The Ostroh Bible is an outstanding monument of Ukrainian culture. One writer called it the “queen of Ukrainian books.” It was printed in the early 1580s and circulated widely among Orthodox Slavic believers as well as Moldovans and Romanians. This edition was also esteemed by non- Orthodox communities whose experts praised the erudition of the Ostroh publishers.
The reverential attitude to the Ostroh Bible on the part of both Orthodox and other Christian confessions explains why a considerable number of copies of this edition have been preserved. Assuming that its original print run was between 1,000 and 1,500 copies, more than 260 copies are stored in museums, libraries, and archives in Ukraine as well as in Russia, Belarus, Poland, Lithuania, Romania, the Vatican, Greece, Serbia, Hungary, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Holland, Bulgaria, France, the UK, US, Canada, Austria, Germany, Finland, Uzbekistan, and Kyrgyzstan.
The Ostroh Bible, which became an important factor in the development of Orthodox theological thought, is the first complete collection of the Old and New Testaments in Church Slavonic, that later served as the basis for a variety of biblical texts in this language. Therefore, there are grounds to discuss its impact on Ukrainian as well as other cultures in the Orthodox Slavic realm.
ALMIGHTY GOD GAVE ME THIS
Work on preparing the Ostroh Bible began in the mid-1570s. In September 1575 Prince Vasyl Ostrozky, the head of Derman Monastery, placed Ivan Fedorovych (Fedorov) in charge of printing the Scriptures. Judging by everything, the prince was already planning to create a cultural complex that would combine a print shop, school, and group of theological scholars, who would prepare religious books for publication.
This group of scholars working on the Ostroh Bible was already formed by 1575 or 1576. They also taught at a higher school, training their successors and attracting students to translate and edit biblical texts.
The work was exceedingly complicated. It was necessary to collect various texts and edit them. The work process was described in the first foreword to the Ostroh Bible written by Prince Ostrozky. The prince writes that he doubted that he would be able to complete this work. In the end he decided to keep working. “And thus through my messages and letters addressed to many lands, both Roman lands and Kandyan Isles, as well as numerous Greek, Serbian, and Bulgarian monasteries, I reached the Vicar of the Apostles himself, the head of the entire Eastern Church, His Holiness Jeremiah, Archbishop of Constantinople and New Rome, Universal Patriarch, humbly and urgently requesting both people versed in Greek and Slavonic holy writings and well edited compilations that are definitely without errors. Almighty God in His infinite kindness granted me this, for as stated earlier, I found the necessary books and workers for the divine cause. After consulting them and other people learned in divine writings, we unanimously agreed to select a compilation of ancient glorious holy writing and profound language, and a text that was translated into Greek by 72 blessed and sage translators at the request of the Egyptian pharaoh, the blessed and pious booklover Ptolemy Philadelphus. More than others it corresponded to the Hebrew and Slavonic texts, and I gave instructions that it be adhered to with confidence and without changes.”
Researchers have often referred to this quote to describe the work on the Ostroh Bible. Unfortunately, accents were often shifted. Thus, Russian historiography paid special attention to the part of Prince Ostrozky’s foreword that states that he received the full text of the Old Testament from Russian tsar Ivan Grozny, which was supposedly translated in the days of Volodymyr into the old Slavonic language from the Greek Septuagint, i.e., the translation completed by 72 translators. Scholars likened this text to the so-called Gennadian Bible written under the direction of Archbishop Gennadiy of Novgorod toward the end of the 15th century, which made more use of the Vulgate Bible than the Septuagint. Accordingly, scholars came to the conclusion that the Ostroh Bible was based on the Gennadian one.
This pseudo-scholarly myth has asserted itself first in Russian then Soviet historiography, and was later adopted by Ukrainian, Polish, and other researchers.
In reality, neither an unbiased analysis of the foreword to the Ostroh Bible nor any of its text provides any grounds for this. The upshot of the foreword is this: Prince Ostrozky collected various biblical Slavonic texts, among them those of the Gennadian Bible, which was considered authoritative as an ancient “authentic” collection of the books of the Bible. However, not a single one of these texts satisfied the prince.
Then the prince, for lack of a reliable biblical text, sent envoys to other countries (Italy, Greece, Serbia, and Bulgaria) to collect well-translated and written books of the Bible. The Septuagint was finally selected as the basis for the translations of the Old Testament books. Special note was made of the fact that this text best conformed to the Hebrew and Slavonic texts.
