The Bible Translation Institute has completed the first-ever complete translation of the Bible into Tatar language. This is the fifth complete translation of the Bible in Russia - before that it was translated into Russian, Chuvash, Tuvan and Udmurt languages, reports the Tatar Metropolis. Today the Bible has already been translated into 565 languages.

The work on the translation of the Bible into the Tatar language was carried out for more than 23 years by a large international team, which included specialists in the field of philology and biblical studies. The translation was scientifically reviewed at the Institute of Language, Literature and Art. G. Ibragimova of the Academy of Sciences of the Republic, as well as at the Institute of Philology and Intercultural Communication of Kazan federal university. The book is published under the stamp of the Institute of Linguistics of the Russian Academy of Sciences.

The work of translating the Bible into Tatar has a long and complex history. The first translations of some of her books were made in the 19th century. Then, after a break of almost a century, the activity of translating the Bible into the modern Tatar language was resumed by the Institute for Bible Translation: in the mid-1980s, separate books of the Old and New Testaments were retranslated. At the beginning of the new century saw the light New Testament(Inҗil, 2001) and the Pentateuch (Taүrat, 2007).

The target audience of the IPB project for translating the Bible into Tatar is Tatar speakers from a Muslim environment who wish to familiarize themselves with the biblical text in mother tongue. The translation team faced a number of theological, linguistic and cultural tasks. To ensure that the translation was consistent with the originals, he consulted Hebrew (Biblia Nebraica Stuttgartensia) and Greek (UBS 5th edition, Nestle-Aland 28th edition) source texts. The translation has also been checked by a scientific consultant experienced in the field of biblical translation. To achieve maximum linguistic naturalness, the Tatar translation was edited by experienced philologists and stylists. An important part of the procedure was also semantic testing with the participation of native speakers, which was necessary to check the understanding of the text of the translation by future readers.

The project participants are confident that the publication of the Bible in the Tatar language will be a bright event in the cultural life of Tatarstan. This book will attract the attention of everyone who is somehow connected with spiritual, moral, educational and research activities. The translation will enable native speakers of the Tatar language to get acquainted with the content of the biblical text in detail. The translation will also help to better understand the origins of the three great world religions - Judaism, Christianity and Islam, since the holy books - the Torah, the Bible and the Koran - have many texts similar in content, which cannot but contribute to the establishment of a dialogue between representatives of various religious denominations, reportedly Metropolitan website.

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The Institute for Bible Translation has completed work on the first ever complete translation of the Bible into Tatar. On May 26, 2016, its presentation took place. Today we will talk about the history of the translation of the Holy Scriptures.

Holy Scripture of the Christian Church

The Bible, or Holy Scripture of the Christian Church, is a collection of divinely inspired books of the Old and New Testaments written by various authors from the 13th century to the 13th century. BC to the end of the 1st century. according to R. X. The books that make up the Old Testament were written before the birth of Christ in Hebrew and Aramaic, the books of the New Testament - in the second half of the 1st century. of the Christian era in Greek, which at that time was the lingua franca of the Eastern Mediterranean and some other countries. The very fact that the words of the Lord Jesus Christ, spoken by Him in Aramaic, were written down by the holy apostles in translation into another language, indicates that the Holy Scripture is fundamentally translatable, it can be addressed to every person in his native language. This is also evidenced by the gift given to the holy apostles on the day of Pentecost to "speak with other tongues," so that "everyone heard them speaking in his own language" (Acts of the Apostles 2:1-12).

