SS
#0
Dear Orthodox friends,
Do any of you read and speak any foreign
languages (foreign to English-native
speakers, that is) which allow you access to
Orthodox Church teachers [teachings]
not readily available to those of us who
mostly understand only English?
For example, do any of you read Greek,
Russian, Slavonic, Arabic, or any other
language which gives you access to Church
Fathers and Church saints\' and theologians
writings? Do they teach in your parish from
any sources that are available only in the
original languages?
A key to growth of Orthodoxy in America,
ISTM, is the use of the English language.
But we shouldn\'t be ethnocentric and
Protestantized about the use of English.
For those of us who can learn from the
teachers in Orthodoxy, they have skills we
lack, so anything we learn about much of
the Church Fathers will have to be through
our local priest or some Orthodox priest or
bishop nationwide.
I need more local contact with Orthodoxy,
so this is just a question I\'m asking
wondering what your experience of
Orthodox has been. If some of you are
Orthodox who came from Greece or Russia
or at least your family members did, rather
than native-born English speakers, maybe
you will be able to relate to us about the
English issue. Also, Arabic is not strictly an
Islamic language, as there are a good-many
Arab Christians.
I just wonder if any of you are in a Greek,
Russian, Serbian, or whatever church,
where they have to explain to you what is
being said or taught from foreign language
sources. It sort of gets back to the 1
Corinthians 12 and 14 issue of translating
foreign languages for the edification
(Christian understanding) of all.
So, when a Russian or Greek bishop visits
the USA, on the slim chance that some of
them don\'t speak English (most people
understand English, it seems), it may be a
case that some translation is needed.
Certainly, there is a need for the great
PL and PG (Patrologia Latina and Patrologia
Graeca) [especially the Patrologia Graeca]
to be translated into English, for the whole
universal Orthodox Church, by Orthodox
priests, etc. scholars.
Take care. God bless all of you.
Always,
Scott
:confused:
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RB
#2
I actually became familiar with the St Sergius school through the writings of Olivier Clement. The book I read was only available in French, as far as I know.
You can also download tons of lectures and sermons in Russian. Someone else I know listens to mp3\'s of Greek sermons a lot. People don\'t tend to translate these sorts of sources, since they\'re less permanent.
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EC
#3
I read and speak Greek fairly well, have also studied Latin (2 years) and know some phrases and hymns in Slavonic. All in all, I have performed (sung) in about 10 or 12 languages over the years but only understand the three mentioned to any extent. And it is something I have never, never regretted learning.
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RB
#4
If you know Arabic, you\'re only a few steps away from its cousins, Hebrew and Syriac. There\'s tons written in Syriac that\'s never been translated. And if you\'re all crazy you can learn Ethiopic, where there\'s also a ton of untranslated works.
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John Chan
#5
I learned how to read and write Amharic. I guess that puts me into the crazy category. Oh wait. I already knew that...
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Marie Moffitt
#1
I read Russian, but I have found French the most useful language for Orthodox reading.
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