East University

Institute of Oriental Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences

Faculty of Regional Studies

Department of Regional Studies and Historical Disciplines

abstract

in discipline Christianity

Translation of Holy Scripture to Chinese

Completed 2nd year student

Grigoryan A. V.

Head Yakovlev A. I.

Moscow 2010

Introduction

Christianity in China XX century

Sun Yatsen and Christianity

Translations of the New Testament into Chinese

Conclusion

Bibliography

scripture Translation China

Introduction

As in the conditions of Chinese society, Christianity still continues to live, this "alien and hostile element", as many perceive it. But as it turned out that it was Christianity that turned out to be the necessary ruling elite and her opponents?

It is impossible to ignore that the Christian factor influenced China's development. It turned out that for many Chinese Christianity remains a sign of national shame, but for others belonging to Christianity is belonging to the elite and the possibility of emigration to the west.

Christianity was annoyed because it was brought from the outside and was considered as an attempt of the West to intervene into the country's affairs. Meanwhile, it is impossible to deny the modernizing role of Christianity in Chinese society. In the first half of the twentieth century, missionaries brought modern education and health to China. It is mistaken to believe that the Chinese society does not need Christianity. Just not always he had the opportunity to truly find out about it.

Christianity in China XX century

In this part, it will be about the situation of Christianity in the People's Republic of China, where the Communist Party is worth in power, and atheism is a state ideology.

Immediately after the establishment of the communist regime, the Chinese authorities have taken measures to establish control over believers. The task was to interrupt all the ties between Chinese Christians and foreign religious centers.

In 1950-1970 The fate of Christians in China was severe. Many have subjected to repression, foreign clergy and missionaries were forced to leave the country. Cultural revolution 1966-1976. In fact, led to the complete extermination of believers, the destruction of monasteries, temples, archives.

The reform period, which began in 1978, brought some relief. Currently, five officially recognized religions are indicated in the Constitution of the PRC: Taoism, Buddhism, Islam, Catholicism and Protestantism. Orthodoxy is considered as an officially recognized religion only in Northeast China, an autonomous area of \u200b\u200bInner Mongolia and the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region. About 10 thousand Orthodox live there. According to the Constitution, the persons confessing the data of religion within the framework of state institutions will not be prosecuted.

There are several legislative acts that are regulated by religious life in the PRC. Created under the slogans of protecting believers, these laws actually allow the authorities to deal with any unwanted manifestations of religiosity. In connection with the widespread teachings of the Falun Gong sect, the legislative resolution "On the prohibition of heretical sects" was adopted. In the end, in 2000 the interpretation of "Rules relating to the religious activities of foreign citizens in China entered into force. None of the foreigners or residents of Taiwan, Hong Kong and Macao have no right to deal with any religious activities in the territory of the PRC without the official sanction of the relevant authorities.

In addition to official documents, there are secret instructions and oral instructions. For example, people up to 18 years old, party members, civil servants and their families are forbidden to attend the places of religious meetings. The baptism of children, respectively. Also forbidden.

The Catholic Church in China is represented by two directions:

1. The church officially recognized by the authorities, which does not obey the Vatican.

2. The underground Catholic Church, which preserves the faithfulness of the Holy See, despite the lack of diplomatic relations with the Vatican. The underground church is persecuted.

According to the Hong Kong Catholic Research Center of the Holy Spirit, Currently, China has up to 12 million Catholics, 5 thousand temples and chapels. Data ratios on the official and underground church, respectively: bishops 79 and 49, priests 1200 and 1000, nuns 2150 and 1500, seminary 24 and 10, seminarists 1000 and 700. From this it can be seen that the unofficial Catholic Church is practically not inferior officially, despite the repression from the state. In some dioceses there is no official church at all, there is only underground.

With Protestants, everything is much more complicated. Some of the Protestants are the parishioners of the so-called unregistered "home churches", and many cannot be baptized due to lack of pastors. According to the Protestant News Center "Emit", the growth of Protestant churches began in the 1970s. Such statistics: 70 percent of believers - women, the number of churches - 12 thousand, chapel houses - 25 thousand, pastors 1500, seminaria 17, common bibles in Chinese - more than 20 million copies. At the same time, in China, there are a huge set of sects of a wide variety of areas, with which the state is actively fighting. According to statistics, 25,354 people were arrested in the period from 1990, sentenced to imprisonment - 4077. Although these figures were obtained about the result of informal studies, they reflect the tendency to the abuse of any religious movement, whose doctrine is inconsistent with the party's policies.

Sun Yatsen and Christianity

There is an unconfirmed fact that the first time Sun Jatsen collided with missionaries when he was 10-12 years old. Christianity fascinated him, Sun Yatsen got a theological education, and then moved from missionary to medicine. Christianity has repeatedly cut him in difficult situations. For example, one day in England, the leader of the revolutionary movement was under the castle in the Chinese office, from where he was planned to take out to China and to offer a court. To give a note to friends-missionaries, he had to persuade the English servant for a long time, for whom the Christian Vera Song was one of the decisive arguments. The avoiding trap Sun Yatsen after the Xinhajian revolution met with Dan Tinet, who lured him to the London Western. The guards offered to arrest Dan, but Sun ordered to let him go with the world. In the spring of 1922, the leader made a statement that not only he, but also members of his family are Christians.

