The language of worship in the Orthodox and Catholic churches. Russian language in additional Catholic worship: pro et contra
According to some indirect information (clear statistics we have in this case, I'm afraid not) last years among secular people in Russia, there has been an increase in adherence to Catholics, as well as a certain greater outflow to the CC of those who previously considered themselves Orthodox or even practiced their Orthodoxy. Among my acquaintances who practiced the Orthodox faith, there were at least three people who clearly defined their position and left the Orthodox Church for the Catholic one.
Why this happens can be argued for a long time, and there are several different reasons for this. I want to draw attention to only one of them, which lies on the surface. The content of the Orthodox Liturgy is no poorer and no less interesting than the Catholic Mass. Rather, on the contrary, if we take the liturgy of Basil the Great, then there are wonderful and deep prayers (and once it was served not 10 times a year, as it is now, but on all Sundays and holidays). In general, there is a huge potential in Orthodoxy, which has remained hidden for centuries and is not at all realized in practice. After all, what happens is not ideal, but in reality, on the very surface, if someone comes and starts comparing, how does the average Mass compare to the Orthodox liturgy?
In the Latin rite, the altar is open. Everything that the serving priest does and says is in full view, he is not fenced off from the worshipers by a partition from the iconostasis. For many people, this is a definite plus.
During the entire mass, the people participate in the service not passively, but rather actively. There are chants that are picked up by all those who pray (in our practice, this is only the Symbol of Faith and the Our Father, but just according to ancient tradition everyone reads both among Catholics, as well as among the Greeks). The serving priest reads all the prayers of the Eucharist loudly, clearly, understandably, because Mass is celebrated in understandable Russian! What do we have in churches? Eucharistic prayers, as before, priests usually do not read loudly and for everyone, but pronounce in an undertone or simply to themselves, "in the old fashioned way", so only fragmentary final and unrelated exclamations are heard, and key readings are still performed in semi-understandable and sometimes not at all intelligible Church Slavonic. Those people who are looking for understanding, who are looking for conscious prayer, will find it sooner, of course, in the Catholic Mass!
In addition, we can come across disparaging reviews that the Catholics have simplified everything, abolished it, and they serve masses in 20 minutes and so on and so forth. But in fact, this is not at all the case. The Mass usually lasts from 40 minutes to an hour, and an important part of it is the sermon, and not at the end of the service, but in the middle, after the Gospel has been read. At the same time, in France I had to see how, before the start, you can take leaflets with printed hymns of the service and readings from Holy Scripture, and these leaflets are available to everyone, as they are reproduced in sufficient quantities.
And, of course, during the mass, the worshipers not only stand, as usual at the Orthodox liturgy, but there are special benches that are arranged in such a way that at certain moments, when it is supposed to, people get up, and at others they take a kneeling position, and at the same time fall kneel not just on the floor, but on the wooden planks that are installed in front of each seat. In general, there are three positions during the Catholic Mass instead of only one standing position during the Orthodox liturgy. I emphasize that I am not writing about the charter (how it is possible or how it should be in theory with them or with us, and how this is usually not implemented), but how it happens in practice!
By the way, why not Orthodox priests and hierarchs not to follow the example of Patriarch Kirill, who pronounces all liturgical prayers loudly? What is this - laziness, inertia, a habit of what is already established before us? and then we sigh, why ritualism with superstition flourishes in our Orthodox life. Yes, starting from the same - from the relationship between the law of prayer (Lex Orandi) and the law of faith (Lex Credendi)! Those who do not need any search for meaning and conscious participation in divine services are more likely to remain in Orthodox life, and they will be satisfied with the highly reduced liturgy that exists in our parish life in most cases now. Those who will seek understanding and active participation will rather go to the Catholics and Protestants.
In general, it has been noticeable in recent years that His Holiness Patriarch trying to take something from Catholic practice and transfer it to ours. But, unfortunately, not the best features of Catholicism are transferred, which in itself have already been overcome at the moment. Oh, if, on the contrary, our patriarch would become simpler and more accessible, as Pope Francis is showing himself now! This would also play a positive role and would stop the outflow to Catholicism in Russia, which just intensified under the current Pope Francis.
Latin language
Latin language(Lingua Latina)- one of the ancient Indo-European languages. family, together with other languages of Italy, which constituted the so-called. the Italian group; in the period of antiquity - the language of the peoples of the Roman Empire; in the Middle Ages - the language of book culture Zap. Europe; up to present. time - official. the language of the Catholic Church and the state of the Vatican.
