Translation of texts of the Old Testament - manuscript stored in TSU Research Library

The history of translation of the text of the Bible into Russian has repeatedly become the object of research. However, new findings in storages of manuscripts can add some new information to it. So, a manuscript of the 1830s is stored in the Department of Manuscripts and Book Monuments of the Research Library of Tomsk State University The Old Testament. Selected Books. Translation and Critical Analysis. The manuscript includes the translations into Russian of a number of texts of the Old Testament, which differ from the Synodal Translation. It starts with the text of the Book of Iov, which is now considered to be one of the most difficult books of the Old Testament for translation, interpretation and perception. Therefore, the attention the author of the manuscript paid to the book is explainable. It is still not clear who the author was and how the manuscript became a part of library of the Tomsk Virgin Mary Alekseevsky monastery. To answer this question, in the article the history of translations of the Bible in Russia in the first half of the 19th century is briefly characterized. The Russian Bible Society was created in 1816 at the initiative of Alexander I. Archimandrite Philaret (Drozdov) headed it. The society began its activity with translating the books of the New Testament. The translation of the Old Testament is also known to have begun. However, in 1824 a part of the circulation of these editions was burned, and since 1826 translation and publication activities were suspended. It was the second half of the 19th century that marked the return to translating the Scripture into Russian. Simultaneously, some individuals made attempts of translating various books of the Old Testament. Two of them are most known: by archpriest Gerasim Pavsky and by archimandrite Makariy (Glukharev). In 1830 the latter was sent to preach in the Biysk district of Tomsk Province. The start and golden age of his translational activity dates back to this period. He sent the beginning of his work (translation of the Book of Iov from Jewish into Russian) to the Commission of Spiritual Schools: researchers assume that he started working with this text because the Russian Bible Society stopped translating at this point. The translation was not recommended for publication recognized as harmful and actually forbidden. The texts of Makariy's translations were published after his death. It is tempting to assume that the manuscript stored nowadays in the Department of Manuscripts and Book Monuments of the Research Library of Tomsk State University is somehow connected with Makariy's translation activity. The author gives arguments for and against such a conclusion in the article. For an unequivocal conclusion about the connection of the manuscript and Makariy Glukharev's activity a more detailed research of the text, its comparison not only with Makariy's translation, but also with the work of archpriest Pavsky is necessary, as it is known that Makariy edited his text by Pavsky's one. What is significant at the moment is the very fact of completing such a work in Tomsk in the first half of the 19th century. It was essential for the cultural environment, for discovering authors among local clergy.

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