Cheremiss Bible History (3)

**List: Cheremiss Ministry the Bible ( the Bible ) Cheremiss... TSCHEREMISSIAN. "THE people by whom this dialect is spoken dwell along the banks of the Volga and Kama, in the Russian governments of Kasan and Simbirsk.   Tooke says that members of this tribe are also to be found on both sides of the Volga, particularly on the left side, in the government of Nijnii-Novgorod. The total number of Tscheremissians has been estimated at 50,000; most of them belong to the Russian Church.    In 1819 a translation of part of the Scriptures into Tscheremissian was undertaken by the Russian Bible Society, and twelve translators were employed in the preparation of the work.   The Gospel of St. Matthew, the first portion completed, left the press in 1820.   To ascertain whether the dialect in which it is written could be readily understood by the Tscheremissians, the Archbishop of Kasan collected a number of them together, and caused part of this Gospel to be read aloud to them.   When these poor people heard the words of Jesus in their own tongue, "they wept for joy, and were ready to fall down and worship."   An edition of the Four Gospels in the same dialect was therefore printed in the following year; and at length 3000 copies of the entire New Testament were carried through the press, under the care of the Kasan Bible Society.    Shortly after the completion of this version, a statement was drawn up by various parish ministers respecting the number of heathen who had been led to embrace Christianity from among the Tschere- missians.   One minister mentioned eleven, another thirty-eight, a third mentioned one hundred, and a fourth fifty-two instances of conversion, as having taken place in their respective parishes.   And this, it was stated, was accomplished in some instances exclusively, and in others principally, by means of the perusal of the Tscheremissian Gospels."--The Bible of Every Land. (1860, Second Edition)   Samuel Bagster   [Info only] THE TSCHEREMISSIAN VERSION.   St. Petersburgh--1860   S. Bagster   [Info only: "1821" John 1:1-7 unknown.]

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