King James English: The Liturgical Language of American Orthodoxy
It is impossible to render unto God the proper honor and respect that He is due. However, pious and Orthodox Christians still make an attempt to as much as is within their capacity. Certain things are done in the Church and in our spiritual lives that are, in one way or another, a form of showing God respect. This is why Saint Paul mandates that women cover their heads while in prayer [1]. This is why there is a dress code in most Orthodox Churches. This is why Saint John of Shangai and Francisco gave a list of rules for altar services [2]. And it is also why Saint Soprony of Essex informs the faithful that we must speak to God in a different way than we speak commonly [3].
Saint Sophrony believed that when we conduct the liturgy using everyday language, we lower the level of our communication with God. He said that when we address God in a language that has exclusive use in the contexts of the Church that we “evoke sacred feelings and images that facilitate communication with God.” [4]
This notion that the language of worship ought to be different than common speaking is nothing new, of course. In the Old World, Liturgical Languages are almost universally used instead of the contemporary language for the Orthodox liturgy. In Greece, Cyprus, and Constantinople, and Athos, Koine Greek is used. In Arab countries, a liturgical Arabic is used from about 100 years ago. In Japan, Classical Japanese is used, and this was fought for by Saint Nicholas of Japan who translated the first liturgies into Japanese. In Russia, Poland, the Czech Lands, Slovakia, Ukraine, Belarus, Serbia, and Bulgaria, Church Slavonic is used. Some of these slavic nations use various recensions of Church Slavonic so that the faithful can more easily understand, but they never turned away from the “High Language” of the liturgy. The Russian Church is even working on new Chinese translations that would use an older, more classical Chinese for the liturgy [5]. So it goes to show that Orthodoxy makes it a point to emphasize an otherworldly feeling of the liturgy to the point where even the language is something you only expect to hear there.
How does this relate to Americans? Among Christians in America, there is a particular Bible that has totally permeated the culture and spirituality of Christian living. I am speaking, of course, of the King James Version. The KJV is the most influential creation to American Christianity, and has even become a focal point to American Christian discussions on many counts, but especially as it pertains to language. The archaic language style of the KJV is professionally known as Early Modern English, and it has been an influence on the minds of the average American Christian regardless of whether or not they’ve opened it, to the extent that it has even changed the way we speak! [6] Even American Christian music has made King James English a staple as it speaks to God. Songs such as “Lift Every Voice and Sing,” “Sing till the power of the Lord come down,” “How Great Thou Art,” and “When Thy Song Flows Through Me” have this inherent understanding that to address God means to change the way we speak and the way we pray.
Even the secular world understands that King James English has a certain majesty to it. In Futurama, Season 6 Episode 7, roughly 5 and a half minutes in, Fry speaks in King James English while evangelizing for his alien religion. When he’s told to listen to himself, he says that he’s only trying to fit his diction to the importance of what he’s saying. This indicates that the secular world understands that King James English is a higher form a speaking that ought be used in a religious context.
The King James Version of the Bible is so common in the American mind that the default version of the Lord’s Prayer is in King James English, and most people know it according to that translation. Even in Orthodox Churches that use contemporary English for the Liturgy inexplicably have the Lord’s Prayer in King James English.
How is this relevant to what Saint Sophrony said? Well earlier I pointed out the archaic language style of the King James Version, this was not for no reason. The KJV is well known for its usage of “thee,” “thou,” thine,” and “thy,” along with other notable characteristics of the style, such as the “-est” and “-eth” suffixes. It would seem as though the popularity of the King James Version in the English speaking world, but especially in America, can be considered as providential due to the fact that liturgical Christian backgrounds comprehend prayer to God as being necessarily in the style of King James English.
This is not an uncommon thing that I am making to seem bigger than it is, it is a real and noticeable thing. It would appear that Christian worship and King James English are completely inseparable. This was not different for Orthodoxy either until the 1960's, when it appears the first contemporary english translations of the liturgy began to appear. The liturgical text translations of Nicholas Orloff (1890's), Fr. Seraphim Nassar (1930's), and Metropolitan Kallistos Ware (1970's) all used King James English. Even our Orthodox Saints were no stranger to King James English. Isabel Hapgood’s Service Book (1906) was blessed by Saint Tikhon [7], Apostle to America, and funded by Tsar Saint Nicholas II. The mindset behind every English translation of the liturgy up until very recently was that King James English was simply the natural style to use.
King James English is not only natural for English speaking Orthodox Christians to pray in, but it is theologically more accurate than to merely use contemporary English. In the Holy Bible, the Greek σύ (su) is a singular second person pronoun [8] while ὑμῖν (humin) is a plural second person pronoun [9]. In King James English, these Greek words remain separate as thou and you respectively, but in contemporary English, these words are collapsed into one word: you. This is particularly erroneous because the Holy Trinity is addressed with σύ because our God is only One God. This means it is more theologically accurate to use Thee, Thou, Thy, and Thine when addressing the Holy Trinity instead of using You, Your, and Yours. All Orthodox translations of the Liturgy which utilize King James English address God with Thee, Thou, Thy, Thine [10][11][12][13][14]. In fact, using You, Your, and Yours to address the Holy Trinity would divide God by professing tritheism. You might oppose this by saying “of course I don’t mean tritheism when I say this,” but the Orthodox tradition is incredibly concerned with theological implications even overlooking intention. The heresiarch Nestorius did not profess that there were 2 Christ’s, but he was condemned because his statements on theology would ultimately imply that there were 2 Christ’s. The movement of liturgical prayer away from King James English to contemporary causes problems like this and elsewhere. This is part of what’s erroneous about the flight from King James English.
