LITUR CHAP. IV. ANCIENT LITURGIES. ANCIENT THE Word Aurovρyía, liturgy, means, according to its derivation, (uros public, and pyov work), a public ministration. Dr. Hook says:— GIES. Liturgy. Bingham "This term was originally used to denote the service or form employed on the word in the celebration of the Eucharist."* Liturgy. Bona on Liturgy. Bingham is more accurate when he says, that "The Greek writers usually style all holy offices and all parts of divine service by the general name of λειτουργία.”† Bingham's observations on the subject are so important that we give them in full. 66 Though Liturgy in its extended sense denotes any public office or ministration, as the Apostle uses it, Phil. ii. 30, and 2 Cor. ix. 12, for the ministration of Charity; and Ecclesiastical writers do the same, often applying it both to civil and sacred functions, as to the office of a magistrate or a bishop, as Casaubon shows at large; yet in a more limited sense it is put to signify those sacred offices which make up the several parts of divine worship, as prayers, reading, preaching, and administration of the sacraments. But it is never used as the Romanists would appropriate it, for the business of sacrificing only. The Council of Ephesus speaks both of Evening and Morning Liturgies, which doubtless mean evening and morning prayers only. And so Casaubon observes, that Justinian takes it for the office of reading the Scripture as well as administering the eucharist, when he says of a certain monastery, that the Divine Liturgy was performed in it, as it was used to be in the churches, both by reading the Holy Scriptures, and receiving the Holy Communion. And Antiochus applies the name of liturgy, not only to morning prayer, but also to the service of their midnight assemblies. Neither of which was in his time the ordinary hours of the Communion service. So that Erasmus and others are governed more by prejudice than reason, who would have that passage of Acts xiii. 2, Aurovрyoúvτwv avtāv, to be rendered sacrificantibus illis; as if there were no Divine service without sacrifice in their notion of it; when yet the Vulgar translation renders it ministering, and the old Syriack and Arabick, as Beza observes, have it praying; which is agreeable to the notion of Liturgy for divine service. Yet when the epithet of Mystica was added to Liturgia, then it commonly signified the Communion service."+ Cardinal Bona states that unless mystica be added to it, the word Liturgy never denotes the sacrifice of the altar, but some * Church Dictionary. Antiquities, p. 557, vol. i. ut supra. other part of Divine service, which shows that, even in the THE MASS. opinion of an extreme Romish ritualist, it was not always applied by the ancients to the eucharistic service.* So the word missa, or mass, denoted anciently, not only the The word eucharist, but every part of divine service. This is evident Muss. from the fact, that there was the missa catechumenorum, as well as the missa fidelium. The Council of Carthage decreed 66 That the Bishop should not prohibit any one to enter the Church and to hear the word of God, whether Gentile, Heretic, or Jew, till the missa of the Catechumens was over."+ But as the Catechumens were not permitted to partake of the Lord's supper, their missa, or service, did not include it. as to the The missa catechumenorum consisted, as Bingham observes, Bingham "Of psalmody, the reading of the Scriptures, the sermon, and the word Mass. particular prayers that were made over the Catechumens and other orders of penitents, energumens, &c., before they were dismissed."‡ At the close of the missa catechumenorum, the deacon proclaimed to all who were not communicants to withdraw, and then began the massa fidelium. On the origin of the term Mass, Bingham, having observed that it has been "shamefully abused to denote the office of consecrating bread and wine," says: "For antiently the name Missa signified no such thing, but was a general name for every part of Divine service. It signified, as we have seen already, the service of the catechumens, as well as the service of the altar; and is often used for the psalmody, for the lessons, and for the prayers at evening, when there was no communion, as well as for the prayers used in time of celebration of the eucharist. Thus Cassian often mentions the missa nocturna, by which he means the morning prayers, and psalmody before day, when it is certain they had no communion. The Council of Agde speaks of evening mass, as well as morning, which meant no more but morning and evening prayer without any communion. For they had no communion either morning or evening at their daily prayers, but only on Festivals at a distinct hour from both those. So the Emperor Leo in his Tacticks speaks of the písal ioneρivai, a word plainly borrowed from the Latin missa (for the Greeks had originally no such name) to signify only evening prayer. And Bishop Usher, in his Religion of the ancient Irish, gives us another such instance out of Adamnanus, who uses the name vespertinalis missa for what is commonly called evening prayer. And the late learned Mabillon has observed out of the Rules of Cæsarius, Arelatensis and Aurelian, that the word missa is sometimes * Bona, as referred to by Bingham, ibid. † Ibid. p. 553. Ibid. CHAP. IV. used for the lessons also. For it is one of Aurelian's rules, that they should take six Missa's, (that is, lessons) out of the Prophet Isaiah, Facite sex missas de Esaia Propheta; and Mabillon very judiciously remarks farther, that the word missa has at least three significations. It sometimes signifies the lessons, sometimes the collects or prayers, and sometimes the dismission of the people. And indeed the third sense is the original notation of the word. For missa is the same as missio. And it was the form used in the Latin Church, ite missa est, which answers to the Greek απολυεθε and προέλθετε. The word The The Liturgy of "The solemn words used at the dismission of the catechumens first, and then of the whole assembly afterwards, at the end of their respective services. Whence the services themselves at last took their names from the solemn dismissions, the one being called missa catechumenorum, and the other missa fidelium, neither of which ever signified more than the divine service at which the one or the other attended."