The Bible of Cyril and Methodius is the first Bible known to us in the Slavic language. In 863, the prince of Great Moravia Rostislav sent a petition to Byzantium with a request to send teachers of the Christian faith to Moravia. So the brothers Cyril and Methodius were sent to him.

The goal of Cyril and Methodius was to found an autonomous church that could independently perform the liturgy. And in order to conduct worship in the Slavic language, Cyril and Methodius first had to create Slavic alphabet, and then translate liturgical books into Slavic. The brothers began translating from the Psalter and from the books of the New Testament. After the death of Cyril, Methodius and his students continued their work, and they managed to translate the entire New Testament and almost all books Old Testament.

Subsequently, translations of Cyril and Methodius became widespread among Slavic tribes, including in Rus'. Thus, even before baptism (988), churches existed in Rus' and the Bible was read in the translation of the apostolic brothers.

Gennady Bible

In the 15th century, a complete Bible still did not exist in Rus', although some of its books were in use among the population. The need for a complete collection of biblical books arose as a result of a dispute between the abbot of one of the monasteries, Zachary, and Archbishop Gennady. Zachary criticized the church hierarchy and insisted on a biblical understanding of the pastorate, but in his arguments he referred to books of the Bible unknown to Gennady.

Zachary and his followers in 1487-88. were executed. However, Gennady decided to compile the complete Bible, for which he went to Rome, where he received the canon (list of biblical books) accepted in the West. Some books of the Gennadian Bible were borrowed from the Bible translated by Cyril and Methodius and from Russian translations made in the 15th century, others from the Bulgarian translation, and several books were translated from Latin for the first time. The Gennadian Bible is considered the first complete Slavic Bible.

Maxim the Greek (Explanatory Psalter)

Over several centuries, due to the carelessness of scribes or due to dialect differences, the handwritten books of the Bible accumulated a large number of errors. Therefore, in the first half of the 16th century, an attempt was made in Moscow to correct church books, for which a young educated monk, Maxim the Greek, was sent from one of the Athos monasteries. In a year and a half, he re-translated the Psalter with interpretation of difficult passages, and also corrected the book of the Acts of the Apostles and the New Testament Epistles, making more accurate translations.

Unfortunately, this work of correcting the Bible was not completed due to the resistance of the official church society.

The first printed “Apostle” and the Ostrog Bible by Ivan Fedorov

After Ivan the Terrible conquered the Astrakhan and Kazan khanates, an urgent need arose in the new lands for new liturgical books and the Bible. In this regard, the tsar ordered the construction of a printing house, where Ivan Fedorov, together with Pyotr Mstislavets, began creating the first printed book “Apostle” (Acts of the Apostles and Epistles), which was published after a year of work (1564).

Later, Ivan Fedorov lost the patronage of the tsar and settled in Ostrog, where, under the patronage of Prince Konstantin Ostrozhsky, he prepared for printing a new revised edition of the Gennady Bible, published in 1581.

Moscow early printed Bible

The reason for the creation of this Bible was the desire of Rus' to reunite with Ukraine. By this time, Ukrainian and Russian liturgical books, as a result of numerous revisions, had diverged quite significantly. At first, the Russian church wanted to introduce the use of Russian liturgical books in Ukraine, but it turned out that Ukrainian biblical books are closer to the Greek originals than Russian ones.

On September 30, 1648, Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich ordered several educated monks to be sent to correct the Russian Bible according to the Greek copies. In 1651, a commission was created to correct biblical books. In 1663, the first edition of the Church Slavonic Bible was published in Moscow. The corrections were not numerous: mostly obsolete and obscure words were replaced.

Petrine-Elizabethan Bible

On November 14, 1712, Peter the Great issued a decree on the correction and publication of the Slavic Bible. Major discrepancies between the Greek and Slavic Bibles had to be reported to higher authorities. But remembering that last try Bible corrections led to the Schism of 1666; the clergy did not want to take on such responsibility. Correction work continued for 10 years, but was stopped after the death of the emperor. Only in 1751, during the reign of Elizabeth Petrovna, a new revised Bible was published, the text of which was used as the basis for nine subsequent editions.

