The following article by Dr. Miho Demović has been published in

Zlatko Pavetić (ed): The Journey of Paul the Apostle to Rome led over the Croatian Island of Mljet (Melita) / Put apostola Pavla za Rim vodio je preko hrvatskog otoka Mljeta (Melite), Proceedings of the academic conference held on Mljet (Melita) 15 October 2011 / Zbornik radova znanstvenog skupa odr\anog na Mljetu (Meliti) 15. listopada 2011., Zagreb, 2015., ISBN 978-953-58133-0-9, 356 pp, in English and Croatian, hard cover, with color photos and maps

We express our gratitude to Dr. Demović for his suggestion to publish this article on the web.

PREFACE

Dr Miho Demović


This Collected Works from the Round Table held in Babino Polje on 28 June 2010 and from the Symposium held on 15 October 2011 in Pomena, entitled The Journey of Paul the Apostle to Rome led over the Croatian island of Mljet (Melita), comes out of the press with significant delay, and in its abbreviated form, since the publisher, the Association of St Paul the Apostle – Castaway from Mljet, did not manage to collect enough money for its timely publication.

In an effort to familiarize international cultural circles with the tradition from Dubrovnik of regarding the island of Mljet as the location of St Paul’s shipwreck, this Collected Works will be issued bilingually, i.e. in English and Croatian.

We were able to print this Collected Works owing to the financial support we’ve received from the reputable humanitarian worker and a retired professor of English from Dubrovnik, Mrs Pavica Šperk Šundrica, who can also be credited for the Croatian translation of the major work on St Paul’s shipwreck on the island of Mljet, authored by the famous poet and historian from Dubrovnik and the Abbot of Mljet, Ignjat Đurđević (1675 – 1737), which was printed in Venice in 1730 under the title “D(ivus) Paulus Apostolus in mari, quod nunc Venetus Sinus dicitur, Naufragus et Melitae Dalmatensis insulae post naufragium hospes, sive de genuino significatu duorum locorum in Actibus Apostolicis: Cap(ut) XXVII, 27. Navigantibus nobis in Adria; Cap(ut) XXVIII, 1 Tunc cognovimus, quia Melita insula vocabitur. Inspectiones anticriticae autore D(on) Ignazio Georgio Benedictino e Congregatione Melitensi Ragusina. Adjicitur brevis dissertatio eiusdem autoris de Catellis Melitaeis, Venetiis apud Christophorum Zane, Superiorum permissu, ac privilegio MDCCXXX”.

We are truly grateful to our generous sponsor, and we hope that our new Collected Works on St Paul’s shipwreck on Mljet has managed to shed some light not only on the complex issue of one of humanity’s world's greatest minds, Paul the Apostle, and  his stay in the region of Dubrovnik, but also on his writings in which he, for the first time in history, proclaimed the equality of all people by saying: There is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, nor is there male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus!

In Zagreb – Mljet, on the day of St Paul 2015 

Miho Demović
President of the Association of St Paul – Castaway from Mljet


 Cf. Georgius I., D(ivus) Paulus Apostolus in mari, quod nunc Venetus Sinus dicitur, Naufragus et Melitae Dalmatensis insulae post naufragium hospes, sive de genuino significatu duorum locorum in Actibus Apostolicis: Cap(ut) XXVII, 27. Navigantibus nobis in Adria; Cap(ut) XXVIII, 1 Tunc cognovimus, quia Melita insula vocabitur. Inspectiones anticriticae autore D(on) Ignazio Georgio Benedictino e Congregatione Melitensi Ragusina. Adjicitur brevis dissertatio eiusdem autoris de Catellis Melitaeis, Venetiis apud Christophorum Zane, Superiorum permissu, ac privilegio MDCCXXX. The translation reads as: The Castaway St Paul the Apostle in the sea called the Bay of Venice, and following his shipwreck a Guest on the Dalmatian island of Mljet or On the original meaning of two points from the Acts of the Apostles: in chapter XXVII, line 27: “Since we were chased (by the wind) to and fro around the Adriatic”, and in chapter XXVIII, line 1: “Only once we were safe, we found out that the name of the island was Melite”. Critical reflection by the author, Don Ignjat Đurđević, Benedictine of the Dubrovnik congregation of Mljet, with the addition of a dissertation by that same author on the dogs of Mljet. Printed in Venice, in the printing office of Christophor Zana, with the permission and recommendation by the superior in 1730. Croatian translation: Marević J., Zagreb, 2008, page 23.
 For the discussions on this issue, see the end of this article, entitled Literature.
 
The work was translated in 2008 by Dr Jozo Marević under the title „Sveti Pavao Apostol Brodolomac u moru koje se zove Venecijanski zaljev i poslije brodoloma dalmatinskog otoka Mljeta Gost ili o izvornom značenju dvaju mjesta u Djelima apostolskim Glava XXVII, redak 27 „Dok plovismo Jadranom“ Glava XXVIII, redak 1 „Tada smo spoznali da se otok zove Melita“. Kritična razmatranja auktora Don Ignjata Đurđevića Benediktinca Dubrovačke kongregacije na Mljetu s dodatkom rasprave istoga auktora o mljetskim psima. U Veneciji u tiskari.” The translation reads as: “The Castaway St Paul the Apostle in the sea called the Bay of Venice, and following his shipwreck a Guest on the Dalmatian island of Mljet or On the original meaning of two points from the Acts of the Apostles: in chapter XXVIII, line 1: “Only once we were safe, we found out that the name of the island was Melite”. Critical reflection by the author, Don Ignjat Đurđević, Benedictine of the Dubrovnik congregation of Mljet, with the addition of a dissertation by that same author on the dogs of Mljet. Printed in the printing office in Venice.”




The shipwreck of St Paul the Apostle on Croatian island of Mljet

Croatian Science

Croatia, An Overview of Its History, Culture and Science