The Russian Bible Society is a Christian non-denominational organization that actively distributes the Bible, certain parts of the Holy Scriptures on Russian territory. It originated in the empire, and now it has been created in the Russian Federation. It is the largest publisher of Bible collections.
Institution
The Russian Bible Society was founded in January 1813 in St. Petersburg. The initiative came from Prince Golitsyn, and it was directly approved by Emperor Alexander I.
The very first meeting of its members defined a single charter with goals and objectives. There, the idea was expressed that the Bible Society would contribute to the dissemination of the Holy Scriptures throughout the country. It also translates the Bible, providing it to the population in a variety of languages at low prices.
Starting activities
In 1814, the Bible Society was originally named Russian. There was an active development of his activities - the Holy Scriptures were translated into 14 different languages, about 900,000 copies of it were printed in 26 languages. Active participation in thisArchbishop Filaret, philologist Vuk Karadzic, famous figure M. Speransky, M. Miloradovich, who was a hero of the Patriotic War of 1812, took over the activities. The patron of the Russian Bible Society in Moscow was Emperor Alexander I. He personally allocated 25,000 rubles one-time, and after that - 10,000 rubles every year to sponsor its activities.
Opening House
In 1816, the Russian Bible Society received a mansion in St. Petersburg as a gift from him. It was made of stone and was located near the Catherine Canal. A publishing house of the Russian Bible Society was set up there. A bookstore with a printing warehouse was also opened here. Later, Alexander I donated the mansion to the Bible Society of Moscow.
It is known that its representatives were very actively in contact with members of similar organizations in other states. Relations on this basis with the British were especially close.
The position of the Russian Bible Society became difficult in the 1820s. Then Prince Golitsyn was removed from power. He ceased to hold the presidency in society as well. In 1826, the activities of the Bible Society were finally stopped by the decision of Nicholas I. His property turned out to be transferred to the Holy Synod. The books published by the Russian Bible Society were handed over to the printing house. The capital of the society was transferred to the spiritual departments. As a result, all the money was used to continue publishing activities, but instead of the Russian Bible Society, the Holy Synod distributed the Bible.
Distribution
In 1831 the Minister of the People'sEducation K. Lieven decided to create a new organization of this kind. By his decree, the charter of the Evangelical Bible Society was created. The property of the RBO was transferred to this institution. The leaders were former members of the RBO. The task of distributing the Bible from the Bible Society of former times, in almost unchanged form, was transferred to the new organization. The Holy Scriptures were very actively distributed among the Protestants in Russia.
Determining the purpose for which the Bible Society was created, it is worth considering that its representatives continued to translate the Holy Scripture into Russian. All the works begun in 1816 continued. The only generally accepted translation of the Bible into Russian was published in 1876 thanks to the efforts of representatives of the Bible Society.
After the revolution
When the revolutionary events of 1917 thundered, it became a difficult task to distribute religious literature. And only in 1956 the Bible was published, which was repeatedly reprinted in subsequent years. The number of them per capita remained small. Even so, the followers of Christianity tried to find ways to revive the activities of the RBO. They were actively supported by members of similar organizations from other states.
At the end of the USSR era
In 1979, 30,000 Bibles were delivered to the All-Union Council of Evangelical Baptists. As a result, deliveries continued in even greater volumes. And yet, the number of scriptures per capita seemed to the priestsinsufficient.
In 1990, the activities of the Russian Bible Society in Moscow were resumed. The founders were about a dozen people. The bearers of Orthodox, Protestant and Catholic traditions united here. Patriarch of All Russia Alexy II took part in the grand opening of the house of this organization.
Until now, the RBO continues to operate on the principles that were once formulated in the Charter of 1813. The Bible Society continues to print, translate and publish the Holy Scriptures. It is never accompanied by comments.
At the moment, this organization is actively involved in translating texts into the languages of Russian peoples, paying much attention to the publication of reference literature that would reveal the content of the Bible.
Today
The Russian Bible Society is currently considered one of the largest publishers of religious literature. It publishes about 500,000 books every year. They are distributed among the parishes of the Russian Orthodox Church, located in various Russian regions. Deliveries abroad are also carried out.
In the early 19th century, members of this organization sought to develop publishing. The RBO was the first in the country to apply the stereotyped printing method. By the end of the 20th century, on his initiative, methods for making thin paper were developed, and a new font was invented.
Departments
The RBO has regional branches - St. Petersburg, Siberian, Vladivostok. In St. Petersburg, the central task is the translation of Holy Scripture intolanguages of small nationalities of the Russian Federation. We are also working on scientific projects. The rest of the regions are focused on the distribution of the Bible in the country and around the world.
Catalogue
There is a constant expansion of the catalog of publications - at the moment more than three hundred types of products are produced. This includes audio, video, and printed publications. They are purchased in both religious and secular shops throughout the country.
Like members of the 19th century Bible Society, current members are committed to spreading the Scriptures. At the moment, publications are sent to Western European countries, to the USA. Active cooperation with societies of other countries continues.
