We have attempted to use a contemporary but dignified form of the English
language throughout this present translation. Wherever possible, existing
translations of the Orthodox Church in America have been used. For
example, the Prayers in Preparation for Holy Communion are taken from the
official Divine Liturgy book (St. Tikhon's Seminary Press, 1977) with
very few changes. The Psalms, verses, troparia, and prayers not included
in that edition have now been translated and included to complete the
traditional order.
The Psalms are taken from the Revised Standard Version of the Bible with
changes made wherever significant differences with the Orthodox
liturgical Psalter (based on the Septuagint) made it necessary. The
numbering of the Psalms follows the Septuagint throughout the Prayerbook.
We are leaving to Biblical scholars the study of the merits of the
various texts of the Holy Scriptures. Our object here is to provide the
English-speaking Orthodox Christian with a Prayerbook as closely
equivalent as possible to the Prayerbooks that Orthodox Christians of
other nationalities have used for generations.