The news is full of stories about impoverished children from Central America making the dangerous trek across Mexico to Texas, Arizona, and California. Less noteworthy for the media was the journey of nine Orthodox Christians from Texas, California, Wisconsin, Illinois, New York, and Ohio to the Children’s Residence or “Hogar” of San Miguel del Lago in Guatemala in July 2014. Groups of “missionaries” like ourselves arrive monthly to assist the nuns and staff in caring for Guatemalan children whose parents cannot take care of them. Yes, we were of some help to the children with the extra attention our group provided, especially through games, arts and crafts, and by taking them swimming and to a few other activities. We also did yard work and a few other chores, but for me it was primarily a most blessed retreat for several reasons.
First, we displaced ourselves simply by traveling to the Hogar, which is both a home for children and a women’s monastery. We rose early for prayers and went to bed not long after it was dark each night. Evening prayers occurred right before dinner in the common dining room. At the tables designated for visiting missionaries, we ate three times each day the same simple, satisfying food as the nuns, staff, and kids. We became so used to standing for prayer before and after meals that a few members of our group jumped up quickly when I rose slightly to reach the peanut butter near the end of breakfast one day. (It was like a scene from a monastic reality show!) In so many ways, we left the busyness and worries of our usual schedules behind—even WiFi was scarce. In ways small and large, our lives were reoriented for several days around a schedule shaped by the needs of the children and the routines of a monastic community. In this context, our group bonded quickly with one another as we entered into a different style of life.
Second, we did not really know in advance what we would be doing from one day to the next. We had a general idea of the schedule, but the particulars of yard work and activities with the kids (ranging from swimming to arts and crafts and spontaneous play sessions) evolved from day to day in light of what pressing needs arose in the community. As someone normally addicted to a routine, I found it both a challenge and blessing simply to go with the flow. “The Spirit blows where He wills” and it was good for our group of busy, goal-oriented Americans to accept that we were not in charge of the schedule. We learned not to measure a day by what we accomplished, but simply to be grateful for the opportunity to pray and be present with children whose stories are so different from our own. The experience reminded me of caring for own daughters when they were small, for good days then had little to do with achieving pre-established goals. They had much more to do with simply with being there.
Third, the services reminded us that the language in which we pray is irrelevant. With only one fluent Spanish speaker on our team, most of us did not follow every prayer word for word. But that did not hinder our worship, for we all knew the familiar gestures, smells, and patterns of the daily services. The highest form of prayer is without words anyway. Since I am certainly not there yet, the simple words of the Jesus Prayer helped to still my wandering mind more than once. Speaking of language, a bit of practice enabled me to intone a few litanies in apparently understandable Spanish. The first Sunday I served by myself, but my good friend Fr. Chad Hatfield of St. Vladimir’s Seminary presided at the Divine Liturgy on our second Sunday in Guatemala. As he said afterwards, “For two gringos serving in Guatemala, we did pretty well.” As in previous liturgies in Greece, Romania, and Syria, I was reminded of the day of Pentecost, when the Holy Spirit overcame linguistic boundaries.
Fourth, we dressed and worked differently than we usually do at home and not according to our own will. As visitors to any monastic community know, modesty is the watchword. And with boys and girls who are expected always to dress modestly, missionaries must set a good example and not become stumbling blocks. So in warm weather that usually calls for shorts and sandals in the US, we wore long pants and tennis shoes. With the exception of time spent doing yard work, I wore my cassock and sometimes a clerical hat. Being hot natured to begin with, I did not mind the cold showers as a way of cooling off. (One day I took three!) Since I make my living as a professor and do as little yard work as possible at home, it was a change of pace to cut grass on a hill with a non-motorized push mower and to spend a few hours pulling weeds. But the spiritual benefits of manual labor and of restraining our own desires about summer clothing just a bit for the sake of others were undoubtedly positive dimensions of our experience. Thank God for circumstances where our own preferences do not always prevail.
Yes, it was a mission trip. According to the nuns, our group did its job very well. But as with all things done for the Kingdom, we cannot calculate the results with precision, at least not in this life. That is up to God, not us. What we can do is simply to be thankful for a wonderful retreat in a community of children who, despite their poverty and broken family backgrounds, are blessed by the care of holy nuns and staff members in ways that made us all stand back and give thanks. At the end of the day, they were the missionaries to us. Thank God!
