By Octavian-Adrian Negoiță | Institute for the History of Religions, Romanian Academy

Description

The Bible of Șerban Cantacuzino, also known as the Bible of Bucharest (referred to as Bible here), is the first complete translation of the Scripture into the Romanian language. It is one of the most renowned and complex editorial projects that took place during the 17th century in the Danubian principalities. It is a monumental and collective work, whose production began on November 5, 1687 and finished with its publication on November 10, 1688. It comprises 932 pages to which 5 unnumbered ones were added for the prefaces of some biblical books, along with an epilogue. It is printed in Cyrilic script with black and red ink, and with the biblical texts displayed on two columns.

The red ink was reserved only for parts of the title page - i.e., words Biblia, Dumnezeiasca Scriptură “the divine Scripture,” and toate “all” (to highlight that it is a complete translation of the Bible); the names of Lords Șerban Cantacuzino (r. 1678–88) and Constantin Brâncoveanu (r. 1688–1714), alongside that of Theodosie Veștemeanu, Metropolitan of Wallachia (1668–72; 1679–1708) - and the titles of the Book of Genesis and the Gospel of Matthew, most probably, to mark the beginnings of the Old and New Testaments, alongside the decorated initial letters of their first chapters. All the other texts, ornaments, and lettrines are printed in black ink.

The ornaments are simple: a floral framing for the title page, and small ornaments placed at the beginnings and the end of the biblical books. The only elaborate decorations are those placed at the beginning of the Book of Genesis and the Gospel of Matthew, and the coat of arms of Șerban Cantacuzino, placed after the title page.

The original binding is in the style of Brâncoveanu’s period. It is of brown leather stretched on wooden barks, with small locks made of leather straps with metal hooks. The tooling shows wide borders with vegetal and anthropomorphic motifs, as well as fleurons. On the front cover there is a medallion of the icon of Christ’s Resurrection, and on the back, also in medallion, the Virgin Mary is represented with the Child, together with the Archangels Michael and Gabriel. The ornaments of the front cover are golden. The spine contains four profiled ribs, ornamented by pressing with gilded phytomorphic bands. The green tranches are printed with gilded plant elements.

After the title page, it follows the page rendering the coat of arms of Șerban Cantacuzino under which there are 8 verses authored by the Logothetes Radu Greceanu (c. 1655/60–1725), one of the translators involved in the production of the Bible, explaining the symbolism of the coat of arms. The coat of arms ilustrates a bicephalous eagle with open wings on a round shield surrounded by foliage, with a single crown over its heads, and holding in its legs a sword and a scepter; on its chest there is another heart shaped shield in which it is inscribed a raven with its head turned towards its left wing, with a cross in its beak and the Moon and Sun on the right and, respectively, the left side of its head; around the coat of arms there are letters that abbreviate the title of the lord: “I, Șerban Cantacuzino Basarab Voivod, Lord and Ruler of Wallachia”. According to Greceanu, this coat of arms indicates the legitimacy of Șerban as one destined to rule over the people, the Byzantine ancestry of his family, and the connection between the human and the divine.

As an introduction, the editors placed a letter by Șerban Cantacuzino addressed to “all that are under our dominion,” in which he explains his decision to commission the Bible in the Romanian language. Because Șerban died and was unable to see his project completed, the patronage was continued by his nephew Constantin Brâncoveanu, which also explains the inclusion of his name on the title page. After Șerban’s letter, the editors included a laudative letter to Constantine Brâncoveanu by the Patriarch of Jerusalem Dositheos II (1641–1707), in which he praises the lord’s support for the Church. It follows a table of contents that divides the biblical books into three categories: the Old Testament, Apocryphal books, and the New Testament.

A particularity of this edition of the Bible is that the editors decided to include, after the books of the Maccabees, a philosophical text by Pseudo-Josephus originally entitled the Supremacy of Reason, translated into Romanian by the erudite Nicolae Milescu Spătarul (1636–1708), whose works were influential in the production of the Bible. The epilogue is authored by Mitrofan (d. 1702), the Bishop of Huși and later of Buzău, who was the lead typographer. In this concluding text, he provides information about the dating of the editorial process and the sources used in rendering the biblical texts.

Significance

Whereas several scholars have compared the Bible with Luther’s Bible for the cultural impact it had on the old Romanian literature and religious history, others, like N. Cartojan, have praised it for being “a synthesis of all endeavors undertaken by Romanian erudite in some of the most challenged times for over three centuries in all the Danubian Principalities to dress the words of God in the robe of national language.” But regardless of these comparisons or nationalist views, it is clear from the large number of copies preserved in the repositories of public and private libraries, and in monasteries and other ecclesiastical centers, that the Bible circulated widely in Eastern and South-Eastern Europe from the 17th century onward.

