|
In No. 38 of Istocnik His
Grace Georgije wrote an interesting article in the
Serbian section of Istocnik "Guard Your Language as
Your Land".
His Grace quoted at length the advice given by Serbian
ruler Stevan Nemanja to his son Saint Sava. On his
deathbed, Nemanja is emphasizing to his favorite son
tremendous importance Serbian language plays in the
preservation of Serbian national identity. Nemanja's
advice summed up: "When Serbs cease
speaking Serbian, they cease to be Serbs".
Elaborating further on
and applying this principle to the present day Serbian
diaspora, His Grace makes some interesting points. He
believes that primarily Serbian should be spoken even in
the homes where one of the spouses is a non Serb. Bishop
also states that Serbian language should be predominantly
used in the Holy Liturgy. He comments that Holy Liturgy
lasts about an hour, and that anybody with little bit of
brains should be able to enjoy it (without understanding
a word? - B.V.) He points out that our ancestors always
attended Holy Liturgy conducted in the language they did
not understand (Church Slavonic), they never questioned
that everything was fine, consequently why should people
complain nowadays if they don't understand the Liturgy?
To prove that it is not
essential for people to understand the language of the
Holy Liturgy His Grace gives example of Serbian Orthodox
Church in USA. Almost all churches of Serbian Orthodox
Church in USA use mainly English language. Since all
people understand the language, churches should be filled
with young and old Serbian Americans, but, unfortunately
they are not. His Grace further points out that it is
mysticism in the Orthodox Church that keeps the Faith
strong. His Grace concludes his article: "Where nationalistic
spirit weakens - the Faith weakens". And also: "We are the shepherds of
our flock sent to watch guard over our people, and also
by guarding its faith, language and tradition, to show
our rich culture to other people".
While I agreed with His
Grace's idea that we should all speak Serbian and try to
teach our children and spouses to be fluent in it, the
reality is quite different. Yes, language is important,
but is it not the primary goal of our Orthodox faith
salvation of our souls?
Yes, language is
important, but some very bad men spoke beautiful Serbian
(Milovan Djilas, Slobodan Milosevic). Yes, our parents
and grandparents back in Serbia or Bosnia loved Church
Slavonic Liturgy. It sounded good and Holy, and they did
not even consider that it could be held in Serbian.
Today, we live in entirely different environment.
Temptations around us are innumerable, sneak and
sophisticated. If we do not arm ourselves and our
children with the knowledge of our faith and with strong
faith we might become easy pray of heretics and atheists.
Holy Apostle Paul spoke on this almost 2000 years ago in
his epistles. In First Corinthians 14-9, 10-11 he says:
"So
with yourselves, if you in a tongue utter speech that is
not intelligible, how will anyone know what is said, for
you will be speaking into the air. There are doubtless
many different languages in the world, and none is
without meaning, but if I do not know the meaningof the
language I shall be a foreigner to the speaker and the
speaker a foreigner to me".
Also in First Corinthians
14-19: "Nevertheless in the Church I would
rather speak five words with my mind (understandable,
B.V.), then ten thousands words in a tongue (not
understandable, B. V.)".
Also in Romans 10-17:
"So
faith comes from what is heard, and what is heard comes
by preaching of Christ".
Does it not seem that
Holy Apostle Paul's order is: Speak to the people so they
could understand you?
Most of us came to Canada
and USA for good. To raise families, work and to die
here. So will our children and grandchildren. If
6,000.000 French in Quebec are struggling to preserve
their language and identity, what is the chance of Serbs
scattered all over USA and Canada?
To illustrate my points I
made a small statistical snapshot of my and my wife's
extended family in Canada. I included: brothers, sisters,
nieces, nephews and their families. Here are the results:
Total
analyzed: 20 families
Total adults & children: 66 persons
Place of
birth:
in former Yugoslavia: 23 persons, or 34.85%
not in Yugoslavia: 43 persons, or 65.15%
Nationality
of parents:
both parents Serbs: 45 persons, or 68.18%
one parent Serb: 12 persons, or 18.18%
no Serbian parents: 9 persons, or 13.66%
Languages
spoken:
only English, no Serbian: 18 persons, or 27.27%
fluent Engl, poor Serbian: 24 persons, or 36.36%
fluent Engl and Serbian: 21 persons, or 31.36%
poor Engl. fluent Serbian: 3 persons, or 4.5%
63.63% of
people are unable to understand Holy Liturgy in Serbian.
They are children born in Canada or non Serbian spouses.
How to force them to learn Serbian? After all, this is
Canada. And even our Diocesan Statute proclaims English
and Serbian as official languages to be used. I attended
once service in Greek Orthodox Church.. It all sounded
holy and beautiful, but I felt like stranger because I
did not understand a word, and I would not be eager to
come there again (unless they are the only Orthodox
Church in the town).
Would it not be fair and
in the spirit of the Holy Apostle Paul's instruction to
offer to 2/3 of our parishioners that don't understand
Serbian Holy Liturgy in the language they understand:
English? My prayer to God is that my children be
primarily: good Orthodox Christians, secondary: good
Serbs. Why not give them the choice: English or Serbian?
The goal is salvation of their souls. Is it not?
Branko
Vincic, Hamilton
We think that Mr.
Vincic's letter actually proves the point His Grace
Bishop Georgije made in his article "Guard Your Language
Like the Country". To remind
the readers, the text insisted on guarding our tradition,
and our language as the most distinguished part of it, as
a way of protecting ourselves from assimilation. The sad
statistics Mr. Vincic shows us is the best warning how
things, without concern for our native tongue, can go
irreparably wrong: if we lose the touch with our language
we are doomed to cease to be the Serbs.
Istocnik,
Editorial Board
|
