RIL KOROLEVSKY iraiBE LANGUAGES IN CATHOLIC WORSHIP historical Inquiry D ATTWATE-R LONGMANS — ^.^...^ i.uiiu, inuiuumg spuKen are , used in the public worship Church of Rome, even if only by inorities. The contemporary and movement among Catholics for a use of the mother tongue in 1 worship now gives these minori- ipecial interest and importance, ok is not a plea for such use it is plain where the author's lies) y : what it offers is a brief storical examination of liturgical in the Eastern and Western parts hurch from the earliest times to nt day. Father Cyril Korolevsky, priest of the Byzantine rite and the 8 Liturgy in Greek, Slavonic, n or Arabic as required, is an :>nsultant in Rome and he has personal part in some of the ents he describes. His book, i its origin in a report prepared r the use of the Holy See in 1929, f interesting and little-known iring on a question of the greatest nportance. LIVING LANGUAGES IN CATHOLIC WORSHIP LIVING LANGUAGES IN CATHOLIC WORSHIP An Historical Inquiry by CYRIL KOROLEVSKY Priest of the Byzantine rite. Consultant at Rome ofthe Sacred Eastern Congrega- tion, of the Commission for Eastern Liturgy and of the Commission for the Codification of Eastern Canon Law Translated by DONALD ATTWATER LONGMANS, GREEN AND CO LONDON • NEW YORK • TORONTO LONGMANS, GREEN AND CO LTD 6 & 7 CLIFFORD STREET LONDON W I THIBAULT HOUSE THIBAULT SQUARE CAPB TOWN 605-6II LONSDALE STREET MELBOURNE C I LONGMANS, GREEN AND CO INC 55 FIFTH AVENUE NEW YORK 3 LONGMANS, GREEN AND CO 20 CRANFIELD ROAD TORONTO l6 ORIENT LONGMANS PRIVATE LTD CALCUTTA BOMBAY MADRAS DELHI HYDERABAD DACCA First published in France under the title "Liturgie en Langue Vivante" by Editions du Cerf: Paris 195s First published in Great Britain . 1957 PRINTED IN GREAT BRITAIN BY J. AND J. GRAY, EDINBURGH. NIHIL OBSTAT: HUBBRTUS RICHARDS, S.T.L., L.S.S., CENSOR DEPUTATUS. IMPRIMATUR: B. MORRAGH BERNARD, VIC. GBN. WESTMONASTBHH DIE 2A MAII, 1957 CONTENTS Part I THE EAST CHAPTER PAGB I The Older Eastern Liturgical Languages . 3 The Use of National Languages in the East Eastern Liturgical Languages to the Twelfth Century Local Practices in the Far East Formulation of the Eastern Principle The Use of Rumanian The Attitude of the Holy See Restrictive Legislation by Catholic Synods II The Hungarian Language . .23 III Later Developments in the East ... 46 Pope Pius XI's Sanction of the Eastern Principle Malayalam in Malabar Degrees of Understanding The Bilingual System Part II THE WEST I Slavonic in the West 73 II Other Languages in the West: Later Develop- ments 91 Two Grants of Greek The Dominican Liturgy in Armenian VI CONTENTS A 'Sacerdotal' in Albanian The Council of Trent Georgian, Persian, Armenian and Arabic in the Roman Liturgy Chinese Pope Leo XIII and Montenegro The Living Tongue in Polish Offices The Prohibitions of Pope Alexander VII and Pope St Pius X Bilingual Rituals Part III LATIN INTO DEAD LANGUAGES CHAPTER FAGB I Latin into Syriac in Malabar . .117 II Latin into Ge'ez in Ethiopia . .141 Conclusion 164 Notes 169 Index 190 PREFACE question of the introduction of some measure of the Thevernacular or spoken language into the liturgy of worship of the Western or Latin church is a burning one in many countries today, especially among the clergy and members of Catholic Action who are concerned with bringing back to Christ the masses of people who are growing further and further away from Him In 1947 the eleventh issue of La Maison-Dieu, Cahiers de Pastorale Liturgique, published in Paris by Editions du Cerf, was almost entirely devoted to this question. In a very thought- provoking article of nearly fifty pages, called 'Les lecons d'une enquete', Canon A. G. Martimort, professor at the Catholic Institute of Toulouse, discusses the data brought together by the periodical Temoignage Chretien during the autumn of the previous year. Supporters and opponents of the use of Latin are brought face to face in their very outspoken replies. In another article in the same cahier, on 'La discipline de l'Eglise en matiere de langue liturgique', the same writer gives some particulars (pp. 40-45) of the development of this discipline throughout Christendom up to the tenth century. The peoples mentioned are in great part of Eastern rite; and, as Canon Martimort frankly admits, the documenta- tion is not complete. In the holy year of 1950 there was a great French pilgrimage to Rome to which a large number of parishes sent representa- tives. Mass was celebrated at midnight in what is left of the old basilica that bears the name of Maxentius, near the Colosseum. I was there, out of sheer curiosity, I must admit. It was what is called a low Mass ('read Mass' would be a better name, as in Italy); and throughout the celebration a speaker—I do not know what else to call him—with the help ' V1U PREFACE of a microphone made invocations and gave out objects for prayer at some length: to these the people responded aloud with such acclamations as Lumen Christi!: 'The light of Christ! There seemed to me a parallel between this procedure and our Byzantine ehtenes or forms of request, rather like the solemn prayers or collects in the Roman liturgy on Good Friday. 