Portions of the Book of Common Prayer in Armeno-Turkish (1880)
London: Gilbert and Rivington for the Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge, 1880.

Ingilteranun ve irlandanun Birleshmish kiliselerinin Sabah ve akhsham Duvalarunun ve Soorp Haghortootyoonun Vaftizin istintakun trosh moon kayde Leri ingiliz jeden shahanyan kerabadiv Mgrdich ark Eblsoon eli hile Tyurkjeye terjiime olmooshdoor.
London: Kristyan nolej shirkeqinin hiwmmetiyele tab oloondoo, 1880.

Download this volume in Adobe Acrobat format

Contents

The Order for Morning Prayer 3-21
The Order for Evening Prayer 22-35
The Athanasian Creed 36-40
The Litany 41-52
The Order for Holy Communion 53-89
The Public Baptism of Infants 91-103
The Thanksgiving of Women after Childbirth 105-109
The Catechism 109-120
The Order of Confirmation 121-125
The Form of Solemnization of Matrimony 127-141
The Order for Burial of the Dead 142-150

Historical introduction

William Muss Arnolt discusses this translation of the portions of the Book of Common Prayer in The Book of Common Prayer among the Nations of the World:

” It is to be regretted that there has been a divergence in language among the modern Armenians. Only a few, even among the clergy, understand the difficult classical Armenian. In Modern Armenian there are two dialects which differ considerably, the Eastern, or Ararat dialect, and the Western. Many have altogether given up the use of their native tongue. In many parts of the eastern highlands Kurdish has become the prevalent language. Still greater is the number of those who have adopted Turkish, which, however, with the inconsistency peculiar to many Orientals, who retain their written characters longer than their language itself, they write in Armenian script. This Armeno-Turkish has developed into a separate mixed dialect."

In this mixed dialect portions of the Prayer Book were translated by Mëgërdich Shahanian, who had been Armenian bishop of Aintab, in Cilicia, and joined the Anglican Church in connection with the vigorous Protestant propaganda promoted by Bishop Gobat of Jerusalem in 1863. Mëgërdich succeeded in attracting a good many members to his congregation, for whom primarily his translation was made. It appeared in 1880 from the press of the S.P.C.K., Gilbert and Rivington, printers, London. 150 pages, 16mo. Its title, in transliteration, reads:

Ingilteranin va Irlandarin | Birlashmish kilisalarīnin | sabah va akhsham | Duwalarinin | va | Surp haghortutyunin | Vaptīzin Istinta~in Troshmun Kā’idalarī | Inglizjadan Shāhāniān Gerabadiv Migirdich ark Yeblsūn alī īla Turkchaya tarjuma olmushdur. | London. | Kristian Nalijshirkatinin hūmmatī | īla Tab ’Olūndū. | 1880.

“The Morning and Evening Prayers of the United Churches of England and Ireland. And the forms of the Holy Communion, Baptism, Catechism and Confirmation. They are translated from English into Turkish by Shahanian, under the direction of the venerable Ark Yeblsun. London: Under the auspices of Christian Knowledge Society.”

Of the translator the late Bishop Gobat says:

”My fourth missionary is my dear brother Megherditsch, formerly an Archbishop of the Armenian Church. For the last five years he has had the charge of the Protestant Episcopal congregation at Aintab, where, I believe, he was born and where for twelve years he held the office of Bishop. Besides discharging the duties of his pastoral office, Archbishop Megherditsch maintains an extensive correspondence with a great number of priests who are dissatisfied with the state of their own church, and who, with their congregations, would like to follow his example and join the English Church. . . ."

David Griffiths identifies this translation as No. 183:3 in The Bibliography of the Book of Common Prayer 1549-1999 (London: The British Library; New Castle, Delaware: Oak Knoll Press, 2002).

It was digitized in July 2010 by Richard Mammana from a personal copy.