Bible translations

Already in the Old Testament era (in the 3rd century BC), the sacred books of the Law and the Prophets were translated into Greek language Aramaic translations (Targums) of Hebrew books are no less ancient (among the Qumran manuscripts, their fragments of the 2nd-1st centuries BC were found). The words of the book of the prophet Nehemiah (8, 8), describing the events of the 5th century. BC, “and they read from the book, from the law of God, clearly, and added the interpretation, and the people understood what was read” in the Jewish tradition was understood as evidence of reading the Hebrew text with translation and interpretation in Aramaic. It is not surprising that in the Christian Church already in ancient era translations of the books of both the Old and New Testaments appeared. From the end of the 2nd century known translations into Latin and Syriac, from the III century. - into Coptic, from the 4th century. - into Gothic, from the 5th century. - into Armenian, Georgian and Aghvan (in Caucasian Albania) languages. Around the same time (4th-6th centuries) are the earliest translations into Ethiopian (preserved only in later manuscripts), Persian, Sogdian, Nubian (only fragments are known); from translation to Chinese, made in the 7th century, unfortunately, only an impressive list of translated books has been preserved; in the 8th century translations into Old English and Old German were undertaken, in the 9th century. the books of Holy Scripture were translated into Church Slavonic and Arabic. Due to the fact that some translations were lost (like Chinese), preserved in fragments or in later lists, discovered only in very recent times (like Agvan), it can be assumed that there were even more translations in the first millennium of the Christian era. It should also be noted that several translations of the same books were made into some of the listed languages, this was due to the variety of dialects, confessional differences, the desire for translation perfection, or some practical needs. Not always translations (especially books Old Testament) were made from the original language, often using existing authoritative translations. Undoubtedly, in many cases, even before the appearance of written translation into one language or another, oral biblical preaching was done in it. For example, it took place on Arabic long before the appearance of a written Arabic translation, as evidenced by the numerous parallel places in the Bible and the Koran, as well as the exceptionally high assessment given in the Koran to the “Scriptures” of Jews and Christians (see: Bible and Koran: Parallel places. M .: IPB, 2005) .

The rapid development of Bible translations into European languages began with the spread of printing (XV century), and especially after the Reformation (beginning of the XVI century). At the same time, in the era of the great geographical discoveries, there are new translations into the languages of Asia, Africa and America. in Rus' in the 14th century. A vivid example of Christian preaching in the traditions of the ancient Church was the ministry of St. Stephen of Perm, who created the Zyryan alphabet and translated biblical and liturgical texts into the Zyryan (Komi) language. Significant development of Christian educational and translation activities among the peoples of the Volga region, the Urals, Siberia, the Caucasus, the Far North and Far East(including Japan), as well as Alaska and the Aleutian Islands, received only in the 19th century. It was carried out both by Bible Societies (translation of the Bible) and by special institutions of the Russian Orthodox Church, most of which were associated with Kazan and its theological schools (in addition to the Holy Scriptures, liturgical and doctrinal books were translated for church needs). Since the beginning of the XIX century. Until 1917, individual Bible books were translated into several dozen languages, as well as a complete translation of the Bible into Russian.

After 1917, for 70 years no serious biblical work was possible in our Fatherland. For 30 years (1927-1956) the Bible was not published at all, the publications of the Bible and the New Testament in Russian undertaken in subsequent years were almost inaccessible to believers. Most of the Bible books that found their readers in the Soviet Union were illegally imported from abroad. Also abroad, the idea arose to resume work on biblical translations into numerous languages of the peoples of the Union, into which the Bible was not translated or became practically inaccessible.

Bible Translation Institute: Creation, Getting Started

To work on the translation, publication and distribution of the Holy Scriptures in non-Slavic languages of the peoples of the USSR in 1973, the Institute for Bible Translation (IBT) was established in Stockholm. His first publications were reprints of pre-revolutionary publications, which could only be obtained in foreign libraries. In most cases, such publications were of more scientific than practical importance: over the past decades, the graphics and writing systems of many languages have changed, Soviet years the level of literacy of their speakers completely changed, original and translated literature appeared in many languages, and the basis of literary languages often became completely different dialects into which pre-revolutionary translations were undertaken. The reprint of the Tatar (Kryashen) translations of the Four Gospels (1908) and the Psalter (1914) released already in the first year of the Institute’s existence was a happy exception: these translations remained in demand in the church environment and continue to be used today. However, the need to create a new, non-denominational translation of the Bible into the Tatar language, which has not only an ancient literary tradition, but also the richest modern fiction and scientific literature, was very soon realized. This translation is intended to replace the obsolete Tatar translations of the 19th century, which used Arabic script and Quranic terminology, which are completely inaccessible to the modern reader and, like the Kryashen translations, have not reached completeness, especially in terms of the translation of the Old Testament.

Tatar project of the Bible Translation Institute

In 1975, the IPB began work on a new translation, and the Tatar journalist and writer Enver Galim (1915-1988), who lived in New York, once studied the Tatar language and literature at the Kazan Pedagogical Institute, became the translator. The theological editor of this translation was the English biblical scholar Simon Crisp (who later became a project consultant), the philological editor was the German scholar from Columbia University Gustav Burbil (1912-2001), the author of The Grammar of the Modern Tatar Language. The edition of the Four Gospels and Acts of the Holy Apostles in the translation of E. Galim, who translated the entire New Testament and a significant part of the Old Testament, was published in Stockholm in 1985. After his death, the Kazan linguist Iskander Abdullin (1935-1992) continued the work.

