The Scriptural and logical arguments for the need of the vernacular in public worship are obvious and overwhelming; only vested interests can pretend otherwise. Many earlier translations of the Roman Rite, and most modern ones, suffer from deficiency in style and precision. Such defects can endanger both devotion and theological accuracy. For the English language, such literary monuments as the King James Bible and the BOOK OF COMMON PRAYER provide an unassailable stylistic criterion which has yet to be approached - let alone surpassed - by modernizer or iconoclast. It is frequently forgotten by modernizers that liturgical language, like legal or medical language, cannot without violence to content be forced to imitate lay or conversational language. (This is to say nothing of the awe and solemnity which should distinguish formal words addressed to and concerning the Lord of Creation!). Attempts to degrade the sacred Liturgy to the level of the street only frustrate the whole purpose of Religion, which is to elevate man, with all his activities including his speech, to divine levels.
Directions for the Celebration of the Western Orthodox Liturgy, commonly called the Mass