The Golden Papal Bible

10 600,00 PLN

First in Poland, contemporary, official translation of Holy Scripture from the original languages made by one translator, book binded in an unusual, precious jewellery. Unique Jubilee Edition with comments by the Pope St. John Paul II.

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info@mariuszstepnik.com

The first Bible in the 1050-year history of Poland fully refined with the most precious 24-carat gold.

The book is intricately decorated by jewellery, cover of the Bible is decorated with as many as 20 stones. The 5-stage manual oil painting and the hand made creating process of the Bible make this work of art unique. The limited edition of the Bible is only 999 copies....only 1 in 38 thousand Poles will own this masterpiece of handicraft. Manually numbered certificates guarantee the authenticity of the edition. The book consist the special pages for the family chronicle. Start the tradition of passing the Bible from generation to generation in your family.

Jewellery binded GOLDEN PAPAL BIBLE

Front of the Book (the obverse) is decorated with a hand-painted image of the Holy Family (St. John Paul II, after all, became the Patron of the Families). The back cover (or reverse) is a figure of the Ressurected Christ.

Manual oil painting made on a wooden base, which is a specially prepared 5 millimetre plate. The back of the cover was decorated with medallions with images of four Evangelists and the inscription "The Golden Papal Bible".

The craftsmanship of the book is incredible, for instance its back cover has been strengthened with special stones on its corners and decorated with 20 ambers, thanks to which even repeated opening of the book does not shorten the "life" of this Bible at the library of the owner. The luminaire is made with the use of crafts methods. Each copy is the result of handicraft work of sculptors, graphic artists, painters, goldsmiths-jubiliers, bookbinders and other artists. Covers are framed in hand-dyed, natural goat leather. The edges of the Bible pages are covered with gold foil.

Jubilee edition of the Golden Papal Bible

Is the first comprehensive translation of the Bible into Polish in nearly 400 years, the second in the history of this Book. After Father Jakub Wujek, who completed his work on translating the Old and New Testaments into Polish in 1595, Nowadays Professor Kazimierz Romaniuk took up to translate the Old and New Testaments into Polish - after almost 400 years. His work to make the text of the Bible more comprehensible to the contemporary reader took him almost 40 years. The importance of this important edition of the Bible is emphasized by the gold binding and amber, which have become such a characteristic stone for Poland that it can almost be considered our national stone. Even the Romans travelled to our Slavic lands with the intention of obtaining this beautiful stone.

TRANSLATION OF THE GOLDEN PAPAL BIBLE.

This is translation on which Bishop Prof. Kazimierz Romaniuk was worked for many years. The translation is very poetic, and the whole translation has particular literary qualities, is easy to read and understand. The language used by Prof. Romaniuk is not only beautiful but also very understandable for today's reader. The style of translation is neither archaic, nor excessively contemporary, and the paraphrases used make this text extremely accessible to the average reader. From the point of view of contemporary biblical translations, there is a visible tendency towards communicativeness of content. Bishop Kazimierz Romaniuk tried to add words,expressions into the content, which was not used in the original language of the Bible, thanks to which today's reader is able to understand the message more than in older biblical translations, referring to the spirit of today.

SYMBOLIC MEANING OF THE BINDING OF THE BOOK.

Due to the name of our Book, the Golden Papal Bible, the first page of the fully gold cover is deliberately adorns by the icon of the Holy Family. Pope John Paul II was the patron saint of families and he especially blessed the families. This icon does not illustrate any of the salvation mysteries, but shows the mystery of the Holy Family. It is an image of mutual relations of the family. Jesus, Mary and Joseph walked together thru the path of their life and grew in the same way in the face of God. This icon is a symbol of the family community, the community of the Church, the people of God and the Family of God hidden under the care of God. Symbolically important are also the colors used in the icon, especially the amount of gold, which in the iconography symbolizes the holiness, indestructibility and glory of God, and life in the Kingdom of God.

This is also the message of the Golden Papal Bible and its gold cover. The Bible should find a special place at home of every family. The icon of the Holy Family was originally "written" by Maria-Paula, the nun of the Benedictine monastery on the Mount of Olives in Jerusalem, commissioned by Maria and Louis d'Ammonville - responsible for the Equipes Notre-Dame Movement. In 1988, during the International Congress of Equipes Notre-Dame, the icon was given to representatives of the organization Light Life of the Home Church

The cover is decorated with figures of 4 canonical evangelists. Matthew and John - direct apostles of Jesus, and their two disciples, not knowing Jesus - Mark and Luke. They wrote down the four books of the New Testament, showing the life and martyrdom of Jesus Christ.