A new stage in the preparation of the Tatar translation began in the 1990s, when the Institute's activities were transferred to Russia. The Tatar project involved biblical scholars and linguists from the Summer Institute of Linguistics (51b), some of whom settled in Kazan for this purpose, as well as a consultant from the United Bible Societies. Gradually, a new translation team was assembled, which began work on the texts left by the deceased translators. Writers, members of the Union of Writers of Tatarstan, editors of book publishing houses, employees of the Institute of Language, Literature and Art named after A.I. G. Ibragimova (IYALI) of the Academy of Sciences of Tatarstan, teachers of the Kazan Federal University. The result of the joint work was a complete translation of the New Testament, published in 2001.

At the same time, work was underway on individual books of the Old Testament; Proverbs and Ecclesiastes were published in 1999, Esther, Ruth and Jonah in 2000, Genesis in 2003, and the Pentateuch in 2007.

In preparation for printing the full text of the Bible, all previously published texts were checked and corrected. Translators and editors, including specialists in biblical theology, Hebrew, Greek, and Tatar, sought to match the translation with the meaning of the original and at the same time give the reader a text that is understandable and consistent with the literary norm of the Tatar language. The generally accepted critical editions Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia for the Old Testament and Nestle-Aland Novum Testamentum Graece for the New Testament were taken as originals, and all important cases where the text corresponded to other sources used were noted in footnotes. The translation was scientifically reviewed at the Institute of Language, Literature and Art. G. Ibragimova of the Academy of Sciences; Republic of Tatarstan and at the Institute of Philology and Intercultural Communication of the Kazan Federal University, as well as church reviewing in the Tatarstan Metropolis of the Russian Orthodox Church. The book was published under the stamp of the Institute of Linguistics of the Russian Academy of Sciences. To achieve maximum naturalness in linguistic terms, the Tatar translation was edited by experienced philologists and stylists. An important part of the procedure was also semantic testing with the participation of native speakers, which was necessary to check the understanding of the text of the translation by future readers.

Out of print in March 2016, the Bible in Tatar became the 6th complete edition of the Holy Scriptures in the languages of the indigenous peoples of Russia, after Russian, Chuvash, Tuvan, Chechen and Udmurt translations. Tatar language, the second most spoken language Russian Federation, official language Republic of Tatarstan, became one of the languages that have a complete translation of the Bible, the most translated Book in the world (currently there are complete translations of the Bible into 565 languages).

The history of the translation of the Bible into Tatar

The translation of the Bible into Tatar has more than two centuries of history. The first editions of the Holy Scriptures, classified in bibliographies and library catalogs as translations into the Tatar language, appeared in early XIX V. on the initiative of the members of the Edinburgh Bible Society who arrived in Russia and prompted Emperor Alexander I to create the Russian Bible Society, which was tasked with translating the Holy Scripture into Russian, as well as into other indigenous languages Russian Empire. Translations intended for the Tatars were carried out by the Scottish Mission, which settled in Karas near Pyatigorsk in 1802, and printed in Karas and Astrakhan, where the mission moved in 1815 and continued its activities there until 1825. Until the middle of the 19th century. the name "Tatar language" correlated with many Turkic languages of the peoples of Russia. It was also used to designate the language of these first biblical translations, made in a common high for the Kypchaks. literary language(also called "Türks") and published in graphics based on the Arabic alphabet, which was used to transmit Turkic literary texts for several centuries, starting, probably, from the middle of the 13th century, when the Bulgar poet Kul Gali created a poem on a biblical story - in the Koranic his interpretation is "Kyssa-i Yusuf" ("The Tale of Joseph").

The Scottish mission published the Gospel of Matthew (Karas, 1807), the Four Gospels (Karas, 1813), the Psalter (Astrakhan, 1815, 1818) and the New Testament (Astrakhan, 1818); in 1820 it was republished in adaptation for the "Orenburg Tatars", it is noteworthy that it was published earlier than the first Russian translation of the entire New Testament, which appeared in 1821). Work was also carried out on other books of the Old Testament. The translator was Henry Brighton (VgipGop) (1770-1813), after his death the texts were prepared for publication and edited by John Dixon and Charles Fraser, one of the consultants was Mirza Muhammad Ali (Alexander Kasimovich) Kazem-Bek (1802-1870).