* Bingham shows that the word sacrificium was anciently applied to the entire service as applicable to the spiritual sacrifices of prayer, and praise, and other devotions. Bingham says "Every part of divine worship had the name of sacrifice, and not only the service of the altar. For they commonly call their evening hymns and prayers by the name of evening sacrifice."t He cites many authorities in proof of this, and amongst them Eusebius, who calls the prayers of Christians the rational sacrifices that are offered, without blood, to God. Palmer observes, that the primitive Liturgies may all be reduced to four-the great Oriental Liturgy, the Alexandrian, the Roman and the Gallican.‡ The Oriental was used "from the Euphrates to the Hellespont, and from the Hellespont to the southern extremity of Greece." The Alexandrian was "the Liturgy of Egypt, Abyssinia, and the country extending along to the Mediterranean Sea, toward the west." The Roman "prevailed throughout the whole of Italy, Sicily, and the civil diocese of Africa." The Gallican was used in Gaul and Spain. 1. The Liturgy of St. James was used in the Patriarchate of Antioch. Baronius, Bellarmine, and others have endeavoured to prove that the Apostle, whose name it bears, was the author of it, but this is stoutly combated by Tillemont, Dupin, Basnage, Antiquities, p. 555, vol. i. ut supra. † Ibid. p. 556. Origines Liturg. p. 8, vol. i. Oxford, 1832. LITUR and many authors of weight. Others, again, take middle VARIOUS ground, and hold that parts of the Liturgy are spurious. GIES. Dupin denies its genuineness. 2. The Liturgy of "the Apostolic constitutions" contains that of Clement, Bishop of Rome. Its very title is indicative of its spuriousness, for, as Palmer observes, "it is totally unlike the primitive Liturgy of Rome."* This Liturgy is very similar to that of St. James, but Palmer states "that it ought not to be regarded as an authentic copy of the Liturgy of any Church." Basil. 3. The Liturgy of Basil, Bishop of Cæsarea, A.D. 370, is still Liturgy of used in the Patriarchate of Constantinople. Even its admirers admit that it suffers from the hand of the innovator. It is said, for example, that the following passage could not have proceeded from the pen of the author, whose name it bears, but was introduced by some Augustinian divine: "Cum enim volueris salvas, et nullus resistit, voluntati tuæ." 4. In addition to the Liturgy of Basil, another, which bears Liturgy of Chrysosthe name of Chrysostom has been used in the Patriarchate of tom. Constantinople. It is very similar to the Liturgy of Basil. There is good reason to doubt its genuineness, and even Palmer admits that many additions have been made to it. Mark. 5. A Liturgy ascribed to St. Mark, was used by the orthodox Liturgy of in Egypt. It contains many things which could not have been used in the times of that Apostle. 6. A Liturgy ascribed to Cyril, was also employed in the Liturgy of Egyptian Church, the resemblance of which to St. Mark's is Cyril. most striking. 7. The Roman Liturgy, according to some, was composed by The Roman Gregory the Great; others think that he was the reviser rather Liturgy. than the author of it. Palmer mentions that "Gelasius, Patriarch of Rome, performed a work somewhat similar to that of Gregory the Great." It would seem that both Gelasius and Gregory were the compilers, and not the authors of the books. 8. The Ambrosian Liturgy, used in Milan, differs in some Liturgy of points from the Roman. The Milanese were warmly attached Ambrose. to their own rites. 9. The African Liturgy is not extant, but allusions to it are The Afrifound in the works of Cyprian, Augustine, and others. Liturgy. can Origines, p. 37, ut supra. † Origines, p. 116, ut supra. CHAP. IV. The The Mosarabic 10. The Gallican Liturgy is attributed to Gregory of Tours, Hilary of Poictiers, and others as its compilers. That it differed from the Roman, is evident from the question of Augustine to Gregory, 66 'Why the customs of churches are different, when their faith is the same; and one custom of Liturgy prevails in the Church of Rome, another in those of Gaul."* Charlemagne introduced the Roman rite into France, and superseded the Gallican. The Church of Lyons was founded at an early date by missionaries from the East, from whence it is supposed to have derived its liturgy. 11. The Mosarabic liturgy, used in Spain, was very similar to the Gallican, and is supposed to have been derived from it at a remote period. The Spanish liturgy was abolished in the 11th century, by the influence of the Roman Pontiffs, who found the Spanish monarchs ready enough to comply with their demands. Dupin, though a Romanist, reasons as follows on the subject of the liturgies, which are ascribed to apostolic authors : - "It is only necessary to reflect a little on what we read of the celebration of the Eucharist in the Epistle of St. Paul to the Corinthians, and on what St. Justin and the first Fathers of the Church said of it, to be persuaded that the Apostles and those who succeeded them, celebrated the sacrifice of the Mass with great simplicity. This is what has been observed by all those who wrote on the Liturgies, who agreed in the opinion that the Mass was celebrated in the (those) first centuries without much ceremony, and that only a small number of collects was recited; but little by little they added some prayers and joined some ceremonies, in order to make the sacrifice more (venerable) sacred in the eyes of the people; finally, the Churches decreed (ruled) and prescribed (in writing) the mode in which it should be celebrated, and this is what they called Liturgies, which, being made conformably to the usages of places differently situated, were, on that account, found different also. And as men are naturally prone to change something in their external appearances, they added, from time to time, many things to the Liturgies. This remark alone suffices to show that the Liturgies, which bear the name of the Apostles, and of the evangelists, are not theirs in reality; but to prove it indisputably, it is only necessary to examine them one by one (in detail). 66 The Liturgy, or the Mass (Grecque-Latine), ascribed to St. Peter, which was given to the public by Lindanus in 1589, from a manuscript of Cardinal Sirlet, and which was very ancient, and has been printed since at See Bede, lib. I. xxvii. |