'Here', I said to myself, 'is a reaching out towards a new form of liturgy.' Though not fully informed about the details of the problem that had arisen in France and elsewhere, I thought I knew enough about it to venture such a conclusion. It was clear that I was witnessing one of those attempts to enable people to take an active part in public worship without sacri- ficing the principle of the exclusive use of Latin thereat: a principle which in the opinion of many observers, if not all, is a great difficulty in the way of active participation—perhaps the greatest difficulty. A careful study of the Cahier I have referred to, and of the then recently published Latin-French Ritual, led me to give further thought to the matter, though it was not one that con- cerned me directly. And it occurred to me that the testimony of a priest of an Eastern rite about what was and still is done among us, although the position is quite different, could corroborate Canon Martimort's lines of argument and perhaps suggest a solution that it is no business of mine to put forward as definitive. I recalled to mind that, some twenty years before, professional duty and personal interest had required me to examine the question in all its aspects with reference to the Estonian language, and that I had had the happiness of seeing my conclusions adopted. That is how I came to write this present study. I have purposely omitted any too forbidding scientific apparatus, so as to keep it within the compass of intelligent readers who are, nevertheless, not specialists in ecclesiastical history, Eastern matters and the comparative study of Christian worship. I must make it clear from the start that by peoples of Eastern rite I do not mean only those of the Near East, who after all form only a small minority; I am also looking at the huge PREFACE IX masses of Greeks, Rumanians and especially Slavs, nor do I confine myself to Catholics and ignore all our separated brethren. For both, with a few small reservations that I shall not fail to point out, the principles are the same, the historical development is identical and canonical legislation parallel. For the East it is a matter ofnearly two hundred million Christians, presumed such in spite of the systematic atheism imposed by communism behind the iron curtain. One day this curtain will be withdrawn—that day may be a long way off yet, but it will come—and it will then be seen that the Christian faith had sent down such deep roots that the atheist campaign, already thirty-five years old, failed to drag them up. Perhaps there will then be so mighty a reaction that the moment will have come to think in practical terms of the union of the churches, or to speak in a way more theologically exact, of the reunion of separated Eastern Christians with the one Church. This book is divided into two parts. In the first, I deal with the language of public worship in Eastern lands from the beginning of Christianity, explaining the governing principle at work and showing its constant application down to our own time. In the second, I do the same for the West, and show how the Eastern principle, accepted in the West in the ninth century for the apostles of the Slavs, St Cyril and St Methodius, was afterwards restricted in consequence of various circumstances, though never entirely given up ; and I carry my inquiry on to the most recent concessions and to current aspirations that still await full approval.* I have sometimes been obliged to go into rather lengthy historical details. These are necessary for the proper understanding of how and why legislation developed as it has done; furthermore, the history related is little known, or even not known at all, to most people. C. K. Rome, 23 April, 1954 * The English translator has taken the liberty of arranging two of the author's sections, on a special aspect of his subject, in a separate, third, part. I THE EAST CHAPTER ONE THE OLDER EASTERN LITURGICAL LANGUAGES What was the language of public prayer of the first Christians, those of Palestine in the time of the Apostles? We learn from the book of Acts that, before Gentiles began to be received into the Church, St Peter and St John continued to frequent the Temple, where the Law and the Prophets were read in Hebrew; but the Jews no longer made common use of this language, they spoke Aramaic, which 1 was the tongue in which our Lord Jesus Christ preached.