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Information
Service of
the Serbian Orthodox Church
January
17, 2005
PUBLICATION
OF BISHOP ATANASIJE JEVTIC’S TRANSLATION OF THE FIRST BOOK OF
MOSES – THE BOOK OF GENESIS
“With
the help of God the Almighty we have translated this first book
of the Holy Scripture of the Old Alliance = Testament, the Book
of Genesis, from the Hebrew Masoretic (MT) text (left column in
this book) and compared it with the old Greek translation of the
Septuagint (LXX) (right column in book) done from the Hebrew in
the third century before Christ. This humble, beginning student’s
analytical translation is accompanied by brief scholia, observations
and footnotes of linguistic and, geographical-historical, as well
as biblical-exegetic and theological nature. We hope by the Triune
God, who is great and mighty in His glory, that this is the beginning
of the translating of the entire Holy Scripture of the Old Testament
from Hebrew and Greek to modern Serbian. (Danicic’s translation
of the Old Testament was done from other translations (Latin and
German) and is incomplete, not including all the books of the
Old Testament),” says the postword to this great contribution
to Serbian biblistics by Bishop Atanasije Jevtic, the first translator
into Serbian of the First Book of Moses from the Masoretic and
the text of the Septuagint.
Through the efforts of Bishop Atanasije of Zahumlje and Herzegovina
(retired), the translation of the First Book of Moses – The Book
of Genesis has been published in translation from the Hebrew and
Greek. The translation is dedicated to the Church of Zion, the
Jerusalem Mother of all Churches of God’s Eternal Testament, and
was published with the blessing of His Holiness Serbian Patriarch
Pavle. The publishers are the monasteries of Chilandar, Studenica,
Decani and Tvrdos.
In the foreword
to the translation, Patriarch Pavle writes, among other things:
“The Holy Scripture is the living and active, true and salvation-bearing
Word of God. It has been and remains so, both in the past, in
the Old Testament of the Israelites, as well as in the new reality,
the Church of the New Israel, in the New Testament – throughout
all history, and it remains for all eternity (compare Rev 14:6)
That is because the Lord himself “is mindful of his covenant for
ever, of the word that he commanded, for a thousand generations”
(compare Psa 104:5, 8)... Before us is an analytical translation
of the first book – The Book of Genesis – of the Holy Scripture
of the Old Testament ... We bless this beginning, which our monasteries
begin to publish and when, if God so wills, the whole work is
completed and edited, we hope that a full translation of the Old
Testament will be published by the Holy Synod, as was the case
with the translation of the New Testament.”
This holy
and divinely inspired book has always been ascribed among the
Isreali community to Moses, which is accurate because its oral
tradition is older than the written tradition. With the Book of
Genesis God’s revelation is preserved in the memory of the living
and the God-serving Community of God’s People as transmitted to
Moses and the Old Testament patriarchs.
In
the First Book of Moses – The Book of Genesis – the first part
is comprised of a brief history of the creation of the visible
and invisible world and humanity, as the crown of God’s creation,
followed by the history of the first man, Adam, and his descendants
to Noah and the Tower of Babylon. The second part discusses the
personal and family histories of the Old Testament patriarchs.
The Book of Genesis consists of 12 larger units, 50 chapters and
1,534 verses. Stephen Langton, Archbishop of Canterbury, separated
the book into chapters in the 13th century and Paris scholar Robert
Estienne separated it into verses.
CHAPEL
IN BISHOP’S RESIDENCE IN NOVI SAD CELEBRATES PATRONAL FEAST OF
ST. BASIL THE GREAT
 On
Friday, January 1/14, 2005, on the feast of the Circumcision of
Our Lord and St. Basil the Great, Archbishop of Caesarea, His
Grace Bishop Irinej of Backa served Holy Hierarchal Liturgy in
the chapel dedicated to St. Basil located in the bishop’s residence
in Novi Sad with the concelebration of Protopresbyter Milovan
Miodragovic, the hierarchal administrator of Novi Sad; Deacon
Grigorije Sapsaj, librarian of the Orthodox Theological Faculty
of the University of Belgrade; and Deacon Branislav Mrkic. The
choir of the brotherhood of the monastery of Holy Archangels in
Kovilj chanted during the service.
 Bishop
Irinej blessed the slava wheat and cake, wishing all those present
a happy holiday as well as the upcoming great holidays of Christ’s
Church and the new year with the prayerful wish that they may
celebrate them in spiritual and physical health and holiday spirit.
Deacon Branislav Mrkic
INFORMATION
REGARDING THE FOUNDING OF THE STAROVLAH FUND FOR TRUTH AND JUSTICE
After
the events in Pale on April 1, 2004 upon the initiative of the
Council of the Bishops of Bosnia and Herzegovina, the Metropolitanate
of Dabro-Bosnia established the Starovlah Fund for Truth and Justice.
