Church, unless it desire to abide by its custom of using the ancient Slavonic and quoting from that, might easily bring Dani^iij's version into conformity with its rules. The Catholic Church may do the same. ... It is not worthy of praise that, with so many bishops of both churches, it shoidd have been left to the British and Foreign Bible Society to produce a more popular translation than we have had hitherto. If things are allowed to remain as they are now, no prohibitions will be of any avail. The people will grasp at this transla- tion, unless an authentic one be provided for them." That the writer in that journal was correct in his an- ticipation may be seen from the fact that up to JIarch 30, 1878, 132,109 copies of the Servian version had been distributed.
6. Croatian Version. — TYiz Servians and Croatians speak the same language, the only difference being in the written characters. The Servians belong almost without exception to the Greek Church, and use a modi- fied Cyrillian character, while- the Croats, having re- ceived instruction in the Christian religion originally from Latin priests, belong in general to the Roman Catholic Church, and use the Roman character. A translation of the gospels into Croatian, or Dalmato- Servian, by Bandulovitch, appeared at Venice in 1613, but never obtained much circulation." In 1640 a Jesuit, by name Bartholomew Cassio, prepared a translation of the entire Scriptures, but it never was printed. After the lapse of another centurj', Stephen Rosa, a Roman Catholic priest, executed a new translation, which he forwarded to the pope with the request that it might be used in all the churches instead of the Old Slavonic ver- sion ; but at the consideratioi> of a committee appoint- ed by the pope, the project was formally rejected in 1754. At length, in 1832, by the renewed efforts of the Romish Church and the zealous aid of the deceased primate of Hungary, cardinal Rudnay, another version was com- pleted and permitted to pass through the press. It was
I printed in Roman letters, and was at once adopted by
i the Roman Catholics of Dalmatia and Croatia. This
I version, translated from the Vidg., and rendered con-
I formable in all points to the dogmas of the Romish
1 Church, was executed by Katancsich, a Franciscan
I monk and professor. An entire new translation was
commenced by Mr. Kara(l<ji9, completed by jSIr. Dani-
I (;i(; in 1868, and published in 1869. In 1877 an edition
of tlie Old and New Tests, was commenced by Dr. Su-
! lek, with the orthography revised and obsolete words
changed. Of this revised edition the New Test, was
published in 1878, which proves to be more acceptable
because more intelligible than formerly. Altogether
the British and Foreign Bible Society had circulated up
to March 30, 1878, 52,025 copies of the Croatian version.
7. Slovenian Version. — Slovenian is a dialect spoken in the Austrian provinces of Carinthia, Carniola, and Styria, and has been the vernacular of these regions since the 5th century, but was never embodied in a written form till towards the epoch of the Reformation. The first who wrote in this dialect was Trulier, a canon and curate of several places in Carniola and Carinthia. In his endeavors to give to his peo|)le the Bible in the vernacular, he met with so much discouragement and opposition that he was obliged to take refuge with Christopher, duke of Wiirtemberg. Here he completed his translation, the first portion of which was the Gospel of Matthew, piiblisheti at Tiibingen in Roman letters in 1555, while the entire New Test, was completed at press in 1557. Dalmatin, who assisted Truber, translated the Old Test,, and an edition of the entire Scriptures in Slovenian was printed under his direction, with the aid of Melancthon, in 1584. This edition was designed for the Protestants of Carinthia and Carniola, who were then very numerous; but they have been exterminated by the .Jesuits, and almost all the co])ies of this edition seem to have been destroyed. In 1784 a version of the Scriptures for the use of Roman Catholics was printed at Laybach, it being executed from the Vulg. by George
SLAVONIC VERSIONS
806
SLAVONIC VERSIONS
Japel. This version has since been reprintetl. About the year 1817 anotlier version is said to have been pre- pared by Havnikar. a Homaii Catholic divine at Laybach. Of late, however, the British and Foreign Bible Society has undertaken a new translation of the New Test, into this dialect, made directly from the (ireek. In 1870 the sixty-sixth A miitul Report of that society announced the publication of the gospels of Matthew and Mark. Al- thouirh the most violent opposition has been awakened by the circulation of these gospels, not a word has been uttered which could lead to the supposition that the translation is in any degree a failure. In 1871 an edi- tion of the four gospels and the Acts of the Apostles was published, which was followed in 1^75 by an edition of 2000 copies of the Epistle to the Romans, and in 1877 by the publication of three additional epistles. Of the Old Test, the Psalms are prepared for publication. Al- together the British and Foreign Bible Society has cir- culated in about eight j'ears 23,500 copies of the New Test., the best evidence of the timely undertaking of this version.