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Posted with permission from our Trustee, Fr. Philip LeMasters, from his blog, Eastern Christian Insights [emphases added]. Fr. Philip led an OCMC Youth Work Team to the Hogar Rafael Ayau Orphanage in July, 2014.
Alumnus Deacon Simon Menya (’18) was ordained to the holy priesthood Wednesday, July 31, 2019, by the hand of His Grace, Silverstros Kistu Maximos, bishop of the Ugandan Orthodox Church’s Diocese of Gulu and Eastern Uganda. His Eminence, Metropolitan Innocentios of Rwanda and Burundi also participated in the service.
Following the ordination at St. Lavrentios Orthodox Cathedral in the city of Gulu, the newly-ordained Priest Simon has been assigned to assist at three parishes in Uganda: St. Lavrentios, Archangel Michael, and St. Basil.
Father Simon served as headmaster of Archangel Michael’s Orthodox Secondary School in Lapainate village—the only Orthodox church school in the northern region of Uganda—before enrolling in St. Vladimir’s Seminary’s Master of Divinity (D.Min.) program in 2015. In doing so, he became the first person from the nine churches in Northern Uganda to study abroad.
Saint Vladimir’s Seminary Alumnus Very Rev. Andrew Tregubov has been elevated to the dignity of mitered archpriest for his many years of service to the Orthodox Church in America (OCA). His Beatitude, Metropolitan Tikhon, archbishop of Washington and metropolitan of All America and Canada, awarded the miter to Fr. Andrew on Sunday, July 29, 2019 during Divine Liturgy at Holy Resurrection Orthodox Church in Claremont, NH, where Fr. Andrew has served as rector for forty years.
“The presentation of the miter is the crowning of your ministry as an Orthodox priest, but it is even more glowing of a tribute in that this is taking place here, in the bosom of the community that you have guided, nurtured, and pastored for your entire priestly ministry,” His Beatitude said to Fr. Andrew upon the awarding of the miter. “When you were handed the pastoral leadership of this community, the future of the parish was uncertain because of difficulties in the past. But your wisdom as a pastor and your insight as a confessor have, with God’s grace, brought this community to its present place of stability.”
Father Andrew’s name was presented for consideration for the right to wear the miter, the highest liturgical award for priests, at the most recent meeting of the Holy Synod of Bishops in the spring of this year.
At the Divine Liturgy Sunday, His Beatitude noted the contributions of both Fr. Andrew and Matushka Galina in the field of sacred arts.
“Together with your wife, Matushka Galina, you have taken the talent that was nurtured in your heart, and brought it to visible fruition. Your work as an iconographer and Matushka’s labors as an embroiderer have had an influence on others and have led many to pursue Christ in holy orders or in the liturgical arts.”
The St. Vladimir’s Seminary community prayerfully wishes Fr. Andrew and Matushka Galina many years!
I am a relatively new bishop, having served happily as a pastor for 33 years before being elevated to the episcopacy. I still have the honor of glimpsing into the intimate dynamic between people and God, as they approach me with pastoral issues—perhaps even more deeply, in my new role—and I regard this as a blessed benefit of being a “chief pastor.” It is awesome to witness people responding to our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.
Other “perks” in my new ministry are the great respect and attention afforded me, but these are also the most difficult things to get used to! People open doors for me and carry my suitcase, and lead me from place to place. They do it all with such reverence that it is hard to complain, though it makes me feel a little too elevated; admittedly, though, perhaps it is necessary, since I have had nightmares about forgetting where I am supposed to be on any given Sunday!
All this is forgotten, however, when I encounter my flock, the sheep given to me. My first favorite moment with a parish community is when I have the opportunity to ordain a deacon or priest from among them. My second favorite moment occurs when I am recognized as a beloved father, and not just a hierarch. Such a moment happened recently while I was preaching in a parish: a 4-year old escaped his parents’ arms, ran up to me, and slapped me a high five. Now, that, to me, brothers and sisters, was heaven.
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Bishop John is the current Auxiliary Bishop for the Diocese of Worcester and New England, The Self-Ruled Antiochian Orthodox Christian Archdiocese of North America. He is also the editor of WORD Magazine. His Grace was married to Khouriya Joanne (+2008) for 30 years, and has three grown children.
