Olet täällä

Language and religion

Our own language is the language that we speak in our homes, the language in which we express our feelings to our children, the language in which we argue with our neighbours, the language that we use in an emergency, and the language in which we pray to God (the Indian poet Manohar Sardesai).

Jesus Christ taught the fishermen in their own language, Buddha spoke to the people in their own language, and Mahatma Gandhi touched people's hearts deeply because he spoke a language that they understood. Missionaries have made a point of speaking the people's own language in their work throughout the history of Christianity, and priests and monks have been trained from among nations that have converted to Christianity so as to spread and deepen the work of ministering to the people.

Thanks to UN decrees and other international agreements, certain rights have been granted to minority languages for the first time in history and legislation has been passed in many countries allowing languages to be developed on an equal footing. A democratic administration makes it possible for even quite minor languages to be preserved and developed, especially when teaching and publishing is made easier by the use of modern technology. The churches and other religious organizations publish a great deal of literature in minority languages. In Finland, for instance, publications appear in both Skolt Saame and Karelian.

People are most at home when using their own language. Metaphors, the true depth of concepts and proximity to one another are appreciated best in one's own, traditional language, and the sense of holiness attached to religious texts and their use comes over best in the language that is most immediate to us.

Literature, including religious literature, has taken on roles nowadays that were previously the province of our immediate environment, such as the handing down of traditions, and thus it is of greater importance to us than ever. Thus the publishing of the Bible and other important books in a minority language raises that language in the estimation of its speakers and of others and does much to promote its development. This means that the minority can use its own language in its religious practises and can at the same time strengthen its own identity, as is the case with the Skolt Saame and the Karelians, for instance.

Texts, mainly of a religious nature, were written in Karelian in medieval times and at the beginning of the modern era, but scarcely any of these have survived up to our day. Neither Sweden nor Finland recognised Karelian as a language belonging to its territory until after the Second World War, when a certain amount of literature was published, some newspapers and magazines, guides to usage in the language and a translation by E. V. Ahtia of part of the New Testament.

The same attitude was adopted towards the Karelian language in Russia, too. Henrik G. Porthan and Elias Lönnrot had made journeys into the Finnish parts of Karelia to collect poems, ballads and sayings, and publishing had actually begun 200 years ago in St. Petersburg with religious material, when the Short Catechism, the Lord's Prayer and a number of other prayers were translated into Karelian. These were nevertheless printed in Cyrillic script, which the majority of the ordinary Karelian people were unable to read.

Gradually more religious literature has begun to be produced in Karelian, and above all secular literature. In recent years the New Testament, ABC readers and books of poetry have been published in the Olonets dialect of Karelian and Santtu Karhu's Talvisovat has emerged as the world's only Karelian-speaking rock group! Karelian has also been recognised as a distinct language in the regions of Tver and Eastern Karelia apart from the exceptional circumstances during the Soviet period.

Publishing possibilities have improved with the reform of minority policies in Russia and Europe, and the translation of the New Testament into the Olonets dialect was a breakthrough in this respect, as it has greatly increased the esteem in which the Karelian language is held both among the speakers themselves and in the eyes of others and has promoted its further development for both religious and literary use. It will now be easier to contemplate translating the Old Testament and other texts and the way should be open for the translation of literature and the creation of new literature and non-fictional writing in the language.

Greater opportunities now exist for the Karelian-language media as well, and for the teaching of the language, which could be of considerable significance for its revival.

Among the most urgent translation tasks for the immediate future, alongside other religious texts such as prayer books, are the service books used in church. The Orthodox religion is an essential part of Karelian culture, and the whole culture would be in a much poorer state without the Church. It would therefore be a natural step to try to have Karelian liturgical texts available in both countries as soon as possible.

The Church can do most to promote the Karelian language and its culture by adopting this richly expressive language in the most personal of all areas of human experience - religious observance. Even nowadays Karelian speakers n Finland are apt to wish each other God's blessing on their journeys in the traditional way, "Mene Jumalan ker!" To which the other will reply, "Jumal andakkah!"

The problem is that the Karelians have forgotten too much of their own language under pressure from Finnish and Russian. It lives on somewhere deep in their hearts, however, and it is worth preserving. For the Karelians this is the language of their hearts, of their own homes and of their childhood. It is only in this language that they can express themselves most naturally, and be their natural selves.

Erähici on kendah sanonnuu: Kanzu, mil kieldü eule, on kanzu, mil ni süväindü eule. Kui tiijättö, nügöi müö karjalazet rajan kahdel puolel voimmo sanuo minun kieli karjalan kieli on, se on kodikieli, se on muamon da tuatan kieli, sil voimme kirjazet kirjuttua, runozet lugie da pajozet pajattua. Taivahallin'e Tuatto sidä ellendiä voibi, kirikkölöis da kodilois sil kielel malittuu sanommo, uuttu da vanhua sanua kuulemmo. Sanakniigua da školakniigua ilmoil piästetäh toine toizen jälles. Opastajat opastetah da opastujat opastutah, ruocitki meijän keral. Universitois tutkitah da tutkinduo kirjutetah. Erähät, ainos enämbät, ollah omat kielelliset juuret jo löüvvettu, erähät zavodi´tah vaste eccie, parembahpäi näimmö kai menöü.

Vai miksebö minul muga armas minun kieli on? No siksehäi, ku sil kielel muamoni rindua andoi, sil kielel tuattoni leibiä taricci. Sil kielel minä icceni tiijän, ken olen, kuspäi tulen, mikse tiä lienen, kunne vie kulkennen. Omal kielel voin avvata uksen toizeh muah da toizeh taivahah.

© Suomen ortodoksisen arkkipiispan kanslia, Liisankatu 29 A 8, 00170 Helsinki, puh. 020 6100 240, helsingin.hiippakunta@ort.fi