He said, “Yes, and something about fingers.” And they began saying them together, very softly, so as not to wake anyone:
O Lord, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth. . .
And they continued weaving words until they went to sleep.
The Apostle Julia
In the libraries of Michigan and Dublin dwell the treasures that Sir Alfred Chester Beatty collected throughout his life. Among the works of art and rare pieces, there is also a collection of Islamic, Persian and Chinese texts, including several papyri from the Old and New Testaments.
Only one of the three New Testament papyri interests us at this time, the so-called P 46, which contains the Epistles of Paul. And from this papyrus, verse 7 of chapter 16 of the Epistle to the Romans. There, in the papyrus, the Apostle Paul says: “. . .greet Andronicus and Julia, my kinsfolk and my fellow prisoners; they are of note among the apostles. . ..” Later he mentions that they were both Christians before he was. There is no room for doubt: Julia was an apostle and perhaps the wife of Andronicus.
This mention of the Apostle Julia also appears in the Bible called the Vetus Latina (the “old” Latin, prior to the Vulgate which was published in the year 382 replacing it) and in the translation of the Bible to the Coptic language, which is late Egyptian. The oldest Bibles mention “Julia.” However, this name is replaced by the name Junias—a word in masculine form—in all Bible versions beginning in the 5th century. And that is how it has been reproduced until it reached our modern bibles.
It is difficult to hide the truth and, although a long time may go by, that which is authentic rises to the surface. There are two arguments in favor of Julia, each different and each indisputable. The first is that the studies of all ancient Greek and Latin literature, of all the literary texts, of their theater and lyrics, of their history and philosophy, have not found a single instance of the name Junias. Junias, as a name, does not exist.
The second argument involves a sage. In the late 4th century, John Chrysostom, the greatest preacher and theologian of his day, bishop and patriarch of Constantinople, when preaching on Romans 16:7 said, “How great was the devotion of this woman that she should be deemed worthy of being called an apostle!”
John Chrysostom read Paul’s Epistles in their original version, before they were adulterated.
(From St. John Chrysostom,Homily on the Epistle to the Romans)
Casiodoro de Reina, Bible Translator
Casiodoro de Reina was a monk from Seville who, like so many others of his generation, felt the contradiction between the faith that sustained his life and the teachings of the Church. He became convinced that what the Church needed was to know the Bible better and that the more it was read and studied, the better off the people and the world would be.
That was when he had a very daring dream: to translate and publish the entire Bible into the Spanish language. Until then no one had done so and there were only fragmentary versions, a few individual books and a translation of the Old Testament by the Jews of Spain. In addition, none of these writings were accessible to the people.
Casiodoro had powerful tools, since his erudition included knowledge of the Biblical languages (Hebrew, Aramaic and Greek) and Latin, a language that was very useful at that time. Even more essential and to the point, he had the firm conviction that this undertaking was necessary in order for the Gospel to spread and escape from the prison in which it was chained.
He was a monk who converted to Protestantism, who was condemned as a heretic and fled before the Inquisition would burn him at the stake. Together with him, the community of monks from the convent of San Isidro del Campo left the city at night and headed for Geneva. On April 26, 1562 a figure representing him went up in flames in Seville (it was called “burning in effigy”); but others were not as lucky and were murdered in person. Casiodoro was able to reach Frankfurt, but his life was still in danger. King Philip II put a price on his head and infiltrated the circles he frequented with spies, once again forcing him to leave. He was in London, Strasbourg, Ambers and other cities. On his journeys he carried the translation of the Bible, which grew at a fast pace.
While he translated, he also accomplished other tasks. He published Bible commentaries, wrote a catechism and translated several works into Spanish. In 1567 he wrote and published in Heidelberg the first book against the Inquisition and signed it with the pseudonym Reginaldus Gonsalvius Montanus.
But Casiodoro’s goal was to publish the Bible and he worked endlessly toward that end. In 1567 the translation was ready and he hired one of the best publishers of the day, but he died before beginning the work. This delayed publication, forcing him to find another publisher and more money. Finally, on June 24, 1569, from a printing house in Basel, the Book of the Bear came to light, thus called because of the engraving of a bear on the cover. Two thousand six hundred copies were printed. Only a few books from that first edition survived; first the Inquisition—which condemned it to bonfire and destroyed hundreds—and then the natural passing of time decimated the rest of the copies. Today a few remain scattered across Europe and in Buenos Aires.
After publishing his translation of the Bible, he lived in the city of Ambers, in present-day Belgium, until the Spaniards conquered it and he was once again forced to flee. He returned to Frankfurt, where he earned his living selling cloth and tapestries. During his stay in London he had been ordained as pastor in the Anglican Church, and in that city he found a Spanish-speaking congregation who received him as such.
Casiodoro was born in Seville in 1520 and died in Frankfurt in 1594. He left us a translation of the Bible that endures—with adaptations—in our churches to this day.
The Bible of the Bear
When the phrase “In a village of La Mancha whose name I do not wish to recall. . .” was not yet familiar to anyone because many years were still to pass before it was written, the first complete translation of the Bible into Spanish appeared in a print shop in Basel.
Casiodoro de Reina had worked for years to give Spanish-speaking believers a Bible text they could read in their own language. Until its publication in 1569, the Bible could only be read in Latin (the translation known as the Vulgate), a language most common folk didn´t speak, and even if they did, they didn´t have access to any copies.
The editor was called Samuel Biener (his surname means “beekeeper” in German) and in the editorial seal that illustrated the cover he used the figure of a bear towering over a tree, trying to reach a container full of honeycombs. When he published the Bible, he added on the seal, at the foot of the tree, an open book with Hebrew letters spelling YHWH, the name of God in that tongue, which in the Bible text appears as Jehovah. In addition, he placed the following text at the foot in Hebrew and Spanish: “The word of our God remains forever,” taken from Isaiah 40:8.
Because of this seal on the cover, it is known as “The Bible of the Bear.” This translation, with the small corrections made by Cipriano de Valera, is the one that Evangelical people still recognize today as the translation that is most widespread and commonly used in the churches.
There are some characteristics that make this translation a masterpiece. Protestantism insisted in returning to God’s word, and to do so, it encouraged translations into modern languages that would allow its wide distribution among people.
Casiodoro decided to translate the Bible from Hebrew, Aramaic and Greek, the original languages of the Bible text. He avoided translating it from Latin, which would have been simpler but did not ensure maximum fidelity
