Titles of Liturgical Books as the Problem of Correspondence in Religious Translation

Abstract

The paper is aimed at presenting convergent and divergent features encoded in the titles of liturgical books of Eastern and Western Christianity. Titles of liturgical books seen as translation objects have revealed extremely vibrant and dynamic essence of some religious terms. All the conditions of the historical development and liturgical praxis put a translator in a very difficult position when a historical context plays a decisive role in interpreting the text and historical truth. The typical translator usually hesitates between choosing the domesticating or foreignising strategy.In the case of liturgical books, their option can cause wrong associations connected with the change of a target denomination. This is why the comparative table of books used during liturgies in the Roman and Byzantine Rites will be helpful for translators to understand the liturgical praxis of another denomination. The table was compiled and checked on the basis of the very liturgical books in original editions and in translations into English, Ukrainian, and Polish as well as on the basis of theological encyclopaedias and instructive sources.This correspondence is relevant not only for intercultural communication where a single denomination dominates over a nation’s whole culture but also for interdenominational interpretation when in the same national community, readership is denominationally diverse and can generate the superficial interpretation of celebrants’ and believers’ liturgical practices.