An analysis of the Ostroh Bible’s text largely confirms the foreword. The compilers of the Bible compared the ancient Slavonic texts to the Septuagint. Where necessary, they made corrections or deleted superfluous sentences. Following the Septuagint, they corrected the translation from the Latin Bible of the books of Paralipomenon, namely Esdra, Nehemiah, and the First and Second Books of the Maccabees. They also completed an additional translation from the Greek of Esther, the Song of Songs, and the Wisdom of Solomon. It appears that of the editions of the Greek text the compilers relied on the Complutensian Polyglot and al-Din Bibles.
Nevertheless, some books of the Old Testament were translated and corrected in accordance with the Latin Vulgate Bible, specifically the books of Tobias and Judith. It is also possible that the Ostroh scholars consulted the Czech translation of the Bible. In some places they could have used the original Hebrew or an unknown Greek text.
In general, they completed an immense task that included a comparative analysis of various texts. Even in Europe, where philological studies were sufficiently advanced, no one had ever undertaken such a project.
THE CREATORS AND THEIR LANGUAGE
There is no information about who compiled and edited the Ostroh Bible. It is possible that the work was supervised by Herasym Danylovych Smotrytsky, the author of rhymed and prose introductions to the Ostroh Bible.
We know that he came from an Orthodox family. His father, Deacon Danylo, copied books. His copy of a collection for Rev. Vasyl, completed in Smotrych (near Kamianets-Podilsky) has been preserved. Herasym’s son Meletiy, in his polemical work Defense of Versification, recalls that his father was a scribe, who worked under three starostas, lower government officials, in Kamianets-Podilsky.
It is possible that sometime in the mid-1570s H. Smotrytsky moved to Ostroh at Prince Ostrozky’s invitation, where he edited the Bible. He was also the rector of Ostroh Academy. In 1587 Smotrytsky published a collection of polemical works including The Key to the Heavenly Kingdom and The New Roman Calendar. Zakhariia Kopystensky in his A Palinode, or a Book in Defense...of the Eastern Church... wrote that Smotrytsky was also the author of poetical works.
Without a doubt, Smotrytsky was a highly educated individual. He knew Church Slavonic and the contemporary bookish “Rus’” language. His foreword to The Key to the Heavenly Kingdom leads scholars to assume that he also knew Greek and Arabic, and perhaps Latin.
Tymofiy Mykhailovych can also be regarded as one of the compilers of the Ostroh Bible. In 1580 he published The Book, a Collection of Things That Need Urgent Inclusion in the Book of the New Testament. This was an alphabetical reference work arranged by subject pertaining to the New Testament. It could have been compiled only by a person learned in the New Testament texts. Apparently, he edited the New Testament section of the Ostroh Bible.
We know practically nothing about this author. There is a reference to an Archimandrite Tymofiy of Dorohobuzh, who took part in the anti-Catholic Church Council of Brest in 1596. Dorohobuzh was then part of Prince Ostrozky’s land holdings. It is possible that Mykhailovych may have been ordained archimandrite of this monastery after completing his work on the Ostroh Bible.
Among the other compilers of the Ostroh Bible it is worth mentioning Vasyl Surazky. Scholars have identified him as Vasyl Andriiovych Maliushytsky. He was born into the family of a royal scribe named Andriy Antonovych, who owned the village, then the town, of Surazh. In 1588 V. Maliushytsky wrote A Small Book in Eight Chapters in Ostroh (modern literary sources often refer to this work as On the Sole True Orthodox Faith). This was the first important theological work to emerge from the milieu of Ostroh scribes as the result of the polemic among Orthodox, Catholics, and Protestants.
Neither can Fedorovych’s role in the compilation of the Ostroh Bible be ruled out. He is the author of the afterword to this edition, in which he states that he printed the books of the Old and New Testaments.
Of course, the role of the first printer in the publication of the Ostroh Bible should not be minimized. His technical task was complicated. Recent studies indicate that the Bible was in the crucial printing phase by 1587. The scholar Ya. Isayevych has unearthed and published a declaration by Blasius Ebisch, an engraver from Schenberg, dated June 3, 1578, stating that he agreed to make 150 engraved copper plates for the illustrations to the Ostroh Bible, as commissioned by the printer, Ivan Fedorovych.
In fact, the publication of this book was the result of the team work of a unique “printing guild.” Fedorovych later wrote that he had worked “together with like-minded assistants.” Ivan Ohienko believes that he worked with his son Ivan and his pupil Hryn Ivanovych from Zabludiv, and possibly with some of his pupils from Lviv, namely Sachko Senkovych Sidliar, Semen Korunka, and others.
So that the printers did not remain idle, since the editing of the Bible texts was lengthy process, they began publishing the New Testament and the Book of Psalms. This book, published in 1580, was intended for both church use and in the religious disputes of the day. There were certain textual distinctions between this volume and corresponding sections of the Ostroh Bible, i.e., a less edited version was used in the publication of the former.