Historical outline
Initially, L.ya. was the language of the tribe latinov, inhabiting the territory Latium on the Apennine Peninsula, the center of which was Rome. To the beginning 1st century BC. L.I. became common to the entire population of Italy and began to spread to the Mediterranean territories conquered by this time by Rome. (Spain, North Africa, etc.) as a state. language.
The first written evidence of the existence of L. Ya. belong to the 7th century. BC.; in the main these are inscriptions that give an idea of the archaic spoken language. From the 3rd century BC. lit. appear. monuments on L. Ya. - the epic poems of Nevius and Ennius, the comedies of Plautus and Terence. 1st century BC. characterized as the era of classical lit. L. Ya., for the perfection of grammar, a variety of genre and stylistic means, which received the name golden latin. Unsurpassed examples of ancient literature belong to this period: Op. Cicero, Julius Caesar, Virgil, Horace, Ovid, Catullus and many more. etc. In the I century. AD completed the creation of unified language standards for lat. poetry and prose (the so-called. silver latin); traditions of classical literature. L.I. were continued in Op. Seneca, Titus Livia, Tacitus, Petronius, Martial, Juvenal. L.I. II-IV centuries, also called late Latin, characterized by an increase in the penetration of elements of the spoken language into Lit. forms. major event This period was the appearance of Christ. Latin. It is in this capacity that L.ya. secured a centuries-old life, becoming the language of the liturgist. texts and prayers for millions of Christians cathol. religion.
Although on the territory ex. Zap. Rome. empires existed and the languages of the barbarian conquerors, colloquial L.ya. as a cult language, traditions in the conglomerate of tribal dialects remained dominant until the end. 6th century However watered, and economy. disunity of parts of Europe in the Middle Ages contributed to the increasing linguistic isolation. Gradually, the speech of the population in otd. areas of the former empire began to differ so significantly that we can talk about the formation of independent nat. languages: this is a group of Romance languages, the basis for which was the colloquial L. Ya. (the first written evidence of Italian, Spanish and French spoken languages dates back to the 8th century AD). But later, throughout the history of all Europe. languages, L. Ya. continued to have a significant impact on their grammar and vocabulary.
In his lit. form of Latin in terr. Europe was the common language in all regions. science, education, interstate. relations. Extensive middle-century. lit-pa, called Latin, includes East. chronicles ( History of the Franks Gregory of Tours History ready Jordan), novels and collections of short stories (Acts of the Romans) numerous poems and songbooks (CarminaVigapa) and many others. etc. Main. place in the Middle Ages. lat. lit-re belongs to the works of Christ. theologians and church historians.
During the Carolingian renaissance, Charlemagne brought together in the Palatine Academy the greatest scholars of all Christ. world, who collected and studied manuscripts of classical lat. authors and tried to reproduce their style in their works; so, Einhard wrote Vita Caroli Magni(Life of Charlemagne) in imitation Lives of the 12 Caesars Suetonia.
The Renaissance (XIV-XVI centuries) is characterized, in particular, by the appeal of its leaders to the Latin of the classical period as a living language. On L.I. written a number of works by Dante, Petrarch, Boccaccio - the creators of the Italian. lit. language; N. Copernicus, J. Bruno, G. Galileo, T. Campanella, Thomas More, Erasmus of Rotterdam and many others wrote in Latin. etc. Middle-century. humanists considered Latin "spoiled" in comparison with samples of ancient literature. However, although the revival of L. Ya. the classical period was quite long, it could not stop the development and improvement of the national. languages: to the XVIII century. in secular literature, they finally supplanted L. Ya.
In the field of science and education L. Ya. held positions in almost all countries of the West. Europe to con. 18th century (works by R. Descartes, F. Bacon, I. Newton, K. Linnaeus, R. Boshkovich, M.V. Lomonosov and others). In the XVIII century. based on L. Ya. scientific was formed. and technical terminology in all branches of knowledge. Only since the 19th century Latin as a scientific language writings gave way to nat. languages. Up to now time thanks to a clear, almost exclusive polysemy the word-formation system of L.ya. remains an indispensable source for the formation of a scientific and terminological base, constantly replenished with lexical neoplasms that reflect changes in the conceptual and subject areas. For new languages, L. Ya., along with Greek, is also the base for the formation of international languages. vocabulary.
As a basis for the study of new Europ. languages and acquaintance with the ancient heritage of L. Ya. remains an important part of Europe to this day. education. For many years in different countries Europe, symposiums "Colloquia didactica classica" are held, journals are published on the teaching of ancient languages ( Vox Latina and etc.).
Latin language in Russia
In Russia, the traditions of L. Ya. arrived relatively late.