New Testament of the Russian Bible Society

The Russian Bible Society was founded in 1814 by decree of Emperor Alexander I himself, who was also an active member. At first, the RBO was involved in distributing the Bible in the Slavic language. In 1816, the Society published its own edition of the Slavic Bible and a separate book, the New Testament.

At the same time, it was decided to begin translating the Bible into modern Russian, and from the Greek original. The New Testament in modern Russian was published in 1821. after which the translation of the Old Testament began. The book of Psalms was published first in Russian - in 1823. By 1825, the translation of the Pentateuch of Moses and the book of Ruth was completed. But in 1825, Alexander I died, and work on the translation was suspended until 1856.

Synodal translation of the Bible

In 1852, the Holy Synod adopted a resolution to begin translating the Bible into Russian. At the same time, the Synod developed the main principles that should guide the work on the translation: adhere to the original as closely as possible, but present everything in understandable Russian; follow the word order accepted in modern Russian; use words and expressions that belong to a high style, and are not in common use.

In 1860 the Four Gospels were published, and in 1862 - Acts, Epistles and Revelation. Even before the translation of the New Testament was completed in 1860, it was decided to translate the books of the Old Testament, taking the Hebrew text as a basis. Since 1861, the magazine “Christian Reading” began publishing books of the Old Testament in a new translation. The complete Synodal Bible in one volume was published in 1876. This translation remains the main Russian translation of the Bible to this day.

In 1926, under the leadership of Ivan Stepanovich Prokhanov (1869-1935), the organizer of the Evangelical Christian movement in Russia, the Bible (canonical) was published. This was the first edition of the Bible after the Russian language reform of 1918. After this, the Bible in the Soviet Union was published in limited editions under the strict control of government agencies. IN Soviet period Bibles and Gospels were mainly imported into the USSR illegally, by Christians from abroad.

Church glory The language is usually called one of the dialects of Staroslav. language, also called Old Bulgarian. It was this language that became the first among the glories. languages ​​into which the Bible was translated, and therefore it received general Slavic distribution.

The period of manuscript publications. The first translators of the Bible into church glory. language were Sts. *Cyril and Methodius (9th century), creators of glories. ABCs. They shifted it to glory. language *"Gospel aprakos", "Apostle", Psalter and *Arch. The original for them was the *Septuagint in the *Lucian Review. The remaining untranslated parts of the Bible were translated by the successors of the Enlightenment. The Cyril and Methodius translation came to Rus' from Byzantium, probably even during the reign of Equal Apostles. book Vladimir. In the 11th century a large library had already been collected in Kyiv, which undoubtedly included specimens. Holy Scriptures. One of the oldest biblical books. manuscripts on church glories. language is the *Ostromir Gospel (1056-57).

The dominance of the Golden Horde caused enormous damage to the development of spiritual enlightenment in Rus'. However, even at this time, work on the Holy Scriptures did not stop. In the 14th century St. *Alexius of Moscow rewrote with his own hand *an excerpt (or translation?) of the NT. By the 15th century refers to the editing of the glory. translation of the Pentateuch, belonging to an unknown person. The amendments in it “were made by a person who knows the Hebrew text” (*Astafiev N.). In the pre-printing period, when rewriting, numerous words naturally penetrated into the text. errors and inaccuracies. Gradually the church glory. The Bible moved further and further away from the original, Cyril and Methodius. Thus, certain books of the *Gennadian Bible (1499) were translated from the *Vulgate.

To correct manuscripts in 1518 in Moscow at the invitation of the Grand Duke. Vasily III Venerable arrived *Maxim the Greek. He not only edited the holy. books, but also made a new translation of the Psalms. However, involved in church-political. struggle of his time, St. Maxim was put on trial and died in captivity. The very matter of “right” books was not abandoned. In 1551 it was sanctioned by the Stoglavy Council.

