Pismo pape Ivana VIII. Knezu Branimiru
Letter from pope John VIII. to prince Branimir
Dragom sinu Branimiru,
To dear son Branimir,
Èitajuæi pismo tvoga gospodstva, što si ga nama po èasnom sveæeniku Ivanu, uzdaniku našem, poslao, razabrah jasnije od sunca koliku vjeru i iskreno štovanje gajiš prema crkvi svetih apostola Petra i Pavla i prema nama.
Reading the letter of your lordship, which you sent us by the honorable priest Ivan, our trusted one, i saw brighter than the sun how great faith and true respect you hold towards the church of the holy apostles Peter and Paul and towards us.
Pa jer s voljom Božjom ponizno ispovijedaš i želiš kao dragi sin biti u svemu vjeran i pokoran svetom Petru i nama, koji smo po milosti Božjoj namjesto njega, uvelike zahvaljujemo gospodstvu tvojemu ovim našim pismom apostolskim pa te s oèinskom ljubavlju kao najmilijeg sina primamo i u duhu grlimo, gdje se vraæaš u krilo Svete Stolice apostolske, majke tvoje, u kojoj su se i preði tvoji iz najbistrijega vrela pojili slatkim napitkom svetoga nauka;
Since you by the Will of God humbly confess and wants as a dear son to be completely faithful and servient to holy Peter and us, who by the Mercy of God are in his place, we greatly thank your lordship by this apostle letter and with paternal love as our most favorite son we accept you and in spirit embrace, where you return into the wing of the apostle Holy Seat , your mother, in which your ancestors too from the clearest spring drank the sweet drink of holy teaching;
i bit æemo ti skloni apostolskom dobrotom, da bi vazda lebdjela nad tobom milost i blagoslov od apostolskih glava sv. Petra i Pavla, te da bi uvijek bio èitav i siguran od vidljivih i nevidljivih neprijatelja, koji neprestano ljudskom spasu zasjedaju i staju na put, i da bi lakše stekao žuðenu pobjedu nad neprijateljima, jer, kako budeš nastojao, da se sam Bogu ponizno pokoriš i slušaš sveti nauk njegov i kako budeš iskazao za ljubav Božju dužnu poèast sveæenicima i službenicima njegovim, tako æeš bez sumnje biti pobjednik i gospodar nad svima svojim neprijateljima i buntovnim protivnicima.
And we will favor you with apostle kindness, may forever hover above you wisdom and blessing of the apostle heads of st. Peter and Paul, to always keep you whole and safe from visible and invisible enemies, which constantly stalk human salvation, and step on it's path, and for you to more easily gain the desired victory over enemies, because, as you strive, to penitently submit to God and listen to His holy teaching and as you demnostrate for the Love of God your debt to the priests and all in His service, so you will doubtlessly be the victor and master over all your enemies and rebelious foes.
I zato opominjemo revnost tvoju, da u svim svojim djelima imaš uvijek pred oèima Gospodina, da ga se bojiš i svim srcem ljubiš, jer psalamist veli: " Blažen èovjek, koji se Boga boji i komu su veoma omiljele zapovijedi njegove; jako æe biti sjeme na njegovo na zemlji "; a sam veli u evanðelju : " Tko mene ljubi, držat æe rijeè moju, i moj æe otac ljubiti njega, i k njemu æemo doæi i kod njega æemo se nastaniti ".
And that is why we call to your dilligence, that in all your actions you always have The Lord in your eyes, to fear him and with all your heart love hem, because the psalm says: 'Blessed the man who fears God and who loves his commands dearly; strong will his seed on earth be'; and He himself states in the gospel: 'He ho loves me, shall keep my word, and my father will love him, and to him we will come and with him we will dwell'.
Kad je to tako, ako svojim dobrim djelima, što sada sjaju, proslaviš Boga, bez sumnje æe te jednom ovjenèati vjeèna slava, jer on preko Mojsija sam svjedoèi, da tako èini, govoreæi: " Proslavit æu one koji mene slave ".
Since it is so, if through your good deeds, which now shine, you glorify God, without doubt you will once be laureled by eternal fame, becaus He through Moses states, that it is so, saying: 'I'll glorify those who honor me.'
Pa kako si preko spomenutog veæ sveæenika Ivana od naše vrhovne vlasti molio, da te za bolji spas tvoj blagoslovimo našom apostolskom rijeèju, to smo vrlo rado uèinili.
Since you asked through the mentioned priest Ivan from our supreme power, that for your greater salvation we bless you with our apostle word, we have gladly done so.
Kad smo naime na dan Uzašašæa Gospodnjega služili misu na žrtveniku Sv. Petra, digosmo ruke u vis i blagoslovismo tebe i cio narod tvoj i cijelu zemlju tvoju, da možeš ovdje uvijek spašen tijelom i dušom sretno i sigurno vladati zemaljskom kneževinom, a poslije smrti da se na nebesima veseliš s Bogom i da vjeèno vladaš.
When we on the day of Lords Ascension served mass on the altar of St.Peter, we raised our hands high and blessed you, your entire nation and your entire land, sou you can always her, saved by body and soul happily and safely rule your mundane princedom, and after your death to joy on the heavens with God and rule eternaly.
A buduæi da smo spoznali da je ovaj isti sveæenik Ivan u svemu tebi i nama uistinu vjeran, podali smo mu naše apostolsko pismo, da ga preda bugarskom kralju. Stoga te molimo, daj za ljubav svetomu Petru i nama, da s tvojim dopuštenjem obavi to poslanstvo bez otezanja, pa zato tebi za ljubav mnogo puta zahvaljujemo.
And since we discovered this same priest Ivan to be truly loyal in everything to you and us, we have given him an apostle letter, to give it to he bulgarian king. Therefore, we beseech you, for the love of st. Peter, and us, that with your permission he makes this mission without delay, for your love we thank you many times.
Dano 7. dan mjeseca lipnja, 12 indikcije
Delivered 7. day month June, 12 indiction
N. Klaiæ, Izvori za hrvatsku povijest do 1526. godine, Zagreb 1972., str. 28
*Branimir is the first independent ruler, he wore the title knez, i think prince is the closest title, Croatia became independent at the begining of his reign, but still not a kingdom, 'kneževina', i think closest is princedom, i don't know, todays Lichtenstein and Monaco are 'kneževine' in croatian. Find your equivalent then. His son Tomislav was the last 'knez' who after great victories over Hungarians and Bulgarians in 925. became king on the legendary coronation at the field of Duvno, outside of todays Tomislavgrad, Bosnia and Hercegovina.
hrv, i don't think borna is relevant in the issue, he was a frankish vassal, and this is about proving to the disbelievers that 10./11.ct Croatia was 100% independent and not a byzantine puppet
as for the latin original, try checking the source, my latin is not as it once was...
...ak je nešt glupo, to je kad dva hrvata melju na engleskom da se prave važni pred ovima iz vana... osjeæam se kao da glumim nijemca da prije dobijem konobarovu pažnju u nekoj konobi na otocima...