In the XVI century. only a few statesmen employees (for example, in the Posolsky order) owned L.ya. Inclusion in Ros. State Islands of Ukraine and Belarus, where there were long traditions of Latin-language education and science, led to the emergence of a church in Moscow. figures educated in educational institutions Zap. Europe (Simeon Polotsky, Epiphany Slavinetsky, Palady Rogovsky, Arseniy Grek, etc.). Regular teaching L. Ya. in Russia began with the establishment in Moscow in 1687 of Slavic-Greek-Lat. academy. In the future, L. Ya. was taught as a compulsory subject in high fur boots, gymnasiums and seminaries until 1918; knowledge of L.I. in many ways contributed to the assimilation of the heritage of Western Europe by Russia. civilization. In the owls time, this tradition was interrupted for almost 70 years (the study of L. Ya. was preserved only in high fur boots and colleges for certain categories of specialists). From the beginning In the 1990s, there was a revival of interest in L. Ya. and it is introduced into the curriculum of some liberal arts colleges and gymnasiums (for example, St. Petersburg classical gymnasium, the Greek-Latin gymnasium of Yu.A. Shichalin's office in Moscow).
Latin in the Church
Beginnings of Christian Latin. Monuments of colloquial L. Ya. Christ. communities are numerous. tombstone inscriptions preserved on the territory. former Rome. empire. The earliest written works in Latin, dating back to the end. II - beg. III century, reveal a fairly developed state of early Christ. Latin; these are originating from Sev. Africa Passio martyrum Scillitanorum, Passio Felicitatis et Perpetuae, as well as the writings of Tertullian, dialogue Octavius Minucia Felix, Op. Cyprian of Carthage. Relatively early they were translated into L. Ya. and fragments of Holy Scripture. Nevertheless, Greek remained official for a long time. Roman language. Christians: Latin did not appear in the official. epistles of roman. bishops to early 3rd century, and in the Eucharist. liturgy - to ser. 4th century
The first Latin translations of the Bible. Style and language of early Latin. translations of the Bible that appeared by the beginning. III century, from the point of view of classical norms were "exotic"; often they did not comply with the generally accepted rules of grammar and stylistic practice of lit. Latin. In them, to some extent, the Semitic character of the priests was still preserved. texts, not only in the books of the OT, but also (though to a lesser extent) in the NT. In contrast to the ancient tradition, which strictly demarcated Lit. and colloquial styles, in these translations the general influence of the spoken language of Christ is clearly felt. communities and their literature.
Nar. nature of the ancient Latin language. translations of the Bible reflects DOS. the specifics of the early Christ. Latin. In L.I. a whole layer of neologisms arose to designate Christ. concepts: salvator(savior), carnalis(carnal), spiritualis(spiritual), vivicare(revive) glorificare(praise) sanctificare(to consecrate) and many others. etc. Even more often already existing lat. words acquired in Christ. circles new meaning: word sacramentum, which originally had the meaning of an oath, began to mean church. sacrament; verb confiteri, while retaining the classical meaning of "to recognize, recognize", received a new one - "profess". Moreover, the result of the isolated, special way of life of the first Christs. communities in the surrounding world was not limited to the creation of neologisms and semantic innovations to refer to Christ himself. concepts: these communities also created new words for general concepts unrelated to Christianity. Possibly many. of these were formed by the first translators of the Bible in an effort to follow the original as closely as possible: agniculus(lamb), appretiare(evaluate), beneplacitum(prudence), cervicatus(stubborn) and many others. etc. These words have become common in the colloquial speech of Christians; they do not occur in pagan texts.
In addition, in Christ Latin, there were many Greek (angelus- angel; apostolus- apostle; baptisma- baptism; ecclesia- church) and some Hebrew (gehenna- Gehenna) borrowings to designate specific bibl. concepts. These terms are a legacy of the first, "Greek" period of Christianity in the West; thanks to their unusual shape, they distinguish Christ proper. concepts from similar concepts in the pagan world.
The development of Christian literary Latin. The creator of lit. forms of Christ. L.I. Tertullian is considered, and it was he who was already at the beginning. 3rd century first introduced in his Op. elements of Christ. spoken language; later his example was followed by Cyprian of Carthage. In the IV century. Lactantius pointed to the abundance in the language and style of Bible translations of the innovations of Christ. period; he himself, addressing the circle of educated readers, tried (not always successfully) to avoid using the elements of Christ. colloquial L.I.
