This morning I decided to see what I could find out about a 1905 Russian edition of the works of Methodius of Olympus (d.311 AD), which I obtained in PDF form from a library in Chicago a year or so back.<\/p>\n
Now I don’t know any Russian … not even the alphabet.\u00a0 But I have tools at my disposal to help me!<\/p>\n
First of all, we have Google Translate.\u00a0 This will give us something, and we can even enter corrections as we go along.\u00a0 We also have the ability to enter unicode using Charmap.\u00a0 Finally modern software like Abbyy Finereader 12 does a remarkable job.<\/p>\n
I started with the title page.\u00a0 I didn’t actually get much from this, except for a reference to “complete” and “Greek”.\u00a0 So it’s probably an edition of the complete works, translated from Greek or something.<\/p>\n
On the reverse of the title page, I got this:<\/p>\n
\n\u041e\u0442\u044a \u0421.-\u041f\u0435\u0442\u0435\u0440\u0431\u0443\u0440\u0433\u0441\u043a\u0430\u0433\u043e \u0414\u0443\u0445\u043e\u0432\u043d\u0430\u0433\u043e \u0426\u0435\u043d\u0437\u0443\u0440\u043d\u0430\u0433\u043e \u041a\u043e\u043c\u0438\u0442\u0435\u0442\u0430 \u043f\u0435\u0447\u0430\u0442\u0430\u0442\u044c \u0434\u043e\u0437\u0432\u043e\u043b\u044f\u0435\u0442\u0441\u044f. \u0421.-\u041f\u0435\u0442\u0435\u0440\u0431\u0443\u0440\u0433\u044a, 27-\u0433\u043e \u0456\u044e\u043b\u044f 1904 \u0433.<\/p>\n
\u0426\u0435\u043d\u0437\u043e\u0440\u044a, \u0406\u0435\u0440\u043e\u043c\u043e\u043d\u0430\u0445\u044a \u0410\u043b\u0435\u043a\u0441\u0430\u043d\u0434\u0440\u044a.<\/p>\n
\u0421\u0438\u0431. \u0422\u0438\u043f\u043e\u043b\u0438\u0442\u043e\u0433\u0440\u0430\u0444\u0456\u044f \u041c. II. \u0424\u0440\u043e\u043b\u043e\u0432\u043e\u0439. \u0406’\u0430\u043b\u0435\u0440\u043d\u0430\u044f, 6.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n
Erm, yes.<\/p>\n
So I popped it into Google Translate.\u00a0 I got this:<\/p>\n
\nOt<\/span> St.<\/span> Peterburgskago<\/span> of spiritual<\/span> Tsenzurnago<\/span> Committee<\/span> is permitted<\/span> to print<\/span>. St.<\/span> Peterburg<\/span>, 27th<\/span> \u0456yulya<\/span> 1904<\/span>
\nTsenzor<\/span>, \u0406eromonah<\/span> Alexandre<\/span>.
\nSib<\/span>. Tipolitograf\u0456ya<\/span> M.<\/span> II.<\/span> Frolova.<\/span> \u0406’alernaya<\/span> <<\/span>5.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\nOK…\u00a0 But hang on…<\/p>\n
Surely “Ieromonah” is “Hieromonk”?\u00a0 And I wonder, O I wonder, what “Tsenzor” could mean?\u00a0 It must be pronounced “Censor”!\u00a0 Which means that “Tsenzurnago”, combined with “Committee of spiritual Tsenzurnago”\u00a0is probably “Committe of spiritual censorship”!<\/p>\n
So the notice must mean that this is permission to print, issued by the St Petersburg committee for spiritual censorship, signed by the Hieromonk Alexander, Censor.<\/p>\n
The text has not scanned perfectly.\u00a0 “I'” should actually be \u0413, and “<5” is actually “6”.\u00a0 That makes the last line:<\/p>\n
\nSib<\/span>. Tipolitograf\u0456ya<\/span> M.<\/span> II.<\/span> Frolova.<\/span> Galernaya<\/span> 6<\/span>.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n
Which is probably something to do with the address of the printer.<\/p>\n
Now this is a little thing, in a way: except consider what it means.\u00a0 All we need to make progress is some industry.\u00a0 If I started looking words up, and learning a bit about the language, I would soon learn even more.\u00a0 All I need is time and industry.<\/p>\n
And … candidly … it’s quite fun!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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