Gagauz New Testament (Cyrillic Script) (GAGCNT)

Overview

The Gagauz New Testament in Cyrillic script was published by the Institute for Bible Translation (IBT) in 2006, making it the first complete New Testament in the Gagauz language; it was issued in two parallel editions, one in Cyrillic script and one in Roman script. [1] The Gagauz are a Turkic-speaking people who are predominantly Orthodox Christians, a distinctive combination that has led them to be described as "Christian Turks." [3] Most Gagauz live in the autonomous region of Gagauzia in southern Moldova. The earliest Gagauz Scripture translations were produced by Protoiereus Mikhail Çakır (1861-1938), a Gagauz priest and educator sometimes called the "Cyril and Methodius" of his people, who published a Sacred History of the Old Testament in 1907 and Psalms in 1936. [2] The 2006 New Testament followed a long line of earlier Scripture portions in Gagauz, including reprints of John (1975, from a 1927 text) and Matthew (1975, from a 1934 text), a Life of Jesus (1981), and Luke (1996). The modern IBT translation was led by Petri Çebotari, a Gagauz writer, scholar, and compiler of the Gagauz-Russian-Romanian dictionary. [1] IBT has since continued its work with a Children's Bible (2010) and Old Testament portions, publishing Ruth and Jonah (2017), Genesis (2021), and Ecclesiastes (2024). [1]

Language and People

Gagauz (ISO 639-3: gag) is spoken by approximately 148,720 people in Gagauzia, southern Moldova, with communities in Ukraine, Bulgaria, Romania, and Turkey. [Glottolog: gaga1249]

Publishing and Organizations

Published by Institute for Bible Translation, Moscow. Translation type: First.

References