“SACRED” VS. “SECULAR”: A LANGUAGE OR OTHER TYPE OF BARRIER IN THE RUSSIAN ORTHODOX CHURCH?

The problem of understanding the liturgical texts of the Russian Orthodox Church is no less pressing in the 21st century than it was at the turn of the 20th century, and the issue of liturgical language has repeatedly been the object of debate both within the Church and in the academic community. The arguments of supporters and opponents of change in the language of liturgical texts have remained virtually unchanged for more than a century. It is therefore important to study the church’s experience in dealing with this problem within the context of present-day conditions. To approach this task, the article analyzes the ideas developed and proposals voiced by the clergy in preparation for the Preconciliar Commission in 1905–1907, along with the views of contemporary Russian Orthodox clergy on this issue. Moreover, the article analyzes the data obtained in the survey that the author of this article conducted in November 2021. In the Moscow Patriarchate of the Russian Orthodox Church, discussions about the translation of liturgical services into Russian have fuelled a fierce controversy among both the clergy and the laity, despite the practice of bilingual worship in many parishes of the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia and despite the performance of services in regional languages in Chuvash, Mordovian, Mari, Yakut, and other parishes in Russia. Besides the question of language of worship, there is a problem of «understanding» the liturgical texts: will the translation of the liturgical texts make it easier to understand them? Or will the transition to the celebration of the liturgy in Russian lead to a schism in the Church? In fact, there are no canonical restrictions on the translation of liturgical texts. Moreover, the very idea of translating church services into any language does not contradict the call addressed to the apostles to preach Scripture: «Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature» (Mark 16: 15). But why does the language of worship cause so many disagreements and disputes?