The Gury Orthodox New Testament (CMNARC)

Overview

The Gury Orthodox New Testament is a classical Chinese (wenyan) translation of the New Testament produced by Archimandrite Gury (Karpov) (1814-1882) of the Russian Orthodox Mission in Beijing. [1][2] Gury headed the 14th Russian Orthodox Mission in Beijing from 1858 to 1864 and began translating the New Testament from Slavonic (with reference to the Greek text) in 1859, completing the draft in four years. [1] He dictated to Mr. Long, a Chinese literary master, and refined the work through oral readings with Chinese assistants including Ivan, Maria, Nikita, and Moses the Albazinian. [1] The translation was first published in Beijing in 1864 in two volumes. [1] Archimandrite Flavian (Gorodetsky), head of the 16th Mission (1879-1883), later revised the text, with the revised Gospel published in 1884. [1]

Translation History

Gury arrived in Beijing in 1858 as head of the 14th Russian Orthodox Mission. He began the New Testament translation in 1859, dictating to a Chinese literary collaborator while holding the Greek text. The initial draft was completed in four years, then refined over two additional years with Chinese assistants. The translation was published in 1864 by the Beijing mission library along with a Psalter. After Gury's return to Russia in 1866, the translation received Holy Synod approval. Archimandrite Flavian revised the text during his leadership of the 16th Mission (1879-1883), publishing a revised Gospel edition with theological notes in 1884. [1]

Translators and Contributors

  • Archimandrite Gury (Karpov) (1814-1882) — Head of the 14th Russian Orthodox Mission in Beijing; primary translator. Later consecrated Bishop, then Archbishop of Tauris and Simferopol. [1][2]
  • Archimandrite Flavian (Gorodetsky) — Head of the 16th Mission (1879-1883); revised Gury's translation. [1]
  • Mr. Long — Chinese literary master who assisted with the translation. [1]

Language and People

Mandarin Chinese (ISO 639-3: cmn) is spoken by approximately 918,000,000 people in China. [Glottolog: mand1415]

Publishing and Organizations

Published by Russian Spiritual Mission.

References