In the Empire, by 425 there was a fully functioning elementary school system and an Imperial university at Constantinople. It is estimated that 50% of the population, including peasants, not merely the city dwellers and soldiers, were literate. The Scriptures were written in the mother tongues of the people, mostly Greek but also Aramaic, Syriac, Armenian, Georgian, Ge’ez, Coptic, etc. Of course, once the Slavs became Christian, it became a matter of both Church and State urgency that Scripture be translated into their vernacular...and a whole written language was created for that (as were the two Coptic dialects, also from Greek).
The idea that reading the bible in the vernacular was the gift of the Protestant Revolution is absolute, Western parochial nonsense.
It would be interesting to know if these schools were staffed by clerics and religious. That would be historical evidence that the Church certainly was not trying to prevent the laity from reading Scripture.
Bible Possession Once Banned by the Catholic Church!
ITEM #2 COUNCIL OF TOULOUSE - 1229 A.D.
The Council of Toulouse, which met in November of 1229, about the time of the crusade against the Albigensians, set up a special ecclesiastical tribunal, or court, known as the Inquisition (Lat. inquisitio, an inquiry), to search out and try heretics. Twenty of the forty-five articles decreed by the Council dealt with heretics and heresy. It ruled in part:
Canon 1. We appoint, therefore, that the archbishops and bishops shall swear in one priest, and two or three laymen of good report, or more if they think fit, in every parish, both in and out of cities, who shall diligently, faithfully, and frequently seek out the heretics in those parishes, by searching all houses and subterranean chambers which lie under suspicion. And looking out for appendages or outbuildings, in the roofs themselves, or any other kind of hiding places, all which we direct to be destroyed.
Canon 6. Directs that the house in which any heretic shall be found shall be destroyed.
Canon 14. We prohibit also that the laity should be permitted to have the books of the Old or New Testament; unless anyone from motive of devotion should wish to have the Psalter or the Breviary for divine offices or the hours of the blessed Virgin; but we most strictly forbid their having any translation of these books.
Source: Heresy and Authority in Medieval Europe, Edited with an introduction by Edward Peters, Scolar Press, London, copyright 1980 by Edward Peters, ISBN 0-85967-621-8, pp. 194-195, citing S. R. Maitland, Facts and Documents [illustrative of the history, doctrine and rites, of the ancient Albigenses & Waldenses], London, Rivington, 1832, pp. 192-194.
But of course the English had to wait for the Reformation for a vernacular Gospel!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Old_English_Bible_translations
;)
Perhaps they confuse the writing with the printing.
“The idea that reading the bible in the vernacular was the gift of the Protestant Revolution is absolute, Western parochial nonsense.”
Thanks so for this. Wonders never cease as to the errors of the prots, especially contradiction of simple history.
“”The Scriptures were written in the mother tongues of the people, mostly Greek””
There is good evidence that even OT Scripture was translated to Greek in 300 Bce. So, for the KJV to try and use Hebrew in many cases was ridiculous considering there was many versions of Hebrew and the language of the times was Greek
Here is a good article from UPENN
The Significance of Greek for Jews in the Roman Empire
http://ccat.sas.upenn.edu/rak//publics/notrak/Treu.htm
Excerpt...
Whether it is a special case or not, in the 3rd century BCE the Jewish community in Alexandria had not only made the transition to Greek, they had also given up the native Aramaic to such an extent that a translation of the Torah into Greek became necessary. The fact that we hear nothing about the process of this linguistic transformation suggests that it had taken place gradually and without incident. We can also only conjecture why this happened: The Jews had already accomplished one change in language when they adopted Aramaic, the universal business language. The division between Hebrew, the language of cult and sacred scripture, and the practical everyday language was already familiar to them. Now one business language was being replaced by another, just as Greek was later replaced by Latin in Rome.