The Struggle for a Bible in Modern Greek

Whle I was copying out the 2 Epistle to Timothy I felt the need to gain a fluent pronunciation of Greek, with the correct stress and intonation pattern. (Well, within reason, something workable, if not perfect) I have decided to follow the modern pronunciation entirely and dispense with trying to keep something which approximates the original.

I have a copy of the Greek Vamva Bible version, so I took it to work with me. At lunch I was able to get together with one of my colleagues and read through a chapter together with her. We did not have a Bible study per se but chuckled over terms like 'wordfighting' and other vivid metaphors.

Being curious about the date of the Vamva Greek Bible, I have found this great article on the Struggle for a Bible in Modern Greek. It is a Jehovah's witness site and emphasizes their role in facilitating a modern translation of the Bible in Greek. I commend to you this article.

Against this backdrop of fierce opposition and earnest yearning for Bible knowledge, there emerged a prominent figure who would play a key role in the translation of the Bible into modern Greek. This courageous person was Neofitos Vamvas, a distinguished linguist and noted Bible scholar, generally regarded as one of the "Teachers of the Nation."

Vamvas clearly saw that the Orthodox Church was to blame for the spiritual illiteracy of the people. He strongly believed that in order to awaken the people spiritually, the Bible needed to be translated into the spoken Greek of the day. In 1831, with the help of other scholars, he began translating the Bible into literary Greek. His complete translation was published in 1850. Since the Greek Orthodox Church would not support him, he collaborated with the British and Foreign Bible Society (BFBS) on the publication and circulation of his translation. The church labeled him "a Protestant," and soon he found himself an outcast.

Vamvas' rendering adhered closely to the King James Version and inherited the deficiencies of that version because of the limited Bible scholarship and linguistic knowledge of the time. Yet, for many years it was the closest thing to a Bible in modern Greek that people had access to. Interestingly, it includes the personal name of God four times, in the form "Ieová."—Genesis 22:14; Exodus 6:3; 17:15; Judges 6:24.

What was the general reaction of the people to this and other easy-to-understand versions of the Bible? Simply overwhelming! In a boat off one of the Greek islands, a colporteur of the BFBS was "so beset with boats full of children who came for [Bibles], that he was obliged . . . to order the captain to get under way" lest he should part with his whole stock in one place! But the opposition did not stand idly by.

Orthodox priests warned the people against such translations. In the city of Athens, for instance, Bibles were confiscated. In 1833, the Orthodox bishop of Crete committed to the flames the "New Testaments" he discovered at a monastery. One copy was hidden by a priest, and the people in the nearby villages hid their copies until the prelate left the island.

Some years later on the island of Corfu, Vamvas' translation of the Bible was prohibited by the Holy Synod of the Greek Orthodox Church. Its sale was forbidden, and the existing copies were destroyed. On the islands of Chios, Síros, and Mykonos, the hostility of the local clergy led to Bible burning. But further suppression of Bible translation was yet ahead.

Article continues here.

I understand from a brief discussion that the Vamva Bible is the Bible used by the Greek Orthodox Church in Vancouver, Canada. I will try to confirm this information.