All these translations are considered in the scientific literature as “Tatar-Turkish”, “Nogai”, “Kyrgyz”, but, according to E.R. Tenishev, although “structurally” they are not made in the Tatar language, they nevertheless belong to the Tatar cultural heritage as intended for the Tatar reader. Somewhat earlier, a baptized Tatar, lieutenant of the Astrakhan battalion Alexander Shendyakov, translated the Gospel of Matthew into his native language (possibly Nogai). This translation, submitted to the Astrakhan bishop, was sent by the Holy Synod to Kazan for review, where in 1785 it was considered by a special commission established by Archbishop Ambrose (Podobedov). According to the review of the commission, “although the translation turned out to be written in the Tatar script, there is little in it in adverbs, verbs and in the declensions and conjugations themselves, and there is almost no similarity with the local Tatar conversation.” Curious is the very fact of assessing this lost translation of the 18th century. from the point of view of the possibility of its use for the needs of the Volga Tatars and the involvement of experts in the Tatar language from the clergy of the Kazan diocese in its assessment.

New editions of translations into "Turks" were prepared by the Translation Committee, opened in 1847 at the Kazan Theological Academy, whose members were, in particular, A.K. Kazem-Bek (until 1850), N.I. Ilminsky and G.S. Sablukov. The Committee published the Four Gospels (St. Petersburg, 1855), Aejania, Epistles and Revelation (St. Petersburg, 1861), Psalter (St. Petersburg, 1862, 1869). These publications, although they were partly intended for distribution among the Orthodox Tatars (Kryashens), like the publications of the Scottish Mission, were published in graphics based on the Arabic alphabet and were entirely focused on the use of the bookish Tatar language, Qur'anic religious terminology and onomastics.

The idea of translating biblical and liturgical texts not into the language of high Tatar culture, but into a language close to the spoken language of the Kryashens was first formulated in 1856 by N.I. Ilminsky. He suggested using Russian rather than Arabic terms to designate Christian concepts and developed an alphabet based on the Cyrillic alphabet for the Kryashen publications. The first Kryashen edition was the Primer, a short sacred history, an abbreviated catechism, moralizing and prayers ”(St. Petersburg, 1861; Kazan, 1862; revised edition: Kazan, 1864). Soon the Book of Wisdom of Jesus the son of Sirahov (Kazan, 1864; reprinted in 1874, 1879, 1885, 1900, 1913) and the Gospel of Matthew (Kazan, 1866) were translated and published. After the creation in 1867 at the Kazan Cathedral of the Brotherhood of St. Guriy, and under it the Translation Commission (N.I. Ilminsky became the chairman), subordinate in 1875 directly to the Orthodox Missionary Society, many dozens of Kryashen liturgical and teaching books, including the Psalter (1875; reprinted 1891, 1903, 1914), the Four Gospels (1891, reprinted 1892, 1894, 1898, 1907, 1908), festive apostolic readings (1907). For these editions intended for liturgical use, Greek texts of the Old and New Testaments, traditional for the Orthodox Church, were used as a source, and much attention was paid to the correspondence of translations to Church Slavonic texts.

Interestingly, in the course of his translation and editorial work on the Kryashensky and other new translations, N.I. Ilminsky paid much attention to the comparison of the Church Slavonic text with the Greek. He published his observations in a separate book, and also proposed his revision of the Church Slavonic translation of the Gospel, based on the texts of ancient manuscripts. These works of his, undeservedly forgotten, retain their scientific and practical significance to this day.

Translations by N.I. Ilminsky, his staff and followers continue to be successfully used in the Kryashen parishes and in general in the Kryashen environment to this day. Now, by analogy with Church Slavonic books, they are often referred to as Church-Kryashen translations, which accurately reflects their confessional character. In the late 1990s

The Russian Bible Society resumed work on the Kryashen translations of the Holy Scriptures, the Cathedral Epistles (St. Petersburg, 2000) and the New Testament were published. (St. Petersburg, 2005).

Of particular interest is the fact that after the successful development of the publication of books for the Kryashens based on the Cyrillic alphabet and with an established special Christian terminology, earlier books continued to be republished in Kazan. biblical translations using the Arabic alphabet and Koranic terminology (for example, a revised edition of the New Testament, prepared by I.F. Gottwald and verified by K. Saleman, came out in 1880, reprinted in 1887 and 1910). Separation in translation and publishing activities according to confessional The addressee was preserved until the very last pre-revolutionary years, and not only in the preparation of publications by the Bible Societies. So, for example, in the Translation Commission under the administration of the Kazan Educational District, established in 1907, R.P. Dauley, and for all other Tatars (“Muslim Tatars”) - the chairman of this commission N.F. Katanov.

