241 - The Festal Menaion

The Festal Menaion
Translated by Mother Mary and Archimandrite Kallistos Ware
London, Faber and Faber, 1977. 564 pp., $10.95.

It has often been observed that even in this ecumenical age the average western Christian, Roman Catholic or Protestant, understands less about Eastern Orthodoxy than about Buddhism or Islam! One of the reasons for this neglect has long been the paucity of materials available in readable English.

Take, for example, the whole question of liturgical materials. What has been available up to this point has been some highly technical textbooks or an extremely wooden translation like that done by Isabel

242 - The Festal Menaion

Hapgood a number of years ago. In neither case is much more than a hint available of the richness of Orthodox liturgical tradition.

It is this embarrassing hiatus in western liturgical knowledge which this translation of the Festal Menaion seeks to fill. It should be explained that a menaion is not a complete liturgy but contains all of the variables for all of the major feasts of the Orthodox Christian year. For example, this volume contains English translations of all the variables for Vespers, Great Compline, Matins, and the Divine Liturgy for Christmas Day. Similar materials will be found for eight other major festivals in the Orthodox year. There is also a splendid introductory essay on the "Orthodox Services and the Structure" as well as an introduction by Professor Georges Florovsky.

Western readers may regret the fact that the editors and translators have chosen to omit such central Christian celebrations as Easter and Pentecost and have chosen to substitute festivals of a more marginal nature such as the Presentation, the Annunciation, and the Dormition of the Virgin. One realizes that because of the great abundance of material available, some selection has to be made, but it would seem that this selection might have had greater ecumenical significance if the festivals chosen had had a more firmly Christological and less Marian reference.

Some question may also be raised as to the style of translation. In their introduction, the translators have no hesitation in pointing out that since the Byzantine original was in a liturgical style that was consciously artificial, they have chosen to use the style and language of the Authorized Version of the Bible in their translation. In fact, they have tried to use no word in their translation which is not found in the King James translation of the Scriptures, although they acknowledge that it has not always been possible for them to follow their own principle, especially since Byzantine liturgies contain a large number of words which are not to be found in the Bible.

The wisdom of their choice of a translation style depends upon the purposes for which their volume has been designed. If this edition of the Menaion was produced for the primary purpose of providing liturgical materials for English-speaking Orthodox Churches (of which there is a growing number), then the style which they have chosen may be the best for the purpose. If, however, their primary purpose is to provide the western reader with some better idea of the treasures of Orthodox liturgical material, then one can call into question this choice of a style of translation. Since the second-named purpose seems to have been the one which the translators had in mind, I do have some difficulty with the style of English translation which they have chosen.

But these objections should not be allowed to take away from the real value which this edition of the Menaion has for the serious liturgical student. The paucity of available English materials from the Orthodox liturgical tradition more than justifies the present volume, even with all of its problems. If readers are interested in finding Orthodox resources for use in western worship, they will doubtless be disap-

243 - The Festal Menaion

pointed. But if people are interested to learn more about the liturgical mind and spirit of Orthodoxy, they will find great help in a careful study of this volume, especially if they remember that the 564 pages which it contains represent only a part of the vast materials which are available, awaiting further and, one hopes, more useful translation.

Howard G. Hageman
New Brunswick Theological Seminary
New Brunswick, New Jersey