New service books > Text and rubrics

The New Service Books
Part 2: Texts and Rubrics

The new Divine Liturgy books promulgated for the Byzantine Catholic Church on January 6, 2007, provide a new translation of the official Church Slavonic text, as given in the 1942 Ruthenian Liturgikon and Apostol.  They replace the texts in use in the various Byzantine Catholic eparchies in the United States, all of which are based on the English translation of 1964.  (The previous English translation can be found here, courtesy of Patronage of the Mother of God Byzantine Catholic Church, Baltimore, Maryland.) 

This article describes the changed texts in the cantor's and people's parts as given in People's Book, The Divine Liturgies of Our Holy Fathers John Chrysostom and Basil the Great (2006).  (This book, sometimes called the Greek Book after its cover, is available in PDF format on the Publications page.) Changes in the priest's and deacon's parts are only dealt with as they affect the people's parts of the liturgy.  

Since most Byzantine Catholic parishes have customarily used Monsignor William Levkulic's The Divine Liturgy: A Book of Prayer (Byzantine Seminary Press, 1978) for ordinary services, this book ("Lekvulic") will be referred to from time to time. 

Changes to texts - reasons and scope

Liturgical translation in the Byzantine Catholic Church must balance a number of issues.  Translations must be accurate, while being as close as possible to those used by other Eastern Catholic and Orthodox Churches which share the same liturgical roots as the Byzantine Catholic Church.  The Council of Hierarchs, in the particular law for the Byzantine Catholic Metropolitan Church of Pittsburgh (1999), also called for the new translation to be "adapted to modern times."  Some long-standing errors in the existing translation needed to be corrected, and certain obscure aspects of the liturgy needed to be more clearly presented, while preserving the most familiar points of the translation wherever possible.

Many of the changes in the new translation are consistently made throughout the new texts:

  1. The previous text, following older prayer books from both the Byzantine and Latin Rite, translated Slava Otcu i Synu i Svjatomu Duchu as "Glory BE to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit."  The new translation renders this consistently as "Glory to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit";  this translation of the doxology is the same one used in most English-speaking Orthodox Churches as well.  Similarly, the response before and after the Gospel is now "Glory to you, O Lord" rather than "Glory be to you, O Lord."  

  2. The previous text translated both Bohoroditsa and Mater Boha as "Mother of God."  But these are theologically distinct terms, both of which are used in the liturgical texts.  The first term literally means "she who gave birth to God", and has sometimes been translated as "Godbearer", as in the traditional hymn, "O Godbearer Virgin."  Unfortunately, Godbearer is also the literal English translation of the Greek word Theophoros, which is applied to a number of different saints and refers to one to carries God, either physically or spiritually.  Another translation, "Birthgiver of God", is sometimes used in Orthodox Churches, but is awkward and hard to set musically.  In the new text, the translators have chosen to retain the original Greek word Theotokos (of which the Slavonic word Bohoroditsa is itself a translation) wherever Theotokos / Bohoroditsa occurs in liturgical texts, while translating Mater Boha or Bohomater as "Mother of God."   This is the same distinction used in most translations of Orthodox liturgical texts into American English.

    Pronunciation: when spoken or sung with American English, Theotokos has accents on the first and third syllables.  The e is pronounced like a long a;  the two o's are not pronounced like long o in over, but more like the o in often or the a in walk: THAY - aw - TAW - kaws.
     
  3. The word čelovikol'ubce  ("lover of man"), which refers to God's for all human beings and for each individual human being, was translated "Lover of Mankind" in the previous text.  The new text consistently translates this word in its various forms as "Lover of us all" or "who loves us all."

  4. Where previous service books used a variety of English translations of the Psalms, the new translation generally follows the Grail translation (1963).  This translation is used for both the entire psalms in the various services, and for the psalm verses used in the Prokeimenon and Communion Hymn and their verses, the verses at the Alleluia, and the antiphons.  However, as noted in the Foreword to the Green Book, the translators have sometimes altered the Grail text to match the Septuagint Greek text of the Old Testament which forms the basis for the liturgical texts of the Byzantine Rite.  

