infocentre

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February 2007

“Through your work God is healing wounded souls”

At the beginning of February Fr. Igor from Tashtagol visited IBT’s office in Moscow. Fr. Igor is a young priest working among the Shors in southern Siberia. He is also helping to test the translated Bible texts in Shor. Recently he has been involved in the distribution of Bible stories – books and audio cassettes, which IBT published in September last year. Below is some feedback from Shors in his area:

Lyubov, a poet and artist, said: “Through your work God is healing wounded souls and helping our people to stand on their feet. In my family we were nine children, and five of them have gone – three committed suicide and two were killed. This is the fate of many families – alcoholism, murder and suicide. It is the problem of all our compatriots, but something is changing. If only the church could help… and help is necessary, we need leaders, sincere and honest leaders.”

Lydia is a teacher of Russian language and literature: “I am convinced that the translation is needed as a text-book for the teaching of Shor in schools. I never learned Shor as a child; therefore it is easier for me to read the Holy Scriptures in Russian. But an older friend, a woman who does not speak Russian so well, understood this translation better. Especially for older people who can read, it would be good to translate the Psalms as well, and also prayers from the prayer book… To me it is very interesting, and I am now learning Shor together with my pupils.”

Zinaida, an elderly lady, said: “I have no tape recorder, but I can read. I understand everything, except when the Miskovsky dialect is used – we are using other words in the Tashtagol dialect. Some words are new, but I understand the meaning. Imagine that the Bible is written in Shor! ... And so good that there is such a translation for children who are learning Shor at school! I gave a book to a friend who is ill and cannot go out. She cannot read, but she is listening, saying – ‘it is just as in the Bible!’ Many have asked me for books and cassettes.”

Another woman, Alexandra, commented: “It was a great joy to me to read the book and listen to the cassettes – they have used such good words. When I read the text, there were some words which I did not understand, but when I listened to the cassettes, all became clear. Those cassettes should be distributed so that many more could listen…  Older people cannot read the Bible, it is written with small letters and is very thick, but when one listens to the cassettes one understands what it is about. We have still a lot of shamanism and many who do not understand.”

Project of the month

So far the Gospel of Mark and Bible Stories have been published in Shor, as books and audio-recordings. In order to know how to proceed with the translation of other New Testament books, we will collect feedback from the readers in 2007, which will involve much travelling. Also, this year the Shor translator will work on the first 17 verses of the first chapter of John’s Gospel. These verses are read every Easter night during the Orthodox service, and to hear the Shor translation of this text should encourage people to use their language in worship.

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

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