The purpose of this Fund is to help the Starovlah family to endure
on the path of bearing witness, to heal their wounds to the extent
that is possible, and to find legal protection. However, the Fund
in and of itself is not sufficient for the collection of funding
but also seeks to undertake other activities toward the same purpose
on a broader scale. A committee for the promotion of this Fund
has been established so that the bank account that has been established
does not remain a mere formality. This is a humble step of brotherly
love and our conscience to help our injured brother but also in
the battle to witness the truth that concerns all of us.
For
all those interested who are able and desire to help, the specific
information for the Fund is as follows (dinar donations only):
Raiffeisen
BANK dd, SARAJEVO
SRPSKA PRAVOSLAVNA CRKVA
MITROPOLIJA DABROBOSANSKA
“FONDACIJA ZA ISTINU I PRAVDU – STAROVLAH”
Account number: 1610000000000011
Reference number: 533711000-52000601
Foreign
donors are kindly asked to contact the SPC Info Service
STATEMENT
OF THE PRIESTS OF THE SERBIAN ORTHODOX CHURCH IN THE METROPOLITANATE
OF DABRO-BOSNIA IN PALE BEFORE CHRISTMAS, DECEMBER 30, 2004
We,
the priests of the Diocese of Dabro-Bosnia, the spiritual representatives
of our people, in a brotherly community headed by our Bishops,
spoke today in Pale about the serious physical and spiritual consequences
and the life status of our priest and brother, Protopresybter-Stavrophor
Jeremija Starovlah, hierarchal administrator of Sarajevo, and
his son, catechist Aleksandar, who were seriously injured on April
1, 2004 in the well-known SFOR operation, as well as the attitude
of the authorities, both domestic and foreign, toward our diocese,
its priests and its faithful.
We
established that it is thanks to God’s mercy, first of all, and
then to the efforts of physicians in Tuzla and Belgrade, as well
as to the many prayers of priests and faithful that the lives
of Fr. Jeremija and Aleksandar were saved from certain death.
The consequences, sadly, are great and it is still not known when
and to what extent they will be able to return to their duties
and their normal life. Father Jeremija is still unable to conduct
religious services and Aleksandar cannot see properly, let alone
conduct religious instruction in a school.
There
is a consensus of opinion and position, both official and nonofficial,
among all the priests of our Diocese, our brotherly Christian
Churches, institutions of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Republika Srpska,
various diplomatic representatives, numerous governmental and
non-governmental organizations, and justice-loving citizens throughout
the world that this act of aggression represents an attack on
life, freedom and the human dignity of man.
Taking
into account the act of aggression itself and the nature of the
inflicted injuries, we continue to ask ourselves how such a precedent
in a time of peace in the history of civilized and democratic
nations of the world is possible.
As
citizens of a country we love, we have always respected the mandate
of international representatives in Bosnia and Herzegovina, wanting
to believe that they have been called upon to create peace and
carry out justice. Without any cause or basis, verification or
evidence, we have been on every possible occasion not only accused
by them but also judged for assisting those who are accused of
war crimes. Hoping to distance ourselves from the start from such
abstract and unfounded accusations and sentences on the basis
of which our priests are being killed and our churches desecrated,
we once again clearly and unequivocally reject every accusation
against our Church and her individual priests.
We
are deeply disappointed, hurt and frightened by the incorrect
attitude of certain authoritative international representatives
who, except for a shameful statement of regret, have not deigned
so much as to visit the injured nor punish those who tasked, among
other things, with protecting our rights.
We
are firmly convinced that the consequences of evil and injustice
inflicted upon our entire Church – her priest and his family,
can be ameliorated and rectified only when the principles of truth
and justice, both divine, and temporal and human, are applied.
Until this occurs, both our faithful and we ourselves will be
governed by an imposed sense of general lack of safety and fear
that increases with continuous threats, irresponsible and unfounded
accusations against the Orthodox Church.
Hence,
we ask of the appropriate institutions of Bosnia and Herzegovina
and especially, representatives of the international community,
as well as the new forces of the European Union, to correct the
injustice done to us by applying these principles of truth, justice
and equality in the spirit of the best tradition of constitutional
states and in accordance with them. We want to believe the commander
in chief of NATO and the new European forces will make the effort
to achieve moral satisfaction and compensation for the injured
priest and his family. We repeat once again that we, the priests
of the Metropolitanate of Dabro-Bosnia, headed by our Bishops,
are prepared for talks, cooperation and enhancement of all relations
but only when the humiliating attitude toward our Church, its
priests and its faithful stops.
In
conclusion, we thank all those who in various ways are helping
to spread the truth and to those who will join us on the same
path. We wish to extend our special gratitude on this occasion
on the willingness and persistence demonstrated by the Investigating
Committee of the Bosnia and Herzegovina Parliamentary Assembly
in establishing the truth regarding the SFOR operation in Pale.
[Serbian
Translation Services]
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