ANSWER: Serving liturgy in a language that one can understand is a simple principle of common sense. Common sense also dictates that we take account of where we are in both place and time. Who would place a roast beef dinner before a 3 month infant and expect them to eat it as if the infant is an adult? Where is the parish of St. Elias located? – clearly in Brampton, Ontario where the primary language is English. To deny this is to have a distorted sense of time and space.
The liturgy came to be served in Ukrainian precisely for the same reason. When the brothers Sts. Cyril and Methodius who were Greeks went to preach the gospel among the Moravian Slavs, they did not impose a liturgy in Greek but used a tongue that their hearers could understand. From these great missionary saints, the Slavic speaking world received an alphabet and a liturgical language, namely Church Slavonic. This is simply putting into practice in a sensible manner the command of the Lord Jesus to preach the gospel to all nations (Mt 28:19-20). Let us not forget that the apostles spoke Aramaic as their mother tongue but preached the gospel in Greek so that regardless of language their hearers could hear the good news and be saved. (Greek in the 1st and 2nd centuries was the common tongue of the peoples living about the Mediterranean Sea.)
The Synod of Ukrainian Catholic Bishops following Vatican II translated the Divine Liturgy from Church Slavonic into Ukrainian in order that those who participate in it could understand it. They also produced an English language text. (The current official Ukrainian and English text dates from 1988.) This practice of translation makes liturgical common sense. They did not prohibit Church Slavonic (the Church Slavonic texts still remain the official texts) but made use of Ukrainian and English not as an ends in themselves but as a means to preaching the gospel and serving the Divine Liturgy. It is important to recognize that to date all of the texts have not as yet been translated into Ukrainian. Actually, more of the texts necessary for a full observance of liturgical life exist in English than in Ukrainian. Yet, the common sense reason that “so much” English is used in the Parish of St. Elias is that English is the language that most of the parishioners function in daily. This is the language that the children and most of the parishioners are educated in. Liturgical texts require a rather developed sense of language comprehension.
St. Elias Parish presents a rather harmonious blend of Ukrainian and English. The Divine Liturgy on Sundays is served one week in Ukrainian and the following in English. However, Vespers and Matins are served primarily in English with some Ukrainian and Church Slavonic in order to allow these services to be understandable to those who are participating in them.
Finally, we should never, ever lose sight of the command to preach the gospel to all peoples. Given the time and place, in Ontario the primary language for preaching is English, just as it would be Ukrainian in Ukraine (or German in Germany--see
