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[FIRST HEBREW GRAMMAR IN RUSSIAN] Kratkaia evreiskaia grammatika dlia obuchaiushchikhsia Sviashchennomu iazyku v Dukhovnykh uchilishchiakh [i.e. Brief Jewish Grammar for Students of the Sacred Language in Theological Schools]

Item #2345

St. Petersburg: v tipografii N. Grecha, 1818. [2], XIV, X, 126, [1] pp. 20x13 cm. Period binding, likely taken from another book. New endpapers. XIXth century inscriptions in Russian on the title page. Pencil inscription on the last leaf in Hebrew (spelling exercise). Slightly rubbed, but otherwise good. First edition.

This Hebrew grammar was composed by a priest of the Russian Orthodox Church, Gerasim Pavsky (born as Makarev; 1787–1863). He studied at the Alexander Nevsky Theological Seminary and the St. Petersburg Theological Academy. His debut publication was the essay "Review of the Book of Psalms, Archaeological, Philological and Hermeneutic Experience" (1814). Soon after, he became a professor of Hebrew language at St. Petersburg University in 1818 and published this grammar. The next year he was also appointed a professor of theology.

Gerasim Pavsky was one of the translators of the Russian Bible Society. In the late 1810s, the translation had begun and Pavsky was entrusted to adapt the Gospel of Matthew to Russian instead
of Church-Slavonic language. While teaching at the Academy, Gerasim Pavsky read his own translations of fragments from the Old Testament and undertook adaptation of some texts. When arranging texts, he was guided by chronology, which violated the accepted order of the Old Testament canon.
In 1824, the authorities suspended the adaptation of the Bible to Russian and closed the Russian Bible Society as “related to mystical false teachings”. In 1826, Gerasim Pavsky was appointed tutor of law for the young son of Nicholas I, Alexander who later became emperor Alexander II. Nine years later some metropolitans succeeded in removing him from the post. Soon leading figures of the Orthodox Church received an anonymous denunciation about lithographed copies of the Russian translation of the teaching and prophetic books of the Old Testament that circulated among students of theological academies. The Holy Synod investigated the case and found out that it was Pavsky, whose educational translations from the Hebrew language were reproduced by students of the St. Petersburg Theological Academy using lithography. It caused severe criticism toward him.

Pavsky used the Masoretic text of the Hebrew Bible only. After all, he wasn’t blamed for the translation itself, as there was no official ban on the Russian adaptation. The main charges brought against Pavsky were based on his brief comments and on an unconventional text arrangement that was closer to contemporary Western biblical studies. He declined from the church tradition in understanding the key prophecies of the Old Testament, distorted basic Christian truths, and encroached on church traditions and foundations. Pavsky was a proponent of a "pure" translation from the Hebrew text. This caused controversial issues exposing changes made by the Orthodox Church over the centuries. Pavsky was considered a scientist who had excellent knowledge of Hebrew and Russian. His adaptation of the Bible was published and used since the early years of the rule of Alexander II. The textbook was reprinted at the Synod printing shop in 1822 and 1855.

Worldcat shows the only copy located in Jewish Theological Seminary.

Price: $4,500.00