The edition of the full text of the Holy Scriptures prepared by the Institute of Philosophy partly continues the tradition of publishing non-confessional translations into the Tatar language, established by the first translators at the beginning of the 19th century. and continued by the translation committee at the Kazan Theological Academy in the middle of the 19th century. (with the participation of N.I. Ilminsky and G.S. Sablukov) and the Translation Commission at the beginning of the 20th century. But at the same time, a cardinal change in the linguistic and general cultural paradigm was also taken into account: the translation was carried out into a modern literary language, the norms of which have developed over the past decades. It is a universal language of education, science and culture, which could not be the refined language of the 19th century, which was not widely used, and goes back to the “general Turkic” literary language.

We hope that the translation will find grateful and interested readers, will serve their spiritual and cultural enrichment, and will contribute to a beneficial interreligious dialogue in the Republic of Tatarstan and beyond.

Bible publications of the Institute of Bible Translation in Tatar

1973 Four Gospels (reprint 1908 ed.), Psalter (reprint 1914 ed.)
1985 Four Gospels and Acts of the Apostles
1995 Gospel of John
1997 Psalter (reprint ed. 1914)
1998 Acts of the Apostles
1999 Book of Proverbs of Solomon and Book of Ecclesiastes
2000 Books Ruth, Esther, Jonah
2001 New Testament
2003 Genesis
2004 Gospel of John (reprint ed. 1995)
2007 Pentateuch
2009 Gospel of Matthew (reprint of text from the New Testament ed. 2001)
2015 Gospel of John (with parallel Russian translation) Bible 2015

Some facts about Bible translations in the world

There are about 7000 languages in the world
During the first nineteen centuries after A.D. translation of the Bible or parts of it appeared in 620 languages
By the end of the XX century. translations are made in approximately 2400 languages
There are no translations of any biblical texts in more than 4 thousand languages yet
Complete Bible translated into 565 languages
New Testament translated into 1324 more languages
Portions of the Bible have been translated into approximately 1,000 more languages

The Institute for Bible Translation (IBT) is a Russian scientific organization that translates, publishes and distributes the Bible in the languages of non-Slavic peoples living in Russia and neighboring countries. These peoples (85 million people) have different cultural and religious backgrounds and speak more than 130 languages. The number of carriers of some of them is millions, others are owned by only a few thousand and even hundreds of people. Some languages have a long literary tradition, while for others, writing was created only recently. The goal of the Bible Translation Institute is to produce an accurate and theologically correct translation to bring the content of the Bible to the modern reader. Currently, the ITB coordinates the work of 40 translation teams, prepares completed translations for publication, conducts seminars for translators and theological editors, and distributes its translations in print, audio and digital formats.
link.

“People read with interest the translation of the Holy Scriptures in their native language”

The Bible Translation Institute has released the first complete translation of the Bible into Tatar

In May, the presentation of the first complete translation of the Bible into the Tatar language took place in the State Big Concert Hall named after S. Saidashev. Archpriest Alexander Troitsky, chief bibliographer of the Synodal Library of the Moscow Patriarchate named after His Holiness Patriarch Alexy II, spoke about the translations of the Holy Scriptures and their later life.

Father Alexander, are there many organizations today engaged in translations of the Holy Scriptures?

There are not so many specialists who can organize this work. Therefore, in Russia, our institute is engaged in the translation of the Bible; there is an institute of the same name in Helsinki, which specializes in translating exclusively into Finno-Ugric languages; the Russian Bible Society operates, which also deals with several major languages, such as, for example, Chuvash. That, in fact, is all. We work together with all these organizations, but there are projects that are developed only at our institute. For example, the translation of the Holy Scriptures into Nenets, Itelmen and other languages of the peoples of the North.

Can we agree with the statement that the translation of the Bible preserves the language of the people?

Undoubtedly. The point is that in Soviet time into small languages of peoples Soviet Union translations of at least the main documents of the USSR, some basic works of the classics and primers were carried out. However, in modern times this work has been greatly reduced. If we look at the number of publications in the languages of some peoples, especially the peoples of the Far North and the Far East, we will see that over the past 20 years 3-5 editions have been published, of which 1-3 are editions of the Bible Translation Institute.