But the Christian faith Sun Yatsen gradually declined in the process of scientific knowledge. He himself confirmed that during studying in Hong Kong, leaning towards evolutionism, it became that Christian theory lacks logic. This important evidence explains the essence of the subsequent relations of the "Father of the State" with Christianity. But from faith he did not refuse. But before Sun, the problem of reconciliation of Christianity and the theory of evolution faced. Found by them out of the impasse turned out to be classically Chinese. Evangelical teaching was assigned the role of a revolutionary theory, and the mystical side was discarded as unscientific. Sometimes the statements of the "father of the state" are forced to doubt his adequate acquaintance with the Gospel. Sun Jatsen often, together with friends, discussed the "ideals of Jesus" and the values \u200b\u200bof the revolution and came to the conclusion that the sacrifice of Christianity and the struggle for the salvation of the state and the happiness of the people is the same. He put a sign of equality between socialism and humanism. In one of his lecture, he writes that the apostles saw in Jesus Christ the "revolutionary leader", which the people will liberate from foreign dominion. And the betrayal of Judas explains the disappointment of the wrong apostle in the "Christ Political Revolution", the defeat suffered.

Sun Yatsen tried and in practice to connect the ideals of Christianity and political ideas. Thus, Christianity was assigned the role of a universal environment in which the traditional Chinese values \u200b\u200band socialist ideas had to be connected. Christianity seemed to "father of the state" dear to the moral association of all the Chinese scattered between the pagan idols. But at the same time, he stated that the church needs reform and independence from foreigners, which was perceived by some in the Antichristian context.

Until the end of his days, Sun Yatsen considered himself a Christian, but attempts to find traces of gospel influence in his writings end in failure or poorly reasonable conclusions. Perhaps the reason is that he believed his faith with a purely personal matter.

Translations of the New Testament into Chinese

The translation of the Holy Scriptures into Chinese has a long history. The first biblical texts came to China at the Tang Dynasty, brought from Syria with Nestorian preachers. These texts were translated into the languages \u200b\u200bof the peoples of the West of the country, most of them were not preserved.

In the middle of the XII century, Jewish migrants arrived at the board of Sun dynasty. They brought with them the Old Testament, which the Chinese called Dajan (the Book of the Way - 道经). Through the Central Asia, the Bible reached Mongols before the elevation of Genghis Khan. The founder of the Mongolian dynasty of Yuan began to transfer the Scripture to Chinese, after which the New Testament and the Psalm were distributed at the court in Beijing. Unfortunately, translations of that time are not preserved.

The translation of the Bible worked mostly foreigners. At the end of the XVI century (Ming dynasty) in Beijing, a Catholic missionary and scientist Matteo Ricci worked in Beijing. Thanks to him, more than 2 thousand preachers arrived in China, workers were made transfers of the scriptures necessary for the operation of missionaries.

The first Catholic translation of the four-day and the messages of the Apostle Paul (reached to this day) was created by the French missionary J. Bass. At the end of the XVIII century, Jesuit Louis de Poiro made almost complete Bible translation. Both manuscripts were not published and stored in museums.

At the beginning of the XIX century, Protestant translations appeared. In 1819, the full translation of the Bible, made by R. Morrison and W. Miln from the London Missionary Society, was completed. Their translation was published in Malacca called "The Sacred Book of the Divine Sky" (Shengyanshhansh). In 1835, a group of translators for the processing of the Holy Scriptures made by Morrison was formed. As a result, a new text of the new and dilapidated covenant was printed. At the same time, K. Huzlaf printed its updated translation of the New Testament.

In 1843, American and British missionaries gathered in Hong Kong to discuss the draft new translation of the Holy Scriptures. The team began. The editor was Chinese scientist Van Tao. The Old Testament was translated with the participation of Siewn J. Leg, who handed over many theological concepts through terms familiar to Chinese philosophy, and these concepts did not always adequately displayed the meaning of the original text. This translation called the "Delegates Version".

Until the middle of the XIX century, the main addressee of the missionary sermion was the educated layers of Chinese society, then over time the audience expanded, there was a need for simplified texts. Prior to that, all the texts were translated solely on the written language Wenian. The first text in the conversational language was several translations called Qianwehnley Iben. During the second half of the XIX century, many individual transfers of the Holy Script appeared. One of the most significant work was the work of S. Shereeshevsky. It was completed in 1902, despite the almost full paralysis of the body. Currently, this text is the most common.

It is worth recalling that all these translations were made by Protestants. As for Catholics, the first translation of the New Testament from Latin to Chinese was made by the priest Xiao Jincen. Gradually, the Chinese themselves begin to engage in translations, using only consultations of foreign missionaries. In 1939, the translation of the entire Bible Zhu Baohuey appeared, in 1967 - Xiao Tedy and Zhao Schiguana, in 1970 - Liu Zhengzhun.

