Józef Tadeusz Milik (Seroczyn,
Poland
Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It extends from the Baltic Sea in the north to the Sudetes and Carpathian Mountains in the south, bordered by Lithuania and Russia to the northeast, Belarus and Ukrai ...
, 24 March 1922 –
Paris
Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...
, 6 January 2006) was a Polish
biblical scholar and a Catholic priest, researcher of the
Dead Sea Scrolls
The Dead Sea Scrolls, also called the Qumran Caves Scrolls, are a set of List of Hebrew Bible manuscripts, ancient Jewish manuscripts from the Second Temple period (516 BCE – 70 CE). They were discovered over a period of ten years, between ...
(DSS) through the deserts of Judea/Jordan, and translator and editor of the
Book of Enoch
The Book of Enoch (also 1 Enoch;
Hebrew language, Hebrew: סֵפֶר חֲנוֹךְ, ''Sēfer Ḥănōḵ''; , ) is an Second Temple Judaism, ancient Jewish Apocalyptic literature, apocalyptic religious text, ascribed by tradition to the Patriar ...
in Aramaic (fragments).
He was fluent in
Russian,
Italian,
French,
German, and
English besides his native
Polish, plus many ancient and dead languages including
Hebrew
Hebrew (; ''ʿÎbrit'') is a Northwest Semitic languages, Northwest Semitic language within the Afroasiatic languages, Afroasiatic language family. A regional dialect of the Canaanite languages, it was natively spoken by the Israelites and ...
,
Greek,
Latin
Latin ( or ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally spoken by the Latins (Italic tribe), Latins in Latium (now known as Lazio), the lower Tiber area aroun ...
,
Aramaic
Aramaic (; ) is a Northwest Semitic language that originated in the ancient region of Syria and quickly spread to Mesopotamia, the southern Levant, Sinai, southeastern Anatolia, and Eastern Arabia, where it has been continually written a ...
,
Syriac,
Old Church Slavonic
Old Church Slavonic or Old Slavonic ( ) is the first Slavic languages, Slavic literary language and the oldest extant written Slavonic language attested in literary sources. It belongs to the South Slavic languages, South Slavic subgroup of the ...
,
Arabic
Arabic (, , or , ) is a Central Semitic languages, Central Semitic language of the Afroasiatic languages, Afroasiatic language family spoken primarily in the Arab world. The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) assigns lang ...
,
Georgian,
Ugaritic
Ugaritic () is an extinct Northwest Semitic languages, Northwest Semitic language known through the Ugaritic texts discovered by French archaeology, archaeologists in 1928 at Ugarit, including several major literary texts, notably the Baal cycl ...
,
Akkadian,
Sumerian,
Egyptian, and
Hittite.
Biography
He was born into a peasant family in a small village in central
Poland
Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It extends from the Baltic Sea in the north to the Sudetes and Carpathian Mountains in the south, bordered by Lithuania and Russia to the northeast, Belarus and Ukrai ...
. His father, despite being a farmer, was interested in science, educated himself and gathered a rich library. He influenced his son, who finished the gymnasium in
Siedlce and later entered the theological college in
Płock in 1939. When the college was closed by Germans after they invaded Poland, he moved to Warsaw. After
World War II
World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...
, he studied at
Catholic University of Lublin and in 1946 was ordained a priest.
;Work on the Dead Sea Scrolls
Józef Milik deciphered hundreds of the texts of the
Dead Sea Scrolls
The Dead Sea Scrolls, also called the Qumran Caves Scrolls, are a set of List of Hebrew Bible manuscripts, ancient Jewish manuscripts from the Second Temple period (516 BCE – 70 CE). They were discovered over a period of ten years, between ...
as a member of the publication team.
He started translating and publishing them in the early 1950s while a student at the Pontifical Biblical Institute in Rome.
Then he joined
Roland de Vaux’s team and helped to discover Cave 3, excavated and unearthed hundreds of fragments from Cave 4, and took part in the discovery and excavations of Caves 5 and 6. He later became one of the most essential participants of the translation and publication team. Although he published more new Dead Sea Scrolls texts than any other scholar, he had too many documents assigned to him, which slowed the overall progress of publication; additionally, his work began to suffer later in life as a result of
alcohol use disorder.