Dr. Paul Meyendorff, professor emeritus at St. Vladimir’s Seminary and editor of the St. Vladimir’s Theological Quarterly, was one of numerous Orthodox delegates who participated in the Plenary Session of the Faith and Order Commission of the World Council of Churches.
Held in Nanjing, China June 13-19, 2019, the gathering was hosted by the China Christian Council, which Dr. Meyendorff noted is an organization recognized and controlled by the Chinese government. With the blessing of His Beatitude, Metropolitan Tikhon, he represented the Orthodox Church in America.
“Orthodox representation was quite good with numerous delegates and staff members,” Dr. Meyendorff reported. “Of note is that the Russian Orthodox Church, represented by Archpriest Vladimir Shmalyi, resumed its participation in Faith and Order.”
Dr. Meyendorff serves on a subcommittee that received and analyzed responses to “The Church, Toward a Common Vision,” a significant convergence statement on the nature of the Church.
“The Commission has thus far received over 70 responses, and I am a member of the drafting team that is preparing a summary report of the subcommittee’s analysis, with recommendations for further Faith and Order work,” said Dr. Meyendorff. “Of particular note was the official announcement of an upcoming World Conference on Faith and Order, to be held in 2025 to commemorate the 1700th anniversary of the First Ecumenical Council, the focus of which will center on issues of Apostolic Faith.”
A group from Faith and Order was tasked with preparing and organizing this conference, he added.
Dr. Meyendorff’s sub-group will meet in Bossey, Switzerland, in January 2020 to continue working on the analysis of “The Church, Toward a Common Vision.”
The next plenary meeting of the entire Commission is scheduled for January 14-20, 2021.
“In the meantime, the various sub-committees will continue to meet,” Dr. Meyendorff continued. “We were informed that it is at the 2021 meeting, a nominations committee will consider candidates for the next Commission.”
Alumnus Deacon Larry Soper (M.Div., ’19) has been ordained as a priest for the Serbian Orthodox Church's Eastern American Diocese. His Grace Bishop Irinej, a fellow SVOTS alumnus (’82), presided over the Divine Liturgy and ordination Sunday, July 7, 2019 at St. John the Baptist Serbian Orthodox Church, Patterson, NJ.
The newly-ordained, now known as Fr. Lawrence (Lavrentia), enrolled at St. Vladimir’s Seminary in 2016 from St. George Serbian Orthodox Church in Canton, OH. Prior to becoming a seminarian, he obtained a B.S. in General Studies from Charter Oak State College, New Britain, CT and an Associate of Arts from Kent State University, Kent, OH. Fr. Lawrence also worked for nearly ten years as house manager for the Interval Brotherhood Home in Akron, OH, which offers medical treatment and rehabilitation for drug and alcohol addiction.
“It was there that I discovered what living the gospel really means,” Fr. Lawrence said in 2016, shortly after joining the Seminary. “I had the privilege of serving those who struggled with addiction, mental health disorders, and poverty. I found that Christ dwells among the poor and disenfranchised, and it is our job to give Him comfort and rest.”
St. Vladimir’s Seminary Alumnus Dn. Narek (now Fr. Andrew) Garabedian was ordained as a priest of the Armenian Church of America on Friday, June 28 and 29, 2019. Father Andrew was ordained by the hand of fellow Alumnus His Grace, Daniel (Findikyan), primate of the Eastern Diocese, at St. Gregory the Illuminator Armenian Church, Chicago, IL.
Father Andrew was born in Yerevan, Armenia on January 12, 1988. At that time his father, Archpriest Keghart Garabedian, was the personal secretary of His Holiness, the late Vasgen I, Catholicos of All Armenians. In 1989, Fr. Andrew’s family moved to Montreal, Quebec, Canada, where his father served under His Eminence, the late Archbishop Vasgen Keshishian. The archbishop assigned the family to the parish of St. Vartan Armenian Church in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.
Father Andrew attended primary and secondary schools in Vancouver and studied philosophy and political science at Kwantlen Polytechnic University in British Columbia. In 2009, by the blessing of His Eminence, Bishop Bagrat Galstyan, Fr. Andrew moved to Montreal, Quebec, where he was assigned to work alongside Fr. Myron Sarkissian as assistant youth and Christian education director. Father Andrew graduated from St. James’ Armenian Seminary of Jerusalem at the top of his class in 2013 before attending St. Nersess and St. Vladimir’s seminaries in New York. He graduated from St. Vladimir’s with a Master of Divinity (M.Div.) in 2016.
