tation of Christ in the Temple.1 The Collects for these days were taken from the Missal: Omnipotens sempiterne Deus, majestatem tuam supplices exoramus, ut sicut unigenitus Filius tuus hodierna die cum nostræ carnis substantia in templo est præsentatus, ita nos facias purificatis tibi mentibus præsentari. Per eundem.3 Gratiam tuam, quæsumus, Domine, mentibus nostris infunde; ut qui angelo nuntiante Christi Filii tui incarnationem cognovimus, per passionem ejus et crucem ad resurrectionis gloriam perducamur. Per eundem.3 The Saints' The Purification. The Annui ciation. The feast of St. Michael and all Angels, commemo- St. Michael. rating the ministry of the holy angels to the heirs of salvation, originated in some provincial festivals which were introduced between the third and ninth centuries, and which were then combined into one common celebration on the 29th September. Its observance was not enjoined upon the Greek Church before the twelfth century.5 Our Collect is taken from the Missal: Deus, qui miro ordine angelorum ministeria hominumque dispensas; concede propitius ut a quibus tibi ministrantibus in cœlo semper assistitur, ab his in terra vita nostra muniatur. dominum.6 1 Festum occursus, kopтT) Tĥs vπávTηS, ÚжажаντŃ Our Prayer Book retains both commemorations, calling the festival, The Presentation of Christ in the Temple, commonly called, The Purification of Saint Mary the Virgin. 2 Missal. Sar. In purificatione beatæ Mariæ Virginis, col. 703. The Epistle was, Lectio Malachia, iii. [1-4], and the Gospel, Luc. ii. [22-32]. In 1549 no Epistle was appointed, but the same that is appointed for the Sunday' was to be read; and the Gospel was, Luc. ii. [22-27]. The ancient Lection from Malachi was re-appointed for the Per Epistle' in 1662, and the Gospel 3 Missal. Sar. In annunciatione 5 Guericke, pp. 194 sq. 6 Missal. Sar. In festo Sancti Michaelis Archangeli. The Epistle was Rev. i. 1-5. This was changed in 1549 for the portion from Rev. xii. which had been read for the Epistle in die Sancti Michaelis in monte Tumba (Oct. 16). The Saints' All Saints. At first each Church celebrated the memorial of its own martyrs; but afterwards some few became the objects of commemoration by the whole Church. In the Greek communion festival in honour of the whole army of Martyrs was kept on the Octave of Pentecost.1 In the course of time the idea of Martyr and Saint became very naturally identified: and when the Roman Pantheon was given to the Christians by the Emperor Phocas (610), and converted into a Church of St. Mary and All Saints, Boniface IV. instituted a festival of All Saints; 2 which, however, did not long continue. It was renewed, and celebrated at Rome in the eighth century, on the 1st of November, and was made a festival of the universal Church by Pope Gregory IV. (834).3 The power of canonization, assumed by the Popes towards the end of the tenth century, increased the number of saints, till the frequency of Church Holy Days became most inconvenient. These celebrations were removed from the reformed Offices; but All Saints' Day was retained in commemoration of all the known and unknown departed Christian worthies, and of the communion of the Church triumphant with the Church as yet militant on earth. 1 Now ἡ Κυριακὴ τῶν ̔Αγίων Πάντων. 2 Festum omnium Sanctorum (May I). 3 See Guericke, p. 181. Abbot Odilo of Cluny (998) appointed the morrow of All Saints for Masses for the repose of All Faithful Souls: Robertson, Ch. Hist. 11. 