The Institute for Bible Translation has released a new edition of the Gospel of Luke in the Nanai language. The previous edition was published in 2002. This year, IBT received a request from the Orthodox Metropolitan Ignatius of Khabarovsk and Priamur to reprint the translation of the Gospel of Luke in the Nanai language, accompanied by a parallel Russian Synodal translation.
In the introduction to the new edition Hieromonk Nikanor (Lepeshev), the Head of the ROC Khabarovsk and Priamur Metropolitan Commission on work with the indigenous peoples noted that "the first translations of the Bible into the languages of the Far Eastern aborigines were made in the 19th century by Orthodox missionaries. For this purpose alphabets were created for the Evenki (Tungus), Evens (Lamuts) and Nanais (Golds). Thus, these Far Eastern peoples obtained their scripts through the Orthodox Church. And the first book written and published in their languages was the sacred Gospel texts and Christian prayers. "
There are some pre-revolutionary translations of the Gospels in the languages of the indigenous inhabitants of the Amur region, made with the blessing of St. Innocent (Benjaminov), including: The Gospel of Matthew in Nanai (Golds) translated by Fr. Procopius Protodiakonov (1884), which has undeniable value as a historical and cultural monument, but for several reasons it is no longer useful for large-scale reading and distribution. Therefore the choice of the diocese when ordering a reissue was made in favour of the IBT translation.
The staff of the Institute for Bible Translation were pleased to learn that the book is in demand and that there is a need to release it again in a new format, which will bring the translation closer to the reader. The new edition of the Bible in the mother tongue of the local population, as a diglot, will help the clergy in their education work, serving as a link in a bilingual environment, and finally will become a tool for studying Nanai for those of its speakers who have partially lost their ancestral language.
Soon, IBT plans to work in collaboration with the Khabarovsk and Priamur Diocese on the audio recording of the Nanai text as well as on the continuation of the Nanai translation project.