On an unknow translation of a religious text by Alexey Agafonov

Abstract

This paper is devoted to studying manuscript «Wang U Dzhin Yuan or the True Source of All Creatures or the Book on the True Source of All Creatures». The manuscript is a Russian translation of the text «萬物 真 原» (On the true origin of all things), a Christianian catechism written in Chinese language in the first part of XVII century by an Italian Jesuit missionary Julio Alleni. The translation was carried out in 1791 by Alexei Agafonov, a student of the Russian Orthodox Mission in Beijing. This article is based on a comparative analysis of the Russian translation and the original Chinese text. In the course of the work it was found that both versions of this text have a number of differences, such as the absence in the Russian translation of some chapters available in the Chinese text, and vice versa. At present, this translation exists only in one copy, and is stored in the Research Department of Manuscripts of the Library of the Academy of Sciences in St. Petersburg. The manuscript is not mentioned in any catalog or work on the history of Russian Sinology.