Let me add some further thoughts on this important discussion (sorry for
the
long post):Yes the 'Living Sacrifice' is a boon for our generation. Thank God
for the work by Mr.C.K. Varghese.
Faith is an attempt to comprehend the incomprehensible God. As protrayed in the
essay on Holy Trinity by Raji Johnson (Raji chechi), words fall short in trying
to express these ideas. Any language is inadequate in this endeavour. That being
the case as it is, the additional limitations caused by not understanding the
language causes an unsurmountable barrier for a growing section of our
community, that often goes unnoticed to the elders who call the shots.
I would like to reiterate what Philip Mathew said in this discussion.
Sure Malayalam is my mother tongue. I love to speak in Malayalam. I
like to listen to Malayalam songs both Christian and others. It gives
me a sense of belonging. I am proud to be a Malayalee. Also then,
Hindi is my national language. Hindi is the first language that comes
to my mind when I try to formulate ideas into words. And I am proud
of my Indian heritage. I am not arguing against any of these. But the
language and the faith are 2 different ideas, which are often
interwoven for convinience and we need to realise that the two are separate. Our
faith is not "Malayalee", by any means. Sure, Malayalam was the prominent medium
by which the faith was taught to us. We are inheritors of the one uncorrupt and
Apostolic faith in Christ which is beyond any language. It is incorrect to hide
our failure to teach the faith to the younger generation by blaming their(or
their parents') lack of initiative to learn/teach Malayalam.
During Parumala Thirumeni's time, everything was probably in Syriac. But the
language itself is not holy. That is the reason why Mathews I Bava, Augen Bava,
C.P. Chandy Sir and such visionaries took the initiative to translate the
prayers into Malayalam from Syriac, not to lessen the importance of Syriac, but
to meet an important need - teach the faith in the language known to the common
man.Mrs. Sabu George brings up a notable point about even Ethiopian students
using Malayalam well. We can see exceptions to the rule even among us, where
there are children outside Kerala who read Malayalam well, but the major ailment
remains.
Today, this generation is faced with a unique scenario. For 20
centuries our families were mostly living in Kerala. Living in the
same geographical area and being exposed to the same culture for so
long, we had a definite pattern to live life,a blessed tradition to
worship the Lord, a common language to communicate [malayalam](yet a
different language [Syriac mostly, I guess] to worship)
Then in the last 40-50 years, several factors, including
technological advancement and innovations in transportation, created
a disturbance - an immigrant population. When one immigrates, the
first important hurdles are re-location, resettlement, looking for a way to make
both ends meet for yourself and the family. Faith is always present, yet formal
Liturgy and Church is really an after thought. This is the natural process. Look
at the history of the American diocese for example, and we see this typical
pattern. As the families were struggling to pay their bills and to better their
lives, working 2 jobs and at times even more, teaching Malayalam to the kids was
neither practical nor considered necessary. Then when people got a bit more
settled, the need for faith brought the Church to America.(Unforunately we do
not have a history of evangelisation to show) That is when the gap caused by the
language barrier began to surface. It is not proper to blame the first
generation immigrant population for this situation. It is just that this
generation is faced with a unique situation of being caught in the middle of an
immigration process happening in our community. Unique problems require unique
solutions. Today we need more visionaries like C.P. Chandy Sir and our blessed
Catholicoses. Hope we can take a cue from them and work towards this important
need.
My wife and I can speak Malayalam, and read and write Malayalam with
difficulty. I must say that this is one important reason why we are
close to the Church. Though not fully, we have a glimpse of the great
treasure of our faith, by the little Malayalam that we know. There is
such a wealth of faith in the Orthodox Church, and it is a pity that
the youngsters cannot use it because of the language barrier. I also
would like to say that as long as the Church is in the current state,
where most of the Liturgies are in Malayalam, our community must
teach Malayalam to their children, not because the language is holy,
but because of our current predicament.
I remember a sermon by N.S. Varghese achen in Vashi many years ago.
Achen is the first priest of the Church born and brought up outside
Kerala. He was teaching us English Qurbana and there was opposition
from the elders to having the Qurbana in English. Achen said, "my
parents taught me enough Malayalam so that I can celebrate the
Qurbana in Malayalam(I do not usually focus on an achen during a
Qurbana, but just to make my point:Achen's Malayalam Qurbana is much
appreciated). So either teach your kids Malayalam, or stop opposing
Qurbana in English."
In Summary - do not tie the enthusiasm to preserve the culture with
the need to teach and propogate the faith. The two are different, and
need to be handled differently. Hope there is a synergy created to
bring about positive change among us.