Since 2017, Fr. Andrew had been serving St. Gregory the Illuminator Armenian Church, Chicago as full-time deacon-in-charge and pastor. Following his ordination, he is now assigned to St. Gregory as the parish priest.
May God grant the newly-ordained Fr. Andrew and his wife, Yeretzgin Nune, many years!
St. Vladimir’s Seminary Alumna Sister Margarete (Roeber) now serves her monastic community of Holy Assumption Monastery, Calistoga, CA, as Mother Macrina. Mother Macrina was tonsured to the rank of Stavrophore on Wednesday, December 19, 2018, by the hand of His Eminence Benjamin, archbishop of San Francisco and the West, at Holy Assumption Monastery.
The service was attended by Mother Macrina’s father, Priest Anthony Roeber, professor of church history at St. Vladimir’s Seminary; her mother, Kh. Pat Roeber; sister, Maria; and brother, Christian Gregory. Mother Macrina’s family lives in St. Louis, MO, except her brother, who lives in Pasadena, CA.
Mother Macrina has obediences as cantor and bookeeper at Holy Assumption, under Abbess Melania. With Mother Melania’s blessing, Sister Margarete had been on a pilgrimage all over the world leading up to her tonsure to Stavrophore, visiting Orthodox communities in Greece, Jerusalem, Georgia, Poland, Estonia, France, England and Russia. She stayed in each community to learn from them and acquire new monastic experience. The same month of her tonsure, Mother Macrina was interviewed by St. Elsabeth Convent in Minsk, Belarus, and spoke about her journey to Orthodoxy and the monastic life.
Mother Macrina joined St. Barbara Orthodox Monastery, Santa Paula, CA, as a novice in 2009, and was transferred later that year, at the blessing of bishop, to Holy Assumption Monastery. She was tonsured to the rank of Rassophore at Holy Assumption Monastery in 2012. Her abbess and superior then blessed her to enrolled at St. Vladimir’s Seminary, where she graduated with an M.A. in 2016 and a Th.M. in 2017.
The St. Vladimir’s Seminary community wishes Mother Macrina many years!
Seminary Alumna Beryl Knudsen says she has seen first-hand how hope in God positively affects those with mental illness.
Writing in the News-Times’ “Forum on Faith,” Knudsen, a chaplain at Danbury Hospital in Connecticut, shared the story of her sister-in-law, who struggled with mental illness for forty years before passing away in 2018.
“It was not until the last few years of her life that her symptoms were under control. Although still anxious and depressed at times, she was no longer tortured by paranoid thoughts and angry outbursts,” wrote Knudsen. She was able to enjoy life. She had friendships. She was able to give to others.”
“This healing was in many ways due to her getting a medication that worked for her—and sufficient supervision to ensure that she took it regularly. Long before she found stability through her psychiatric medication, however, she found hope through her belief in God.”
In the article, Knudsen goes on to share her experiences facilitating a spirituality group in Danbury hospital’s Behavioral Health Unit.
“I never cease to be amazed at the spiritual depth revealed within this group. Patients have sincere questions about their relationship with God, their friends, and enemies. They express their need to forgive or be forgiven. They search for hope in seemingly hopeless situations.”
To read Knudsen’s full article in the News-Times, click here.
I taught medieval history at Wichita State University, KS, and I am a translator. When I get stuck in a stubborn paragraph, I say a short Latin prayer to the Holy Spirit: “Veni, Sancte Spiritus; et emitte coelitus lucis tuae radium. Veni, pater pauperum; veni, dator munerum; veni, lumen cordium.” “Come, Holy Spirit, and send a ray of your heavenly light. Come, Father of the poor. Come, Giver of gifts, Come, Light of the hearts.”
In this article, I will first deal briefly with my own life, and then with one key aspect of patristic theology that continues to attract me. After discussing the practice of translation, I will answer questions that may arise. I was a tenured member of the faculty, but my life lacked a sense of direction. And then, mindful of the words of Socrates (c. 469-399 B.C.E.) in Plato’s Apology that “the unexamined life is not worth living,” I concluded that I had not really used the gift God had given me, that of languages. I had studied ten. Instead of going to church on Sundays, I listened to classical music, or read poetry by the German poets Rilke or Hölderlin. Then, unexpectedly, a former student invited me to Pascha at St George Orthodox Church. I converted to Orthodoxy in 1981.
