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Deanery Matters: Parish Pieces: Diocesan Extracts: Mothers' Union Home |
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Content New Testament in Cornish History of Cornish Best Church General Synod On the Way New Testament in Cornish On Sunday November 28th 2004 a service at 2.30 pm in Truro Cathedral was packed for a ‘Celebration of the Bible in Cornwall’ We gave thanks in this service for the Bible and for its witness to the Christian Gospel in every age and place, remembering the contribution made by translators of past times, including the Truro boy Henry Martyn. We also gave thanks for Cornwall, its special identity and distinctiveness, its challenges and opportunities, and committed ourselves to work together in a community of shared values and mutual support. We were honoured and delighted to welcome Dr. Rowan Williams, the Archbishop of Canterbury, as our preacher, and we acknowledged with gratitude the great personal interest Archbishop Rowan had shown in the appearance of the Cornish New Testament. The words of the service were in Cornish, English and Latin, the three principal languages used in the worship of the Cornish people down through history. During the service The Gospel Reading taken from Matthew 5, verses 1-16 was beautifully read in Cornish by the Deputy Grand Bard followed in English by the Vice-Chairman of Churches together in Cornwall. The Giving of the New TestamentKeith Syed, editor of the newly published New Testament in the Cornish language, presented a specially bound copy to the Archbishop saying
A Arloedh Arghepskop, a-barth Kernow, my a re dhis an Testament Nowydh-ma y’n Yeth Kernewek. (Lord Archbishop, on behalf of Cornwall, I present to you this New Testament in the Cornish Language.)
The Archbishop replied in his own words in fluent Cornish. The Roman Catholic Bishop Christopher took the intersessions. We all said the Lord’s Prayer in English, and the choir followed this with the singing of the Lord’s Prayer in Cornish to a setting by Russel Pascoe, the Helston born teacher and composer of music. Agon Taze nye, eze en Neve, Benegas bo tha Hanow. Tha Gwlaskath gwrenz doaz; Tha Voth bo gwreze, En Noer pecarra en Neve. Ro tha nye an journama gon bara pub death, Ha gave tha nye gon pehasow Pecarra tel era nye gava angye Neb eze peha war agon bidn. Ha na raze gon lewa en antatl, Buz gweeth nye thurt droeg. Rag an Gwlaskath Che a beaw, Han Nearth, han Worrians, Rag nevra venitha. Andelna ra bo. Amen.
The Archbishop used the following Blessing Cryst Howl Gwyryoneth, re wrello golowy warnough, scattra an tewlder mes a’gas forth, ha’gas parusy rag Y vetya yn Y dhevedhyans golow, ha bennath Dew Ollgallosek, an Tas, an Map, ha’n Spyrys Sans, re bo yntredhough ha tryga genough bynytha. (Christ the Sun of Righteousness shine upon you, scatter the darkness from before your path, and make you ready to meet him when he comes in glory; and the blessing of God almighty, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, be among you and remain with you always. Amen.) The service ended with the congregation singing the first verse of Trelawney while the procession left in the same order as it arrived.. A good sword and a trusty hand, A merry heart and true! King James’s men shall understand What Cornish lads can do. And have they fixed the where and when? And shall Trelawney die? Here’s twenty thousand Cornish men Will know the reason why!
And shall Trelawney live? Or shall Trelawney die? Here’s twenty thousand Cornish men Will know the reason why!
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A LITTLE HISTORY OF THE CORNISH LANGUAGE The Cornish language is directly descended from the Celtic of ancient Gaul and pre-Roman Britain, so we can say that it has been spoken here for more than two thousand years. Its closest relatives are Welsh and Breton and it has a kinship with Irish, Scottish and Manx Gaelic. After the Roman Empire collapsed, shortly after 400 AD, English (or Saxon) settlers from North Germany began to overrun the island. By 800 AD, the British language was confined to Cornwall, Wales, Cumbria, South Scotland and Brittany (where it had been taken by emigrants from the south west). During the ninth and tenth centuries, Cornwall fell under the sway of the powerful kings of Wessex. Saxons settled in the north and east especially north of Bude, where Cornish names are scarce. Outside this area, English -ton added to Cornish names, marks their colonial centres, but the Cornish people continued to use their own language. At about this time, Cornish and Welsh began to go their own separate ways, though, even today, many of our place names are instantly recognisable to a Welshman. This is even more true for Breton since that language remained identical for centuries more. Shortly after, the Normans came, adding French to the language mix. Old Cornish was transformed into Middle Cornish. The most obvious change was of t into s in many words, such as cuit — a wood (compare Welsh coed) which became koes (or cos). Throughout the Middle Ages, Cornish retreated westwards under the pressure of English. In 1400, Cornish could have been heard everywhere west of a line from Tintagel to Looe. By the time of the Reformation (c. 1540), it had disappeared east of Bodmin. though, further west English was hardly known outside the towns. Up to then, religious or miracle plays, performed in Cornish in a Plen an Gwari or open-air theatre, had done much to keep the language alive. The new Anglican churchmen did not approve of them and they fell into disuse. When the pro-Catholic Prayer book Rebellion of 1549 was defeated, many Cornishmen (whose fathers had twice marched against English armies) were persuaded’ to adopt English ways. History was to prove that learning English did little to improve the lot of the Cornish peasant! Even so, long after this, some Cornishmen so resented the foreigners that they would reply to an enquiry in English, “My ny vynnav kows sowsnek” 1 will not speak English”! Nevertheless another century saw Cornish driven west of Truro, where, its literature forgotten, it lingered on the lips of fishermen until about 1800, and faded from the scene, as did the last chough a century or so later, on the very edge of the Atlantic cliffs. Fortunately the seeds of revival had already been sown, and, after a period of ignominy Cornish is again on the lips of Cornishmen. The arrival of the New Testament in Cornish, some 500 years late, may produce and expansion of the spoken word.