Regards,
Mathew Samuel,
Albany, NY
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/IndianOrthodox/message/14892
long post):Yes the 'Living Sacrifice' is a boon for our generation. Thank God
for the work by Mr.C.K. Varghese.
Faith is an attempt to comprehend the incomprehensible God. As protrayed in the
essay on Holy Trinity by Raji Johnson (Raji chechi), words fall short in trying
to express these ideas. Any language is inadequate in this endeavour. That being
the case as it is, the additional limitations caused by not understanding the
language causes an unsurmountable barrier for a growing section of our
community, that often goes unnoticed to the elders who call the shots.
I would like to reiterate what Philip Mathew said in this discussion.
Sure Malayalam is my mother tongue. I love to speak in Malayalam. I
like to listen to Malayalam songs both Christian and others. It gives
me a sense of belonging. I am proud to be a Malayalee. Also then,
Hindi is my national language. Hindi is the first language that comes
to my mind when I try to formulate ideas into words. And I am proud
of my Indian heritage. I am not arguing against any of these. But the
language and the faith are 2 different ideas, which are often
interwoven for convinience and we need to realise that the two are separate. Our
faith is not "Malayalee", by any means. Sure, Malayalam was the prominent medium
by which the faith was taught to us. We are inheritors of the one uncorrupt and
Apostolic faith in Christ which is beyond any language. It is incorrect to hide
our failure to teach the faith to the younger generation by blaming their(or
their parents') lack of initiative to learn/teach Malayalam.
During Parumala Thirumeni's time, everything was probably in Syriac. But the
language itself is not holy. That is the reason why Mathews I Bava, Augen Bava,
C.P. Chandy Sir and such visionaries took the initiative to translate the
prayers into Malayalam from Syriac, not to lessen the importance of Syriac, but
to meet an important need - teach the faith in the language known to the common
man.Mrs. Sabu George brings up a notable point about even Ethiopian students
using Malayalam well. We can see exceptions to the rule even among us, where
there are children outside Kerala who read Malayalam well, but the major ailment
remains.
Today, this generation is faced with a unique scenario. For 20
centuries our families were mostly living in Kerala. Living in the
same geographical area and being exposed to the same culture for so
long, we had a definite pattern to live life,a blessed tradition to
worship the Lord, a common language to communicate [malayalam](yet a
different language [Syriac mostly, I guess] to worship)
Then in the last 40-50 years, several factors, including
technological advancement and innovations in transportation, created
a disturbance - an immigrant population. When one immigrates, the
first important hurdles are re-location, resettlement, looking for a way to make
both ends meet for yourself and the family. Faith is always present, yet formal
Liturgy and Church is really an after thought. This is the natural process. Look
at the history of the American diocese for example, and we see this typical
pattern. As the families were struggling to pay their bills and to better their
lives, working 2 jobs and at times even more, teaching Malayalam to the kids was
neither practical nor considered necessary. Then when people got a bit more
settled, the need for faith brought the Church to America.(Unforunately we do
not have a history of evangelisation to show) That is when the gap caused by the
language barrier began to surface. It is not proper to blame the first
generation immigrant population for this situation. It is just that this
generation is faced with a unique situation of being caught in the middle of an
immigration process happening in our community. Unique problems require unique
solutions. Today we need more visionaries like C.P. Chandy Sir and our blessed
Catholicoses. Hope we can take a cue from them and work towards this important
need.
My wife and I can speak Malayalam, and read and write Malayalam with
difficulty. I must say that this is one important reason why we are
close to the Church. Though not fully, we have a glimpse of the great
treasure of our faith, by the little Malayalam that we know. There is
such a wealth of faith in the Orthodox Church, and it is a pity that
the youngsters cannot use it because of the language barrier. I also
would like to say that as long as the Church is in the current state,
where most of the Liturgies are in Malayalam, our community must
teach Malayalam to their children, not because the language is holy,
but because of our current predicament.
I remember a sermon by N.S. Varghese achen in Vashi many years ago.
Achen is the first priest of the Church born and brought up outside
Kerala. He was teaching us English Qurbana and there was opposition
from the elders to having the Qurbana in English. Achen said, "my
parents taught me enough Malayalam so that I can celebrate the
Qurbana in Malayalam(I do not usually focus on an achen during a
Qurbana, but just to make my point:Achen's Malayalam Qurbana is much
appreciated). So either teach your kids Malayalam, or stop opposing
Qurbana in English."
In Summary - do not tie the enthusiasm to preserve the culture with
the need to teach and propogate the faith. The two are different, and
need to be handled differently. Hope there is a synergy created to
bring about positive change among us.
Regards,
Mathew Samuel,
Albany, NY
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/IndianOrthodox/message/14892
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