I translate books out of a deep respect for Tradition. I know that various definitions may be given of that venerable word “Tradition,” but the one I like best is offered by the fifth-century French monk Vincent of Lérins in his renowned Commonitorium (c. 434). Using Latin, the language of his day, Vincent writes: “Id teneamus quod ubique, quod semper, quod ab omnibus creditum est.” In translation, “We use the greatest care to hold what has been believed everywhere, always, and by all.” (Documents of the Christian Church, ed. by H. Bettenson [1963] 84).
A concept that is essential in understanding Orthodoxy is that of “the heart.” Gregory of Nyssa (c. 335-394) wrote: “God is promised to the vision of those whose heart has been purified. But No man hath seen God at any time, as says the great John…[God] is the slippery, steep rock that affords no basis for our thoughts” (Ancient Christian Writers 18 [1954] 143, translated by Hilda Graef). And thus, God cannot be “understood” by the mind, though He can be understood by the heart, and be loved. In the text, On the Soul and the Resurrection, Macrina, Gregory’s sister, states admirably, “hé de gnósis agapé ginetai,” “knowledge becomes love” (The Fathers of the Church [1967] 240, translated by Virginia W. Callahan). Another possible translation might be “Love itself becomes knowledge”— “Amor ipse fit cognitio,” as was said in the Latin Middle Ages. There is an intellectual knowledge, and there is also knowledge as an experience of God in the heart, by grace.
Eastern spirituality appeals to the heart. We learn about “guarding of the heart” (in Greek, phulaké kardias; in Latin, custodia cordis), vigilance or watchfulness of the heart (népsis), purity of the heart (in Latin, puritas cordis), and kardiognésis (Greek for knowledge of the heart). In Scripture, the heart (lev, in Hebrew) is the point of contact between God and the human being. It gives stability to the successive, fleeting moments of life. In Orthodox Spirituality (1994), Bishop Hierotheos succinctly states that “the heart is the place . . . wherein God is revealed” (35). And to repeat what Tomaš Špidlík says in volume two of The Spirituality of the Christian East (2005, Cistercian Studies Series 206), while commenting on Theophan the Recluse’s view of the degree of kinship between the human being and God (srodstvo, as Theophan says), “To be attentive to the voice of this ‘connaturality’ is to perceive the divine mysteries . . . as they enter our lives. The heart then becomes a wellspring of revelation” (258).
Moving away from the heart, let us now deal with “the head,” and the more technical aspects of translation. And thus, we ask, “exactly, what is translation?” It is not a mechanical act, like pouring wine from one bottle into another; nor is it a “reproduction” (in French, un calque). Rather, it is the process by which the original text, conventionally called “the Source Text,” is rewritten into its “dynamic equivalent” (the “Target Text”). This means that the crux of the translation process consists in writing a new version that shows fidelity (in German, Sinntreue) to the original. A good translator, then, does not render word for word (in Latin, verbum de verbo) but always meaning for meaning (sensus pro sensu), as St Jerome (c. 340420), the patron saint of translators, stated. Finding the correct meaning is a major task performed by the human translator, not by a machine. The unit of translation is always the paragraph, not the individual line.
One may ask, “What, then, is a translator?” Someone who rewrites “a book-in-itself” as “a book-for-others. Translators provide an important service to the reader—that of removing barriers. Translators make bridges. Translators work in the spaces between languages, and in so doing, provide a new perspective, a new way of thinking across language barriers.
If someone were to say, “I recently read that ‘a translation is an interpretation’”—would you agree? I might add that before making the translation, the translator performs an interpretive reading of the original text. Like everything we do, including the gestures we make, reading, almost by definition, involves “interpretation.” The translator does a great deal of research into the significance of certain words at a given historical period and in a certain cultural or religious ambiance (the German word is Umwelt, “the surrounding world”). What we should remember, then, is that a theological translation must always be faithful to the original. As stated earlier, this is the requirement of fidelity, of Sinntreue (Zingetrouwheid, in Dutch). A translator interacts with words, but he must always follow the road traveled by the author, just as the latter should follow the direction indicated by Scripture, the Church Fathers, and by Christ. The direction is always to the East: “Ex Oriente lux. Light comes from the East.” To conclude, then, a translator is not free to “recreate the original,” or distort the basic text by his own interpretation. If he does, he deserves the reproach of the Italian play on words, Traddutore-Traditore (“Translator-Traitor”).
