, Syriac Christians have lamented the loss to the West of such documents, either to foreign invaders, thieves or libraries and museums.

"We felt for a long time we were being robbed," Bishop Soro said. "I cannot overstate this point: Thank God for that robbery. Providentially, these manuscripts were kept for us. Now we emphasize not ownership but the accessibility to the ideas, that gospel, that good news that is represented in the text."

While the DVDs will provide access to original documents for some of the 1 million members of the Assyrian Church of the East, they also will draw interest from scholars.

"My first reaction when I saw some of the images was that the quality is much better than the original manuscript," said Syriac Christian scholar and Duke University professor Lucas Van Rompay in a videotaped interview conducted by BYU. "What I see here at Brigham Young University is really a large-scale effort to preserve these manuscript collections. I haven't seen anything of the same level, of the same expertise and of the same breadth."

For Bishop Soro, the project is the realization of a dream.

"It was rather an emotional moment when I first viewed the content of the DVD in Rome," Bishop Soro said. "These manuscripts really tell our 'lost' story."

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E-mail: twalch@desnews.com