32. The translation should not restrict the full sense of the original text within narrower limits. To be avoided on this account are expressions characteristic of commercial publicity, political or ideological programs, passing fashions, and those which are subject to regional variations or ambiguities in meaning. Academic style manuals or similar works, since they sometimes give way to such tendencies, are not to be considered standards for liturgical translation. On the other hand, works that are commonly considered "classics" in a given vernacular language may prove useful in providing a suitable standard for its vocabulary and usage.

The problem with "Lover of Mankind" is that, unlike, say, "Lover of man", it really refers to the collective much more than to the individual. I have actually heard someone say, "Well, God may love mankind, but <personal tragedy> shows he doesn't care about me."

(This is adverted to in C.S. Lewis' Out of the Silent Planet, where one character is asked why, if he is devoted to mankind, he is willing to murder one of his fellow travellers. The answer is that he does not care about men; he cares about Man in the abstract.)

"Lover of man" or "Man-befriending God" more clearly indicates that God loves each man, and by extension, all men (including, naturally, women and children). But neither is very felicitous in English. It may be that "Lover of mankind" is the best we have, but is does not capture all the facets of the Greek or Slavonic.