Alexey Somov Institute for Bible Translation, Russia/CIS COOPERATION BETWEEN CHRISTIAN DENOMINATIONS IN IBT

INSTITUTE FOR BIBLE TRANSLATION IN RUSSIA/CIS ( IBT was founded in Stockholm in 1973 to serve: 85 Million non-Slavic people in the USSR Speaking 130 different languages By translating the full Bible or its portions in these languages 2

3 - in 80 languages IBT Publications Bible Portions The New Testament - in 31 languages The full Bible - in 5 languages

Now, IBT is headquartered in Moscow (St. Andrew’s Monastery) 4

PARTNER ORGANIZATIONS SIL/Wycliffe United Bible Societies (UBS) Pioneer Bible Translators Hosanna/FCBH and others… 5

RELIGIOUS BACKGROUND OF IBT PROJECTS Islam – about 50% Buddhism/Animism/Shamanism – about 30% Orthodox Christianity – about 20% 6

IBT is not a church or mission, but a scholarly organization working with non-Slavic people in Russia/CIS and cooperating with the local churches IBT works with both Orthodox and Protestant communities (we have not had Catholic projects so far) There are no ecumenical translation projects in IBT per se, but there ARE many projects in which people from different confessions and denominations work together in the same team Some projects used to be Protestant ones and then became Orthodox When IBT started working it functioned as a completely Protestant organization. Then, it came to be more and more interconfessional. Today, of the 20 people working in the IBT office in Moscow, only 5 are Protestants, while the rest are Orthodox 7

EXAMPLES OF CHRISTIAN COOPERATION IN IBT IBT designed a special image of a cross in order to use it on the covers of IBT publications This image combines Orthodox and Protestant features and symbolizes a cooperation between Christians in our projects 8

YAKUT Spoken in the Sakha Republic in Russia Speakers:478,085 Bible publications :Four Gospels, 1858, 1898 (IBT reprint 1975); Children's Bible (1994); NT (2004, 2008); Hexapsalmos (6 Psalms, 2007); Book of Psalms (2009); "Children's Bible", 2nd ed. (2013) "Children's Bible. New Testament" (2014) The translator is Orthodox, the consultant is Protestant. Local Orthodox diocese fully accepts and supports this project 9

TUVAN Spoken in south-central Siberia in Russia. Speakers: 263,934 Bible publications: Children's Bible (2001) NT (2001) Bible (2011) Children's Bible, 2 nd ed. (2014) Protestants were not against participation by Orthodox people (OT consultant) in the translation team. The Orthodox bishop gave his blessing and wrote a foreword to the revised Children’s Bible In Mark 15:25 “the third hour,” as well as “the ninth hour” in 15:34, were originally translated as “9.00 AM” and “3.00 P.M.” Then it was changed as “the third hour after sunrise” and “the ninth hour after sunrise” as requested by the Orthodox Church so that it can be used in the liturgical Orthodox texts. 10

GAGAUZ Spoken mostly in southern Moldova (Gagauzia), SW Ukraine (Budjak), and SE Romania (Dobrogea) Speakers:197,000 Bible publications: John (1927, reprint IBT 1975); Matthew (1934, reprint IBT 1975); NT (2006); Children's Bible (2010); "Hexapsalmos" (Six Psalms)(2011); Liturgical Gospel translation (in progress) The first attempts at BT carried out by Fr Mikhail Chakir (Orthodox, early 20th cent.) The full Gagauz NT was translated by an Adventist (early 21st cent.) Not accepted by the Orthodox Church in Gagauzia. At this moment the whole translation team is completely Orthodox. This is a negative example of the attempt to cooperate in IBT projects 11