  5. The previous translation often had the priest say "Peace be with all", to which the people responded "And with your spirit."  This follows the early English translations of Latin Rite texts, which had such a great influence on early Catholic translations into English, but it is not a literal translation of the Greek and Slavonic.  The new translation has "Peace be to all", to which the people respond, "And to your spirit."  (In other words, if the priest says "to", the people respond with "to".) This is closer to common Orthodox translations, which generally use "Peace be to all" or "... unto all."

  6. In the Paschal troparion, "Christ is risen",  two words have been changed to more closely follow the literal English translation used in most Orthodox Churches: "Christ is risen from the dead!  By death he trampled death, and to those in the tombs he granted life." 

  7. Similarly, in the intonation for the living, "God grant him (her, them) many years", the new text follows the Slavonic more closely in wishing those being remembered  "many blessed years" rather than "many happy years."  As with the Paschal troparion, this change brings the new translation closer to Orthodox practice in English.

Particular changes in the text of the Divine Liturgy, in addition to those described above:

  1. In the Third Antiphon (which is omitted in Lekvulic), most previous translations had "Let us shout with joy to God our Saviour";  the new text has "Let us acclaim God our Savior."

  2. In the baptismal hymn "All you who have been baptized into Christ", which replaces the Thrice-Holy Hymn ("Holy God") on certain days, the new text tells the faithful that they "have been clothed with Christ" rather than "have put on Christ."

  3. In the hymn "We bow to your cross", which replaces the Thrice-Holy Hymn on certain days, the new text has "we glorify (slavim) your holy resurrection" rather than "we praise your holy resurrection."

  4. In the second part of the Cherubikon or Cherubic Hymn, where the old text began "That we may welcome the King of All", the new text begins "That we may receive the King of All".

  5.  After the priest's invitation, "Let us love one another (so) that with one mind we may profess", the word "substance" in the people's response is changed to "essence", the word more commonly used in Orthodox translations: "the Trinity, one in essence and undivided."

  6. In the Creed (called here the Symbol of Faith, an ancient term, rather than a word derived from the Latin opening word Credo), there are a number of changes:

    "Light of light, true God of true God" becomes "Light from light, true God from true God"

    "of one substance with the Father" becomes "one in essence with the Father" (see above)

    "for us men and for our salvation" becomes "for us and for our salvation"

    "Mary the Virgin" becomes "the Virgin Mary"

    "And he rose again on the third day" becomes "He rose on the third day"

    "And he ascended into heaven and sits" becomes "He ascended into heaven and is seated"

    "And he will come again with glory" becomes "and he is coming again in glory"

    "And of his kingdom there will be no end" becomes "And his kingdom will have no end"

    Of the Holy Spirit: "the Giver of Life" becomes "the Creator of Life"

    "proceeds from the Father (and the Son)" becomes "proceeds from the Father"

    "who together with the Father and the Son is worshipped and glorified, Who spoke through the prophets" becomes "Together with the Father and the Son he is worshipped and glorified;  he spoke through the prophets."

  7. The people's response at the start of the Anaphora, "The offering of peace, the sacrifice of praise" is now  the more literal "Mercy, peace, a sacrifice of praise."  (In fact, the Slavonic reads "A mercy OF peace", which is sung this way in some English-speaking Orthdox Churches.)

  8. The people's response to "The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ.... be with you all", "And with your spirit", is NOT changed in the new translation.  Here, the priest's use of "with", and the people's response, are correctly translated.  As noted above, the people respond with the same preposition used by the priest, either "to" or "with".

  9. The poetically inverted (and somewhat obscure) "We have them lifted up to the Lord" in the old translation becomes, in the new text, the much more immediate "We lift them up to the Lord."

