Neophytus Vamvas

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Neophytus Vamvas was a Greek cleric and educator of the 19th century.

Vamvas was born on the island of Chios in 1770. His name in the world was Nikolaos. He was ordained a deacon and age 20 and in 1804 went to study in France where he met Adamantios Korais.

On his return to Greece, he taught in Chios, at the Ionian Academy of Corfu, at the first Gymnasium of Syros and later in the newly-founded University of Athens.

His main contribution to Greek literature is his translation of the Bible into modern Greek, an endeavour that was opposed at that time by ultraconservative circles within the Greek Orthodox Church. Vamvas started his work on the translation of the scriptures in 1831. The work was completed and published in 1850 through the assistance of the British and Foreign Bible Society. It is still in use today by the Greek Evangelical Church and others.

Vamvas died in Athens in 1856.