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End in sight for Septuagint
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| Archpriest Kinfe Gabriel of the Ethiopian Orthodox Church is one of the team working on the translation of the Septuagint into Amharic. Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. Photo: Norwegian BS/Dag Smemo (ETH05DJ-173.JPG) |
Story and photos by UBS photojournalist Dag Smemo
ETHIOPIA — “We are greatly looking forward to this new translation,” says Archpriest Kinfe Gabriel, a priest in the Ethiopian Orthodox Church, of the translation of the Septuagint into Amharic, the country’s principal modern language among its 83 spoken languages. Originally an initiative of the Orthodox Church itself, this translation project has in its later stages received strong support from the United Bible Societies.
Important
“This is an important translation for the Orthodox Church,” he continues. “All the texts we use in our services are translated from the Septuagint. We have two old translations into Amharic, but we are pleased that we will be getting a new one.”
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| Women attending a Bible class at the St George Ethiopian Orthodox church in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. Photo: Norwegian BS/Dag Smemo (ETH05DJ-325.JPG) |
There are now four people working full-time on this collaborative venture, including Dr Ammanuel Mikre-Sellassie, a retired UBS Translation Consultant. Thanks to their commitment, a project whose origins date back to 1980 should be completed within the next three years.
At 68, Father Kinfe has waited a long time for the new translation. The importance of having a modern, understandable translation has always been clear to him:
“The Bible speaks of life and speaks into our lives,” he says. “The first chapter of John’s Gospel, in particular, allows us to gaze into life and eternity.”
This report relates to projects ETH05003 and ETH018. (WR 396/14 - 09/10.05) [3 photos]