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ON THE WAY
On Sunday 19th October a few of us went to the Cathedral to the “On The Way” service, held to encourage optimism amongst the Pilgrim People of God, here in Cornwall. The Cathedral was looking at its festive best. Blue balloons floated above the chairs, and there was an air of bustle and expectancy as people poured in, greeted one another and sorted out their seating. I have never experienced Taize singing before, so was unprepared for the haunting sound which suddenly filled the Cathedral. Before long I had got the hang of it and joined in the chanting with great delight. Sung well, as it was on this occasion by a good choir, I think it most beautiful. The Bishop’s sermon included a delightful account of a confirmation service at which he had presided. Among the candidates was a Downs Syndrome boy who, when he knelt before the Bishop, looked up at him. Then the Bishop, to quote him, himself, made his big mistake! He smiled at the boy! Before he knew what was happening, the young man leapt up, flung his arms around the Bishop’s neck and knocked off his mitre. Confusion and chaos reigned, but the congregation took over, laughed and clapped, and joy was the order of the day. Towards the end of the service we lit the candles we each held, and passed on the flame, one to another. Then we processed around the outside of the Cathedral where most of the flames were blown out! We also lost one another and who was the most lost? Oliver, of course!! I have grown to love our Cathedral in the years I have lived here. I visit it quite often and whatever the occasion always come away feeling joyous and happy. Stella Logan of Constantine Parish
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Report by David Miller on General Synod Session February, 2004. According to the new Bishop of Gloucester, Michael Perham, who chairs the committee organising the agenda of synod, the latest meeting in London this February was clustered around two central themes – human nature and mission. The formidable intellect of Stephen Sykes introduced the doctrine report which he described as an extended meditation on the statement in Luke’s Gospel that ‘Christ grew in wisdom’. The doctrine report therefore looked at the wisdom tradition of the Bible which took us to parts of the Old Testament that are rarely looked at and considered what that wisdom tradition had to say about four crucial topics – power, money, sex and time. The method the doctrine commission used, so Stephen Sykes said, was to follow the great themes of Christmas, Good Friday and Easter. At Christmas, God came alongside us and identified with human nature in his incarnation. On Good Friday, Christ judges human nature on the cross. On Easter Day, he transforms human nature by his resurrection. So the approach was to see how society understood power, money, sex and time, then to judge that understanding and to show how from a Christian point of view it could be found wanting. Finally, the aim was to transform such an understanding in the light of Christian thought. Contemporary understanding of Power, Money and Sex could be seen as opposites of the Christian ideals of Obedience, Poverty and Chastity. Power was an attribute of God which human beings could sometimes appropriate to themselves as a way of separating themselves from God. Some powerful people were under the misapprehension that the source of power belonged to themselves and not to God; a modern playwright has spoken of ‘the self-made man who loves his maker’. Instead of this the Christian response to God should be one of obedience. Moving into money, the point was made that money can do things to people no less surely than people can do things to money. Worship of money was a form of idolatry which again separated us from God. Instead ‘the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom’. Sex needed to be transformed into an aspect of the covenant relationship between husband and wife which was a reflection of the love and faithfulness which God has for his people. One speaker from the floor of the house complained of the substitute relationships that many people form with TV Soap Opera characters, which takes hours of their time every evening which blinds us to the needs of those living people we need to form relationships with on our doorsteps and in our homes. The excellent report ‘Some issues in human sexuality – a guide to the debate’ is just what it says. It does not change Anglican teaching one iota from the 1991 report by the Bishops ‘Issues in Human Sexuality’. Rather it amplifies that rather slender report by considering every biblical reference to sexuality and considering anyone’s views who has written from an Anglican standpoint and many other standpoints besides from conservative evangelical to radical Christian feminist with much in between. It asks searching questions of each and provides much material to ponder upon for any so inclined to read. Finally, ‘Mission Shaped Church’ the report of the Mission and Public Affairs Council working group chaired by the Bishop of Maidstone, Graham Gray, highlighted the way in which many people worked in networks not neighbourhoods with a wider circle of friends drawn from much further a field. We need a ‘mixed economy church’ to quote Rowan Williams, where the parish church based in the neighbourhood is approved and so is the network where a fresh expression of church takes place – for example based on a local school which has its own ready made network of people belonging to it. The parish church hopes people will come to it, the network church goes out to people where they are. The Deanery may have a vital role to play in the network. |
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