The Tsarigrad (Constantinople) Edition (BULTSB)

Overview

The Tsarigrad (Constantinople) Bible of 1871 is the first complete Bible published in modern Bulgarian. After more than twelve years of translation and revision work, 36,000 copies were printed in Constantinople (now Istanbul) in June 1871. [1] The project was led by American missionaries Elias Riggs (1810-1901) and Albert Long, working under the auspices of the American Bible Society. [2] The Bulgarian writer and poet Petko Rachov Slaveykov and the writer Hristodul Kostovich Sichan-Nikolov served as the principal translators and editors. [1] The translation built on earlier work: Konstantin Fotinov had translated the entire Old Testament into Bulgarian before his death in 1858, and the monk Neofit Rilski had produced an earlier New Testament translation. [1] In 1862, Riggs and Long visited Slaveykov in Tryavna and secured his agreement to help revise Neofit's New Testament into the Eastern Bulgarian dialect. [1] The decision to use the Eastern (Thracian) dialect rather than the Western (Macedonian) dialect was historically consequential, as it became a key factor in establishing the Eastern dialect as the basis for the modern Bulgarian literary language. [1]

Translation History

The roots of the Tsarigrad Bible reach back to the 1840s, when American Protestant missionaries began working on Bulgarian Scripture translations in the Ottoman Empire. Neofit Rilski produced an early New Testament, and Konstantin Fotinov independently translated the Old Testament before dying in 1858. [1] A translation commission was formed by Riggs, Long, Slaveykov, and Sichan-Nikolov to bring together and revise these earlier efforts. Long joined the New Testament revision in 1863 and later assisted with the Old Testament. [1] In 1866, a "pocket" New Testament edition revised by Riggs and Long was printed in Constantinople. [1] The complete Bible was finally published in 1871. After completing the Bulgarian Bible, Riggs joined a committee that produced a standard Turkish Bible, published in 1878. [2]

Language and People

Bulgarian (ISO 639-3: bul) is a South Slavic language spoken by approximately 6,967,000 people, primarily in Bulgaria, with communities in Greece, North Macedonia, and the diaspora. The Tsarigrad Bible played a significant role in standardizing the modern Bulgarian literary language based on the Eastern dialect. [1] [Glottolog: bulg1262]

Publishing and Organizations

Published by the British and Foreign Bible Society (distribution) with the American Bible Society supporting the translation work through its missionaries. Elias Riggs served as an agent of the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions (ABCFM) in Constantinople for over sixty years. [2]

References