In the second half of the twentieth century, the translation of the Holy Scriptures on the modern conversational Chinese language "Modernized Chinese Translation", "Modern Bible", "New Translation". From a textual point of view, Chinese translations are constantly evolving in the direction of simplifying the language and bringing it to the conversational. It should be noted that the translations of the Bible and its individual books in the languages \u200b\u200bof China's national minorities were made.

Meanwhile, the need to work on improving the translation, due to a number of reasons: historical, linguistic, theological are preserved. Briefly consider them.

1. The first European missionaries who penetrated China were Catholics who did not assume the vectors of the Bible. It was believed that only sermons do not open paths for unauthorized and erroneous interpretation of the Bible. However, partial working translations were compiled. Protestant translations were more, about three hundred. The reason for such a variety was the disagreements of various missionary societies as to how it is better to display the content of Chinese.

2. Over the past two hundred years, Chinese has undergone strong changes. The desire of the missionaries to make the sacred Scripture affordable for a wider range of people caused the appearance of translations on a simplified Chinese language.

3. The problem of the transmission of theological concepts that do not have any analogies in Chinese. Different paths were considered.

4. The first was proposed by Catholics and considered it appropriate to use the traditional Chinese philosophical dictionary for the transfer of theological terms. Supporters of the second method believed that this should be avoided, since the use of the traditional dictionary leads to the "confucusianization" of the Holy Scriptures.

Unfortunately, much of the works of Russian missionaries turned out to be unfairly forgotten. This is primarily concerned with the translations of the Holy Scriptures, liturgical books, missionary activities on the expanses of the Chinese Empire.

The first Orthodox translations belong to such missionaries as Archim. Petr (Kamensky), Archim. Jacinf (Bichurin), Archim. Daniel (Sivilov). One of the active participants of the translation work can be called Hieromonach Isaiah (Polykina), which many years spent in China.

The systematic work on the translation of liturgical books and the New Testament began Ieromona Guri (Karpov). For four years, he created a draft, which was corrected for two years during mass readings. Then followed the permission of the Holy Synod to use the transfer in the practice of the mission. The sanction of the spiritual department was obtained when the author of the translation was already returned to his homeland, but it was ordered to make some amendments. Archimandrite Guri preferred a classic language by passing the text not too close to the original, while the rest sought to simplify their translations. The next stage in the preparation of the Orthodox translations of the New Testament is associated with the activities of Archimandrite Flavian (Gorodetsky). He decided to lead worship in Chinese, for which many old translations revised and made new ones. In 1884, Gurievsky translation of the Gospel was revised and issued. When studying various translations of the Holy Scripture to Chinese, scientists try to trace the influence of some texts on the other. For example, Archimandrite Flavian enjoyed by S. Shereeshevsky's translation. The last translation of the New Testament was made at the beginning of the twentieth century during the mission, which was headed by the Holy Innocent (Figurovsky). Its translation is actually a gospel with expanded comments. A big step was made towards the modernization of the language, and the text is close to the modern spoken language. Unfortunately, the events of 1917 in Russia interrupted the missionary work of the Russian spiritual mission. Because of this, we do not know whether Orthodox translators were used by Greek or exclusively with church-Slavic and Russian languages.

Translation problems

The disagreements of various Christian denominations regarding the correctness of the translations of the Bible into Chinese language caused the process of appearance of new and new versions. The main disputes have always arose regarding the translation of theological concepts, unknown Chinese.

For example, take three texts of the Gospel of John: Catholic and two Protestant (Heha and Lianha). Unfortunately, Orthodox transfers are now considered a rarity.

So, take the text of the prologue: "In the beginning it was the word ..."

To transfer "At the beginning", Catholics offer a conversational option 在起 初 (зазацичи) - at the very beginning, the Protestants melt the translation 太 初 (Tychi) - during the Great Beginnings. "The Word" translates into a Catholic version as 神言 (Shanjan) - Divine Logos, and Protestants translate it with the famous thermal Chinese philosophy 道 (Dao). "God" translated by Catholics as 天主 (Tienzhu) - Lord Heavenly, and Dvoyko Protestants: 帝帝 (Shandi) and 神 (Shen). Serious discrepancies concern, including names, the translation of which is sometimes associated with the native language of the translator. For example, the Apostle John the Theologian Catholics is called 若望 (fought), and Protestants - 约翰 (Yuhhan) - John. In the "Orthodox Prayer" in Chinese, it is possible to meet, for example, the full hieroglyphic transcription of the phrase "Archangel Mikhail", although in the theological dictionary of the Chinese language already there is a generally accepted concept of Archangel - 综 天使 (Zuntyanshi).

