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Bible Translations into Greek

Overview

• 1638 -- The first translation of the New Testament into Modern Greek was completed in 1629 by Maximos of Gallipoli, at the initiative of the reforming Patriarch Cyril Lucaris of Constantinople; see He Kaine Diatheke tou kyriou hemon Iesou Christou (1638 Maximos), book. The concept itself of a translation of the Old Greek Bible into Modern Greek was fiercely opposed within the Greek Orthodox Church and the book could be only published in Geneva [Switzerland] in 1638. Cyril Lucaris was charged with heresy and strangled.

• 1703 -- The revision, by Serapheim of Mytilene, of Maximos' translation of the New Testament was promoted by the British Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts, and published in London [England]; see He Kaine Diatheke tou kuriou kai soteros hemon Iesou Christou (1703 Serapheim), book. This work also was formally condemned and banned in 1704 by the Patriarch Gabriel III of Constantinople. Serapheim was eventually arrested in Russia and deported to Siberia where he died in 1735.

• 1831-38 -- In the 1830s, Neophytos Vamvas was able to complete the first translation of the whole Bible (Old and New Testament) in Modern Greek. Between 1831 and 1838, Vamvas published some parts of his translation in Greece. However, the opposition of the Greek Orthodox Church forced him to seek the support of the British and Foreign Bible Society (BFBS) on the publication and circulation of his translation. The Greek Orthodox Church labeled him "a Protestant" and banned his work; its sale was forbidden and existing copies were destroyed, in some cases publicly burned.

• 1901-02 -- In 1897 Queen Olga of Greece promoted the publication of the Bible into Modern Greek, which could be read and understood by ordinary people. In spite of the support of the Archbishop of Athens Procopius II, the Queen's request was turned down by the Synod of the Greek Orthodox Church in 1899. At the end, the Queen decided to ignore the ban and published a limited edition in February 1901 "for exclusive family use". Later in 1901, on September 9, the publication, in the Acropolis newspaper, of the translation, by Alexandros Pallis, of the Gospel of Matthew was denounced by conservative theologians and Ecumenical Patriarch Joachim III of Constantinople as a "ridiculing of the nation's most valuable relics". Riots arose in Athens, demanding the excommunication of Pallis and anyone involved with the translations, including Queen Olga and the Archbishop of Athens Procopius. Eight people died in clashes with the army. As a result of the "Evangelika" controversy, Procopius resigned and the circulation of any translations of the Bible in Modern Greek was formally banned in Greece. Pallis, who lived and worked in England, published his translation of the whole New Testament in Liverpool in 1902.

• 1924 -- It was not until 1924 that the prohibition against using the Bible in modern Greek was repealed and the Vamvas Bible was allowed in Greece.

External links

• Wiki.en
• The Struggle for a Bible in Modern Greek