Folia Theologica 9. (1998)
György Benyik: Hungarian Bible Translation
214 GY. BENYIK The Fragments of Early Hungarian Translations As a result of tragic events in Hungarian history a lot of early Hungarian literature was lost. Consequently, no records of earliest Bible translations are extant, but there are documents to prove that Hungarian Bible translation began at the time of the nation’s conversion to Christianity. The first and most diligent Christian missionary was KING ST. STEPHEN himself, who established the Christian Church in Hungary. Since the people wanted to understand what was being said in the church, translation of the Bible became necessary. Chapter 19 of St. Stephen’s Book of Law declares: „those who mumble during the Holy Mass instead of listening to the readings, or murmur instead of leaving the others alone, or talk, must be chased out of the church. If they are under age, they must be beaten. ” This ordinance implies that readings of the Scripture were given and explained to people in Hungarian, or at least the priests had to preach in Hungarian. We know that the Italian born bishop of Csanád, ST. GERARD preached with the help of an interpreter. The National Synod of Esztergom in 1114 declared that every Sunday the Scripture, the Gospel and the Creed had to be read and explained in Hungarian. The decree of the Synod made sense only if Hungarian lectionaries and books with biblical passages had existed by that time. In Hungarian convents table readings, Psalms, extracts from the Bible and legends of the saints were also regularly read, but not all of the monks knew Latin and especially not nuns, serving brothers and sisters. For them Hungarian codices were written, similar to the breviaries in use today. The Ancient Hungarian Lamentation of Mary (Ómagyar Máriasiralom) and the Funeral Oration (Halotti beszéd)2 show signs of biblical knowledge. As they are very rich in biblical references they could have only been read to, and understood by, an audience which had heard the biblical stories in Hungarian. 2 JAKUBOVICH, E.-PAIS, D. Ómagyar olvasókönyv. Pécs, 1929.
