New Testament translated into modern Russian

The National State Library will host a presentation ceremony here today; a modern-Russian version of the New Testament, which was translated from the Greek, is to be unveiled at the Library.

The new clear-cut and dynamic edition, which is called "Joyful News" (a Russian word for Gospel), contains no outdated words and is addressed to the broad reading public, Vladimir Vdovikov, leading expert at the Russian Biblical Society's information department, told RIA NOVOSTI.

This society, which was founded in 1813, aims to translate the Bible into foreign languages; among other things, it translates the Bible into the languages of Russia's ethnic groups and modern Russian, as well.

The first modern-Russian translation of the New Testament, which was completed by the Russian Biblical Society several years ago, had a print run of 40,000 copies. 20,000 copies will be printed this time. According to Vdovikov, master of theology Valentina Kuznetsova translated most New Testament texts from the generally recognized Greek-language scientific edition, i.e. the Greek New Testament. Stuttgart. 1993.

The Russian Orthodox Church hasn't yet expressed its official position concerning the new publication. Talking to RIA NOVOSTI, people at the Moscow patriarchy's department of external church affairs explained that the Bible's canonical Synodal translation was considered to be the best and unsurpassed version, and that all attempts to modernize the text had so far proved unsuccessful.