After Edict of Milan(313) a new period in the development of early Christ began. Latin. The cessation of the persecution of Christians led to the entry into the Church of many new converts, to the interpenetration of the Church and the world, and, as a result, to the enrichment of lit. language. Greater linguistic freedom made it possible to be more tolerant of the linguistic tradition of pre-Christ. eras; in the theological lat. terminology created at this time by Ambrose of Milan, Augustine, Ilarius of Pictavia, except for the Greek. Christ. borrowings, the influence of ancient Greek is also observed. philosophy, especially Neoplatonism.
Around 382-405, Jerome, with amazing stylistic flair, adapted the early translations of the Bible to the emerging Christ. L.I. IV century; preserving the archaic style of translations, he removed obsolete elements only in those cases where their use interfered with the understanding of the text. As a result, there was Vulgate Jerome, which became for subsequent generations a model for the perception of the style of the Bible as an independent tradition, osn. in early Christ. language practice, and an example of the preservation of this tradition.
In Zap. Greek churches. lang. retained its position in the liturgy for several. centuries, since the early Christ. Latin, which was strongly influenced by Nar. spoken language, no doubt, was considered by the Romans as unsuitable for the priest. use. It was Rome, most closely associated with the old pagan tradition, that resisted the introduction of Latin into the liturgy the longest. Only after Christ. Latin was fully formed as Lit., and especially Bibl., language, early Christ. communities began to introduce Latin into the liturgy.
Most of the characteristic stylistic features that have made Latin Rome. liturgy in the holy language (syntactic parallelism, lapidary structure of sentences, accumulation of synonyms and almost legal accuracy in the way of expression) are borrowed from the old sacred. traditions of pagan Rome. In the canon of the Mass and in the prayers, many ancient roman. sacred terms (for example, instead of the more common in colloquial Christians verb orare- to pray - is used by ancient Romans. precari). Traditional official. Rome. terms pontifex and antistes are used instead episcopus(bishop); ancient roman. praesul- instead of presbyter(presbyter). Obviously, the vocabulary of Christ. spoken language in the IV-V centuries. perceived as domestic. For the holy The language needed a different, little-used vocabulary, a different sentence structure, and a style not used in everyday life. Ancient sacred terms and stylistic devices, previously rejected by the early Christ. communities because of their connection with paganism, were now perceived as special solemn elements corresponding to the priest. the prayers of the Church.
So during the IV-V centuries. the liturgist arose. language and style of Rome. Church, which originated on the basis of the early Christ. and bible. Latin, but also used the legacy of ancient Rome. prayer style. The greatness of the Bible and ancient Rome. gravity(solemnity), merging, formed a new liturgist. a style that proved to be viable for many years. centuries. With the adoption of Latin as the language of the liturgy, the Latinization of the app. communities has been completed. The transition of the liturgy to L. Ya. did not mean that everyday language was introduced into worship, it was a well-thought-out stylization, osn. on various traditions; the resulting liturgist. the language was not always easy to understand, but retained a sense of the greatness and holiness inherent in worship.
The development of the curial style. In the process of consolidation Zap. The Church expanded the functions of Rome. curia as an official. church center. administration; the language formed in it differed from Christ. spoken language; often he followed the model of the official. documents Rome. empires, having inherited incl. judicial style, embellished with accented endings and other traditional roman. stylistic devices. Curial Latin, which, in contrast to the freely developing language of the first generations of Christians, was extremely conservative, became the main language. source of the language of canon law.
Medieval Latin and the Carolingian Revival. By the end of the early Christ. period with a general decline in culture and education church. lat. the tradition seemed to be broken. At this time, deviations from the classical norms of L. Ya. (eg, subordinate clauses instead of infinitive constructions with verbs of speech). Church. L.I. was saved thanks to the flourishing of the Irish-Anglo-Saxon monastic culture in the 7th-8th centuries. and the preservation of genuine lat. succession in the department parts of Italy and Spain, especially in Rome.
Worship in Latin was introduced throughout the Carolingian Empire; Vulgate came into general use. In parallel with the development of the national languages have been preserved, thanks to learning in Latin, the church-spirit. and cult, connections of peoples Zap. Europe. Simultaneously with the desire to preserve the traditions of Christ. Latin in the Church no less important feature of the education of this time was the study of L. Ya. ancient authors. All this helped to keep the connection with Christ. past and the unity of the language of the Church, as well as to ensure the survival of the ancient and Christ. lit-ry and lay the foundations of the Middle Ages. app. culture.
