“What would Kate and Ashley think?” They were middle school daughters of fellow students in my beginning New Testament Greek class. Our professor gave us two interpretive tasks with each assigned biblical text: produce a literal translation from Greek into English, and then make the meaning plain in language that might be found in middle school hallways. How would Kate and Ashley say this?
It was an exercise that helped us understand the dynamic qualities of languages. Faithfulness to the meaning and beauty of a passage is not a matter of flipping a switch, but practicing an art. Understanding how the rules work, and when to work around them. Keeping Kate and Ashley in mind— real children known in our seminary community—also helped us to remember that the scripture texts we were scrutinizing exist first and foremost to proclaim the story of God-with-us to real people in every day and age, and at every age.
When my children were chatty toddlers, I found it thrilling to puzzle out the meaning of new words or phrases they tried out. This detective game required context clues and patience, and came with a big reward. The delight or relief at being understood that washed across my little one’s face was mirrored by the same swell in my heart. Translation is an act that creates a shared experience. As meaning is shared, so too are joy and connection.
We owe a debt of gratitude to Isabel Florence Hapgood, for her faithfulness to this connecting impulse. Her dedication to learning languages and love for the liturgy and music of the Russian Orthodox tradition have served to bring understanding and connection to many.
Hapgood was born in Boston in 1851 to English-Scottish parents. Following her formal education, she pursued further study of linguistics and mastered most German and Romantic languages, as well as Russian, Polish, and Church Slavonic. She worked with a native Russian speaker to develop her spoken fluency with the language and gained renown as a translator of works from Leo Tolstoy and Nikolay Gogol, among others.
Her fidelity to the original texts in her translations opened doors for her when she and her mother traveled to Russia in 1887-1889. Hapgood became close to the Tolstoy family during this time, spending the summer at their estate. Their friendship led Hapgood to support his crusade to relieve the suffering of famine among his countrymen.
Hapgood returned to Russia nearly every year, and continued to translate, adding Fyodor Dostoyevsky’s The Brothers Karamazov and Anton Chekhov’s The Seagull to her growing list of literary and cultural bridge-building. She wrote for publications like The New York Times, Atlantic Monthly, and Harper’s Weekly, and spent 22 years as a correspondent and editorialist for the New York Evening Post and the Nation, all the while bringing Russian and European cultural stories to American readers.
During her stays in Russia, she befriended a number of clergy and musicians in the Russian Orthodox church, whose music and liturgy stirred her. With the blessing and support of several successive Russian Orthodox Bishops of Alaska and the Aleutian Isles, this devoted Episcopalian translated the liturgical service book into English in order that more people might share in that sacred beauty. Her work fostered ecumenical relations between the Episcopal and Orthodox churches in the United States. She had much encouragement and a special blessing on that project from Orthodox Archbishop Tikhon, whom she regarded as a friend.
In this eleven-year labor and “gift of love” to the Russian Orthodox Church, Hapgood translated from Slavonic texts of the Russian Church alongside the original Greek. The Psalms and Verses were taken from the Psalter of the Episcopal Church’s Book of Common Prayer. She prioritized including the most often used services, making it a lighter, more practical volume than earlier translations. How would Kate and Ashley use this? Keeping in mind how real people might engage with this book is part of what has given it lasting value.
Her keen intellect as a writer and linguist opened up the beauty of Russian and European literature to wider audiences. Among her papers at the New York Public Library are letters to or from Clara Barton, Phillips Brooks, William T. Stead, Henrik Ibsen, and various Tolstoys, among others – she was a prolific communicator and correspondent. Her devotion to the flourishing of sacred music and liturgy brought those transcendent gifts within reach of many others.
The life passion of one faithful person has brought beauty and connection to so many others. As we give thanks for the life of Isabel Florence Hapgood today, you may wish to reflect:
- When have you followed a strong desire or calling? In what ways did that passion connect you to others, or to your God-given purpose?
- Have you ever read or sung something that gave expression to something you felt?
- Who in your life right now “gets you” and helps you translate your gifts into service for the world? In what ways can you do that for others?
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