Printed editions of the Bible for church-glory. language. The first book in Russia to come out of the printing press was the Gospel of 1553-54. Then there appeared *The Apostle by Deacon *Fedorov and a number of publications in the Western Russian region: the Zabludov Gospels and Psalter (1569-70), the Lviv Apostle (1574), the Vilna Gospel and Psalter (1575-76). Through the works of Prince Ostrozhsky and Fedorov, the Church Glory was published. first printed Bible (see article Ostrog Bible) The Moscow Bible of 1663 was based on this edition. It was prepared on behalf of Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich by a group of Western Russians. scientists led by Epiphany Slavinetsky. The case “was executed poorly in a student’s way, representing in every way an exact reprint of the Ostroh edition” (*Evseev). The translators were aware of all the shortcomings of their work: there was a lack of good Greek. manuscripts and specialists. Therefore, work on the translation continued. In 1685 the Greeks were called from Italy. monks Ioannikis and Sophronius Likhud, who founded the Moscow Slavic-Greek-Latin Academy (predecessor of the MDA). Sophrony Likhud undertook a new edit of the translation, and in 1712 Peter I published a decree on the preparation and publication of church glory. Bible. In addition to Sophrony, a group of scientists was involved in the work: Archimandrite Theophylact (Lopatinsky), Hierom. Jacob (Blonnitsky), monks Theologist and Joseph, Fyodor Polikarpov and Nikolai Semenov. Labor required many. years of work. 10 volumes of the corrected text were rewritten. This Bible was published in Moscow in 1751 under Tsarina Elizabeth Petrovna. All changes to the text were agreed upon so as not to confuse the zealots of ancient piety. The notes filled a volume almost as large as the Bible itself. The 2nd edition of this “Petrine-Elizabetinskaya” or “Elizabethan” Bible was published in 1754 with additions. marginal notes and engravings. In fact, all subsequent editions. church glory Bibles (including the edition of the *Russian Library Society 1816) repeated this translation. Meanwhile, he suffered from a number of creatures. disadvantages, because the translators did not adhere to the definition. systems. Some parts of Scripture were translated from Hebrew. text, others - from Greek. or lat. versions. The desire to accurately convey the structure of the Greek language. The Bible led to the obscurity of the plural. places of Scripture. Therefore, in the 20th century. special was created commission with the aim of reconstructing the ancient glory. translation (see article Russian Biblical Commission) Hundreds of manuscripts were studied, lists of discrepancies were compiled and the oldest manuscripts were collated. But after Evseev’s death (1921), the commission’s work stopped at the preparatory stage. To some extent, her work was continued by a group of specialists at the Leningrad Theological Academy (see. Art. Bible group)

Arch. Experience of the history of the Bible in Russia, St. Petersburg, 1889; Bible, SKDR, issue 1; Brief essay history of the text of glory. The Bible in Russia before its publication under Empress Elizabeth, “Additions to the Chernigov EV”, 1870, (1.6; same, About printed editions of the Bible in Russia before Empress Elizabeth, ibid., 1870, (23; * Voskresenskiy G.A., On the issue of the scientific publication of the Bible, Sat. 1915, part 1; Drevneslav. “Apostle”, Serg. Pos., (issue 1, Rome, 1902; issue 2, 1 Cor., 1906; issue 3-5, 2 Cor. Gal. On the issue of a new revision of the famous translation of the Bible, BV, 1903, vol. 1; Cyril and Methodius translation of the Bible, CHOLDP, 1885, No. 5; .V., *N e in K.I., Description of the famous manuscripts of Moscow, book 1-5, M., 1865-69; e in I.E., Essays on the history of the Slavs. Translation of the Bible, Pg., 1916 (see his other works in the article by Evseev; F.G., Regarding); 150th anniversary of the Elizabethan Bible, St. Petersburg, 1902; Bishop *Ioann (Metropolitan), Glory to lovers of the word of God. adverbs. Experience of explanation unclear words and expressions of glory. Bibles, Novocherkassk, 1890; Lebedev V.K., Slav. translation of the book Joshua, St. Petersburg, 1890; L o g a c h e v K.I., Work of prof. I.E. Evseeva on the history of glory. Bible, ZhMP, 1972, (8; e g o e, The main problems of Greek and Slavic biblical textual criticism, ZhMP, 1974, (1; Mikhailov A.V., Experience in studying the text of the book The prophet of Moses in the ancient Slavic translation, Warsaw, 1912. Proverbs, D., The origin of the sacred books. and zh k i y M.I., History of Bible translations in Russia, Novosibirsk, 1978; S m e n c e v s k i y M., Experience of research from the history of church education and church life. . 18th century, M., 1899; S o l o v e v S. M., Letters about the Bible in Russia, VCh, 1872, (12.16, 18; S r e z n e v s y I.I., Savvin’s book of Gospel readings of the 11th century, in his book: Ancient slavs. Monuments of Yusovoy writing, St. Petersburg, 1868; priest Stroganov V., Biblical science in MDA, Anniversary collection, dedicated to the 100th anniversary of the MDA, Zagorsk, 1985 (RKP); Metropolitan * Philaret Drozdov (On the dogmatic dignity and protective use of the Greek 70 interpreters and Slavic translations of the Holy Scriptures, PTO, 1858, (17; *Ch and with t about in and ch I., Correction of the text slav. Bible before publication in 1751, PO, 1860, vol. 1, (4, vol. 2, (5; ego, History of Bible translations into Russian, issue 1-2, St. Petersburg, 18992; I and m about in I.S., Critical study of the text of the famous translation of the Old Testament in its dependence on the text of the translation of 70 interpreters, Kh.Ch., 1878, vol. I-II; see also art.: Alexy Moskovsky; Cyril and Methodius; Maxim the Greek; Ostrog Bible; Ostromirovo Gospel;