Scholastic Latin. In the XIII century. Greek language and philosophy again had a decisive influence on lat. language practice. At this time, under the influence of the Greek philosophy thought Latin began to be used as a special language for formulating abstract philosophies. and the theologian ideas; often to convey Greek. the term was formed lat. neologisms (ex. quidditas- somethingness, somethingness- Thomas Aquinas haecceitas- thisness- Duns Scotus and others). The universal Latin of the Middle Ages became a special philosophical and theological. language that flourished in schools (including as a spoken language).
Latin in the Renaissance. Italian The Renaissance had a much greater impact on the plastic arts and external. forms (for example, to the ceremonial of the papal court) than to the linguistic tradition. The desire of the Italian humanists revive classical Latin before Christ. era left very few. traces in the church. L. Ya., in particular in the curial style. In sacred poetry, attempts were made to replace the early Christ. tradition into classical antique forms. The humanist Pietro Bembo urged Pope Leo X to revive "the brilliant style of better times." However, the Pope preferred to keep the liturgist. heritage of the first centuries of Christianity. Attempts to "fix" L.ya. Rome. sermons provoked criticism of Erasmus of Rotterdam, who in the treatise Ciceronian defended the early Christ. and liturgist. linguistic tradition of the Church. Only in one case did Renaissance innovations prevail over the heritage of the first centuries of Christianity: the supporters of the classical direction remade some of the breviary hymns according to ancient models. Although this reconstruction, which did not correspond to the rhythmic structure and linguistic forms of the early Christ. tradition, was criticized (opponents complained: “Accessit latinitas et recessit pietas” - “Latin is improving, piety is decreasing”), the new edition of the breviary was approved by the bull of Pope Urban VIII Divinam psalmodiam.
Latin at present. In the beginning. 20th century liturgical texts used in the Catholic Church began to be translated into nat. languages, although until 1969 worship of Rome. rituals were performed on L. Ya. II Vatican Council on Dec. 1963 adopted Const. i sacrosanctumconcilium, in which, in particular, we are talking about the relationship between L. Ya. and national languages in the church. practice. For example, during the transition to the liturgy, mainly in the nat. languages, it is necessary to take care that Catholics “know how to pronounce and sing together, and also in Latin, the invariable parts of the rite of the Mass intended for them ...” (paragraph 54). After the liturgical reform, all divine services in the Catholic Church began to be performed, as a rule, on the nat. languages. On L.I. a papal mass is served (in most cases), as well as Sunday masses in some departments, cathedrals, and other large Catholic churches. temples (including masses in other languages); in addition, during solemn services, traditional chants are often performed in L. Ya. ( Sanctus, Pater noster, AveMariaand etc.). Divine services on L. Ya. are performed in communities that have preserved, with the consent of the Holy See, the Tridentine rite of Mass (for example, in the Brotherhood of St. Peter).
Dec. 1998 Prefect Congr. creed card. J. Ratzinger in an interview with Italian. magazine Lo Stato noted the importance of preserving L. Ya. in the life of the Church. Teaching L.I. included in the curriculum. seminaries and more. other educational institutions of the Catholic Church.
On L.I. the most important churches are published. the documents. Yes, new Catechism of the Catholic Church, originally published in French. lang. and translated into a number of other languages (including Russian), in 1997 it was published in lat. version, which has become normative for subsequent editions of this document in nat. languages, in particular for the 4th Rus. publications of the CCC in 2002.
In present base time. research work in the field of church. L.I. holds the Pontifical Higher Institute of Lat. language (Pontificium Institutum Altioris Latinitatis). It is established by the apostle. constitution Veterum Sapientia(v. 6) of Pope John XXIII and approved motu proprio Pope Paul VI Studia Latinitatis dated 22.02.1964. Institute is under the patronage of Kongr. Catholic education and from 06/04/1971 included in the Pontifical Salesian University as a faculty of Christ. and classical literature. Official edition of in-ta - magazine Latinitas. In addition, there are still several intl. magazines dealing with modern issues. L.I. (e.g. Vita Latina).
M. Afanasyeva
Source: Catholic Encyclopedia. M., 2005. T 2. S. 1552-1559.
The difficulty of understanding the liturgical language at present is not only a problem of text perception, but also a problem of dialogue between the Church and society. Some statements that the service in the temple is conducted in a dead and obscure language alternate in Belarus with others that the Belarusian Orthodox Church ostensibly not national. Both statements are waiting for an adequate response from the Church. For my part, I can only welcome the draft document of the Inter-Council Presence with the wishes to quickly move from words to deeds.
