Slavic Translations of the Scriptures

Abstract

WHEN those ancient precursors of Bible translators, the Greek brothers Constantine and Methodius, translated certain parts of the Scriptures and the liturgical books into Slavic for the use of their Moravian converts, they did more than such praiseworthy literary exercise would ordinarily imply: they affirmed and successfully maintained the right and propriety of the liturgical use of other languages than the three sacred tongues hitherto acknowledged -Hebrew, Greek, and Latin. There was a strong party, both in the Western and Eastern churches, which stubbornly refused to admit as a liturgical language any but the three in which Pilate had written the inscription on the cross. In the Eastern churches, the vernacular languages were finally admitted; but within the Roman church, after a short period of toleration of other languages, the Latin became the sole liturgical medium. Thus in a sense the two Greek brothers and their disciples fought a fight in behalf of all the later Bible translators and liturgical vernacularists, the English among them. A special importance, therefore, attaches to the history of the Slavic translation of the Scriptures as well as to the struggle waged for its legitimation. It is necessary, first of all, to recount the circumstances which called forth the Slavic translation of the Bible. These are connected with the missionary work undertaken by Constantine and Methodius among the Moravians in the reign of the Christian Prince Rastislav (846-870). A considerable number of the Moravians had already been Christianized by the efforts of German and other missionaries. But, being a clear-sighted and