Tra Slavonismo e Riforma: la traduzione di Sommo sacerdote nel Tetraevangelo slavo-rumeno di Sibiu (1551-'53)

The Slavo-Rumanian Tetraevangelion of Sibiu was the first version of the Gospels to be printed with parallel text in Church Slavonic and Rumanian, around the 1550. It marked the beginning of a new phase in relations between Lutheranism and Orthodoxy in Transylvania. Such a bilingual version of the Gospel with typiconal indications, was ostensibly intended to combine the formal respect of the orthodox tradition with the vulgarization of the Bible (which was a primary objective of the Lutherans but also increasingly needed by the lower orthodox clergy). In the way it renders the gr. ἀρχιερεύς “high priest”, the old Rumanian text printed in the Tetraevangelion seems to reflect several influences, exceeding the boundaries of the biblical traditions. Though difficult to prove, a contribution of the Transylvanian vulgares linguae (Hungarian, Siebenbürgisch-Sächsisch and Rumanian) and/or of the chancery Slavonic, seems to be the most plausible explanation. One thing is certain: neither the Slavonic nor the Lutheran tradition of the Gospels show such a variety of renderings for high priest as do the Rumanian text of this Tetraevangelion.