Work on the Bible of Ostroh was largely completed by July 1580, yet for some reason it did not appear in print, perhaps owing to some mistakes in the text.
It looks as though biblical texts were not printed in the usual manner, but rather as corrections introduced into the text. Thus, the Ostroh Bible is made up of five parts, each separately paginated (276; 180; 30; 56; 78). Add here eight pages of forewords and the total comes to 628 sheets, or 1,256 pages.
The Ostroh Bible is embellished with a variety of engravings, but these graphic embellishments are too modest. A special font measuring 24.8 mm — very small for the time — was created. It was, however, clear and beautiful, attesting to the printers’ mastery. The initial letters beginning the chapters of the Ostroh Bible were somewhat reminiscent of the capital letters of the Skoryna editions.
Two editions of the Bible are known: the 1580 and 1581 versions. They are almost identical: they have the same title page, the same date (1581), and the same forewords. The chief difference is that Fedorovych’s afterword in both editions is different, and there are certain differences in font, typesetting, and decorations.
Researchers note that the language of the Ostroh Bible was essentially Church Slavonic — for a number of reasons. In the first place, it is important to bear in mind that this edition was meant not only for Ukraine but for the rest of Orthodox Slavic world. Here Church Slavonic emerged as the language of the church and the whole elite culture, despite the fact that it was not normative. The importance of this language increased in the 16th century when interconfessional conflicts became exacerbated.
It is also important to remember that there were no adequate translations from biblical texts into the Slavic languages. Accordingly, there were no people who could deal with the task on a high level. A subjective factor may have played a role. Fedorovych, whose role in the creation of the Ostroh Bible was anything but minor, was known as an Orthodox Slavic “internationalist.” He was not affiliated with any local tradition and thus considered himself a citizen of the Orthodox Slavic world. Therefore he used that language in his publications.
Still, the language of the Ostroh Bible is somewhat different from classical Church Slavonic texts. Here one finds passages written in Ukrainian vernacular.
Despite the fact that the Ostroh Bible was prepared for publication by various experts (people versed in sacral languages and biblical texts, philologists, master printers), the main role in its publication was played by Prince Ostrozky. He was the one who created an expert team of editors and then invited the printer Ivan Fedorovych. He tasked his experts with collecting biblical texts from various countries and financed the work on the Ostroh Bible and its printing.
Prince Ostrozky emerges as a farsighted art patron, who invested large sums of money in a necessary cause. What were the prince’s motivations? Some of the reasons are found in his foreword to the Ostroh Bible.
THE WORD OF THE LORD AS A WEAPON OF THE SPIRIT
The prince said he undertook to publish the Scriptures in the hope that the Lord would have mercy on His people, for He knew “that salvation is difficult,” that it could be achieved only by upholding His Commandments and faith. It is important to bear in mind that for most people the questions of salvation and the afterlife were not abstract notions. In those days people were profoundly concerned about these matters. They donated money to the church, paid for the construction of temples, and founded monasteries. For Ostrozky, the publication of the Bible was a matter pleasing to the Lord.
This was a somewhat modernized view on the question of salvation. In the Middle Ages, copying the Scriptures was regarded as a pious task. The prince expanded this cause to publishing the books of the Holy Bible. He said that he wanted to leave behind a “spiritual gift”, a printed version of the Word bestowed by the Savior upon mankind for its salvation before departing the world of the living.
Of course, the prince’s reasons for publishing the Ostroh Bible are expounded from a rather subjective viewpoint. This is understandable. Although there is little doubt that he was primarily motivated by reasons of personal salvation by doing things pleasing to God, like publishing the Bible, he also wanted to strengthen the position of the Orthodox Church, as he was officially its protector in the Polish Rzeczpospolita.
In our opinion, one of his reasons may have been his “magnate’s honor.” It was important for the prince to accomplish something that would bring him attention and increase his prestige, thanks to which his name would be remembered. In fact, his foreword states this, albeit in somewhat veiled language.
Prince Ostrozky also had a vivid example to emulate. Some time in 1553, Michael Radziwill, the Grand Duke of Lithuania and protector of the Reformed Calvinists, set up a Protestant community in Brest and a Calvinist cultural center around which were grouped Calvinist theologians. There was also a printing house. In fact, Ostrozky founded a similar (Orthodox) community in the 1570s in Ostroh. The main purpose of the Calvinist community in Brest was to prepare the full Polish text of the Bible for publication. The project took about six years. The Brest (or Radziwill) Bible was printed in 1563, and its publication cost a fortune. Its print run was relatively large.