As it is specified on the title page, the Bible was the result of princely patronage. After financing the printing of the Bible into Greek in Venice in 1687, Șerban Cantacuzino decided to embark on a large editorial project to print the Bible in Romanian. But because of his death, he was unable to see it fully completed. The task was continued by Constantin Brâncoveanu. A team of translators, editors, typographers and correctors was assembled by the lord, which makes the Bible the result of a collective effort. Whereas some of the people involved are mentioned between the pages of the Bible, the participation of others is a matter of debate. The epilogue mentions Mitrofan of Huși as typographer, but it was suggested that Chiriac, a Moldavian typographer involved previously in the printing of the Sluzebnik (Leitourgikon) of 1680 and the Gospels of 1682, might have also participated in the printing process. Further, Germanos of Nyssa, the director of the Greek Patriarchal Academy of Constantinople, and the Stolnik Constantin Cantacuzino (1639–1716), the brother of lord Șerban and one of the most prominent Romanian humanists, might have been themselves consulted at specific moments of the translation process.

Furthermore, the full authorship of the translation has been debated too. Although priority was given to the Greceanu brothers, Șerban and Radu, who were considered the lead translators at the time, the matter was later settled with the discovery of the manuscript MS 45 from the Library of the Romanian Academy (the Cluj branch), a direct copy of a manuscript containing the complete translation of the Old Testament into Romanian by Nicolae Milescu. This particular translation was included, with minor modifications for printing (probably by the Greceanu brothers), into the Bible. The MS 45 was copied by Dumitru of Câmpulung-Muscel at the request of Theodosie, the Metropolitan of Wallachia, under whose tenure the Bible was printed. The epilogue by Mitrofan mentions the Bible printed in Frankfurt (1597) as a source for the Bible, and this was also the edition Milescu used for his own translation, which stands as a solid proof of his participation into the translation process. If for the Old Testament the Romanian erudite turned toward Milescu’s translation, for the books of the New Testament, along with the brief introductions to the Gospels of Mark, Luke, and John, they used the New Testament printed in Bălgrad (Alba Iulia in Transylvania) in 1648. This is another reason why the Bible was considered a magnificent project that involved all the Romanian-speaking regions: Wallachia, Moldavia and Translylvania.

Regarding its language, the Bible was praised for its contribution to the replacement of Slavonic with Romanian into the Church service, due to the low number of Slavonisms included in the text, which is also indicative for their decision to simplify the language to make it more appealing for the audiences. Some scholars argued against the idea of the Bible’s decisive contribution to the introduction of the Wallachian “tongue” as basis of the literary language, and stated that the linguistic features of the Bible are in fact contrary to the traditional norms employed into the Wallachian contemporary oeuvres and they move away from the specifics of the literary Romanian language. However, it is clear that besides Wallachian linguistic characteristics, the language of the Bible includes Moldavian ones too, most probably, due to Mitrofan’s involvement. Regardless of any shortcomings, the Bible of Bucharest remains a monumental work that occupies a distinctive place in Romanian literary culture.

Further Reading

Biblia, adecă Dumnezeiasca Scriptură ale cei vechi şi ale cei noao leage toate care sau tălmăcitŭ dupre limba elinească spre înţelegerea limbii românești cu porunca Prea bunului creştinŭ şi luminatului domnŭ Ioanŭ Șărbanŭ, Catacozino Basarabŭ Voevodŭ și cu îndemnarea dumnealui Costandinŭ Brâncoveanulŭ Marele Logofătŭ [...] Tipăritusau întâiu în scaunulŭ Mitropoliei Bucureștilorŭ, în vreamia păstoriei Prea sf[i]nţutului părinte chirŭ Theodosie [...] la anulŭ dela facerea lumii, 7197 iară dela Spăseniia lumii, 1688 în luna lui noemvri în 10, zile [The Bible, that is the Divine Scripture of the Old and New Testaments. All the Books Were Translated from Greek for Understanding the Romanian Language, by the Order of Most Benevolent Christian and Learned Lord Ioan Șerban Cantacuzino Basarab Voievod and with the Guidance of Constantine Brâncoveanu the Great Logothete (...) Printed First at the Metropolitanate of Bucharest, during the Tenure of Most Holy Father Lord Theodosios (...) in the Year 7197 from the Foundation of the World and 1688 from the Salvation of the World, in the Month of November, Day 10]. Bucharest, 1688.

