Structural and semantic clarification of liturgical Church Slavonic texts (based on examples from the First general epistle of the apostle Peter and the Sunday Octoechos)

At present, ideas about the partial or complete use of the Russian language in worship are beginning to be voiced with renewed vigor, which causes discussions between opponents and supporters of such a step, which could lead to the complete abolition of the Church Slavonic language. All this determines the relevance of this study. The subject is an array of specific revisions, carried out, among other things, on the basis of an analysis of Old Slavic versions and Russian transcriptions, the linguistic features of which can be considered an additional subject of work. The very idea of translating texts, including the Holy Scriptures, has its own theological justification and, as such, cannot be rejected in principle. However, the most acceptable now seems to be a careful, thoughtful structural and semantic clarification of obscure verbal and super-verbal units. Its mechanisms are shown in this work on the example of selected verses of the First Epistle of the Apostle Peter and the Sunday Octoechos in Church Slavonic. This activity contributes to the solution of an important problem of the Russian Church - the problem of understanding the liturgical language. This paper presents one of the options for resolving this difficult situation, which has acquired acute relevance at the present time.