20-24 septembrie 2009 - Biblioteca Metropolitana Bucuresti

Arabic biblical and liturgical texts printed in Europe... 177After Savary’s departure, the Maronite College ran their own pressbetween 1620 and 1625, but their books were all bilingual texts 16 intendedprimarily for use in Rome, rather than for Lebanon. They in turn gave wayin 1626 to the new press of the Sacra Congregatio de Propaganda Fide. Thisbody had been founded in 1622, specifically to promote Roman Catholicdoctrine among heretics and infidels, including those in the Middle East.It turned its attention immediately to printing, and by 1626 had its ownprinting-office, with Arabic types, and an official monopoly of Arabicprinting in Rome. 17Between 1627 and the end of the 18 th century, the Propaganda presspublished a long series of Arabic books intended for use in the Middle East(as well as some for European students and scholars). At first the emphasiswas on catechisms and devotional and doctrinal tracts, but the importanceof liturgical and Biblical texts was also recognized. Printed versions ofthese were more than once specifically requested by senior churchmenin the Middle East: in 1626, the Melkite Archbishop of Aleppo asked thePope for sound versions of the Scriptures, to counteract the dangers ofthe Protestant versions which were by then in circulation 18 ; in 1638, thePatriarch of Antioch had expressed a need for large quantities of printedArabic Euchologia and Horologia for use in local churches, and was willingto pay for them 19 . The Melkites continued to make such requests well intothe 18 th century, but the Roman Propaganda was reluctant to supply them. 20Meanwhile, the Protestant publications which the Catholics fearedhad begun to be produced and distributed, first in the Netherlands in theearly 17 th century, by the great Dutch Arabic scholar Thomas Erpenius. Heestablished his own press in Leiden in 1615, and from its inception it wasemployed in printing extracts from the Bible 21 . In 1616 he published thefirst printed edition of the complete Arabic New Testament. 22 These Arabictexts were not encumbered with Latin versions, and were therefore suitablefor use in the Middle East; their small, portable format also made themsuitable for export.16Gdoura, 1983: 45.17Huonder, 1923: 110; Henkel, 1971: 335-336.18Text of document given in Henkel, 1977: 42-43.19Text of document given in Henkel, 1977: 60.20Nasrallah, 1948: 14; Raquez, 1973: 518; Balagna, 1984: 96; Gdoura, 1985:51&133.21E.g. [Bible: N.T.: Romans.] Risālat Bawlus al-Rasūl ilá ahl Rawmīyah / PauliApostoli ad Romanos Epistola, Arabice, 1615, Leiden: Typographia Erpeniana.22[Bible: N.T.] Al-ʿAhd al-Jadīd li-Rabbinā Yasūʿ al-Masīḥ / Novum D.N. JesuChristi Testamentum, Arabice, 1616, Leiden: Typographia Erpeniana.