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April 2006

“I have never cried so much in my life as when I read in my mother tongue what Jesus said when he died on the cross”

The Gospel of Luke for the peoples of Kamchatka

“It is always a special joy when an ethnic group receives the Gospel in their mother tongue for the first time,” says Marianne Beerle-Moor, director of IBT Russia/CIS. “This happened on 14 February 2006 when the Gospel of Luke in Koryak was introduced to the Koryaks in Petropavlovsk, the main city of Kamchatka. For the first time in the history of IBT the local authorities took a very active part in the project: the Governor himself financed an audio recording of Koryak Luke, and it was he who organised the presentation and invited us to faraway Kamchatka, nine hours by plane from Moscow. I travelled with the translator, Aleftina Zhukova, and the philological checker, Valentina Dednik, joined us from Palana.”

The Kamchatka peninsula (one and a half times the size of Italy) has mainly three ethnic groups – the Itelmens, the Evens and the Koryaks. As is the case with all peoples of the North, they suffer from poverty and alcoholism and their lives are without hope. Shamanism is strong and people live in fear. The Governor is new to his post and wants to provide a better future for his people. He believes that the Gospel translated into their languages will help to bring the minorities out of their darkness. Together with the Orthodox bishop and local churches of different denominations he is even engaged in the distribution of the printed Gospels.

In 2002 and 2003 IBT published Luke’s Gospel for the Evens and the Itelmens, and now it was the turn of the Koryaks to have their Gospel of Luke. “Koryaks, Itelmens and Evens took part in the presentation,” Marianne reported. “An Itelmen woman came up to me and told me that she sings the Gospel text with her drum, as is their tradition. She said: ‘I have never cried so much in my life as when I read in my mother tongue what Jesus said when he died on the cross - Father, into your hands I commend my spirit.’

 “The next day we heard the shocking news that the sister of our main Koryak editor, Valentina, had been killed on the day of the presentation. The reaction of the local people was: ‘This is punishment by the spirits because of our new faith.’ But the translator, Aleftina, said: ‘Now it is clear that we definitely need to continue our work!’ Several people asked us to go on with Bible translation into the languages of Kamchatka because they want next the Gospel of John and Bible stories for children.

 “Kamchatka is a very special area,” Marianne commented. “In this land of live volcanoes and hot springs everywhere, with people more open to the spiritual world of good and evil, one cannot help being greatly impressed and motivated to continue with Bible translation. But for this new exegetical checkers and funds are needed!”

Project of the month

Please support the Bible translation for the peoples of Kamchatka with your gift this month.

Here you can sign for the IBT Russia/CIS monthly English Newsletter

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