[1] The first attempts to translate books of the Bible into the modern Russian language of the time took place in the 16th and 17th centuries.
However, these works (undertaken by deacon of Posolsky Prikaz Avraamiy Firsov, pastor E. Gluk, and archbishop Methodiy Smirnov), were lost during political turbulence and wars.
This work, called the Russian Synodal Bible, is widely used by Catholic and Protestant communities all over Russia and in the former soviet states, and is also used by many Russian Orthodox adherents for all kinds of teaching and private study, outside of liturgical use (for which the Old Church Slavonic version is preferred).
Several times in the 19th and 20th centuries, activities of the Society were stopped by reactionary policies of the Russian Government.
The editions of the Society are based on the universal doctrine of the early Christian church and include non-confessional comments.