First of all, I would like to touch on the problem of obscurity Church Slavonic and the possibility of translating worship into a modern, more understandable language. To illustrate the incomprehensibility of our divine services, individual phrases of some prayers are often chosen. The well-known expression from Psalm 57: “Whoever hears the voice of those who are swearing, we are swayed by wisdom” can well characterize this problem. AT synodal translation the phrase sounds like this: “He will not hear the voice of the most skillful caster in spells” (we are talking about the deafness of human hardness of heart). The difficulty lies not only in the fact that you need to look into dictionaries to explain the word "obawati". Here Slavic translators used the word “obavati” (conjure) three times to translate two Greek words of the Septuagint (respectively, “conjure” and “enchantment”), which only obscured the meaning (“like a snake with plugged ears, the hard-hearted will not hear the spells of the wisest of sorcerers "). By the way, from this verse follows a useful moral for clarifying our question: no matter how skillfully the words of prayers are composed, they will not benefit the deaf.
However, there is little confusion. There may also be misunderstandings. At least when you hear the apostolic words, “always drive good things to one another and to everyone” (1 Thess. 5:15). And the translation here will be “always look for the good to each other and to everyone.” Indeed, many examples of this kind can be cited. Editing the text in the sense of finding more understandable Slavic words would help eliminate many of these ambiguities.
However, our contemporary will remain alien to the originality of the Church Slavonic verbal forms of the past tense (perfect, imperfect, pluperfect and aorist), case forms of participles, dual number, syntactic turnover of the dative case, etc. Despite the obvious lexical proximity of the Russian language, many Church Slavonic words and expressions will be unclear to those who are used to the vocabulary of newspapers and the Internet. Therefore, the problem of understanding the liturgy will remain even after the editing of individual texts. An example is the dating experience. godparents with the text of the Creed at conversations before baptism. There is no need to say how important it is to know and understand the basics Orthodox faith for all who identify themselves as members of the Orthodox Church, and especially for those who want to be baptized themselves or their children. Difficulties arise not only with individual words like “because of all the past” or “and the packs of the future” (sometimes quite adult people do not even recognize the name of Pontius Pilate!), more than once I had to witness inappropriate smiles and even laughter while reading a sample prayer our faith. The final “amen” should express the speaker’s agreement with the text, but it is unlikely that a simple translation of incomprehensible words and expressions is capable of conveying the full depth of the meaning of the words “consubstantial with the Father”, “light from light”, “incarnated” or “I believe ... in the One, Holy, Catholic and the Apostolic Church, etc. Although, it would seem, these words are understandable even without translation, one cannot do without many explanations, and even several conversations. And here it turns out that those who want to listen and really delve into the content of one of the most important prayers are much less willing to participate in the sacrament of Baptism. What to do? What concessions must be made here? Behind the difficulty of perceiving the Slavic text, in such cases, there is a much greater difficulty and problem: the unwillingness of the person himself to become churched. But what if suddenly there is a duty to fast, to go to the temple Sundays, confess, read the Holy Scriptures and books of the Holy Fathers? It turns out that the Church Slavonic language is a mutual barrier. On the one hand, the Church protects her values and traditional way of life, and on the other hand, in front of this barrier, the values of secular thinking are conveniently preserved, in particular, the independence of each in determining for himself the norms of religious life. Is it not in this unwillingness of our contemporaries to go to church that the reason for that very deafness is hidden, which no skillful translations are able to cure?
It is very useful to look at the experience of Western European countries. Since the beginning of the XX century. in the Roman Church, the movement for liturgical reforms intensified, and in 1948 a special commission took up their preparation. At the Second Vatican Council 1962-1965. the issue of translating the service from Latin into local languages was discussed. The two extreme points of view - for the unconditional preservation of the Latin worship and, on the contrary, for the complete rejection of it - had a minority on their side. Another principle prevailed: wherever possible, let the Latin language be preserved, in other cases, we will allow the translation of the service into local languages. In addition to allowing translation church services The Vatican Council made other significant liturgical reforms. At first, mixed sequences were used, when that part of the prayers that was performed by the people was translated, and the prayers of the priest were pronounced only in Latin. Gradually, however, and without official abandonment of the Latin liturgy, the practice of translation began to predominate. A wave of liturgical creativity swept over the relevant controlling authorities. As a result, both those sanctioned by the highest church authority and arbitrary texts composed by individual bishops or priests began to appear in everyday life. In the Netherlands, for example, along with the official "Roman" translation of the Mass, there is also the so-called. "Dutch", containing not translated, but composed prayers. The translation of the liturgy was naturally reflected in church music. Gregorian chant began to be replaced by the performance of prayers in local languages with a new melody. The words of the new chants were adapted to the musical works of the classics, which is why the service in some cases began to resemble a real concert. Not enough of this. Services focused on a specific audience began to be composed. For young people, their own mass was composed, for lovers on Valentine's Day, to come in pairs - their own, for unbelievers and doubters - please, the mass of St. Thomas, discusses the possibility of a special service for those in mourning, etc. At the same time, there is a movement focused on the restoration of the pre-reform Tridentine mass and worship in Latin. Against the backdrop of all these liturgical reforms, the number of regularly attending Sunday services in the West is noticeably falling. For example, if in 1950 in Germany there were 50% of them, then in 1985 - 25%, in 2005 - 14%, and people who remember the masses of the pre-reform period go to services much more stable than those who know only the reformed liturgy in local languages. Speaking about the possibility of translating Church Slavonic services, one must take into account not only these foreign experiences, but also the lessons of one's own history. There have always been more than enough people in the Russian Church who were ready to go into schism for one "az".
