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Im from Poland and when i was a kid i was baptised as an orthodox, but most of my life ive been an theist. Some time ago i turned back to God and i want to go to the orthodox church, but theres only one in my city (Poznań) and the liturgies are recited in Russian so i dont understand a single word. Do i have to learn russian language to go there??
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Nyet.
Οχι.
Nemayi. ---> one of the few Ukrainian words I've learned over a year. [=no]
No, in this case you say «Ні». «Немає» is for when you don’t have something.
diakyiou - I think? LOL
No, you don't need to learn Russian. For that matter, it is very possible that the church in your city uses the Old Slavonic, not Russian. That would be one of the Medieval dialects that modern Russian, Belarusian, and Ukrainian have evolved from. Russians and Ukrainians have described it to me in the same way Latin is to Spanish: like a grandfather language to their own.
*church slavonic, not old slavonic
You're both wrong, it's called Old Church Slavonic.
No @infernovox is correct. Church Slavonic is the late medieval/early modern replacement for Old Church Slavonic.
Just FYI, Old Church Slavonic is the language spoken in 9th century Bulgaria and outside of church context is known as old bulgarian.
Please call it Old Bulgarian, thanks
No. In Poland, Orthodox Churches usually serve in Church Slavonic. There are a handful that serve in Polish. However, no parish in Poland uses Russian in the services. Sermons are always in Polish, unless the priest is specifically addressing Belarusian or Ukrainian parishioners.
No
No, in order to follow Christ, you do not need to learn any new language. Christ calls all to be with Him in His Church, regardless of language. This is why the Apostles were given the gift of speaking in tongues on Pentecost, that the barriers of language might be broken and the Gospel spread from the Jews to all the Gentile nations.
Now, if your only available church nearby is one where the Liturgies are all in Russian, you may still find it beneficial to learn Russian. And it's never a bad thing to learn a second language, anyway. But you can still, hopefully, find ways of participating in the Liturgy without understanding all the words. Learn some of the most common Liturgical phrases in Russian, things that get repeated often (phrases like "Glory to the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit," "Lord, have mercy," and "Most Holy Theotokos, save us"), and you'll hopefully have a base to follow along with what's going on without having to tackle the entire language learning process immediately.
Of course not, you can attend without knowing Russian. You can also look for an Orthodox church near you where they speak Polish. According to Wikipedia, there are 278 parishes in Poland, so maybe you are lucky to live close to one of them. If you don't feel comfortable, maybe you should try reading the liturgy in your language and then follow along with the key moments.
[Long response here, so bare with me]
I'm from Moscow Russia (born and raised) now in USA in ROCOR (Russian Orthodox Church outside of Russia).
No you don't at all. Thats why theres Antiochian (Arabic language sometimes), Greek Orthodox (Greek language sometimes, half greek, fully greek, fully english, depends), there is OCA (Orthodox Church of America, all English Liturgies for English Native Speakers).
All depends on your native language, for example Antiochian Orthodox main Church language is Arabic, my local Antiochian Church doesnt use Arabic in their liturgies at all, because most of the converts dont speak Arabic, it depends on the amount of converts in the Church, for example, my ROCOR parish has about 60% native Russian speakers and the rest are English converts that dont know russian at all, or know some, or are Orthodox but just want to experience different Liturgies in different languages which is pretty common. For example a fully Russian ROCOR Church that speaks all Russian Liturgy, there will be sometimes english visitors intrested in what the Liturgy they are used to sounds like in Russian.
I have done this for Antiochian Parish's and Greek Parish's in Egypt (lots of Greek Orthodox Parish's in Egypt do Arabic Liturgies, or Arabic and Greek) which have Arabic Liturgies. As a Russian I speak fluent Arabic (I learned it) no problem for me, I just like Arabic a little more than Russian because Russian is my main Language and gets boring :)
If you arent willing to learn a language, no problem, as someone who learned specifically Gulf Arabic Dialect and Classical Arabic Dialect its hard and took me 14 years to master.
You can learn some russian, greek, arabic, to experience different language liturgies. If youre lucky, some Parishs will have language classes. My Russian Parish has Russian and Church Slavonic classes that go for 1 hour and 30 mins for English speakers.