Milestones
* 1944 Entered
Catholic University of Lublin to study
Hebrew
Hebrew (; ''ʿÎbrit'') is a Northwest Semitic languages, Northwest Semitic language within the Afroasiatic languages, Afroasiatic language family. A regional dialect of the Canaanite languages, it was natively spoken by the Israelites and ...
,
Greek,
Latin
Latin ( or ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally spoken by the Latins (Italic tribe), Latins in Latium (now known as Lazio), the lower Tiber area aroun ...
,
Aramaic
Aramaic (; ) is a Northwest Semitic language that originated in the ancient region of Syria and quickly spread to Mesopotamia, the southern Levant, Sinai, southeastern Anatolia, and Eastern Arabia, where it has been continually written a ...
,
Syriac, and
Old Church Slavonic
Old Church Slavonic or Old Slavonic ( ) is the first Slavic languages, Slavic literary language and the oldest extant written Slavonic language attested in literary sources. It belongs to the South Slavic languages, South Slavic subgroup of the ...
* 1946 Ordained as a
Catholic
The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...
priest in
Warsaw
Warsaw, officially the Capital City of Warsaw, is the capital and List of cities and towns in Poland, largest city of Poland. The metropolis stands on the Vistula, River Vistula in east-central Poland. Its population is officially estimated at ...
* Late-1940s Attended
Pontifical Oriental Institute and
Pontifical Biblical Institute to study
Arabic
Arabic (, , or , ) is a Central Semitic languages, Central Semitic language of the Afroasiatic languages, Afroasiatic language family spoken primarily in the Arab world. The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) assigns lang ...
,
Georgian,
Ugaritic
Ugaritic () is an extinct Northwest Semitic languages, Northwest Semitic language known through the Ugaritic texts discovered by French archaeology, archaeologists in 1928 at Ugarit, including several major literary texts, notably the Baal cycl ...
,
Akkadian,
Sumerian,
Egyptian, and
Hittite
* 1950 Gained a licentiate ''summa cum laude''
* 1951 Began working in
Jerusalem
Jerusalem is a city in the Southern Levant, on a plateau in the Judaean Mountains between the Mediterranean Sea, Mediterranean and the Dead Sea. It is one of the List of oldest continuously inhabited cities, oldest cities in the world, and ...
to decipher DSS; devised a system of designating the fragments
* 1955 Co-edited first major DSS publication for Cave 1 texts: "Discoveries in the Judaean Desert"
* 1956 Heralded by
''Time'' magazine as "the fastest man with a fragment"
* 1959 Published ''Ten Years of Discovery in the Wilderness of Judaea'' describing the Dead Sea Scrolls discovery (revision and translation of the 1957 book "Dix ans de découvertes dans le Désert de Juda")
* 1969 Leaves the priesthood and marries Polish art historian Jolanta Zaluska in
Rome
Rome (Italian language, Italian and , ) is the capital city and most populated (municipality) of Italy. It is also the administrative centre of the Lazio Regions of Italy, region and of the Metropolitan City of Rome. A special named with 2, ...
. Moves to
Paris
Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...
* 1976 Published ''The Books of Enoch''
After moving to Paris, Milik worked as a researcher for the
Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique until his retirement in 1987.
Bibliography
*
*
*
[The Enoch Scroll from Qumran Library Cave 4 has provided parts in Aramaic among the Dead Sea Scrolls discovery between 1947 and 1956. Table of Contents: Aramaic Book of Enoch; Astronomical Book; Book of Watchers; Book of Dreams; Book of Giants; Enochic Writings.]
*
* Martinez/Tigchelaar (1999). The Dead Sea Scrolls Edition
'Hénoc au pays des aromates'' pp. 413, 425, 430 Caves 1 to 11 & more, with Aramaic frag. and English translation.
*
*
References
External links
*
The Prodigious Priest: Jozef T. Milik
{{DEFAULTSORT:Milik, Jozef
Dead Sea Scrolls
Roman Catholic biblical scholars
20th-century Polish Roman Catholic priests
John Paul II Catholic University of Lublin alumni
Pontifical Oriental Institute alumni
Pontifical Biblical Institute alumni
Laicized Roman Catholic priests
1922 births
2006 deaths
Polish biblical scholars