Justin Appel

Dear Friends,

I was fascinated to discover that today is the commemoration of Isabel Florence Hapgood in the Episcopal Lectionary. Hapgood is remembered today as an industrious translator of certain French and Russian novels into English, but her name is included in our lectionary for her English translation of the main Slavonic liturgies, including the Divine Liturgy of St. John Chrysostom. This latter book is one of the main reasons why the Episcopal Church has had significant contact with the Russian Orthodox tradition in the last century.

It may not seem terribly devotional, but I wanted to include a short paragraph about Hapgood's work from a study I did some years ago about the liturgical books used in an Orthodox jurisdiction called the Antiochian Archdiocese. I think it's quite inspiring how such an energetic women could cross so many boundaries in the early Edwardian period, and through her work leave a lasting impact on a number of English-speaking communities.

Blessings,
Justin

In light of the Arabic Orthodox origins of the Antiochian Archdiocese, it is rather ironic that the first truly important English translation [of the liturgical texts] would come from Slavonic sources, and be completed by a life-long Anglican journalist, author, and translator. As early as 1895, Isabel Florence Hapgood began work on a complete service book in English, at the request of Bishop Nicholas Ziorov of the Russian Missionary Diocese. Her translation, the Service Book of the Holy Orthodox-Catholic Apostolic Church, was completed in 1906, and was intended for use by the Russian Orthodox community in America. Miss Hapgood was very clear about her motivation to translate the critical liturgies in one volume: she recognized that English was the ‘Pan-Slavonic language in America’ that parishes would have to accept if they were to speak both to the needs of multiple immigrant groups and to children raised to speak English. But not just any English would do: Miss Hapgood’s Anglican heritage caused her to privilege the language of the Book of Common Prayer, with a definite preference for antique forms of speech. It was this English that the Antiochian Archdiocese came to prefer, and which it actively preserved by publishing Hapgood’s volume in 1917. It is a testament to the quality of her translation that the Archdiocese has continued to republish this book to the present day, in spite of two major subsequent translations. In fact, for some less frequently performed liturgies, such as ordinations, the consecration of churches, or the burial of infants and priests, it is the only English option available today. It is perhaps significant that Miss Hapgood’s work represented a kind of climax to the early 20th-century impulse amongst Anglicans and Episcopalians for unity with the Russian Orthodox Church. Her translation remains an exemplary demonstration of how Orthodox liturgical language could be manifested in a way that takes seriously the expressive possibilities of the English language. It also helped to shape the next century of liturgical enculturation in the Antiochian Archdiocese.