To this analysis, you can add comparisons of three orthodox translations: Archimandrite Gurius, Archimandrite Flavian and Bishop Innocent. In the first two, the name of Christ is transmitted in church-Slavic sound, while Innocent uses the word Lord (主) to replace "he" or "to him." To transfer the word "bliss" arch. Guriy and Flavian use traditionally Chinese "Fu" (福 - happiness). And the bishop of Innokenti uses two hieroglyph "Futsai" (福哉), denoting at the same time knowledge and exclamation, emphasizing this series of appeals "blessed you ...". Significantly more difficulties arise with the translation of the Krotsky's word. Guriu speaks of "good and kind" (Liangshan 良善), Flavian - about "warm and good" (Wenlaan - 温良), Innokenty - about "warm and soft" (Wenzhou - 温柔).

Only only the kingdom of heaven can universally translated in all texts as Tiango (田国), that is, a word is used, having deep roots in the traditional Chinese ideology and consciousness.

As you can see, the differences in translations give the ground for a different understanding of the Holy Scriptures.

Conclusion

Currently, the Chinese church is in a rather deplorable state. The canonical translation of the Holy Scriptures into Chinese is absent, which causes differences among representatives of various currents. This should also be an incorrect interpretation by the Chinese of the Bible, it may be one of the reasons for the small chinese-Christian. Recently, the Russian Orthodox Church resumed work on the revival of Orthodoxy in China. It is planned to work on the study of Orthodox translations, updating, editing and reproving. It is necessary that China cease to perceive Christianity as something "alien and hostile" and adopted a new religion for him, which may be a unifying factor for the scattered Chinese society.

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The purpose of the article is to analyze the translation of some biblism to Chinese and identify the conditions for their adaptation in Chinese culture mainly from the standpoint of ethnocultural semantics and semiotics. Under biblism, we understand the words, sustainable phrases or larger segments of the text, directly or indirectly rising to the Bible test or to biblical plots.

As sources in Chinese, we have taken five versions of the Bible translations. "和 合本" (hereinafter, 1) - the first translation of the Holy Scripture to the Spoken Chinese language, made in 1919 by Protestants and being the most common among Christian Chinese. "吕振 中 译本" (hereinafter, 2) - the Bible Translated by the Chinese Theologian Lui Zhenzhun 吕振 中, Professor of the Spiritual Seminary of Fujian Province. Translation of this Bible appeared in 1970. "文理本 圣经" (hereinafter, 3) - the translation of the Bible, made and published by British and foreign biblical society in Shanghai, in 1919; Among the translators - J. Griffith (J. Griffith) from the London Missionary Society and G. Blodyzhet (H. Blodget) from the American Council of Commissioner Foreign Missions. "中 中文 译本" (hereinafter, 4) - "Modern Chinese Translation", made by a group of translators led by Xu Mushi 许牧许牧, Zhou Lianhua 周联华 and Lo Waizhene 骆维仁 with Jewish and Greek based on Today's English Version in 1979. "思高本 圣经" (hereinafter, 5), published in 1968, is the first complete Catholic translation of the Bible into Chinese, which includes second-hand books and comments. A group of scientists under the guidance of Franciscan Gabriele Allegra (G.m. Allegra) worked on this translation. The translation was published in Hong Kong by the Franciscan society "Studium Biblicum" (思高 圣经 学会).

The sample of words-biblism was made arbitrarily, but, as it seems to us, it can be evaluated as quite representative and undoubtedly relating to biblies on its semantics and cultural benchmarks. In the selection of terms, the authors were guided by the idea of \u200b\u200bthe book-world and among them there are "heroes", "space", "relationship".

To analyze the translation, we are taken one name proper, which can be considered as the christianity christianity marker - Jesus Christ. By giving the report that we have the name of your own, which has lost great degree of semantics, we, at the same time, recognize the unconditional initial significance of this name-sign.

Jesus - The Greek form of the Jewish word Yeshua, abbreviated from Wash, means "Help Jehovah", or "Savior", Christ (from Dr.-Greek. χριστός) - literally - "anointed". This is the translation of the Jewish word מָשִׁיחַ (machines). In modern use, the term usually refers to Jesus Christ. "Jesus Christ" means "anointed Jesus" [Dyachenko, with. 796]. Catholics and Protestants translate the name of Jesus Christ as 耶稣 基督 Yēsū.J.īdū.which is a phonetic abbreviation of the medieval Jesu Christo Jesuito translation 耶稣 基利斯督 Yēsū.J.īlìsīdū.

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See also in other dictionaries:

BIBLE - (Greek. Biblia books), or Scripture Book, which includes written on Dr. Heb. The language of the Book of the Jewish canon, called Christians (along with several so-called. Books of the second canon, which came only in Per. On Greek. Or written ... ... Philosophical encyclopedia

Bible - (Greek. τα βιβλια) The name of the collection of works of religious literature recognized in the Christian and Jewish religions of the sacred (the name τα βιβλια is borrowed from the entry into the book of the wisdom of Jesus Son Syrach, where this name ... ... Literary encyclopedia

BIBLE - (Greek biblion book). Sacred books of the Old and New Testament. A dictionary of foreign words included in the Russian language. Chudinov A.N., 1910. The Bible (Greek) means the books that the Christian Church recognizes written as if by the Spirit of God, ... ... Dictionary of foreign words of the Russian language