Matthew - the author of the first gospel - in his gospels presented Jesus' life in 4 stages: birth, childhood, deeds of John the Baptist, Jesus' activity in Galilee, his passion and resurrection. The iconography presents him as an angel or winged figure.

John, the author of the last gospel, was called personally by Jesus as a disciple. He accompanied him faithfully and preached the Word of God with him. His gospel describes Jesus' activity and suffering. He became famous for writing the Apocalypse. He saw the suffering and death of Jesus. The Holy Spirit speaks most strongly through John. Because he had penetrating look the iconography depicts him as an eagle (the only animal that can look straight into the sun).

Marek, the creator of the second, shortest gospel, is the one who did not see but believed in Jesus. His gospel most probably originated in Rome and presents of John the Baptist in the desert (from the St. Peter). The iconography depicts Mark as a bishop in special clothing. It is often symbolized by a winged lion with a fig tree or with a scroll.

Luke, the author of the third gospel, wrote it based on stories of people who knew Jesus. He probably did so at the request of the Apostle Paul, who, as a disciple of Jesus, gave him his advice and guidance. In the iconography he is described as a praying man, but it is also symbolized by an ox - a hard-working and sacrificial animal, because this is how he described Jesus as the servant of mankind and sacrifice for mankind.

On the reverse is the figure of the Resurected Christ. This is typical image of the Christian religion of the most important moment of the revelation of Christ immediately after the resurrection described in the New Testament by Saint Matthew. Christ with the resurrection flag coming out of the grave and appearing to the angels, accompanying him from the moment of placing his body in the grave and women, among whom was Mary Magdalene. It is not a copy of any known work, but rather an interpretation of the gospel and an image of the artist designing this part of the Book.

ADDED VALUE

The Golden Papal Bible, at the end of each chapter, include comments of St. John Paul II (360 pages).

First part of the Book (prologue) contain a historically important texts:

Homily of St. John Paul II from 1979 about the Baptism of Poland | 20th-century texts of the Primate of Poland | The Jasna Gora Vows of King John Casimir | Fragment of the Apostolic Exhortation "Evangelia gaudium" of Pope Francis | Preface of Cardinal Kazimierz Nycza.

The Bible received the personal blessing of St. John Paul II (Patron of the Families), which reads: "From the heart I bless the families who read the Word of God together". This is a blessing from March 19, 2005, addressed by the Pope to families around the world a dozen or so days before his death. It was one of the last documents signed by our Polish Pope. For families who hold this Book with this special blessing it is a priceless spiritual gift. Honorary patronage over the publication of the Bible has been assumed by Cardinal Stanisław Dziwisz.

VALUABLE CONTENT OF THE BIBLE

In addition to the value of contemporary translation of the biblical text with the comments of St. John Paul II, the value in itself are also unusual ilustrator. As many as 83 engravings by the most famous illustrator of Holy Scripture, French artist Gustav Doré (1832-1883) adorn our Golden Papal Bible.

This French artist has created several hundred outstanding illustrations depicting biblical stories. His works were characterized by a very realistic style, for which the author was often criticized by his contemporaries, but to this day his illustrations are the most famous and most often published in bibles published in different languages of XIX-century Europe. The biblical illustrations are printed in sepia.

Additionally there are historical illustrations of the Baptism of Poland in the Bible. Colourful medieval maps of the world and the Holy Land have been placed on the inside of the covers, which make the Book even more attractive. One of them, depicting Jerusalem as the center of the world at that time, is considered to be the oldest surviving map depicting Christ as the overseer of the world. The second is the Map from Ebstorf, the largest world's map in the Middle Ages - mappa mundi. It is painted on 33 stitched pieces of parchment. It owes its name to the former Benedictine monastery in Ebstorf. It dates back to 1234, for many years attributed to the Geographer Gerwazy of Tilbury. However, contemporary palaeographic dating indicates the year 1300.

and creamy colour of the cards do not tire your eyesight. The Bible has 2 cotton bookmarks and has also been sewn with cotton threads.