The Bible in Russia: A Short Hristory Bible texht arose about 863 in Moravia in the course of
missionary activity of Sts. Cyril and Methodius. It reaches East European Slavs at the end
of the 10th century together with a bulk of Christian sources in Slavonic produced in Bulgaria during the 10th century. According to the Byzantine rite, NT, mostly in a lectionary
form, and exhcerpts from OT books (prophetologion, paroimiarion) were used in divine
service. In private use OT was read in its exhplanatory version corresponding to that of
Glossa ordinaria of the Latin tradition. Te complete Slavonic Bible was for the frst time
compiled in Novgorod in 1499, using the printed Vulgate as a pattern; the missing books
were translated into Slavonic from Latin by monk Benjamen of Prague Emmaus monastery. In 1517–19 in Prague, Francisk Skorina of Polotsk printed 23 Slavonic Bible books
translated from a Czech edition. In 1581 Ivan Fedorov printed in Ostrog (Ostrih) the full
Bible using the Novgorod MS, but the books translated from Latin were translated anew
from Greek. In 1751 a new corrected edition of the Slavonic version was prepared, which
is still in use today. Some time later the work on a Russian version began. Te fnal Russian version was published only in 1875, with OT translated from the Masoretic texht.