And nothing else was published in these languages. This, of course, is a deplorable situation, since people completely wean themselves from reading, at best they switch to Russian, at worst they remain semi-literate. In this case, if people have an interest in reading in their native language, Bible translations are very helpful, especially if these peoples are enlightened by Christian preaching. However, even if there are absolutely no Christian religious communities in the territory, people usually read the translation of the Holy Scriptures in their own language with interest.

IN Lately there are more and more translations of the Bible, and not only into languages into which it has not been translated before. For example, a translation of the Bible into modern Russian has recently been published. What do you think of this trend?

In order for a high-quality and popular translation of the entire Holy Scripture or a significant part of it to appear, a serious reason is needed. Translating the Holy Scriptures from idleness, in the meantime, and even to get something necessary and useful - I don’t know of such examples. As for the Russian language, the first complete translation of the Bible was made 140 years ago, we call it the Synodal Translation. Although there were earlier translations of the books of the New Testament, the Synodal translation nevertheless supplanted all these works and until recently was used as the only translation into Russian. However, as we know, the Synodal translation of the Bible, especially in the part of the Old Testament, is not completely homogeneous. The Masoretic text, taken as a basis, was supplemented and supplemented by the text of the Septuagint. Moreover, it is not always clear where the text of one source ends and another begins. As a result, it must be admitted that until recently we did not have a Russian text that would make it clear how the Masoretic text differs from the Septuagint. At one time, Professor of the Kazan Theological Academy Pavel Aleksandrovich Yungerov carried out a scientific translation of the Septuagint, which never came out in full. The Masoretic text, practically without any influence from the Septuagint, was published by the RBO as part of the New Russian Bible. The only thing that spoils the reputation of this wonderful edition is that Valentina Nikolaevna Kuznetsova's translation was included as a translation of the New Testament, which in places may even seem vulgar.

Perhaps this suggests that there are certain translation traditions that should be followed. And what traditions did the translators of the Bible into the Tatar language rely on?

The initial translations addressed to the Turkic peoples of Russia, which include the Tatar people, were made into the Kypchak literary language, where there were many Arabicisms. It was an attempt to appeal to a reader who knows and reads Arabic. These translations were enough high level However, as Nikolai Ivanovich Ilminsky, a participant in these translations, admitted, they could not satisfy the need of the mission among the baptized Tatars, who did not know the Arabic text. And then Nikolai Ivanovich began to translate into a language close to the spoken language of the baptized Tatars. Thus, the Kryashen tradition appeared. However, there are significant differences between the language into which Ilminsky translated and the modern Tatar language. Today, the Tatar language is not only a spoken language, but also the language of literature and science. Therefore, for modern Tatar society, it was necessary new translation. And then we set out to create a translation that would convey the meaning of the original language means modern Tatar literary language. In addition, this translation opens up wide opportunities for various philological studies.

Holy Scripture of the Christian Church

Bible translations

Already in the Old Testament era (in the 3rd century BC), the sacred books of the Law and the Prophets were translated into Greek, and Aramaic translations (Targums) of Hebrew books are no less ancient (among the Qumran manuscripts, their fragments of the 2nd-1st century BC were found). to R. X.). The words of the book of the prophet Nehemiah (8, 8), describing the events of the 5th century. BC, “and they read from the book, from the law of God, clearly, and added the interpretation, and the people understood what was read” in the Jewish tradition was understood as evidence of reading the Hebrew text with translation and interpretation in Aramaic. It is not surprising that translations of books of both the Old and New Testaments appeared in the Christian Church already in the most ancient epoch. From the end of the 2nd century translations into Latin and Syriac are known, from the 3rd century BC. - into Coptic, from the 4th century. - into Gothic, from the 5th century. - into Armenian, Georgian and Aghvan (in Caucasian Albania) languages. Around the same time (4th-6th centuries) are the earliest translations into Ethiopian (preserved only in later manuscripts), Persian, Sogdian, Nubian (only fragments are known); from the translation into Chinese made in the 7th century, unfortunately, only an impressive list of translated books has been preserved; in the 8th century translations into Old English and Old German were undertaken, in the 9th century. the books of Holy Scripture were translated into Church Slavonic and Arabic. Due to the fact that some translations were lost (like Chinese), preserved in fragments or in later lists, discovered only in very recent times (like Agvan), it can be assumed that there were even more translations in the first millennium of the Christian era. It should also be noted that several translations of the same books were made into some of the listed languages, this was due to the variety of dialects, confessional differences, the desire for translation perfection, or some practical needs. Not always translations (especially of the books of the Old Testament) were made from the original language; already available authoritative translations were often used. Undoubtedly, in many cases, even before the appearance of written translation into one language or another, oral biblical preaching was done in it. So, for example, it was performed in Arabic long before the appearance of a written Arabic translation, as evidenced by the numerous parallel places in the Bible and the Koran, as well as the exceptionally high assessment given in the Koran to the “Scriptures” of Jews and Christians (see: Bible and Koran: Parallel places, Moscow: IPB, 2005).