Was composed from letters of the Greek and Hebrew alphabet later. To date, significant fragments of the biblical text with the original translation of Cyril and Methodius have been preserved (for example, the Ostromir Gospel).

In the early Slavic translations The books of Chronicles, Maccabees, Tobit, Judith, Ezra were missing from the Bible. The missing books were translated from the Greek originals into different time and different authors. The Book of Esther and the Song of Songs were translated into Rus' from the Hebrew original no later than the 14th century. Before the codification of biblical books by Archbishop Gennady under Ivan III, these books existed separately from the main body of Old Testament texts.

Over the years, due to many generations of not the most literate copyists, errors accumulated in the Slavic texts of biblical books. The work to identify and eliminate them was carried out mainly by foreigners - for example, Metropolitan Cyprian (1375-1406) and Maxim the Greek (early 16th century). Metropolitan Philip initiated the translation of the psalms directly from the Jewish source. The Chudovsky New Testament of the 14th century is distinguished by its literal adherence to the original (lost after the 1917 revolution, a phototype edition exists). It is traditionally attributed to Metropolitan Alexy (1332-1378), who, according to this version, while in Constantinople, stocked up on Greek copies of the Gospel and used them to carry out this translation. Alexey Sobolevsky denied the possibility of authorship by Alexy.

Gennady Bible

In the 15th century, Archbishop of Novgorod Gennady (Gonzov) set the task of collecting books Holy Scripture into a single Bible in Slavic. He organized a search for parts of the Slavic Bible in monasteries and cathedrals. Some of the books could not be found, and they were translated from the Latin Vulgate by the Croatian Dominican monk Benjamin. The author's Western origins brought unfounded suspicions of “paganism” to his translations. The biblical codex created by the labors of the Novgorod scriptorium received the name of its customer - Gennady.

In parallel to the Novgorodians, Matthew the Tenth carried out similar work on codifying previously scattered books of the Slavic Bible in the years 1502-1507 in the scriptorium of the Suprasl Monastery. He prepared a set of biblical books (minus the Octateuch), which distinguishes high level calligraphy

Printed Church Slavonic Bibles

With the advent of printing in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania and Muscovite Rus', printed books of the Holy Scriptures were published. This stimulated the emergence of new Church Slavonic translations of biblical books and the correction of old ones.

In 1564, the founder of the printing business in Russia, the “first printer” Ivan Fedorov, published the book “Apostle,” which included the books of the New Testament: the Acts of the Apostles and their Epistles. And in 1581, the complete Church Slavonic Bible was printed for the first time - the Ostrog Bible. The publication was carried out in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania on the initiative of Prince Konstantin Konstantinovich Ostrozhsky. However, there were sometimes errors and inaccuracies in the text. In subsequent editions, efforts were made to correct these errors.