Distribution
Individuals played a big role in the distribution of the Bible throughout the Russian area. So, the Scot Melville, the Assyrian Yakov Delyakov, the Dane Otto Forchgamer, Sinklitia Filippova and many other people left their mark.
Details
In 1824 A. Shishkov took the post of Minister of Education in the country. He suspended the activities of the RBO, expressing the idea that the only acceptable translation of the texts of the Holy Scriptures is Church Slavonic. In the same year, Metropolitan Seraphim Glagolevsky began to preside over the RBO, and he provided the emperor with information that members of the society were associated with heretics. So he justified the need to close the organization.
It is noteworthy that the society's branches were closed throughout Russia. However, in Estonia, Livonia and Courland, the activities of members of this organizationfocused on the bearers of Lutheran traditions, and the work of the Bible Societies continued here even after these events in Russia.
Different countries
Thanks to this, K. Lieven in 1828 raised the issue of introducing the Evangelical BO before Nicholas I. And the emperor then agreed. The central office began to be based in St. Petersburg. Lieven became president. In 1920 Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania became independent states. Then the Bible Societies of these countries were transformed and were engaged in the distribution of Bibles until the moment these states entered the Soviet Union in 1940. The current organizations believe that the date of their foundation is 1813. However, the Lithuanian Bible Society dates back to 1992.
Second Society
In 1863, when Alexander II was already on the throne, whose reign was very liberal, N. Astafiev opened the Society for the dissemination of Holy Scripture in Russia. Initially, it was an association of amateurs who collected donations. They bought Bibles with them, and then distributed them at low prices. The charter of the society described the donation of Bibles to the poorest categories of people. The charter was approved, and the society operated all the time under the leadership of Astafyev until his death in 1906.
The difference between the organization and the RBO was that the participants were not engaged in translation and publishing activities. They only distributed texts throughout Russia. The distributors of the book received on credit, and the Holy Synod of the Orthodox Church printed them. Greek-Russian Church. Warehouses were located in St. Petersburg and Moscow. Funding from 1880 came from the American Bible Society, founded in 1816. Thanks to this, there was an active expansion of the activities of the Russian organization. Bookcarriers were also represented in Eastern Siberia, on the Amur, in Central Asia. The number of Bible donations has increased.
In 1863-1888, 1,230,000 books were distributed. Of these, 85,000 were given away at a low price.
Modern Scandal
Not so long ago, a resonant scandal thundered in the Russian Bible Society, which led to the withdrawal from its membership of many modern founding fathers, including Archpriest A. Borisov. This happened due to disagreements between the executive director and translators under the leadership of M. Seleznev. They translated the Old Testament.
This translation was supposed to replace the pre-revolutionary texts. Published the results of the work in stages. The work was almost completely finished by the summer of 2010. Only formal procedures remain.
A year before, M. Seleznev proposed to stop the release due to the release of the "scandalous" translation of the New Testament from V. Kuznetsova, which was published in the RBO in the 1990s and became known to Russian consumers under the name "Good News ". The translation caused a lot of criticism.
As noted by the priests, the text of the Holy Scriptures, written in modern language, was more like "an altercation in the kitchen of a communal apartment." Many called it the desacralization of the New Testament.
Seleznev feared that the publication of the Old Testament under the same cover with that interpretation could be compromising. He was afraid of the negative reaction of the Orthodox community and decided to start translating the New Testament again. He himself wrote that Kuznetsova's experience is "the experience of a pioneer, and we should be grateful to her for that", that it is "the product of a bold translation experiment". She deliberately pushed away from the usual and official translation.
Seleznev's initiative caused a negative reaction from the executive director of the Russian Bible Society. After his agitation at the autumn meeting, Seleznev was already opposed by the majority of the members of the RBO.
These events stirred up much deeper problems of the organization. Disputes broke out about the purpose of its existence. Seleznev notes that he is in favor of the Bible Society in Russia being engaged not only in publishing activities, but also in its research variety. At the same time, as a rule, societies in most states do not deal with the latter. Executive Director Rudenko with supporters took the opposite point of view. Seleznev noted that continuing the scientific translation of the Holy Scriptures after this activity was completed within the framework of the Bible Society is the most important task facing him and his colleagues. At the moment, there are no institutions that would also translate the Bible into Russian.
At the same time, they sincerely believe that the OldThe testament needs to be translated again. They note that there are many shortcomings in the previous edition. Previously, each translation was verified by many specialists from theological academies. They tested each other, there were active discussions. But today the church does not conduct its own translation projects. And the prospect of their appearance is vague. In 2011, it was announced that the old editions of Seleznev's texts were being removed from the shelves. And buying them will be possible only with the "Good News". At the moment, M. Seleznev is the head of the Department of Biblical Studies at the General Church Postgraduate School.
RBO remains the largest Bible publisher in the country. It remains a member of a network of similar organizations. Their activities are coordinated by the United Bible Society.