  10. In the people's next response, "It is proper and just", the additional words "to worship the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit - the Trinity, one in substance and individed" were added long ago to "cover over" the silent prayers of the priest which follow.  In the new text, which calls for these prayers to be taken aloud, only the older and simpler response "It is proper and just" is used.

  11. In the triumphal hymn, "Holy, holy, holy",  the new text has "heaven and earth are filled with your glory" rather than "heaven and earth are full of your glory."  
     
  12. In the hymn "It is truly proper to glorify you", "who have born God" becomes "O Theotokos."  Here the principal referred to above is evident: the first occurrence of "Mother of God" (Mater Boha) is left unchanged, but the second occurrence, where the Slavonic reads Bohorodicu, is rendered "Theotokos" in the new translation.
     
  13. In the hymn before Communion, "One is holy", the old translation read "to the glory of God";  the new translation has "for the glory of God."

  14. The prayer before Communion has several changes which bring it closer to the hymn of Great and Holy Thursday on which part of it is based::

    "Accept me as a partaker" becomes "Accept me today as a partaker" 

    "like the thief I confess to you" becomes "like the thief I profess you"

    Also, "when you come into your kingdom" becomes "when you come in your kingdom", since the text here refers to the coming of Christ in his kingly reign, not to entering an existing, separate kingdom.

  15. The ordinary Sunday Communion Hymn, in the old translation, began "Praise you the Lord of heaven";  the new translation renders this, "Praise the Lord from the heavens."
     
  16. In the people's response to the deacon's invitation to approach for Holy Communion, the new translation renders the second phrase as "The Lord is God and has revealed himself to us" rather than "God the Lord has revealed himself to us."  The reason for this is theological;  the Slavonic Boh Hospod, at both Matins and the Divine Liturgy, is not a title, but a statement that the Lord (Hospod, Kyrios, meaning Christ) is actually God rather than some lesser divine being.

  17. The hymn after Communion, "May our lips be filled", now begins with the more literal "May our mouth be filled".

Additional texts

The Green Book provides:

The Green Book also includes the order of service for the Vigil Divine Liturgy (Vespers combined with the Divine Liturgy on the eves of Sundays or feasts, as described in the Metropolitan Typikon).  Since the additional major hymns of Vespers are found in the Appendix to the Green Book, parishes which celebrate Vespers occasionally can actually use the Green Book for the people's parts of the ordinary Vespers service as well.

Changes to rubrics

The rubrics (directions for the celebration, so called for their red text) in the Green Book are primarily ordered to the faithful's parts in the services.  In some cases the rubrics more closely follow the official Church Slavonic books;  in others cases, they follow the common practice in the Byzantine Catholic Church over the past few decades.
  1. Directives to kneel at the Divine Liturgy (generally caused by Latinization) have been removed.  Instead, at certain points, the people's book directs that "The proper liturgical posture is to stand."
  2. The new service books call for the Royal Doors to remain open throughout the Divine Liturgy.  
  3. More specific rubrics in the people's book indicate how the hymns are to change during Bright Week and the Paschal Season, and on pre-festive and post-festive days.

Antiphons and Litanies

The Green Book provides only one verse each for the first, second and third antiphons of the Divine Liturgy, since this is the custom in most parishes. However, parishes which desire to take the additional verses can certainly do so.

In the new text, several litanies which were marked optional in Levkulic are now an ordinary part of the service, while some litanies which were omitted entirely are now included.  Of these, several are optional, such as the Litany for the Catechumens which may be taken "if catechumens are present."  Parishes which customarily take the litanies omitted in Levkulic and the Green Book: 

might continue to do so, since the responses here are the usual ones for these litanies.  The Metropolitan Cantor Institute plans to produce a booklet containing the text of these antiphons and litanies for use by priests, deacons and cantors.
The new service books:
Introduction - text and rubrics - music - musical comparison - introducing the new books