CHAPTER VII. The Creed. SECTION I.-By whom said or sung, and how. RUBRIC V.-Continued. SUNG OR SAID.]-By whom is the Creed to be sung or said? "By the Minister and people;" for such is the direction for the singing or saying of the Apostles' Creed at Morning and Evening Prayer, and of the Athanasian Creed, when it is used. This was also the earlier English rule, the Sarum Missal1 directing that the Priest should begin, Credo in unum Deum, and that the whole Choir should then take it up and go through with it to the end. An Ordo Romanus,2 which mounts higher than the ninth century, says the Creed is " sung by the Bishop," but this probably means only that the Bishop led; for Amalarius, in the ninth, commenting on this Ordo, speaks of it as a confession of the people. The Greek and Mozarabic Liturgies assign it to the choir or people. The Coptic Rubric is, "The people shall say the Symbol of the Orthodox Faith." In the Ethiopic, the Deacon bids them "say the Symbol of the Faith, and sing." The Syro-Jacobite has "Then they recite the Symbol of the Faith." In the Armenian, and Mozarabic,10 and Syro8 Jacobite, the Creed runs thus, "We believe," etc., thus implying that all join in saying it. In S. James, "The Priest begins." 12 In S. Mark,13 however, "The Priest, signing with the cross the Patens and Chalices, in a loud voice says, I believe," etc.; and similarly the Nestorian :14" Then he 1 Missale Sar. col. 14. 2 Ord. ii. n. 9; Mus. Ital. tom. ii. p. 46. 3 Ecloga, n. xvii. Convenit populo post Evangelium, quia Christi verba audivit, intentionem credulitatis suæ præclaro ore proferre. Mus. Ital. tom. ii. p. 553. 5 Leslie, tom. i. pp. 6, 230. 7 Renaudot, tom. i. p. 512. 4 Goar, p. 75. 8 Ibid. tom. ii. p. 11. 9 Le Brun, Diss. x. Art. xiv. tome v. p. 157. 10 Leslie, tom. i. p. 6. 12 Liturg. Patr. p. 13; Par. 1560. 11 Renaud. tom. ii. p. 11. 13 Renaud. tom. i. p. 143. 14 The Nestorians and their Ritual, by the Rev. C. P. Badger, vol. ii. p. 220. (the Priest) shall stand in front of the Altar with uplifted hands, and shall say in a loud voice the Nicene Creed." Great efforts have been made from time to time, especially in France, to have the Creed so sung that it may be "understanded of the people." To give one instance out of many, a Council of Cambrai, in 1565, "in order that not merely the ears may be pleased, but minds profit," orders" that those things which are read or sung for instruction be so read or sung that those present may distinctly hear every word; wherefore it is decreed that when the Creed is sung, neither organs nor music be used."1 In 807, Leo III. tells the Ambassadors of Charlemagne that it was read at Rome:"We do not sing the Creed,-we read it.” 2 SECTION II.-The place of the Creed in the Liturgy. The place of the Creed in the several Liturgies is various. In the Roman and its derived forms, in the Armenian and the Malabar, it comes immediately after the Gospel. In S. Mark the Gospel is followed by prayers for all conditions, etc., the Dismissal of the Catechumens, etc., the Cherubic Hymn, the Great Entrance, the Kiss of Peace with its Prayer, the Creed, a prayer over the offered Elements, and the Preface. In S. James the order after the Gospel is, a bidding prayer for all conditions, etc., the Dismissal, etc., Prayer of the Incense, Cherubic Hymn, Great Entrance, the Creed, the Kiss of Peace, the Universal Litany, Prayers for Acceptance, etc., the Preface. In SS. Basil and Chrysostom, a bidding of prayer for the Emperors, the Dismissal, etc., the Prayers of the Faithful, the Cherubic Hymn with its Prayer, the Great Entrance, a shorter Litany, the Creed, the Preface. In the Coptic, a prayer for all conditions, the Dismissal (probably, for it is not named), Prayers of the Faithful, etc., the Creed, the Kiss, etc., the Preface. In the Nestorian, a Litany, the Oblation of the Elements, prayers, the Dismissal, 1 De Cultu, c. iii.; Labb. tom. x. col. 157. Similarly, Conc. Rem. 1583; De Euchar. n. 18; ibid. col. 893. See Le Brun, Explic. P. ii. Art. viii, § iii, n. 4. 2 Labb. tom. vii. col. 1197. 3 Renaudot, tom, i. p. 223, discovers a trace of it in a warning to hypocrites and sinners to depart, which occurs immediately before the Anaphora in the Ethiopian Liturgy of Our Lord Jesus Christ. It would be contrary to all analogy to suppose that the Catechumens were dismissed then; but it is probable enough that when that rite became obsolete, the warning was altered and removed to the place mentioned, to guard the most sacred part of the Office from being profaned by the presence of wilful sinners. The the Creed, Prayers for Acceptance, etc., the Preface. Syro-Jacobite forms are very brief between the Gospel and the Preface, a prayer or two, the Dismissal, a Prose (sedra), or Prose and prayer on the Oblation of the Elements, the Creed, Prayer for Acceptance. In the Ethiopian, only a bidding Prayer for the Church