The translation of the biography of Nikiforos Kalogeras is finally completed. It has been a portion of this project that had tormented me for almost two years. If my records serve me correctly, I finished translating the first draft on October 18, 2022 (a failed attempt to have it completed prior to the anniversary of his death on October 17). But the editing of the Katharevousa was too difficult for me at the time. Attempts were made to have others help me, but that did not go as well as I had hoped.

As time went on, and as the burden of having it still in an incomplete state was weighing on me, I decided this year that I would add it to a list of tasks that needed to get done, no matter what. So in May of this year, I put in my schedule that I would begin editing it on June 1st. The goal would be to work on fixing the translation on my lunch break every day, editing one paragraph each day, regardless of the size. If the paragraph were 3 lines long, that would count. If the paragraph were 70 lines long, that would need to be finished before the end of the day.

With the plan scheduled, I started the work on June 1st. I was quickly stunned though to find out that my ability to solve the complex syntactical puzzles of Katharevousa had reached new heights in the year and half that I had set this work aside. Phrases and clauses and various convoluted constructions were no longer difficult, and I ended up finishing off most of the corrections over a week in advance of the deadline. It must be the case that translating the Greek of Euthymius Zigabenus day in and day out has trained me imperceptibly to be better at all registers of the Greek language to some degree or another.

There were still some parts of the Greek that got the better of me though, so I enlisted the help of my brother. He quickly caught some of my blunders and was also instrumental in helping me figure out some words that I was unable to define. Even a simple word that he said to me in one of his suggestions opened up a eureka moment that let me finish off one of the harder sentences that was still stumping me. Thank you, Chris!

There will still be a few areas where the English is rough around the edges or where the translation does not seem to match the context very well. That will be due to one or more of the following reasons: the Greek being still difficult to work with, my lack of understanding of the historical context, phrases that are probably idiomatic that I just could not figure out, and where the Greek gives no room for anything but a literal translation which in turn renders a literal English translated that is stilted.

My hope is that the translation of Nikiforos Kalogeras’ biography will be valued and appreciated since it sheds light on this great, yet forgotten, man. It was he who produced the only printed edition of Euthymius Zigabenus’ Commentary on the Epistles of Paul and whose edition I use daily in my translation. Without his diligent efforts, which are recounted in the biography, I would never have embarked on this journey in the first place.

I hope you enjoy reading about his life.