“For blessed art Thou, O our God, and unto Thee do we send up glory, to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost, now and ever and unto the ages of ages.”
I write this article because many have turned away from the King James English, seeing as something clunky and ancient, or as some sort of “magic language” that has no benefit to the liturgy or the people. Such a way of thinking is foreign to the Orthodox Church here and in all the world and the history of Orthodoxy. Even if such accusations such as that King James English is a “magic language,” would it not make sense to classify Koine Greek as a magic language also? Most Greek Churches in America find themselves in this discrepancy as they use Koine Greek profusely but contemporary english otherwise. It would be of great benefit to faithful to employ King James English as the default and only translation of the Divine Liturgy. There are many Orthodox parishes in America that do not use King James English for the bulk of the liturgy, however there is one thing universal about every single English-speaking parish of America: the Lord’s Prayer.
As I discussed earlier, it appears that King James English is so common in the American mind that the default version of the Lord’s Prayer is in King James English, and most people know it only according to that translation. This information was not at all lost on the clergy of Orthodox jurisdictions in America, as they all, without fail, use a King James English translation of the Lord’s Prayer in the liturgy. This is a massive inconsistency for those who oppose King James English on any grounds, as they don’t appear to find such issues in the Lord’s Prayer, to the extent that they are willing to change the entire flow of the liturgy partway through to alternate the way of speaking. If it is not wrong for the Lord’s Prayer, why is it then wrong for the whole liturgy? If it is not right for the Lord’s Prayer, why continue to have it prayed in King James English? Consistency is a necessity in such a case.
Perhaps you have read this article thinking this is an apologetic for the King James Version of the Bible. It is not. I am speaking of King James English as a speaking style, not the KJV. Perhaps you already know of the translation issues of the KJV, I also am aware, which is why I do not advocate for it. I am not pushing that anyone accept the KJV, I myself prefer the King James Version — Patriarchal Text translation of Fr David Hawthorne and the King James Septuagint of Michael Asser, which was blessed by Archbishop Mark of Germany.
King James English is not merely a desire, I see it as necessary for American Orthodox liturgical life, and all parishes and bishops should make the switch to it for the unseen benefit to American Orthodox Spirituality.
“O Lord our God, the eternal giver of life, shine Thy grace upon all who, in love, turn to Thee for the eternal comfort of Thy salvation. Hearken unto our petitions and have mercy on us for Thou hast a wealth of compassion and desires not the death of a sinner, and unto Thee do we send up glory, to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit, now and ever and unto the ages of ages, amen.”
Kaleb of Atlanta
1: 1 Corinthians 11:4–7 - “Every man praying or prophesying, having his head covered, dishonoureth his head. But every woman that prayeth or prophesieth with her head uncovered dishonoureth her head: for that is even all one as if she were shaven. For if the woman be not covered, let her also be shorn: but if it be a shame for a woman to be shorn or shaven, let her be covered. For a man indeed ought not to cover his head, forasmuch as he is the image and glory of God: but the woman is the glory of the man.”
2: 20 Rules for Altar Servers from Saint John of Shanghai and Francisco https://blog.obitel-minsk.com/2017/05/20-rules-for-altar-servers-from-stjohn.html
3: Elder Sophrony of Essex concerning how to address God https://orthochristian.com/97006.html
4: Markides, Kyriakos C., Gifts of the Desert: The Forgotten Path of Christian Spirituality, Random House-Doubleday, NY, 2005
5: Russian Mission to Taiwan Developing Ecclesiastical Chinese Language https://orthochristian.com/136196.html
6: King James Bible: How it changed the way we speak https://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-12205084
7: Service Book of the Holy Orthodox Church by Hapgood https://archive.org/stream/ServiceBookOfHolyOrthodoxChurchByHapgood/Service_Book_Orthodox_Church_Hapgood_djvu.txt
8: Meaning of σύ in Greek https://biblehub.com/greek/4771.htm
9: Meaning of ὑμῖν in Greek https://biblehub.com/greek/5213.htm
10: OCA Diocese of the West Text of the Divine Liturgy https://www.dowoca.org/PDF/Liturgics/Liturgy_notes.pdf
11: ROCOR English Text of the Divine Liturgy https://www.orthodox.net/services/sluzebnic-chrysostom.pdf
12: Antiochian Archdiocese of North America Text of the Divine Liturgy http://www.stgeorgenj.com/the-divine-liturgy-of-st-john-chrysostom.html
13: Serbian Orthodox Church in North America English Text of the Divine Liturgy http://nikolaresanovic.com/Serbian-chant2.index.html
14: Bulgarian Patriarchal Diocese of America English Reflection of the Divine Liturgy https://www.bulgariandiocese.org/article/The+Divine+Liturgy