The church reform of Patriarch Nikon had a great influence on the text of the Bible accepted in the Russian state, as well as on liturgical books. Since the 1650s, the corpus of biblical and liturgical texts has undergone large-scale editing (the so-called Nikon book on the right) taking into account the Greek text, as well as the Kyiv translation of Church Slavonic: thus, the name was introduced Jesus instead of Jesus, the aorist in the second person (“pisa” - you wrote) was replaced by the perfect (“thou wrote”), literalism in the rendering of Greek constructions was strengthened. Soon after the schism, in 1663, for the first time in the Russian kingdom (Moscow), a complete printed Bible was published, which confirmed Nikon’s corrections; however, new corrections in the spirit of Nikon’s right were carried out later. From now on

Before you is the "Ostrog Bible" - the first completed edition of the Bible on Church Slavonic language, published in Ostrog by the Russian pioneer Ivan Fedorov in 1581 with the help of the Orthodox Prince Konstantin Ostrozhsky, with the blessing of the Dubno abbot Job.

The Bible, printed in Ostrog by Ivan Fedorov, in 1581. The first complete printed edition of the Bible in the Slavic language, undertaken by the famous pioneer printer Ivan Fedorov (1510-1583) on behalf of Prince Konstantin Ostrozhsky. Of the 628 sheets, 624 have survived, the first 4 non-numbered sheets have been lost. Pagination problems at the beginning and end of the book. There are headers, initials, endings; at the end of the book is the publishing mark of Ivan Fedorov. Binding: boards covered in leather with blind embossing, clasps. 32x19.5 cm, in satisfactory condition: damage to binding, damage and partial loss of leaves (restored with later paper), stains, owner's marks in the text, marginalia. There is an expert opinion from the State Historical Museum. The publication is of historical and cultural value.

The “Ostrog Bible” consists of 76 books of the Old and New Testaments (compared to current editions of the Church Slavonic Bible, the only thing missing is ). Some parts of it were based on translations by Francis Skaryna. Among the sources they also indicate the “Gennady Bible” - a manuscript from the end of the 15th century. The preface was written by G. D. Smotritsky - the father of Meletius Smotritsky. Bible

There are copies with various imprints located at the end of the book. A small part of the copies has on the last sheet the text of the imprint (colophon) in the form of a triangle with the date July 12, 1580; below is the typographic mark of Ivan Fedorov. In other copies, the text ends in two columns; the ending is placed below the typographical mark and imprint (in Greek and c.) with the date August 12, 1581. In this regard, there is often talk of two different editions of the book. However, the title page of all known copies bears the year 1581; according to the observations of A. S. Zernova, who described 29 copies, there was only one edition, although for some reason it was delayed and some sheets were reprinted (in particular, errors were corrected); There are quite a lot of different combinations of reprinted and non-reprinted sheets.

Like all publications by Ivan Fedorov, the Ostroh Bible was typed and laid out impeccably. It uses a small but readable Ostrog font for the main text, semi-standard with elements of cursive style, and typesetting in two columns. The volume of the text is estimated at 3,240,000 printed characters. The Ostrog Bible was reprinted practically unchanged in Moscow in 1663, so that in fact it was the official edition of the Slavic Bible until the 1740s, when the corrected so-called Elizabethan Bible was prepared, which is still in use today.

At the Season auction on August 27, 2004, the second-hand book department of the Gelos Auction House put up a unique lot - the first complete printed edition of the Bible in the Slavic language, undertaken by the famous pioneer printer Ivan Fedorov (1510-1583) on behalf of Prince Konstantin Ostrozhsky. Ostrog Bible 1581 is a monumental edition, 628 sheets, lavishly decorated with headpieces and initials made especially for her. This is the first Bible printed in Cyrillic script. It served as the original and model for further Russian editions of the Bible. The significance of the Ostrog Bible was enormous for Orthodox education. This publication is of historical and cultural value. There is an expert opinion from the State Historical Museum. Lot start 320,000 rub.