Autographs of the New Testament translation made by P. Morachevsky discovered in the Library of the Russian Academy of Sciences (LRAS) collection (updated)

The first complete translation of the New Testament into modern literary Ukrainian was made from 1860 till 1864 by Pylyp Semenovych Morachevsky (1806-1879), a widely known Ukrainian educator, scientist, and writer. Morachevsky's translations are considered to be among the best, however, they have not been published till nowadays and were stored in Russian and Ukrainian archives in autographs of various copyright editions, lists and copies. Thus, disclosure, research and description of Morachevsky's historical heritage is becoming extremely significant today. How many authentic autograph translations of the New Testament and the Book of Psalms made by Pylyp Morachevsky from 1862 till 1865 are there in the Library of the Russian Academy of Sciences (LRAS), the former Library of the Imperial Academy of Sciences (LIAS), in Saint Petersburg now? This is a question that should be reckoned as a very important issue since Russian scientist V. A. Esipova identified two manuscripts as the New Testament translation by P. Morachevsky she discovered in A.V. Nikitenko's collection at the BIC (Bibliographic Information Centre) of Tomsk State University Research Library (Issue 534. Vol. 12). To the best of our knowledge, in 1864 P. Morachevsky sent his autograph whole translation of the New Testament in two books to the temporary storage of LIAS in hope to find a possibility of their further publication. He also appealed during 1862-1865 to the scientists of the Imperial Academy of Sciences for assistance in reviewing and publishing his translations. As a result, a group of prominent members of the Imperial Academy of Sciences academicians H. Vostokov, O. Nikutenko and I. Sreznevsky expressed a warmest approval and admiration of Morachevsky's contribution. Unfortunately, the publication was suspended in 1863 by the Valuev Circular followed by a decision of the Russian Orthodox Church Holy Synod (January 3, 1864) to ban the publication of Morachevsky's translation of the Gospel into the Ukrainian language. 40 years later a new attempt was made to publish the Gospel in Morachevsky's translation. There was no Morachevsky's autograph manuscripts of the Holy Scriptures translations in LIAS except the Psalter one. Nevertheless, instead of a full text of two books, at the end of the 19th century LIAS received some other Morachevsky's autographs, namely: the Gospel translation made in 1860 together with the corrections written down in the notebook (the first draft of the translation that was sent under the condition of publication and as a substitution for the final manuscript lost by Morachevsky's grandson); the Acts translation made in 1862 (the manuscript has been found in the Second Department of LIAS); the Apocalypse translation made in 1864 (the courtesy copy sent to Academician of the Petersburg Academy of Sciences Ismail I. Sreznevsky for review).The Epistles of St. Apostles was not found. Therefore, nowadays the Library of the Russian Academy of Sciences, instead of a complete translation of the New Testament in two books by our famous compatriot Pylyp Semenovych Morachevsky, preserved only an incomplete text of his translation of the New Testament in forms of different author editions created in the period from 1860 till 1864.

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