Bible - - An extensive collection of books of various origins and content (the word "Bible" comes from the Greek. Βιβλία "Books"). It is divided into two departments: the Old Testament and the New Testament. The Old Testament consists of 48 books written in the period from the XI century. BC e. to i century n. ... ... Dictionary of Books and Book Ancient Rus

BIBLE "Can't be the task of the Most High because he is too flatteringly responding about himself and too bad about a person." But maybe it just proves that he is her author? Christian Friedrich Goebbel I read the Criminal Code and the Bible. Bible ... ... Summary encyclopedia of aphorisms

Bible - "Bible", "BIBLIA", the collection of holy books of Jews and Christians recognized by the corroded, and, therefore, revered as sources of knowledge about the will of God. The name comes from the Greek word "TA BIBLIA" (TA BIBLIA TA Hagia Sacred Books) ... Antique writers

Bible - (Greek. Biblia, MN. from Bibleion Book) - Code of books that make up the Sacred Scriptures; The Bible consists of two parts - the Old Testament, which represents the Sacred Books of the Christian and Jewish religion, and the New Testament, which is actually ... ... Encyclopedia of cultural studies

Bible - (from Greek. τά βιβιΛία books) is called in the Christian church, the meeting of books written in inspiration and revelation of St. Spirit through the consecrated people called the prophets and apostles. This is the name in the most holy. Books are not found and ... ... Encyclopedic Dictionary F.A. Brockhaus and I.A. Efron

Bible - Bible. The word Bible comes from Greek. Words Biblos Books. B. This is a meeting of 66 separate books. About the interpretation of B. See Sacred Scripture. I. Old Testament 1) Composition Vz. In the present The time of this is a combination of 39 works of various lit. ... ... Biblical Encyclopedia Brockhausa

BIBLE - Women. The Word of God is complete, the Holy Scripture of the Old and New Testaments; Sometimes they are separated, and the Bible itself is called one Old Testament. Bible, biblical belonging to the Bible. Bibleian husband. Scientist Header, Interpreter ... ... Explanatory dictionary of Daly

BIBLE - (from the Greek Biblia, literally books), the collection of ancient texts, canonized in Judaism and Christianity as the Holy Scriptures. Party B. recognized by the other, the first of the creation time, received the name of the Old Testament from Christians ... RUSSIAN HISTORY

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• Bible. The Bible is a book that passed through the century to the presentation by the emergence of Christianity. Unprecedented value is the Bible - buy it with ...

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The translation of the Holy Scriptures into Chinese has a long history. For the first time, biblical texts fall into China under the Tang dynasty, brought by the Syrian preacher, belonging to the Nestorian heresy, called "Jingjiao" or "Light Religion". They were translated into languages \u200b\u200bused by peoples who inhabited Western regions of the country.

In the middle of the XII century. During the board of the Sun dynasty, Jewish migrants arrive in China. They presented the Emperor of the Old Testament, which the Chinese were named "Dajan" (Book of the Way) or "Zhengjin" (Book of Truth). It is assumed that the aliens, subsequently settled in Kaifyne, were descendants of Samaritans. [Van Weifan. Shanjin and Zai Zhongo (Bible Translations in China). - "Shizz Zongjiazo Yanju", Beijing, 1992, No. 1, p. 72.]

Through the Central Asia, the Christian Bible reached Mongols, which happened before the elevation of Genghis Khan. It is known that the founder of the Mongolian dynasty Yuan - Khubilai, turned through the relatives of the famous traveler Marco Polo to Pope with a request to help in the translation of the Holy Scripture to Chinese. By the end of the XII - the beginning of the XIII centuries. The New Testament and the Psalter have already been distributed at the court in Beijing, which, however, did not lead to the appeal of aristocracy into Christianity. These books were considered by Mongols as magical or gnostic.

Unfortunately, the translations of the Holy Scriptures into Chinese, made in those distant times have not yet been discovered.

The revival of the missionary work of Catholics and Protestants during the Board of the Manchurian Qing Dynasty led to the emergence of many new translations of the Holy Scriptures that were preserved to this day. Currently, there are already research on foreign science on the history of the compilation of some Bible translations into Chinese. However, they consider extremely the experience of Catholics and Protestants, about the work done by the Orthodox preachers, either the extremely scoop, or nothing. [Cm. For example, Zhao Weiben. Shanjin Suyuan - Xiandai Uda Zhunwen Schongy Shi (returning to the sources of translation of Scripture. The history of the five modern translations of the Bible into Chinese). Hong Kong, 1993; High Einbo (M.BROOMHALL). Shanjin Yu Zhonghua (Bible and China). Hong Kong, 1951.] In domestic publications, the results of purely sinological studies of the members of the Beijing Spiritual Mission were traditionally considered, and their work on the translation of the Holy Scriptures and the liturgical books was either mentioned casually, or were generally ignored. Meanwhile, we have a lot of texts drawn up by Russian missionaries. All these translations remain completely unexplored, and the contribution of Orthodox to the preaching of the Word of God in China remains and forgotten, and unclaimed.