The reader may wonder, “Are you working on something currently?” At present, in view of a translation, I am rereading a key work by the French Jesuit Jean Cardinal Daniélou (1905-1974), who defended his doctoral dissertation on Gregory of Nyssa (c.335-394) at the Sorbonne, Paris, in 1943. Together with Völker, the German scholar, Daniélou launched a Gregory of Nyssa renaissance in Europe in the 1950s, with the publication of a series of articles in scholarly Journals. He views Gregory as the real founder of mystical theology, defined as “a sensing of God in the soul.” The title of Daniélou’s study is Platonisme et théologie mystique. La doctrine spirituelle de saint Grégoire de Nysse (Aubier [1944] 326 pages). In translation, Platonism and Mystical Theology. The Spiritual Doctrine of Saint Gregory of Nyssa. This is an important work. In Ancient Christian Writers number 18 (New York [l954]), Hilda C. Graef, the translator, states that “It is only in recent times that Gregory of Nyssa has been rediscovered as an ascetical and mystical writer of the highest importance, witness the brilliant study which Père Daniélou devoted to this side of his work” (6). My translation will hopefully be the only truly comprehensive work available in English on all aspects of Gregory’s mystical theology. Is this arrogance? No, because of the warning given by Bernardus Silvestris (eleventh century) that the translator is only “a dwarf sitting on the shoulder of the giant.”
Someone may ask, “Is there a certain author’s work that you particularly enjoyed translating?” I would reply by mentioning, if I may, not one but two authors, the first being Tomaš Špidlik (1919-2010), a Jesuit Cardinal of the Roman Church, and professor of Eastern Patristics in Rome. I never met him, though I briefly corresponded with him. He knew Eastern theology superbly well; he was the star student of his professor, Irénée Hausherr, from Brussels, Belgium, a pioneer in the teaching of Eastern spirituality at the Pontifical Institute of Oriental studies in Rome. I translated two of Špidlik’s works: The Spirituality of the ChristianEast, Volume One (1986) and Volume Two (2005). We remember that an excerpt from Špidlik’s book, The Art of Purifying the Heart is found on pages 26-27 of the Spring 2011 issue of Jacob’s Well. Špidlik viewed the Church, not in terms of a historically false Roman triumphalism (“We are the true church”), but as part of the tradition of the universal, undivided Church, the mystical body, an extension of the body of Christ. He liked the word tserkovnost’, a word that is hard to translate, “a sense of Church, the desire and the will to live with and in her” (The Spirituality, vol. one, 157). Every author has his favorite vocabulary. Špidlik was very fond of using the term mysticism. There is, he stated, “the mysticism of the Church,” “the mysticism of light,” “the mysticism of events,” and the “mysticism of the heart.” (Index, The Spirituality, vol. two, 500).
The second author I enjoyed translating is Paul Evdokimov (1901-1970), a Russian lay theologian, who may be viewed as the real bridge between East and West. Born in 1901, in St Petersburg, Evdokimov first went to military school, and in 1918, attended the Academy of theology in Kiev. After the Revolution, his family settled in Paris in 1923, where he studied at the Sorbonne. In 1942, he completed his doctorate at the University of Aixen-Provence with a dissertation on Dostoevsky. He obtained a second Doctorate in theology from the St Sergius Institute, in Paris, in 1965. Together with figures such as Nicholas Afanasiev, Sergius Bulgakov, Elisabeth Behr-Sigel, and others, Evdokimov belongs to the group of émigré scholars in Paris who created what is often called “the Russian theological Renaissance.” Today, this important movement is being studied more and more, as is evidenced by the Cambridge Companion to Orthodox Christian Theology (2008). I translated three of Evdokimov’s books: Le sacrament de l’amour. The Sacrament of Love (SVS Press, 1985), La femme et le salut du monde. Woman and the Salvation of the World. A Christian Anthropology of the Charisms of Women (SVS Press, 1994), and his almost monumental Orthodoxie. Orthodoxy: the Transformed Cosmos, which is in press by Eighth Day Books in Wichita, KS.
Finally, one may wonder, “Why write translations at all?” Here is the answer: we translate because translations help raise the level of historical literacy among the readers. Also, we translate because of our love of words and of rhetoric or structure. As the heirs of Plato and Homer, most Church Fathers, educated in the classical tradition, wrote well. That is, they said simple things simply and complex things clearly.