TLDR: No you dont. It can be cool, but if youre English and dont want to go through the hassel of speaking a fluent language, just goto a OCA Parish (Fully English speaking Orthodox Church The Orthodox Church in Russia granted the Orthodox Church in America (OCA) self-governance in 1970, so its basically a English speaking Russian-ish tradition, mostly OCA parish's have a strong relationship with Russian Bishops and Saints).
I don't know about Polish Liturgies/Orthodox Churches though, I'm sure there is such thing, God willing you find one, keep searching!.
God bless brother.
Some OCA Churches serve at least partly in Russian or Church Slavonic.
Nie trzeba ale polecam chociaż nauczenia się alfabetu i trochę podstawowych słów żeby było dla ciebie łatwiej zrozumieć co mówią/piszą
Jak to miło jest spotkać rodaków w tak losowych miejscach
As a russian speaker - I haven't yet encountered churches that use Russian as a liturgical language.
I attend a ROCOR parish and the Liturgy is in both English and Church Slavonic. After one and a half years of attending my parish. I know, Lord Have Mercy in Slavonic, the trisagon prayers: (Holy God, Holy Mighty, Holy Immortal have mercy on us) in Slavonic, but that's about it. When he's praying the Liturgy in Slavonic, I listen for the word holy so that I know when to cross myself. But that is the extent of my knowledge of Church Slavonic.
Liturgia nie jest po rosyjsku tylko po cerkiewnosłowiańsku ;). Niczego nie trzeba się uczyć. Do cerkwii nie chodzi się na koncert, tylko by przeżywać obecność Chrystusa i spożywać jego Ciało i Krew. Do tego nie trzeba nic rozumieć. Powoli jednak będziesz wyłapywać pojedyńcze słówka i zaczniesz rozumieć coraz więcej. Polecam kupić sobie w internetowym sklepie taki niebieski modlitewnik, gdzie masz zestawione obok siebie modlitwy po cerkiewnemu i po polsku. Ja dzięki temu rozumiem już bardzo dużo, mimo to, że do cerkwii chodzę dopiero niecały rok. Zapraszamy też do Gdańska, u nas we wszystkie święta oraz w dwie niedziele w miesiącu (na 8:00) Liturgia jest po polsku! Cerkiew jest tylko 15min od centrum.
dziękuję bardzo za odpowiedź❤️
Gosh, no. Thank God. Wе are not muslims
We'd probably be learning Byzantine Greek or even go back to Aramaic if that's how it went.
I'd love to know hebrew, arameic and medieval greek to read the holy Bible in original.
Russian is not a liturgical language even in Russia :)
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You can still go for the purpose of receiving holy communion - otherwise, i don't know if you need to understand the language or just be present at the church for your worship to be considered legitimate.
but for Russians, that [almost always] involves Confession the day before, or [sometimes] just at the beginning of the Liturgy - for those who want to receive Holy Communion. Frequently the priest will understand what you're saying and give you Absolution.
No….
No.
No, it's not a liturgical language. Slavonic is, dunno how foreign it sounds to modern Polish.
Used to be the "liturgical language" was just whatever language the people spoke. Some churches still do this - no idea why the Greek and Russian churches in particular have stuck with an older language that even most of their parishioners don't understand. :/
Nobody ever spoke church Slavonic that was invented for theological use only.
No (it could help in following along, but it isn't a requirement)
Good lord, I hope not.
No orthodoxy is not an Ethnic religion. But the passion it envokes has caused many nations to adopt it essentially becoming a core element of their culture.
No
Your situation is similar to mine. The Russian church near me has liturgies in Russian/Slavonic exclusively. It’s a shame too because it’s one of the most beautiful Orthodox churches I’ve seen. I guess it’s time to hop on Duolingo to learn Russian.
Nie
I grew up in the Greek Orthodox Church and barely know any Greek don’t worry lol
Just as much as you need to know italian to be a Catholic.
Да, товарищ.
Why should you?
Why would you. The most ancient Orthodox Christian speak Arabic at the moment