Meanwhile, the missionary work of various Protestant denominations and Catholics aimed at the most adequate translation of the Holy Scriptures to Chinese continues. The need for such activities is explained by a number of reasons. First, historical (1), secondly, linguistic (2), third, theologian (3). Briefly focus on them.

1. The first European missionaries that penetrated into the middle empire were Catholics whose missionary concept did not imply a quick publication of the translation of the Bible. It was believed that the spread of various fees, interpretations and sermons is preferable because it does not open paths for unauthorized and erroneous interpretation of the Holy Scriptures. Nevertheless, the so-called workers were compiled.

The oldest of those who came to us are almost a complete translation of the New Testament, made J. Bass (1662-1707). The first publication of the Catholic translation of the New Testament, made by J. Dejan, belongs to a much later time - 1892. Currently, the Catholic Church enjoys the translation completed in 1968, which is called "SGGAO", named by a missionary society that implemented this project.

Protestant translations are much more numerous, there are more than three hundred. The reasons for such a variety were disagreements between various missionary societies as to how the content of the Bible in Chinese is most adequately reflected. The largest disputes caused the fundamental theological terminology: for example, what hieroglyphs would indicate God and the Holy Spirit, etc. The most famous of the first Protestant translations of the New Testament were made by R. Morrison and J. Marshman, who began its activities in China at the beginning of the XIX century. By the middle of the century, English and American missionaries tried to create a single cross confessional translation of the Bible, called the "Bible of Representatives". However, each of the churches and sect produced this text by inserting their own version of the translation of the words God, the Lord, etc. In the future, the translation work continued continuously, it is currently being conducted in order to create an "ecumenical" text of the Holy Scripture, acceptable and for Catholics, and For Protestants, and for numerous sects. For this purpose, in 1987, a cooperation committee was established in the translation of the Bible into Chinese. Its main task is the coordination of theological terminology. [Fan Zhi Jung. Tianzhzhujiao Yu Jüzijiao Shanjin Dy Itun (similarities and differences between the Catholic and Protestant Bibles). Taiwan, 1987, p. 60.]

In this context, when the results of the centuries-old work on the translation of the Holy Scriptures into Chinese are summoned, it seems extremely relevant to find out the specific contribution of the Russian Imperial Beijing Mission to spread the Word of God in China.

2. It is necessary to take into account that the Chinese language has undergone huge changes over the past two hundred years, which cannot be simply attributed to the score of the process of natural development of the language. The impact of socio-political history has also affected. Bible translations in the first half of the XIX century. They were made in the classic language, understandable only to representatives of the officialhood and intellectual elite. These texts make up the "Wenley" group. The desire of missionaries to make sacred writing available to a wider range of readers expressed in the appearance in the second half of the XIX century of transfers on a simplified classic language. At the same time, the preparation of transfers to the modern conversational language (Goryui or Bayhua) begins, which after 1919 quickly received the status of literary in China. The most famous is the text "Lianhe" or "Hehae", which took 27 years. Interestingly, this translation was published at the beginning of the XX century. And he had a direct impact on the modernization of the Chinese literary language.

It is important for us that the Orthodox translators sought to improve and modernize their translations, make them more accessible to the people.

3. Transferring biblical texts into Chinese, missionaries constantly faced with the same problem as conveying theological concepts that did not have any analogies in this language. Successful ways were offered. The first was proposed by Catholics, considered appropriate to use the traditional Chinese philosophical dictionary, giving only additional explanations to the new wording. Supporters of the second translation method were considered to avoid the use of a traditional dictionary, since it leads to the "confucusianization" of the Holy Scriptures. The stated point of view had its consequences a gradual translation to the descriptive-interpreting translation of the Bible, which in turn led to the distortions of meaning and inaccuracies.

These are some historical introductory comments, in the most general form delineating the historical context, which should consider the activities of the Missionaries of the Beijing Spiritual Mission to translate the Holy Scriptures to Chinese.

The pioneer of translation work can be called Hieromonach Isaiah (Polykina), which spent in China 1858-1871. A tireless preacher and a talented administrator, he left behind numerous texts in Chinese: Character (almost completely), short use of Sunday worship, the main chants of the two-month holidays, the first week of the great post and passionate saddemitsa, the Holy Easter, the Psalter (translation from Greek to spoken Language "Sukhua"), Paraklisis, Akathist of the Mother of God, the beginning of the official, Panhid, Canon St. Andrei Cretoch (on literary and in colloquial languages), Russian-Chinese Dictionary of theological and Church Rech. [I.N.A. (Ieromona Nikolai Adoratsky). This provision and modern activities of the Orthodox Spiritual Mission in China. - "Orthodox interlocutor", Kazan, 1884, August, p. 378.] A huge amount of work performed on the quality of some translations, differed, as it turned out later, inaccuracies.