The rapid development of Bible translations into European languages began with the spread of printing (XV century), and especially after the Reformation (beginning of the XVI century). At the same time, in the era of great geographical discoveries, new translations into the languages of Asia, Africa and America appear. in Rus' in the 14th century. A vivid example of Christian preaching in the traditions of the ancient Church was the ministry of St. Stephen of Perm, who created the Zyryan alphabet and translated biblical and liturgical texts into the Zyryan (Komi) language. Christian educational and translation activities among the peoples of the Volga region, the Urals, Siberia, the Caucasus, the Far North and the Far East (including Japan), as well as Alaska and the Aleutian Islands, received significant development only in the 19th century. It was carried out both by Bible Societies (translation of the Bible) and by special institutions of the Russian Orthodox Church, most of which were associated with Kazan and its theological schools (in addition to the Holy Scriptures, liturgical and doctrinal books were translated for church needs). Since the beginning of the XIX century. Until 1917, individual Bible books were translated into several dozen languages, as well as a complete translation of the Bible into Russian.

Bible Translation Institute: Creation, Getting Started

To work on the translation, publication and distribution of the Holy Scriptures in non-Slavic languages of the peoples of the USSR in 1973, the Institute for Bible Translation (IBT) was established in Stockholm. His first publications were reprints of pre-revolutionary publications, which could only be obtained in foreign libraries. In most cases, such publications had more scientific than practical significance: over the past decades, the graphics and writing systems of many languages have changed, during the Soviet years the level of literacy of their speakers has completely changed, original and translated literature appeared in many languages, and the basis of literary languages often became completely not the dialects into which pre-revolutionary translations were undertaken. The reprint of the Tatar (Kryashen) translations of the Four Gospels (1908) and the Psalter (1914) released already in the first year of the Institute’s existence was a happy exception: these translations remained in demand in the church environment and continue to be used today. However, the need to create a new, non-denominational translation of the Bible into the Tatar language, which has not only an ancient literary tradition, but also the richest modern fiction and scientific literature, was very soon realized. This translation is intended to replace the obsolete Tatar translations of the 19th century, which used Arabic script and Quranic terminology, which are completely inaccessible to the modern reader and, like the Kryashen translations, have not reached completeness, especially in terms of the translation of the Old Testament.

Tatar project of the Bible Translation Institute

Out of print in March 2016, the Bible in Tatar became the 6th complete edition of the Holy Scriptures in the languages of the indigenous peoples of Russia, after Russian, Chuvash, Tuvan, Chechen and Udmurt translations. The Tatar language, the second language of the Russian Federation in terms of the number of speakers, the state language of the Republic of Tatarstan, has become one of the languages that have a complete translation of the Bible, the most translated Book in the world (currently there are complete translations of the Bible into 565 languages).

The history of the translation of the Bible into Tatar

The translation of the Bible into Tatar has more than two centuries of history. The first editions of the Holy Scriptures, classified in bibliographies and library catalogs as translations into the Tatar language, appeared at the beginning of the 19th century. on the initiative of the members of the Edinburgh Bible Society who arrived in Russia and prompted Emperor Alexander I to create the Russian Bible Society, which was tasked with translating the Holy Scripture into Russian, as well as into other languages of the indigenous peoples of the Russian Empire. Translations intended for the Tatars were carried out by the Scottish Mission, which settled in Karas near Pyatigorsk in 1802, and printed in Karas and Astrakhan, where the mission moved in 1815 and continued its activities there until 1825. Until the middle of the 19th century. the name "Tatar language" correlated with many Turkic languages of the peoples of Russia. It was also used to designate the language of these first biblical translations, made into a high literary language common to the Kipchaks (also called "Turks") and published in graphics based on the Arabic alphabet, which was used to transmit Turkic literary texts for several centuries, starting, probably, since the middle of the 13th century, when the Bulgarian poet Kul Gali created a poem on a biblical story - in its Koranic interpretation - "Kyssa-i Yusuf" ("The Tale of Joseph").

