Review article
https://doi.org/10.31337/oz.72.1.3
Saints Cyril and Methodius and the Translation of the Holy Scripture into Old Church Slavonic
Taras Barščevski
orcid.org/0000-0003-2132-1105
; Catholic Faculty of Theology of the University of Zagreb, Zagreb, Croatia
Abstract
Translations come about fundamentally and primarily to enable one who does not
understand the language in which the text is written to understand the original text.
Biblical texts are not simply texts written in the Old Hebrew (Aramaic) or Ancient
Greek languages, but texts containing the Word of God — God’s revelation of Himself
and of His will that all men be saved. Thus, a translation of the Holy Scripture
is not only a translation from one language (ancient and not understandable) to
another, but a transmission of Divine Revelation. The translation of Saints Cyril
and Methodius achieves both. The article examines existing circumstances and the
emergence of the cyrilomethodic translation of the Holy Scripture into Old Church
Slavonic, by firstly addressing the reasons — proclamation of the Gospel to the Slavs
— but also the difficulties encountered in their translation activities — non–existence
of a script and the resistance to liturgical use of the Old Slavonic language.
The response of the Slavic apostles to the non–existence of a Slavonic script was to
devise the Glagolithic and Cyrillic alphabets, and the right to use them in the liturgy
was attained through the translation of not only the Holy Bible but also of numerous
liturgical texts. Thus, these accomplishments of the saintly brothers had an effect initially,
not only on the development of Christianity among Slavic peoples, but in later
centuries often became the reason for holding missionary fervour in abeyance as the
„sacredness“ of the translation was to be preserved.
Keywords
translation of the Holy Scripture; Saints Cyril and Methodius; Old Church Slavonic; Glagolithic alphabet; Cyrillic alphabet; „sacredness“ of the translation
Hrčak ID:
179990
URI
Publication date:
13.4.2017.
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