Сербское богослужение: исторический обзор и современное состояние
The Serbian liturgical service: historical review and modern trends

Summary/Abstract: The essay deals with the history of the initiatives for the introduction of the Serbian language in the liturgical service of the Serbian Orthodox Church from 1870-es until the decision of the Holy Synod of Bishops in 1964 which allowed the liturgical service in the modern language. The following part of the essay presents the review of the translations of liturgical books from the first translation of the Liturgy of Saint John Chrysostom by Justin Popovic (1922) until these days. It is concluded that the most eminent Serbian theologians and the commissions of the highest organs of the Church government took part in the translation, and it is by their effort that a considerable number of liturgical books from the corpus of the Orthodox Church has been translated. The essay also points to the fact that the parallel use of the two liturgical languages in the Serbian Orthodox Church has its positive effects, but it also conceals the danger of the erratic marginalization of the traditional liturgical expression.

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