God’s grace was revealed to me in the form of two presses for which I would translate books: St Vladimir’s Seminary Press in Crestwood, NY, and Cistercian Publications, then at Western Michigan University, in Kalamazoo, MI. I am deeply aware that God’s grace has been at work in my life as a professor and translator, and for this I bow my head in gratitude. I also know that my life does not yet form a complete unity, and that this will be an ongoing struggle until my death.
The thirteen books I have translated were written in French or German by great scholars: Irénée Hausherr and his Czech student, Tomaš Špidlík, both of whom taught Eastern spirituality in Rome; the Russians Boris Bobrinskoy, Paul Evdokimov, Bishop Krivochéine, and Leonid Ouspensky; Placide Deseille, a French Cistercian monk first at Bellefontaine and later at Aubazine in south-central France. In l977, he and his community joined the Orthodox Church on Mount Athos; and Gabriel Bunge, the Benedictine specialist on Evagrius of Pontus (343-399), who has recently been received into the Orthodox Church, in Russia. I worked with Fr John Meyendorff, the renowned Orthodox Church historian, in the sense that I translated several books which Fr Meyendorff had recommended to the Board of Publications at St Vladimir’s Seminary. Also, together with Professor and now Fr John Erickson, I edited Meyendorff’s book, Imperial Unity and Christian Divisions: The Church 450-680 A.D. (SVS Press [1989]), a work which Jaroslav Pelikan, then at Yale University, described as “a remarkable achievement.”
Why, then, are the books written by these giants of learning and holiness so important? Because they clarify the Tradition of the Fathers, and in this context, we can never emphasize too strongly that Western or Latin-speaking Christendom originated from the Greek Tradition, as a branch grows from a tree. The tree came first. Also, translators are very conscious of the fact that what they do is part of the always needed “return to the sources” (in French, ressourcement). We know what these sources of grace are: Scripture and the Patristic Testimony. The main virtue a translator should cultivate is that of obedience: to Christ (2 Cor 10:5), to the mind (in Greek, nous) is illumined by the Holy Tradition, and especially the mind of the Fathers. Spirit. Hence the crucial importance of the words of It cannot be denied that translators help to make prayer from the Liturgy of the Presanctified Gifts: patristic theology relevant to our modern world.
As second author (in Latin, auctor secundus),the translator is an earthly channel of God’s grace, linking one culture, religious or social, to another. The discipline required by translation, and the grace linked to the transmission of texts have created a certain unity in my life. And I know that some of my translations have helped certain readers find the grace of God in the center of the soul, their heart, where God meets the human being. It is well worth repeating that, while reading a text, one may become conscious of the grace of God.
Translators open new worlds of ideas, and yet,in the end, both the believer and the translator must, like Timothy (1 Tim 6:20), “guard the deposit.” This too is a work of grace, to be performed not only by the hierarchy—bishops, priests, deacons, monks and nuns—but by believers the world over.
The words the French author, Georges Bernanos (1888-1948), wrote in one of his novels, “Tout est grâce. Everything is grace,” apply in particular to the slow, painstaking work of translation. But we can perform this labor of love because our sluggish mind (in Greek, nous) is illumined by the Holy Spirit. Hence the crucial importance of the words of prayer from the Liturgy of the Presanctified Gifts: “Enlighten the eyes of our hearts with your truth.”
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Professor Anthony Gythiel was born in Belgium, and lost part of his family (mother, grandmother) to Nazi bombardment as the War broke out. He lived in Flanders, almost on the French border, on the way to Dunkirk, in Northern France and then lost everything in the revolution of June 1960, in Zaire, Africa, the former Belgian Congo, now called the Democratic Republic of the Congo, where he worked as a Catholic missionary. Coming to the United States he obtained the MA and then the PhD in 1971 in medieval comparative studies from the University of Detroit. He married, became an American citizen in 1968, and was tenured in the English department at Wichita State University, in KS; received various Teaching Awards (four altogether), and in 1993 became of Full Professor in the Department of History. He converted to Orthodoxy in 1981. On May 21, 2008, he received an Honorary Doctor of Divinity degree from St Vladimir’s Seminary in Crestwood, NY, for his translation work.
Reprinted from Jacob’s Well, Winter 2012, with permission by the Editor.