The idea of translating biblical and liturgical texts not into the language of high Tatar culture, but into a language close to the spoken language of the Kryashens was first formulated in 1856 by N.I. Ilminsky. He suggested using Russian rather than Arabic terms to designate Christian concepts and developed an alphabet based on the Cyrillic alphabet for the Kryashen publications. The first Kryashen edition was the Primer, a Brief Sacred History, an Abbreviated Catechism, Moral Teaching and Prayers (St. Petersburg, 1861; Kazan, 1862; revised edition: Kazan, 1864). Soon the Book of Wisdom of Jesus the son of Sirahov (Kazan, 1864; reprinted in 1874, 1879, 1885, 1900, 1913) and the Gospel of Matthew (Kazan, 1866) were translated and published. After the creation in 1867 at the Kazan Cathedral of the Brotherhood of St. Guriy, and under it the Translation Commission (N.I. Ilminsky became the chairman), subordinate in 1875 directly to the Orthodox Missionary Society, many dozens of Kryashen liturgical and teaching books, including the Psalter (1875; reprinted 1891, 1903, 1914), the Four Gospels (1891, reprinted 1892, 1894, 1898, 1907, 1908), festive apostolic readings (1907). For these editions intended for liturgical use, Greek texts of the Old and New Testaments, traditional for the Orthodox Church, were used as a source, and much attention was paid to the correspondence of translations to Church Slavonic texts.

The Russian Bible Society resumed work on the Kryashen translations of the Holy Scriptures, the Cathedral Epistles (St. Petersburg, 2000) and the New Testament were published. (St. Petersburg, 2005).

Of particular interest is the fact that after the successful development of the publication of books for the Kryashens based on the Cyrillic alphabet and with a well-established special Christian terminology, earlier biblical translations using the Arabic alphabet and Koranic terminology continued to be republished in Kazan (for example, the corrected edition of the New Testament prepared by I. F. Gottwald and verified by K. Saleman, published in 1880, reprinted in 1887 and 1910). The separation in translation and publishing activities on the confessional basis of the addressee persisted until the very last pre-revolutionary years, and not only in the preparation of publications by Bible Societies. So, for example, in the Translation Commission under the administration of the Kazan Educational District, established in 1907, R.P. Dauley, and for all other Tatars (“Muslim Tatars”) - the chairman of this commission N.F. Katanov.

Bible publications of the Institute of Bible Translation in Tatar

1973 Four Gospels (reprint 1908 ed.), Psalter (reprint 1914 ed.)
1985 Four Gospels and Acts of the Apostles
1995 Gospel of John
1997 Psalter (reprint ed. 1914)
1998 Acts of the Apostles
1999 Book of Proverbs of Solomon and Book of Ecclesiastes
2000 Books Ruth, Esther, Jonah
2001 New Testament
2003 Genesis
2004 Gospel of John (reprint ed. 1995)
2007 Pentateuch
2009 Gospel of Matthew (reprint of text from the New Testament ed. 2001)
2015 Gospel of John (with parallel Russian translation) Bible 2015

Some facts about Bible translations in the world

There are about 7000 languages in the world
During the first nineteen centuries after A.D. translation of the Bible or parts of it appeared in 620 languages
By the end of the XX century. translations are made in approximately 2400 languages
There are no translations of any biblical texts in more than 4 thousand languages yet
Complete Bible translated into 565 languages
New Testament translated into 1324 more languages
Portions of the Bible have been translated into approximately 1,000 more languages

The Institute for Bible Translation (IBT) is a Russian scientific organization that translates, publishes and distributes the Bible in the languages of non-Slavic peoples living in Russia and neighboring countries. These peoples (85 million people) have different cultural and religious backgrounds and speak more than 130 languages. The number of carriers of some of them is millions, others are owned by only a few thousand and even hundreds of people. Some languages have a long literary tradition, while for others, writing was created only recently. The goal of the Bible Translation Institute is to produce an accurate and theologically correct translation to bring the content of the Bible to the modern reader. Currently, the ITB coordinates the work of 40 translation teams, prepares completed translations for publication, conducts seminars for translators and theological editors, and distributes its translations in print, audio and digital formats.