Niculina Iacob, Ioan Chindriş, Cinci versiuni româneşti ale Sfintei Scripturi în Blajul greco-catolic
Five Romanian Versions for the Holy Scripture in Greek-Catholic Blaj. Filiation and Originality
A unique phenomenon within the history of Romanian culture arose at Blaj, a supporting centre of the enlightenment during the second half of the 18th century. It was a matter of five Romanian versions of The Bible carried out between 1760 and 1914. They were different from each another and four of them have lasted until nowadays in manuscripts. So far, the biblical text which marked the beginning of the already-mentioned cultural phenomenon remained the only translation of The Bible (according to The Vulgate) in the Romanian culture. It was a translation irrespective of the old biblical text printed at Bucharest in 1688. Chronologically, the second one was represented by a new translation of The Septuagint which explicitly revaluated the forerunners’ experience, one established by The Bible from 1688. Afterwards, a new translation followed, one whose author drew his inspiration from a Hebrew original. That time, it was a selective writing. The fourth Bible composed in Blaj was original, but from a different point of view. Its author’s wish was that of reconsidering The Bible from Bucharest (1688) in a new direction, that of re-Latinizing the language through the recovery of old Latin words from Romanian language. Those words had somehow been forgotten on account of certain reasons. At last, a new element of originality appears in the fifth Bible from Blaj. As far as this Bible is concerned, its author composed a true hermeneutical version, owing to the notes and commentaries he had annexed to the old biblical text which was translated after The Septuagint, at Blaj, in 1795.
Keywords: The Bible, Petru Pavel Aron, Samuil Micu, Teodor Pop, Timotei Cipariu, Victor Smigelschi.
- Biblia, adecă Dumnezeiasca Scriptură a Vechiului şi Noului Testament / The Bible, Videlicet the Divine Scripture of the Old and New Testament (Tipărită întâia oară la 1688 în timpul lui Şerban Vodă Cantacuzino, domnul Ţării Româneşti, retipărită după 300 de ani în facsimil şi transcriere cu aprobarea Sfântului Sinod şi binecuvântarea Prea Fericitului Părinte Teoctist, patriarhul Bisericii Ortodoxe Române), Editura Institutului Biblic şi de Misiune al Bisericii Ortodoxe Române.
- Bibilia de la Bucureşti (1688) / The Bible from Bucharest (1688), în seria Monumenta linguae Dacoromanorum, Pars I, Genesis, Iaşi, 1988 (autorii volumului: Alexandru Andriescu, Vasile Arvinte, Ioan Caproşu, Elsa Lüder, Paul Miron, Mircea Roşian, Marietta Ujică).
- Biblia de la Blaj (1795) / The Bible from Blaj (1795), ediţie jubiliară, Roma, 2000.
- Biblia lui Teodor Pop / Teodor Pop‘s Bible (fragmentar), manuscris Biblioteca Academiei Române din Cluj-Napoca, Fondul Blaj, cotele mss. rom. 57, 59.
- Biblia lui Victor Smigelschi / Victor Smigelschi’s Bible, manuscris în 6 tomuri la Biblioteca Academiei Române din Cluj-Napoca, Fondul Blaj, cota: ms. rom. 284.
- Biblia, adică Dumnezeeasca Scriptură a Legii Vechi şi a celei Nouă / The Bible, Videlicet the Divine Scripture of the Old and New Religion, tipărită în zilele Majestăţii Sale Carol I, regele României, în al 49 an de slăvită domnie. Ediţia Sfântului Sinod, Bucureşti, Tipografia cărţilor Bisericeşti, 1914; în continuare, B1914.
- Biblia Vulgata. Blaj 1760–1761 / The Vulgate Bible. Blaj 1760-1761, Vol. I–V, Editura Academiei Române, Bucureşti, 2005.
- Chindriş, Ioan, Cultură şi societate în contextul Şcolii Ardelene / Culture and Society within the Context of Transylvanian School, Editura Cartimpex, Cluj-Napoca, 2001.
- Chindriş, Ioan; Iacob, Niculina, Petru Pavel Aron / Petru Pavel Aron, Editura Astra, Blaj, 2007.
- Chindriş, Ioan, Transilvanica / Transylvania, Editura Cartimpex,Cluj-Napoca, 2003.
- Iacob, Niculina; Limbajul biblic românesc (1640–1800) / Romanian Biblical Language (1640-1800), vol. I-II, Editura Universităţii Suceava, 2001.
- Psaltirea sau Cartea Psalmilor / The Psalter or The Psalm Book de pre limba evreiască tradusă româneşte de fostul prea onorat domn Theodor Pop, prepositul capitulului greco-catolic din Blaj şi profesor S. Scripturi, Blaj, 1835, cu tipariul Seminariului.
