Georgian Bible History (3)

**List: Georgian Ministry Bible ( ბიბლია ) Georgian... GEORGIAN. "III.--VERSIONS OF THE SCRIPTURES IN THIS LANGUAGE.    According to a tradition of the Georgian church, the Scriptures were translated into this language, in the eighth century, by Euphemius, the founder and patron of the Iberian monastery on Mount Athos.   It is stated, however, by other authorities, that in the sixth century the Georgians sent young men of talent into Greece to study the Greek language, and that on their return they furnished their countrymen with a translation of the Scriptures and of the liturgical books of the Greek Church. But whoever may have been the translator, it is certain that the Georgian version of the Old Testament was translated from the Septuagint, and the New Testament from Greek MSS. of the Constantino- politan family; and that the entire version was executed at some time between the sixth and the eighth centuries.   This version would have been of great value in a critical point of view, had it not been corrupted during the many centuries through which it has passed.   In the beginning of the eighteenth century, it was in particular grossly interpolated, for it was then collated with the Sclavonic version, and portions of the Old Testament, which had been lost during the political troubles of Georgia, were translated anew from the Sclavonic.   This revision was carried on at Moscow, under the superintendence of Georgian princes who had sought refuge in Russia.   Prince Arcil was the first to engage in the work, but he died before it was completed, and a new and more careful revision was commenced by Prince Vakuset, who rendered the entire version as conformable as possible to the Sclavonic, and introduced the use of verses in imitation of that text.   A printed edition was brought out under his direction, at Moscow, in 1743, at the expense of his brother, Prince Bacchar; the types were cast in that city, and the correction of the press was committed to four native Georgians.   This was the first occasion on which the entire Georgian version had been committed to the press; but, a small edition of the New Testament, with the Psalms and Prophets, had been printed a few years previously under the care of Prince Vaktangh, at Tiflis, in Georgia.    The Moscow edition formed the text of the New Testament printed by the Moscow Bible Society in 1815, under the superintendence of the Georgian Metropolitan, Ion, and of Archbishop Pafnut, both resident in the Kremlin of Moscow.   The edition consisted of 5000 copies, and the types from which it was printed were cast from the very matrices which had been used for the former edition, and which had been providentially preserved during the conflagration of the city at the time of Napoleon's invasion.   The Society was induced to issue this edition by information received through Dr. Pinkerton, in 1814, concerning the state of the Greco-Georgian church.   At that period there were at least 2000 churches in Georgia, Imeritia, and Mingrelia; and 200 copies of the Bible could not be found amongst them all.   In consequence of this scarcity of the Scriptures, the clergy were very ignorant; but the women of Georgia were noted for the zeal with which they devoted themselves to the acquisition of religious knowledge.   The tradition that the Georgian nation was first converted to Christianity by the preaching of a Greek virgin, named Ninna, in the fourth century, had much influence on public opinion; and a proper acquaintance with the doctrines of Scripture has always been considered in Georgia an indispensable part of female education.   In 1818, the Society printed another edition of 2000 copies of the New Testament: in this edition the civil or common characters were adopted, which were found more generally intelligible to the laity, the former editions having been printed in the sacred or ecclesiastical character, which is almost exclusively used by the clergy. More recent editions of various portions of the Scriptures have been printed at Tiflis and in Russia, but concerning these editions we have no particular account."--The Bible of Every Land. (1860, Second Edition)   Samuel Bagster   [Info only] THE GEORGIAN VERSION from the Edition printed at St. Petersburgh--1860   S. Bagster   [Info only: CIVIL CHARACTER   "1818" John 1:1-3 unknown.] THE GEORGIAN VERSION from the Edition printed at Moscow--1860   S. Bagster   [Info only: ECCLESIASTICAL CHARACTER   "1816" John 1:1-5 unknown.]

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