The Translation of 1cor 14:5–39 According to Vita Constantini-Cyrilli Xvi:2–57

Abstract

Chapter XVI: 2–57 of Vita Constantini-Cyrilli offers an unabridged translation of a lengthy passage from apostle Paul’s First letter to the Corinthians (14: 5–9). The Old Church Slavonic translation closely follows the Byzantine redaction of the Greek original; 5 variants are found, which are not covered in the Nestle/ Aland edition of the New Testament. While the Old Church Slavonic translation is a good example for the Bible tanslations made by Cyrill and Method in preparation of their Moravian mission, it poses two questions. The first question is related to the condition, the text is preserved in the transmitted copies of Vita Cyrilli. Sometimes the correct Old Church Slavonic translation of the Greek source can only been reached by a re-combination of the extent reading variants from different manuscripts. It can be asked why no copyist of Vita Cyrilli bothered to compare the text, he was copying, with a sound Church Slavonic translation, which had been possible, at least, after the appearance of printed Slavonic Bibles. The second question is related to the function, the lengthy translation may have in the context of Vita Cyrilli. Being an example for the high quality of the first Slavic Bible translation of Cyrill and Method, it may have been included into Vita Cyrilli originally in company with the Greek original. Additionally, the topic of ‘speech and language’ seems related to the narrative context of Vita Cyrilli, where the Venetian clergy promotes the theory of “Holy three languages”. The paper suggests, that the argument of “Holy three languages” has a more ‘nationalistic’ meaning here in comparison to Vita Cyrilli XV: 5, where the argument had already been used by the clergy of Salzburg.