Russians publish ambitious audio Bible

It is all part of an ambitious audio project called “Reading the Bible together”: making an audiobook of the Bible while giving every person a unique voice.

“Unlike the existing Audio Bibles in Russian, in this project, the reading of the Bible is divided into roles. Every Biblical author and person has their own voice. We hear the voices of the Evangelist Matthew or the Apostle Peter”, says Metropolitan Hilarion, according to Russian news agency RIA Novosti. “In addition, the text is voiced against the background of musical accompaniment, which helps to emotionally enhance the impression of the text. Some of the music was written specifically for this project.”

According to Hilarion, the actors read the Bible “smoothly, without emotion”, RIA Novosti writes.

The project is not entirely finished yet, only the New Testament is ready for publication. The Old Testament is still being worked on. The New Testament was presented to Patriarch Kirill of Moscow on his 75th birthday, on November 20th.

Joint reading

According to Metropolitan Hilarion, the project was named “Reading the Bible Together” to encourage people to read the Holy Scriptures together. “Every self-respecting people in our time considers it necessary to have a Bible on the shelf”, says the Metropolitan. “People buy this thick book, open it, start reading, and do not always understand everything. At some point, they stop and say: this is too difficult, there is no time, and so on.”

Joint reading, however, can be carried out within the family, church community or Biblical circle and greatly facilitates the understanding of the sacred text.”

The concept of an Audio Bible with multiple voices is not new. Between 2015 and 2018, the first audio adaptation of the Bible was created in Poland. It sold over 145,000 copies. The audio makers of the Polish version are currently working on an English edition, writes the Christian Post.