536. • Canonization (the insertion of a name in the Canon or list of Saints) has been distributed into three periods. Down to the tenth century the Saint was exalted by the popular voice, the suffrage of the people with the bishop. After this the sanction of the Pope was required, but the bishops retained their right of initiation. The first instance of canonization conferred by the decree of a Pope is that of Ulric, bishop of Augsburg, by John XV. (993). Alexander III. (1159-1181) seized into the hands of the Pope this muchabused prerogative: in 1170 this Pope declared that, even although miracles be done by one, it is not lawful to reverence him as a saint without the sanction of the Roman Church. Cf. Milman, Latin Christianity, V. 243; Hardwick, Middle Age, p. 212; Robertson, Ch. Hist. II. 534; Notes and Queries, 3rd Series, XII. 316. CHAPTER III. ADMIN THE ORDER for the ADMINISTRATION OF THE LORD'S SUPPER, OR HOLY COMMUNION. SECT. I.-Primitive Liturgies. THE traces of the form of worship used by the Christian converts, which we find in the New Testament, refer to the Eucharist, as being emphatically the Christian Service.1 Hence naturally arose the ecclesiastical use of the word Liturgy, to designate the form employed by the Church in celebrating that Office which was called the Mass by the medieval and the Latin Church, but which we now call the Lord's Supper and the Holy Communion. From the scanty remains of very early 1 The description of the earliest denotes any public service, religious converts (Acts ii. 42, oav de poσ- or secular. In the LXX. translation καρτεροῦντες τῇ διδαχῇ τῶν ἀπο- it is used for the ministry of the στόλων, καὶ τῇ κοινωνίᾳ, καὶ τῇ Levites (e. g. 1 Chron. xxνί. 30, εἰς κλάσει τοῦ ἄρτου, καὶ ταῖς προσευχαῖς) πᾶσαν λ. Κυρίου); in the New Testa is supposed to contain a summary of ment, for the ministry of prophets the several and successive parts of and teachers (Acts xiii. 2, where see the primitive Service:-instruction Wordsworth's note; cf. Trench, from the word of the Apostles, and Synonyms of the New Test. 1. § xxxv.); from the Scriptures; the charitable and in ecclesiastical writers, for any contributions (cf. I Cor. xvi. 2; Rom. sacred function, and, in an especial xv. 26, &c.); the Eucharist; and the and strict sense, for the Eucharistic prayers. Comp. also I Cor. x. 16, Office. Strictly this should be referring to the consecration of the μvσTIK XEITOUрyía. See Bingham, bread and wine; and I Cor. xiv. 16, Antiq. XIII. I. Thus we speak of to the use of the word Amen by the the Liturgies of St. James, St. Mark, people after the Eucharistical prayer St. Chrysostom, &c., for the Service offered by the minister. See Pro- used in celebrating the Lord's Supper fessor Blunt's Intro. Lecture, pp. in the Churches of Antioch, Alex16 sq.; and Parish Priest, Lect. ix. andria, Constantinople, &c. p. 284. 2 In classical Greek AeToupyla 3 Dr. Waterland (Doctr. of the Eucharist, ch. 1.) adduces the fol Primitive Traces of the Christian Service in the New Testament. Primitive The Christian Service century. Christian times we may gather so much concerning this form, as to allow that the various Churches, which were founded by the Apostles, had each a Service for the Eucharist; and that these Liturgies, while differing it may be in some particulars, all agreed in their main features. The earliest extant account of the Sunday in the second Service is contained in the following passage of Justin Martyr's Apology (140). We find what we should expect from the traces that are scattered through the Apostolical writings, that this Service included the reading of the Gospels or the Prophets; a sermon; a Litany, in which all joined; then the Eucharist, in which the presiding minister offered up a prayer, the people answering heartily Amen. Next followed the distribution of the consecrated elements; the Service being always accompanied with almsgiving. Justin Martyr's account of the Sun Ovola (150), Just. M. Dial. pp. 344 sq.: Commemoration, Memorial, àváμvnois, μrhun (150), ibid. p. 345: Passover (249), Orig. cont. Cels. lib. VIII. p. 759, ed. Bened.: Mass, Missa (385), from the usual form of dismission, Ite, missa est; Ambros. Epist. 