IBT has recently published a revised edition of the Gospel of Luke in the endangered Chukchi language, spoken by about 5,000 people on Russian’s northern Pacific rim. The Chukchi text is accompanied by the Russian Synodal translation of Luke in a parallel column. This is IBT’s fifth diglot edition of Luke among the indigenous peoples of Russia’s Far North and Far East, following similar publications in Nanai and Koryak (2012), Itelmen (2013), and Evenki (2014).  The first edition of Luke in Chukchi was published in 2004 and released with a recording on audiocassettes.

The revised edition of Luke is accompanied by a new, digital audio recording of the Chukchi text, already available on CD and soon to be available for downloading from the IBT website.

The book has already arrived in Chukotka and on March 25 it was presented at an exhibition dedicated to Orthodox books at the public library in Anadyr. The event was attended by Matthew, Archbishop of Anadyr and Chukotka, and representatives of the Chukotka Administration (Departments of Culture and Social Policy). The Chukchi translator Larysa Vykvyragtyrgyrgyna told about work on the book, which went through more than 6 stages of checking in order to achieve clarity, accuracy, and naturalness. Some of the copies of the Gospel were transferred to the district library, as well as to the Association of Small Indigenous Peoples of Chukotka. Most of the 1,000 copies will be distributed to interested readers via local churches, libraries and schools, while the PDF version of the text is already available among IBT’s electronic editions.

The Chukchi translation project is continuing to move forward, with plans for illustrated editions of Jonah and Bible Stories in the near future.