Systematic work on the translation of liturgical books and the Holy Scriptures of the New Testament began Hieromona Guri (Karpov, first Archimandrite, and at the end of the life of the Bishop Simferopolsky). While still a member of the 12th mission, he in the 1830s. Engaged in the preparation of translations of the Cathedral Message of St. Apostle Jacob, followed by St. Combustion, subsequent vigil vigil, Liturgy St. John of Zlatoust et al. ["Chinese Blagovets", Beijing, 1916, №9-12. from. 167.] Archimandrite Guri headed the 14th mission in Beijing (1858-1864), and from 1859 he began to translate the New Testament. This work continued for six years. Responding to slanders who accused him to use someone else's translation performed by some Anonymous Englishman, he wrote: "... I did not call anyone except the Lord God to help me. I only helped me a master of literature Chinese moon, like a scribe. I usually with the new covenant in Hands walked around the room and dictated, and the moon sat at the table and recorded my translation. " [From the letter of the Alignment Guria to I.I. Palimpsit about the transfer of the New Testament to Chinese. - Russian Archive, St. Petersburg, 1893. №11. from. 394.] After four years, the draft was ready. Further, with the participation of the Chinese, Ivan's teacher from the Mission school for boys, school teachers for girls Mary, her son Nikita and Albazinz (the descendant of the Cossacks who captured the Chinese) Moses - for two years, oral readings were arranged. The listeners retell the text understood by them, and Archimandrite Guri corrected him if the translation was misunderstood. Subsequently, the Nikita and Moses mentioned in the role of proofreaders.

On the process of printing your translation about. Guriu reported in 1864 by the editor of the Irkutsk Diocesan Vedomost: "We must cook a list for scribe; I will write - I have to check. From this list, another artist will write a semi-supel, as it should be printed in the book. New Verification: Whether there are no pass, whether all the hooks and Points in place, whether transfers are made true. The cutter takes this sheet, imposes on the board and the written cutting out. But in this work, not without errors. The leaf is superimposed on the board so that all letters fall on the contrary. Therefore, a crawler with an independent look at things who has no original decree, sometimes such will put the letter, which should not be. New troubles. And so daily. " [On the classes of the Beijing Orthodox Mission. - "Irkutsk Diocesan Vedomosti", Irkutsk, 1864, №11, 185.]

Coin transfers were completed all the two-month holidays, passionate and bright weeks, Liturgy St. John of Zlatoust, St. Vasily of the Great and Standing Gifts, as well as Character.

Guriev's translation of the Gospel was revised and re-issued in 1884 [on the classes of the Beijing Orthodox Mission. - "Irkutsk Diocesan Vedomosti", Irkutsk, 1864, №11, 185.] Without keeping here on the analysis of textual differences, we only note that the Gospel text in the new edition passed the brief clarifications scored with small hieroglyphs. In the future, the tendency to draw up substring interpretations remained. Translators stated significant difficulties related to the transfer of theological concepts, especially dogmatic truths about the Most Holy Trinity, the sacrament of the embodiment, etc.

When studying various translations of the Holy Scripture to Chinese, scientists try to trace the impact of some texts on the other. [See, for example, Strandenaes T. Principles of ChinaSe Bibled Versions of The New Testament and Exemplified by MT 5: 1-12 and col 1). Coniectanea Biblica, New Testamenl Series 19, Stockholm, 1987.] We currently do not have information about what materials Archimandrite Gurius used. Regarding Archimandrite Flavian there is a testimony of. Nikolai Adoratsky that the Protestant translation of the Holy Scriptures made by S. Shereeshevsky was used in his work. [Cm. I.N.A. This position and modern activity ..., p. 382. S. Shereshevsky, the Polish Jew, a native of the Russian Empire, received a religious Jewish education. Emigrating in the United States, becomes a Christian, ends the seminary and arrives in 1859 in Shanghai as a preacher of the American Bishopal Church, later became a bishop. Using knowledge of the Hebrew language, in 1875 completed the translation of the Old Testament to the Beijing dialect. In 1881, he was paralyzed for ten years. Having the opportunity to print only by two still acting fingers, by 1902 he prepared his translation of the Bible into a simplified literary language. This text was most common in China until 1919, when the translation of "heha" appeared. See Zhao Weiben. Quota., P. 23-24; Lo Syujun. Shanjin Zaji Zhongodi Iben (Bible translations in China). - "Jinlong Shenxyuch-Zh", Nanjing. 1988, No. 4, p. 38.]

The latter, at the moment, the Orthodox translation of the New Testament was made at the beginning of the 20th century, during the 18th mission by the head of her, His His Innozhentius (Figurovsky), Bishop Pereyaslavsky, and subsequently Metropolitan Beijing and Chinese. [Today we have only the transfer of the Gospel of Matthew - Matefei Shengpiin Jing (Matthew Holy Holy Same). Beijing, 1911.] With it, the publishing activities of the Beijing spiritual mission acquired a particularly wide scope. Old translations were recruited again and reprinted, for example, in 1911 the apostle came out in the translation of Archimandrite Gurius. Renewed the demandsman was translated. ["Chinese Blagovets", 1907, № 7-8, p. nine; 1908, №9-10, p. 2.] By 1910. A four-day translation was completed.