1. 20, ad Marcellin. p. 901, ed. Bened. It was also called by the Latins Collecta (see Freeman, i. pp. 145 sq.), Dominicum, Agenda; and by the Greeks, Mystagogia, Synaxis, Telete, Anaphora: see Maskell, Ancient Liturgy, p. 146. Τῇ τοῦ ἡλίου λεγομένῃ ἡμέρᾳ πάντων κατὰ πόλεις ἢ ἀγροὺς 4ος μενόντων ἐπὶ τὸ αὐτὸ συνέλευσις γίνεται, καὶ τὰ ἀπομνημονεύματα lowing successive appellations of rist (107), Ignat. Epist. ad Smyrn. c. this Service:--Breaking of Bread 7, 8; ad Philadelph. c. 4: Sacrifice, (A. D. 33), Acts ii. 42: Communion, Kowavía (57), from St. Paul's account of the effect of the Service, which is the communion of the body and blood of Christ, 1 Cor. x. 16: Lord's Supper, Kupiakоv deîπvov (57), because instituted by our Lord at supper, and succeeding the Jewish Paschal supper; it does not appear, however, that the text (1 Cor. xi. 20) was in terpreted absolutely of the Eucharist before the end of the fourth century; and at the end of the seventh century Lord's Supper had not become a familiar name for the Eucharist, but rather denoted the supper, or lovefeast, agape, which accompanied it, or our Lord's own supper with His disciples, or the supper which preceded the Eucharist on Maundy Thursday: Oblation, πpoσpoрá (96), Clem. Rom. Epist. 1. c. 40: Sacrament (104), Plin. Epist. X. 97: Eucha 1 In the early Fathers we are not to expect a full account of the Liturgy: the Church used much reserve in speaking of its sacraments and ordinances amongst catechumens and infidels, only imparting the nature and method of them to converts about to be laptized.' Blunt, Introd. Lect. p. 17, note. τῶν ἀποστόλων ἢ τὰ συγγράμματα τῶν προφητῶν ἀναγινώσκεται μέχρις ἐγχωρεῖ· εἶτα παυσαμένου τοῦ ἀναγινώσκοντος, ὁ προεστὼς διὰ λόγου τὴν νουθεσίαν καὶ πρόκλησιν τῆς τῶν καλῶν τούτων μιμήσεως ποιεῖται· ἔπειτα ἀνιστάμεθα κοινῇ πάντες καὶ εὐχὰς πέμπομεν· καὶ, ὡς προέφημεν, παυσαμένων ἡμῶν τῆς εὐχῆς, ἄρτος προσφέρεται καὶ οἶνος καὶ ὕδωρ· καὶ ὁ προεστὼς εὐχὰς ὁμοίως καὶ εὐχαριστίας ὅση δύναμις αὐτῷ ἀναπέμπει, καὶ ὁ λαὸς ἐπευφημεῖ λέγων τὸ ̓Αμήν. καὶ ἡ διάδοσις καὶ ἡ μετάληψις ἀπὸ τῶν εὐχαρισ τηθέντων ἑκάστῳ γίνεται, καὶ τοῖς οὐ παροῦσι διὰ τῶν διακόνων πέμπεται. οἱ εὐποροῦντες δὲ καὶ βουλόμενοι κατὰ προαίρεσιν ἕκαστ τος τὴν ἑαυτοῦ ῦ βούλεται δίδωσι· καὶ τὸ συλλεγόμενον παρὰ τῷ προεστῶτι ἀποτίθεται, καὶ αὐτὸς ἐπικουρεῖ ὀρφανοῖς, κ.τ.λ. It is a general opinion that Liturgies were not committed to writing before the end of the second, or even of the third century; nor indeed can we confidently assert that we have a perfect example of so high antiquity: yet certain portions, and expressions which we still use, can certainly be traced,3 and perhaps the substance of the Liturgy itself may be recovered, which was used at a very early period. The following is the Anaphoral portion of the Liturgy of St. Chrysostom, which is ordinarily used in the Eastern Church.5 1 Justin Mart. Apol. Major, sub fin. Opp. p. 98 (ed. Colon. 1686). See also the description of the Service at the reception of converts, ibid. p. 97. 2 “This seems very probable, be cause, in the persecutions under Diocletian and his associates, though a strict inquiry was made after the books of Scripture, and other things belonging to the Church, which were often delivered up by the traditores to be burnt, yet we never read of any ritual books, or books of Divine Service, delivered up among them.' Renaudot, in Bingham, XIII. v. § 3. 3 See Bingham, XIII. ch. v. 4 See The Ancient Liturgy of the Church of Jerusalem, being the Liturgy of St. James freed from all later Additions and Interpolations, &c. 5 The Greek ritual books contain Primitive Liturgies. |