This is the editio princeps of the Bible of Bucharest.

Biblia, adecă Dumnezeiasca Scriptură a Vechiului și Noului Testament [...] Retipărită după 300 de ani în facsimil și transcriere [...] [The Bible, that is the Divine Scripture of the Old and New Testament (...) Reprinted after 300 Years in Facsimile and Transliteration]. Coordinated by I. C. Chițimia et al. Bucharest: Ed. Institutului Biblic și de Misiune al Bisericii Ortodoxe Române, 1988. Republished in 1997 and 2018.

Facsimile editions of the Bible with parallel transliteration into modern Romanian.

Biblia, 1688 [The Bible, 1688]. Monumenta linguae Dacoromanorum. New Series. 24 vols. Coordinated by A. Andriescu, V. Arvinte, I. Caproșu, P. Miron, E. Munteanu et al. Iași: The Publishing House of the University “Alexandru I. Cuza” of Iași, 1990-2015.

A critical edition of the Bible into multiple volumes included in the collection “Monumenta linguae Dacoromanorum,” which seeks to investigate the Romanian literary monuments that had a profound impact on Romanian culture.

Bianu, I. and N. Hodoș. Bibliografia românéscă veche, 1508-1830 [Old Romanian Bibliography, 1508-1830]. Vol. 1: 1508-1716. Bucharest: Socec, 1903, 281-291. Additions in Vol. 4: Adăogiri și Îndreptării [Additions and Corrections]. Bucharest: Socec, 1944, 206-7.

This is a fundamental work for studying the Old Romanian publications, offering general information about the chronologically-arranged works, alongside occasional translations into Romanian of prefaces, colophons or notes included into the publications.

Cartojan, N. Istoria literaturii române vechi [The History of Old Romanian Literature]. Edited by D. Simonescu and D. Zamfirescu. Bucharest: Ed. Minerva, 1980, 391-400.

This general history of Old Romanian literature is still relevant for investigating the political, religious, and cultural contexts in which Romanian literary monuments were published throughout time. The Bible is treated as an important step in the development of Romanian language.

Cândea, V. “Les Bibles grecque et roumaine de 1687-1688 et les visées impériales de Șerban Cantacuzène.” Balkan Studies 10 (1969): 351-76.

In this study, the author discusses the relation between Șerban Cantacuzino’s patronage and imperial agenda concerning the printing of the Bible in both Greek and Romanian.

Cândea, V. Rațiunea dominantă: Contribuții la istoria umanismului românesc [The Supremacy of Reason: Contributions to the History of Romanian Humanism]. Cluj-Napoca: Ed. Dacia, 1979, 106-223.

This volume includes a detailed excursus over the production of the Bible in the context of the emerging Romanian humanism. It discusses its production, sources, the circulation of texts considered for the Bible, as well as the influence of Milescu’s translation.

Chițulescu, P. Tipărituri din Țara românească în Biblioteca Sfântului Sinod [Printed Editions from Wallachia from the Library of the Holy Synod of the Romanian Patriarchate]. Bucharest: Ed. Basilica, 2009, 44-46.

This is a catalog of printed editions from Wallachia currently preserved in the collections of the Library of the Holy Synod of the Romanian Patriarchate.

Munteanu, E. “Studiu filologic” [Philological Study]. In Vechiul Testament - Septuaginta: Versiunea lui Nicolae Spătarul Milescu (Ms. 45 de la Biblioteca Filialei din Cluj a Academiei Române). Edited by E. Munteanu et al., xli-lxxvii. Iași: Ed. Universității “Alexandru Ioan Cuza”, 2016.

This is a large study about the translation of the Septuagint by Milescu, which was later included in the Bible.

Pavel, E. “Biblia de la București” [The Bible of Bucharest]. In Enciclopedia Literaturii Române Vechi [The Encyclopaedia of the Old Romanian Language]. Edited by E. Simion, 106-110. Bucharest: Fundația Națională pentru Știință și Artă and Muzeul Național al Literaturii Române, 2018.

This encyclopedic entry provides a detailed description of the Bible and its production, as well as a well-written introduction into the scholarly debates concerning its translators and sources.

Plămădeală, A. “Biblia de la București: Cine a făcut traducerea?” [The Bible of Bucharest: Who Translated It?]. Biserica Ortodoxă Română 96, no. 9-10 (1978): 1004-18.

This study offers a discussion about the authors of the translation of the Bible.

This contribution was sponsored through the 2024 Research Fellowship.