Why is the Church Slavonic language so dear to the heart of a believer? It is the special language of theology and prayer. It is characterized by such difficult-to-translate and full of high meaning expressions as “Our Lord our Lord”, “The Bride of the Bride”, “The Chosen Governor”, and so on. Its use has been consecrated by many generations of our ancestors. It preserves not only archaism, but an extraordinary solemnity and, at the same time, the mystery of the spiritual experience of the Church. This language unites Orthodox Christians of all Slavic peoples when they gather to pray together. The translation of the divine service will certainly entail a change in church melodies, which are so dear to everyone who prays. The value of the Church Slavonic language lies not in its "sacred incomprehensibility", but in its difference from both the vulgar language and the secular language.
Church language needs not reform, but attention and teaching. However, liturgical books need to be edited, to correct errors, discrepancies, ambiguities, which, alas, despite modern technical development, still exist in the texts. For example, in one relatively recent edition of the Trebnik (M., 2004), in one prayer of unction it is said about Christ “bear our infirmities painfully”, and in the next prayer “bear painlessly”. The work of correcting church books has been going on in the Church since ancient times; there is nothing unusual in it. For example, the well-known petition of the Lord's Prayer ends with the words "deliver us from the evil one." However, in the oldest monument of Russian church literature, the Ostromir Gospel (1056-1057), it says “deliver us from enmity” (Matthew 6:13). To this one can also add the known fact that in some ancient lists of the Gospel of Luke these words of the Lord's Prayer (Luke 11:4) are completely absent. To find out which reading is better, reviews of competent specialists are needed, and on their basis the relevant synodal commission for the publication liturgical books would make adjustments without any referendums, which unnecessarily excite the church people. The difficulty of perceiving the liturgy is not limited to the language problem, and no translation will solve it. Without familiarity with Holy Scripture and the Tradition of the Church, prayer in any language will remain a letter without a spirit. In my opinion, the barrier that the Church Slavonic language represents for those who come to the Church should not be broken open, but simply set up doors in it so that everyone who wishes can enter through it. Such doors would be intelligible reading and singing, preaching, conversation, and church education.
Another most popular question about the liturgical language is the attitude of the Orthodox Church in Belarus to the Belarusian language and the possibility of translating liturgical services into Belarusian. A positive answer to this question has been given for a long time. The Belarusian Biblical Commission for the Translation of the Holy Scriptures (founded in 1989) prepared and published the Belarusian translation of the Four Gospels and the Book of Acts, in addition, the head of the working group of this commission, Fr. Sergius Gordun translated the liturgy of St. John Chrysostom, molebens with akathists to some saints, morning and evening prayers, for Holy Communion, the sacraments of Wedding and Baptism, memorial services, etc. Regular Belarusian services are held in Minsk St. Peter and Paul Cathedral, Grodno Borisoglebskaya church(on Kolozha) and in some other churches. There are no fundamental objections to perform this or that service in the Belarusian language at the request of the faithful.
But the hierarchy is reproached for a purely formal approach to business, a lack of sincere interest, and so on. In fact, all the accusations can be reduced to one thing, that the Orthodox Church does not pursue its language policy in a way that is desirable for the adherents of the Belarusian revival. The Catholic Church in Belarus, they say, for example, has long switched to the Belarusian language both in worship and in sermons. Perhaps the latter had its own weighty “political” reasons to translate services from Latin and Polish into Belarusian, and not, say, into Russian, but one should not forget the difference that the Catholic Church did not serve in Church Slavonic. The importance of the latter for the development of the Belarusian literary language cannot be denied. But most importantly, the use of the Church Slavonic language in the Belarusian lands is consecrated by a centuries-old tradition. As a language of prayer, it is more native to the Belarusian than the “mova” that sounds from the TV screen. And the problem of churching the Belarusian language lies not so much in the rigidity of the hierarchy, but in the lack of demand for it as a church language among the flock. This attitude is largely due to the already long-established state of affairs, when the Church retains its own language, completely different from the spoken one.
