Secular vocabulary in the church discourse (based on the speech of Patriarch Kirill)

The article is devoted to the analysis of the message wording of Patriarch Kirill's official speeches with the view of revealing peculiarities of his church and social preaching. While studying the speeches of Orthodox hierarchs, the author draws an inference about the evolution of church discourse in which secular connotations are becoming increasingly significant. The appearance in the Patriarch's vocabulary of neologisms, statements not previously used by church preachers indicates the modernization of the language of cultural and social communication of the Church with society. The process of transforming the church discourse acquires innovative features in view of the reception of new techniques and the tendency to escape from the archaic style. On the one hand, there is a reorientation of the priests to a freer and more creative use of common vocabulary in preaching, on the other hand, society itself adapts to the spiritual message of the Church. A qualitative and lexical change in the discourse is realized within the framework of the church's response strategy to actual social challenges. With respect to society, the Patriarchate takes an active stand trying to present spiritual and moral patterns in an accessible and coherent form, in appropriate contemporary formulations. Expanding the lexical variety of discourse becomes a method of increasing the dynamics and mobility of language communication. An Orthodox preacher is no longer limited to the specific ecclesiastical vocabulary and, according to various circumstances, is free to extract the necessary resources from the common language system. These trends do not acquire the significance of the factor of influence on the identity of the church sermon in which the eternal spiritual and moral verities remain unchanged. The use of progressive approaches in the information practices of the Moscow Patriarchate enables a secular society to develop communication with the Church.

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