Patrick Comerford
I was saddened to hear the news a few days ago of the death of Professor David Frost, the former Principal of the Institute for Orthodox Christian Studies. He died peacefully on Thursday night, surrounded by his family.
I first got to know David when I was a regular student at the Institute for Orthodox Christian Studies in Cambridge from 2008, taking part in the annual summer schools in Sidney Sussex College, visiting the IOCS in Wesley House on Jesus Lane, joining in IOCS pilgrimages to Saint John’s Monastery in Tolleshunt Knights, and at conferences and seminars in Wescott House, the Anglican theological college across the street from the IOCS on Jesus Lane and around the corner from Sidney Sussex College.
David Frost was a distinguished academic and a Shakespearean scholar of note, and was also known as a liturgist and as a gifted writer. He was a fellow of Saint John’s College, Cambridge, and taught English literature and religious studies at several universities, including the University of Newcastle in Australia. He also worked in theatre in Australia, where he staged the Chester Mysteries in Newcastle and was involved a symphony orchestra.
His research and publications focussed on literary subjects like Shakespeare, 17th century English drama, liturgical works including a modern translation of the Psalms, and the liturgy of Saint Chrysostom.
He worked with Andrew Macintosh and John Emerton on The Cambridge Liturgical Psalter, first published by William Collins in 1976 as The Psalms: A New Translation for Worship. There were two editions, one a plain text and one pointed for singing to Anglican chant.
This modern English-language version of the Psalms was prepared for public and private worship by a panel of eight Hebrew specialists from various Christian traditions, working over a six-year period in collaboration with David Frost as a literary scholar who was conversant with the long tradition of translations into English of this ancient Biblical text.
It became a Penguin classic, The Psalms in English (1996), was authorised for use in many Churches world-wide and became part of six national prayer books, including the Liturgical Psalter in the An Alternative Service Book (1980). The translation was incorporated in An Australian Prayer Book (1978), in the Alternative Prayer Book of the Church of Ireland (1984), and in An Anglican Prayer Book of the Anglican Church of Southern Africa. It was also adopted for use by the Uniting Church in Australia and in the Methodist Hymns and Psalms (1983).
An adapted version, The Psalms: The Liturgical Psalter (New Inclusive Language Version), was published by HarperCollins in 1995 and was incorporated into A Prayer Book for Australia (1995).
It remains in use in the Church of England and is seen as representing the best modern understanding of what is on occasions a very difficult Hebrew text, and it is recognised by Jews and Christians alike as an honest and reliable translation.
His translation of the Psalms into English was so groundbreaking that his wife, the late Dr Christine Mangala Frost, once told me: ‘I prefer to think of him as David the Psalmist.’
Professor David Frost (right) with Metropolitan Kallistos Ware and Dr Christine Mangala Forst at the summer school of the Institute for Orthodox Christian Studies in Sidney Sussex College, Cambridge, in 2009 (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)When he retired, David returned from Australia to Cambridge as Principal of the Institute for Orthodox Christian Studies, at a time of great difficulty for the IOCS. With steadfast resolve and unwavering dedication, he guided the institute through turbulent waters into a period of renewed stability and purpose.
During his decade-long tenure as Principal, he brought to the IOCS – and to the wider Orthodox community in Cambridge – a deep love for the Church and a sincere, unwavering commitment to its mission but also an earnest openness to ecumenical dialogue.
In a recent book, In Blind Evolution?: The Nature of Humanity and the Origin of Life, published by James Clarke & Co, Cambridge, he made a powerful case for the incomprehensible Creator who shares in the world’s beauty, suffering and transformation. He challenged the worldview derived from Charles Darwin’s evolutionary theories and perpetuated in Richard Dawkins’s atheistic neo-Darwinism, and aligned himself with the Intelligent Design Movement (IDM) in the creation-evolution debate.
His leadership of IOCS was marked by a profound faith in the renewing power of Christ, a resolute optimism, and an infectious joy. He enriched the life of the institute with his gift for storytelling and his warm, often mischievous sense of humour.
Among the programmes he initiated at IOCS, ‘The Way’ is catechesis course that remains one of the most important, and is currently used in the Romanian Church and in an increasing number of Orthodox contexts.
I took part with David in 2013 in a presentational video in which faculty, students and supporters of IOCS explained how we have benefitted from the work of the institute over the years.
Others who spoke on the video included the then President of IOCS, the late Metropolitan Kallistos Ware, Dr Sebastian Brock, formerly Reader in Syriac Studies in the University of Oxford, IOCS staff members at the time time, the Revd Dr Alexander Tefft, Dr Christoph Schneider, Dr Razvan Porumb and Father Dragos Herescu, along with Dr Marcus Plested and Dr Christine Mangala Frost, as well as fellow students, the Revd David Patrick Cassidy from Austin, Texas, and Alice Belcher from Brighton.
While I was at IOCS, there were memorable lectures on Love, Chaucer, Shakespeare. He frequently and fluently quoted from Shaespeare, George Herbert, William Blake, the Psalms and the Song of Songs.
In one lecture, he offered the beautiful insight that the great creative artists have insights that go beyond the formulations of philosophers and theologians. On one mid-summer evening, he brought a group of us to watch Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream on the lawns at Saint John’s, where he had once been a fellow.
I shall cherish memories of his generous hospitality and warm welcome, his deep faith, his scholarship, his encouragement, his inclusivity, his style, charm and wit.
In one light-hearted after-dinner speech in the Old Library in Sidney Sussex College, standing beneath a portrait of Archbishop John Bramhall of Armagh, when he told a humorous story about a number of Anglican, Orthodox and Roman Catholic bishops who were known variously as ‘Your Eminence’, ‘Your Elegance’, ‘Your Excellence’ – and ‘Your Effluence.’
May he rest in peace and rise in glory.
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