Translation of the Holy Innocent actually is a gospel with a substituum expanded comment. A significant step was made towards the modernization of the language. The text is significantly close to the modern spoken language, which is expressed, in particular, in the use of a new vocabulary. A distinctive feature of the dictionary of the Language "Bayhua" is the abundance of two-sided words representing a pair of hieroglyphs. At the same time, there are still service particles and grammatical turnover of the classic language "Wenian". Unfortunately, the tragic events in Russia interrupted the missionary work of the Beijing spiritual mission, all their forces turned to the bombardment of compatriots who were found temporary shelter in China, fleeing the Bolshevik persecution.

We do not know a lot about how all the three Orthodox translator of the New Testament worked. Today there is still no possibility to answer if they used the Greek text (and if so, by how his edition), or worked exclusively with the Church-Slavic and Russians. We do not know how widely the experience of Catholic and Protestant translators took into account.

We must admit that the difficulties of the difficulties are experiencing and researchers of other Chinese translations of the Holy Scriptures. To identify the interdependence between the texts, the Swedish Pastor Testraneas proposed to use a comparative analysis of the most representative passages. In his study (see approx. 17), it thus compared five transfers of Matt 5, 1-12: two Catholic - ancient, made by J. Bass, and a modern, prepared by the Order of Franciscans; And three Protestant - R. Morrieson, the translation of representatives and modern translations, known as the "Bible of today's Day".

The framework of this message does not allow us to continue this analysis in detail, adding three Orthodox translations (about. Guria - A; about. Flavian - b; Ep. Innokenty - c). However, you can specify some points of similarity or differences to illustrate how complex was the work of missionaries.

First, the translation of the names of our own, as a rule, reflects the phonetic effect of the language from which the transfer was made. In this regard, for example, Chinese names in Catholic publications traditionally correlated with Vulgate. In most of the Protestant publications, the influence of the Bible Bible, known as King James Version, is noticeable. In Orthodox translations, the church-Slavic sound is obvious. In MF 5, 1 A and B begin with the words Jesus Christ - Jesus He-Lisytos, which indicates at the same time in touch with other external translations, where this verse begins with the word EU. Only in the word Lord [Zhu] is used to replace the "he" of the Russian text and "to him" of the Church Slavonic.

In all texts (A, B and C), the Lord appeals to the disciples equally translated as Maine, which coincides with nonsense translations. Transfer in Chinese the beginning of the commandments of bliss Blesses in A and in a somewhat excellent. Although, and in general, they are not retreating from the custom to use the traditional Chinese dictionary, namely to translate "bliss" as Fu, that is, happiness and prosperity (the same we meet R. Morrinson, and representatives, and in Catholic lyrics). However, in a marked intention to reflect in Chinese, the point of view that the commandments of bliss are twread solemn appeals: "Blessed are you, ...". Therefore, in MF 5, 4-11, each verse begins with Futsai, that is, with two hieroglyphs, respectively, respectively, happiness and exclamation. As for B, here are "blessed" - these are those who are "joyful" (Chengle). Accordingly, the structure of the sentence in each commandment ending with an indication of bliss, for example, by the Spirit, was changed. The latter, by the way, are transferred and as "having a lack of divinity" (Shenjapinchzh), which is far from the gospel meaning. B transmits this concept as a "modest heart" (Xinzianzhhe), and in - as "modest" or "not proud" (Susignzhen). Understanding the crying as spilled tears is characteristic of A and B, whereas in closer to understanding the translation of representatives, that is, speaks of crying in a state of mental crushing.

Significantly more options and difficulties with the translation of the word "meek". But he says about "good and kind" (Liangshan), b - about "warm and kind" (Wenlany), and finally, in - about "warm and soft" (Wenzhou), again in accordance with the translation of representatives.

As we see, in various translations, texts give the ground for a different understanding of the Holy Scriptures.

As for the fundamental theological terminology, in Orthodox translations, God is translated into a and b as "Mr. Sky" (Tianzhu). The same is also found in modern Catholic translation, while R. Morrison uses the word Shen, denoting in Chinese any god or the spirit of the pagan pantheon. As for B, then the word from the traditional Chinese dictionary is used - Shandi, that is, the Heavenly Emperor. The kingdom of heaven is universally translated in all texts as Tiango, that is, a word is used, also having deep roots in the traditional Chinese ideology and national mythological consciousness.

So, from the highest superficial review, we see that the translations of the New Testament made by domestic missionaries, although they were not completely divorced from non-foreign texts, but they differ significant independence.

Most recently, the Russian Orthodox Church resumed his care about the fate of Orthodoxy in China. The Chinese church is now in a very deplorable state. There is a lot of work on the study of the Orthodox translations of the Holy Scriptures and the liturgical books, their update, editing and reprint. Need to do so. In order for the works of Russian missionaries, who devoted their lives to the ministry to the Lord on the Chinese land, ceased to be one of the subject of antique interest and served the revival of the Orthodox sermon in the Far East.