Indeed, if in the XIII - XV centuries. the language of church monuments in Western Russia and experienced the influence of vernacular, this was reflected mainly in the pronunciation and, accordingly, in the spelling of individual words and expressions. Only words of dedication, prefaces and rare glosses-explanations could be written in the "simple move" in church books. With the development of "secular" genres, literature is increasingly moving away from Church Slavonic models. But the tradition is preserved in liturgical and bible books. Even the translations of Francysk Skaryna early. 16th century do not break with church tradition, Church Slavonic vocabulary still prevails in his books. Another Belarusian translator of the Holy Scriptures, Vasily Tyapinsky, does not attach independent significance to his translation of the Gospel, but attaches it to the Church Slavonic text “for the sake of a blind mind”. Famous preacher of the XVI century. John Vishensky wrote to hetman Konstantin (Vasily) Ostrozhsky: “Do not twist the Gospels and the Apostle in the church at the liturgy in plain language; according to the liturgy, for the sake of human understanding, simply interpret and lay out. Write church books and all statutes in Slovenian…” However, among the books, although read in the church, but not of a liturgical nature, there are texts in the Belarusian language, for example, “everyday confession of sins” in the “Rite of Confession” of the 16th century. or the Lives of the Saints of the 17th century, described by E.F. Karsky.
But the most decisive influence on the separation of the language of worship and the language of literature and preaching was exerted by the enthusiasm for Polish and Latin models of eloquence of the cultural classes of Western Russia. Numerous polemical writings published in connection with the conclusion of the Union of Brest in 1596 testify to this. What artificial language the sermon was spoken at that time can be seen in the words of the Vilna archimandrite Leonty Karpovich, whose student, the famous Melety Smotrytsky, wrote his books only in Polish. One of the historians of the Belarusian language of the last century, Doctor of Philology and Professor Lev Shakun, in his article on the importance of Church Slavonic for the development of the Belarusian literary language, noted: I’m sailing on the Tsarkov-Slavic language, and the next time is nearer to our time, tym shyrei and shyrei, daddy to her unfailing relatives for the cost of Polish and Latsinskaya mine. In one of the monuments of Western Russian polemical literature, the so-called. “Perestroge” (1608), this process was characterized by the following words: “Like the Poles mixed Latin words in their language, which simple people they get along with the tax (out of habit), just as Russia mixed Polish words with their language and these get along. Over time, with the dominance of Polish culture and language in teaching up to ser. 19th century on the Belarusian lands, this state of affairs has strengthened. The Uniates performed divine services in Church Slavonic, often not understanding its content at all. The Uniate priests communicated with the educated classes in Polish, and to their flock, since they did not understand Polish well, they preached in the local language, i.e. Belarusian dialect. With the reunification of the Uniates and the spread of the Russian school and education here from the middle. 19th century Russian became the common language of preaching among the Orthodox. This is how the situation we are seeing was created.
Yes, today it is rare to hear in Orthodox church sermon in Belarusian. But here the question rests not only on the preparedness of the preachers, but also on the readiness of the listeners themselves to perceive the Belarusian language. After all, the actual use of the Belarusian language in modern society quite limited. This is shown by the results of the 2009 census. About 8 million citizens identified themselves as Belarusians, of which 4.8 million called the Belarusian language their native language, and 2.9 million - Russian. At the same time, out of the same more than 8 million, only 2 million speak Belarusian at home, and 5.5 million speak Russian. It turns out that out of 8 million Belarusians, 2 million consider Belarusian to be their native language and speak it, 2.9 million Belarusians consider Russian as their native language, and the remaining 1.6 million Belarusians who consider Belarusian as their native language speak “non-native” Russian? Can't it be seen from this that the Russian language is much more native for the majority of Belarusians than Belarusian, especially considering the last 1.6 million citizens?
It is quite justified that the Orthodox Church in Belarus does not take an active position in the cause of Belarusianization. In order not to cause discontent and grumbling among the majority of their flock, who do not speak the Belarusian language, and not to give rise to schisms on the part of the "zealots of piety", the service is performed mainly in Church Slavonic, and the sermon - in Russian, in case of a special desire believers - in Belarusian. In this situation, the preservation of the Church Slavonic language in worship, in my opinion, is the best means of maintaining unity among the church people, unity with their ancestors and unity with other Slavic Churches.
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