Orthodox Icons are not drawings or creations of imagination. They are in fact writings of things not of this world. Icons can represent our Lord Jesus Christ, the Virgin Mary, and the Saints. They can also represent the Holy Trinity, Angels, the Heavenly hosts, and even events. Orthodox icons, unlike Western pictures, change the perspective and form of the image so that it is not naturalistic. This is done so that we can look beyond appearances of the world, and instead look to the spiritual truth of the holy person or event. (Source )
Following is a hand colored stencil print on momigami of Peter by Sadao Watanabe (1970):
Image taken with permission from the SadaoHanga Catalogue where you can find many more images and information about Sadao Watanabe. For other images of Sadao Watanabe art works in TIPs, see here.
The Greek that is translated in English as “brother” or “brother and sister” (in the sense of fellow believers), is translated with a specifically coined word in Kachin: “There are two terms for brother in Kachin. One is used to refer to a Christian brother. This term combines ‘older and younger brother.’ The other term is used specifically for addressing siblings. When one uses this term, one must specify if the older or younger person is involved. A parallel system exists for ‘sister’ as well. In [these verses], the term for ‘a Christian brother’ is used.” (Source: Gam Seng Shae)
In Matumbi is is translated as alongo aumini or “relative-believer.” (Source: Pioneer Bible Translators, project-specific notes in Paratext)
In Martu Wangka it is translated as “relative” (this is also the term that is used for “follower.”) (Source: Carl Gross)
In the German New Testament translation by Berger / Nord (publ. 1999) it is often translated as Mitchristen or “fellow Christians.”
Following are a number of back-translations of Acts 1:15:
Uma: “One day, there were about one hundred twenty of them who gathered. At that time, Petrus stood in the midst of his one-faith relatives and he spoke, he said:” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
Yakan: “Not long after that, the disciples of Isa gathered, they were more or less one hundred and twenty. Then Petros stood in their midst to speak.” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
Western Bukidnon Manobo: “And not long after that the believers were gathered together. They were about 120 who were gathered together there, and Peter stood up, saying,” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
Kankanaey: “There was one day when those who believed in Jesus gathered-together, their number being about (lit. going to) one-hundred and twenty. Pedro stood-up and said,” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
Tagbanwa: “Once when they were gathered together, their number was about a hundred and twenty. Pedro stood in their middle and spoke.” (Source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)
Many languages use a “body part tally system” where body parts function as numerals (see body part tally systems with a description). One such language is Angguruk Yali which uses a system that ends at the number 27. To circumvent this limitation, the Angguruk Yali translators adopted a strategy where a large number is first indicated with an approximation via the traditional system, followed by the exact number according to Arabic numerals. For example, where in 2 Samuel 6:1 it says “thirty thousand” in the English translation, the Angguruk Yali says teng-teng angge 30.000 or “so many rounds [following the body part tally system] 30,000,” likewise, in Acts 27:37 where the number “two hundred seventy-six” is used, the Angguruk Yali translation says teng-teng angge 276 or “so many rounds 276,” or in John 6:10 teng-teng angge 5.000 for “five thousand.”
This strategy is used in all the verses referenced here.
A few days later (literally “in those days”) is merely a way of designating a vague and indefinite period of time (see 2.18; 9.37), and is used by Luke here and in two other places (6.1; 11.27) to indicate either a transition in, or the beginning of, a new story.
By the addition of there was a meeting the Good News Translation makes explicit for its readers the situation in which Peter stood up to speak: it was a meeting of the believers (see New English Bible “before the assembled brotherhood”). Believers translates the word “brothers,” which is used here in the specific sense of “those who belong to the Christian fellowship.” “Brothers” was a term frequently used both in Jewish and in non-Jewish sources to indicate members of a particular religious community.
In place of an impersonal type of noun expression, for example, a meeting of the believers, many languages employ a verb expression, such as “the believers met together.”
About one hundred and twenty in all is generally understood to be a parenthetical statement given by Luke, and so is set off by commas in the Good News Translation. About one hundred and twenty literally translates the expression “the crowd of names was about one hundred and twenty,” but “names” is used in this context as the equivalent of “persons.” Although the Greek phrase translated in all may also be used as a designation of place, meaning “at the same place” (see 2.1 in one place), in the present context it appears to have the meaning “in all” or “together,” a usage which is supported by the papyri.
Most languages have very little difficulty in specifying “one hundred and twenty,” whether the system is based on tens or twenties. Where languages do not have such high numbers (this is true of some so-called primitive languages), one can use a more general term “many” or “a crowd of.”
In some languages a term for speaking requires the personal goal to be specified, in which case one can say “Peter stood up and spoke to the people there” or “… to those people.”
Where, as in some languages, a double verbal expression is required for the introduction of direct discourse, one can say “he spoke to the believers; he said, ….”
Quoted with permission from Newman, Barclay M. and Nida, Eugene A. A Handbook on The Acts of the Apostles. (UBS Handbook Series). New York: UBS, 1972. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .
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