It is possible that Fedorovych had some misunderstandings with the prince after the publication of the Ostroh Bible. Returning to Lviv, the printer took a number of incomplete copies that he later finished and sold in that city. After his death some time in 1583, 120 complete texts of the Bible and 80 incomplete ones passed to his heirs. In 1588 Fedorovych’s printing house and 40 unprinted texts of the Bible were purchased by the printer Kuzma Mamonych of Vilnius, where they were printed. This work came to be known as the Vilnius Bible.
The subsequent fate of the Ostroh Bible is interesting. Its copies spread throughout the Orthodox Slavic territories and other countries. Metropolitan Petro Mohyla of Kyiv planned to publish a revised edition. In 1638-1639 a team of learned monks led by Sylvester Kosiv worked on the text. At the same time, the Metropolitan entrusted the monk-engraver Illia with the task of creating some 500 illustrations for the future edition of the Bible. Many of them were made in the 1640s. Unfortunately, this edition of the Ostroh Bible was never realized. Mohyla died in 1647, then came the Khmelnytsky wars and the Ruin. Illia the engraver, convinced that the Bible would not be printed, stopped making his illustrations. Approximately 130 of his biblical prints are extant.
Shortly afterward, the Ostroh Bible appeared as a new edition in Moscow, where conditions were more favorable. This was in 1663, during the rule of Tsar Aleksei Mikhailovich. The Bible was printed with minor orthographic changes so as to bring the text into conformity with the Russian version of Church Slavonic. This edition became known as the pervopechatnaya [first-printed] Bible. In actual fact, this name muddied the scholarly waters.
The foreword to this edition mentioned the “inadequacy” of the Ostroh Bible text, yet pointed out that correcting the mistakes would take time, skilled editors, etc. There was no one in Muscovy capable of editing biblical texts. In time the Muscovites started inviting such experts from Ukraine.
It is interesting to note that the “first-printed” Bible appeared in print without the blessing of Patriarch Nikon of Moscow. The printing was done on the tsar’s orders and with the knowledge and consent of the metropolitans and bishops.
In 1674 the Council of the Russian Orthodox Church resolved to undertake a translation based on the Greek texts. The task was assigned to a native of Ukraine, Epifaniy Slavynetsky, who was not destined to complete it.
Another attempt to produce a Church Slavonic version of the Ostroh Bible was made under Peter I. In 1712 the tsar issued an ukase ordering the “first-printed” Bible to be checked against the Greek texts. Again the task was assigned to two Ukrainians: Feofilakt Lopatynsky and Sofroniy Likhud. Their work was supervised by another Ukrainian, Stefan (Yavorsky) Metropolitan of Ryazan.
Work on the Bible lasted approximately seven years (1714-20). The original Slavonic version of all the books, except the Psalms, was checked against the Septuagint. Some of the canonical books originally translated from the Latin (such as the Vulgate Bible’s Tobias and Judith) were checked against the original Latin text. Major discrepancies between the Slavonic and Greek texts were pointed out. In certain places that represented difficulties for a clear translation from the Greek, annotated translations from Latin and Hebrew were made, and occasionally from Chaldean, Arabic, Syrian, and Samaritan translations.
The chapters were divided into verses. Major chapters in the Old Testament were given headings borrowed from the Latin Bible. The text was supplemented by explanations of Hebrew and other words that had been left untranslated.
Lopatynsky and Likhud’s handwritten translation consisted of eight volumes. They were sent for printing, but by force of various circumstances, including the death of Peter I, this translation was never published.
During the next decades in Russia the question of correcting the text of the Bible and its publication was constantly raised. This gave rise to various discussions, but the Russian Bible was printed only in the mid-18th century. In 1747 Varlaam Liashchevsky and Hedeon Slonimsky, both professors of Kyiv Mohyla Academy, were tasked with editing the Slavonic text of the Bible. They completed their work in 1751.
Liashchevsky and Slonimsky’s edited texts of the Scriptures were printed on Dec. 18, 1751. This edition became known as the Elizabeth Bible. It was used as the basis for the Pochaiv Bible, printed by the Greek Catholics in 1798. It appeared in five large-format volumes. In this edition the text was accompanied by annotated commentaries and footnotes. This edition was reprinted with illustrations in Peremyshl in 1859.
The Elizabeth Bible contains the standard Church Slavonic text of the Bible used by the Russian Orthodox Church.
In other words, this church’s current canonical text of the Bible is actually that of the Ostroh Bible, with certain editorial corrections that were often made by Ukrainian scholars. Therefore, we have every right to say that the Russian canonical Bible was created by Ukrainians.
