Samuel Isaac Joseph Schereschewsky died on this day, October 15th, in 1906 at the age of seventy-five. Born in Lithuania in 1831, he went to Germany to study for the rabbinate, where he became a Christian. He emigrated to America, trained for the priesthood, and was sent by the Episcopal Church to China. There, he translated the Bible into Mandarin, was elected bishop of Shanghai, founded St. John’s University, and began translating the Bible into Wenli, another Chinese dialect.
However, he developed Parkinson’s disease and became largely paralyzed. Resigning his bishopric, he spent the rest of his life completing his Wenli Bible, typing the last two thousand pages with the one finger that he could still move.
Four years before his death, he said:
“I have sat in this chair for over twenty years. It seemed very hard at first. But God knew best. He kept me for the work for which I am best fitted.” – Dr. Jim Denison
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