The Book of Mormon in Russian

THE BOOK OF MORMON IN RUSSIAN

By Elder A. Z. Richards, Jr.

THERE are few countries in the world which have not yet had the restored Gospel taken to their shores. One of them is Russia. Only recently has Russia’s political attitude toward religion changed considerably. It now appears as though the way is opening for an entrance of the message of the restoration into that great part of northern Europe.

That great expanse of land, its people, and their customs are familiar to Brother Andre K. Anastasiou. He, himself, is a Russian, having been born in Odessa on October 13, 1894. That date is according to the Georgian calendar which was 12 days behind our calendar, which, however, has not been used in Russia since the War.

At “Townshott,” the snug little home of the Anastasiou’s in Great Bookham, Surrey, Brother Anastasiou spends his spare time reading and translating Russian as an avocation. His arduous task, during the past several years, has been that of translating the Book of Mormon into the Russian tongue. At the request of Dr. James E. Talmage he began in 1925. Dr. Talmage was then president of the European Mission, and a member of the council of the Twelve Apostles. A Book of Mormon with President Talmage’s signature on the fly-leaf is among the books which Brother Anastasiou prizes in his library. Its 522 pages of English print will make considerably more pages in Russian. To an Englishman, the words look like a conglomeration of extracts from the English and Greek alphabets.

How would you like to copy 500 pages of the Bible in long hand? Much more tedious is the task of translating a similar amount of text. Brother Anastasiou finished his translation some time ago, which produced 1,200 pages written compactly in ink on both sides of looseleaf paper. The 2,400 pages of writing make a manuscript about 5 inches thick, written pages also represent about five years’ work, able to translate only during his spare time which limited work to the evening and early morning hours.

At the present time, Brother Anastasiou is engaged in the task of checking and typing the Russian manuscript. He expects to have it finished soon and then will have it re-checked by experts in London.

When the time came that Brother Anastasiou needed a typewriter to make his final copy, he was unable to purchase a new one because of the prohibitive cost. However, he purchased a small English machine. No sooner had he bought that typewriter than again he enquired at another shop for a Russian machine. After being informed that he could probably obtain one only by ordering it new, he prepared to leave when the clerk pulled from the dusty files a box containing old typewriter parts. From amongst its varied contents he withdrew a set of Russian type with keyboard. As it was of little value without the other part of the machine, the customer bought it at a bargain price. Unusual is the fact that that very keyboard fit perfectly into his other machine which was made for interchangeable sets of type with keyboard, although it was manufactured by an entirely different company, and there were probably few in London like it.

This incident, with many others has enabled the translation to continue uninterrupted. Brother Anastasiou recalls how he read about Joseph Smith, how during the Prophet’s sacred work a burning within his breast dispelled every doubt when passages were correct, but how the feeling of uneasiness always accompanied a slight error in his work and would not leave until the passage was correct. In answer to prayers, similar assistance has been granted the translator of the Russian volume by the Holy Spirit, during his work of translation. Often has Brother Anastasiou felt the warmth imparted by the Spirit only when a passage is correct, and also the feeling which the Divine Companion gives when testifying that the passage is not correct. The life of Brother Anastasiou, since he left his homeland in 1914 reads like a book, every chapter of which makes the reader feel that some supreme purpose is behind it all. He recalls distinctly the afternoon of May 18, 1914, when, cap in hand, he. said farewell to his mother. He was going abroad, but where, he could not tell her. The beginning of the War found him swinging a miner’s pick in the mines at Morlanwiez, Belguim. From the coal pits he made his way across the battlefields to Brussels. From there he slipped through the military lines to Ghent, thence to the briny shores at Ostend. It was here that he paid for passage to Folkestone.

Soon after his arrival in England Andre purchased an English grammar and attended night school, where he learned the language. Within three years after arriving in England he heard the Gospel. Six months later on May 18, 1917, he was baptized. Within a year after baptism, he served on a short term mission in London. To-day he is president of the London District in the British Mission.

When the time comes to introduce the Gospel to Russia, its missionaries will take with them the record of the Nephites, and the Russian people will read it in their native tongue. This will have been made possible by a native of that country who heard and accepted the message of Mormonism.