Archaic words, awkward English, but the hierarchy wanted it so it’s what the people got… sound familiar? Here is a fascinating report in America by Fr. Michael N. Kane on the revised English translation implemented in the Byzantine-Ruthanian Catholic Church four years ago.
The people pretty much accept the translation, but there isn’t much apparent gain from its implementation. I suspect that’s what we RCs will be saying in four years.
“there has been much eye-rolling and often a suppressed giggle”
That’s surely the desired effect of “elevated language” no?
Anybody notice what’s happening to the census of Byzantine parishes?
It’s kind of humorous in a way, at least to me, that one of their major problems is exchanging one form of Byzantine Chant for another form of Byzantine Chant. i suppose this would be the equivalent of the RC Church having adopted the use of an English Language Graduale Simplex after Vatican II, and after 40 years of everybody learning the Chants of this Simplex and singing them well, we decide to set new English texts to the more complex melodies of the Graduale Romanum.
Oh that we should have such problems…
So the point here is that the majority of Byzantine Catholics are doing their best to learn the new texts, and in general are not rioting or refusing to use it? Interesting to say the least. I guess we’ll see soon enough if this is a more generalized dynamic.
Another way to put it might be that, having had chant that was adapted to the native genius of the English language and therefore sounded quite natural, now they have a chant that prizes fidelity to the original melodies over naturalness of expression.
The analogy with the forthcoming translation might be obvious: having had a translation that (for all its admitted flaws) was adapted to the native genius of the English language and therefore sounded quite natural, now we will have a translation that prizes fidelity to the original Latin over naturalness of expression.
The Byzantine Catholic Forum has an entire subforum dedicated to (often
acrimonious) discussions of the new translation. The main criticisms leveled
against the new BCCA translation of the Divine Liturgy are that it mandates
omissions and abbreviations from the full Divine Liturgy, and that it includes
inclusive language in violation of the rules of translation as embodied in Liturgiam Authenticam
http://www.byzcath.org/forums/ubbthreads.php/forums/15/1/The%20Revised%20Divine%20Liturgy
I am very saddened to see that people are reading Fr. Kane’s article from “America” and taking it for the Gospel truth. He is most assuredly entitled to his opinions, but his opinions (both about the liturgical texts and the adaptation of the Carpartho-Rusyn prostopinije (plainchant) to the new texts are not by any measure the opinions of the whole Byzantine Catholic Church, either clerical or lay.
Have you bothered to read our texts? to listen to the cds issued by Byzantine Seminary Press in Pittsburgh to HEAR how the adaptation of the chant was done?
A modicum of fairness would be a good thing.
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