Militant comes between the Gospel and the Creed. The Milanese Litany betrays its early connexion with the East by interposing the Oblation of the Elements, with its several prayers, between the Gospel and the Creed. Only in the Mozarabic,1 among extant Liturgies, is it said between the Prayer of Consecration and the Lord's Prayer, the Priest the while holding the consecrated Elements aloft in his hands. This place was assigned to it by the Council of Toledo,2 589, and, as the decree was made for Gallia Narbonensis as well as Spain, this must have been its place in the Liturgy of that province; and in all probability throughout Gaul, so far as its use prevailed before the introduction of the Roman Missal. The Creed is unquestionably best placed, as in our Liturgy, immediately after the Gospel, being itself a summary of Evangelical doctrine. "Because we believe Christ, the Divine Truth," says S. Thomas Aquinas,3 "when the Gospel has been read, the Creed is sung, in which the people show that they give the assent of faith to the doctrine of Christ." The singing of the Creed, observes another, "immediately after the Gospel . . . sets forth the fruit that has followed in the Church from the preaching of Christ and the Apostles."4 It has been seen above that in the Primitive Church the Catechumens, Penitents, etc., left before the Creed was said. On this ground it seems to have been suggested by Guest,5 one of the Commissioners for the revision of our B. C. P. in 1559, that those who did not intend to communicate should not be permitted to stay and take their part in saying it :"Because it is the prayer of the Faithful only, which were but the Communicants; for that they which did not receive were taken for that time as not faithful." 1 Miss. Mozar. Leslie, tom. i. p. 230. 2 Can. ii. Labb, tom. v. col. 1009. An allusion to this Creed, as used in public worship, in a Sermon given by Martene, L. iii. c. xiii., proves that Cæsarius (A.D. 502) was not its author, as that writer supposes. 3 P. iii. Q. 83, Art. 4; in Cavalieri, De Miss. Sacrif. c. xii. Art. x. Opp. tom. v. p. 28. 4 Titelmann, de Myst. Miss. c. xxxi. in Cavalieri, u.s. 5 See his Letter to Cecil on "the causes of the Order taken in the new Service," in Cardwell's History of Conferences, No. ii. p. 51. SECTION III. Of the History of the Creed, and of its introduction into the Liturgy. n CREED.] In the eighth Article of Religion this Creed is called the Nicene, and such is its usual appellation, though it is also, and more suitably, called the Constantinopolitan. The greater part of it was drawn up by the First General Council, held at Nicæa, A.D. 325, and was designed to express, in opposition to the heresy of Arius, the true doctrine of our Lord's Divinity, as held by the Universal Church from the time of the Apostles downward.1 The Nicene Creed ended with the words, "I believe in the Holy Ghost."2 All that follows, with the exception of the words, "and the Son," was added by the Second General Council,3 held at Constantinople, A.D. 381, as a protest against the error of Macedonius, who taught that the Holy Ghost was a mere influence emanating from God, and not a Person distinct from the Father and the Son, as the Church had received and held. There was no Creed in the Liturgy used by the African Church in the days of S. Augustine, or at least none said constantly; for, addressing Catechumens about to be baptized, he says, "In Church at the Altar the Lord's Prayer is said daily, and the faithful hear it; . . . in the Church, among the people, ye do not daily hear the Creed."4 Peter the Fuller, Patriarch of Antioch, about 469, is said to have been the first to command the use of the Nicene Creed at the Eucharist. In 510 his example was followed by Timo 5 1 When the ancient Fathers met in Council, their mutual question was not, What is your opinion on this subject? but, What is the faith that has been handed down in your Church from the days of its first founders? e.g. "As we have received from the Bishops, our predecessors, when we were Catechumens, so believing also now, we lay before you the confession of our faith."-Euseb. Cæs. in Conc. Nic. Socrat. Hist. L. i. c. viii. So Acesius declared at Nicæa, that he had "received from the beginning, yea, from Apostolic times, the definition of the faith" which the Council had affirmed.-Ibid. c. X. So by the Fathers at Constantinople, the Creed of Nicea was declared to be "most ancient and agreeable to their baptismal profession."-Theodoret, Eccl. Hist. L. v. c. ix. At Chalcedon the Bishops present declared that no new article of faith had been introduced at Constantinople, though the Creed of Nicæa had been enlarged, and professed themselves "followers of the holy Fathers." -Evagr. Eccl. Hist. L. ii. c. iv. 2 Apud Conc. Chalced. Acta, Labb. tom. iv. col. 339. 3 Act. Conc. Chalc. Labb. tom. iv. col. 341. 4 Serm. lviii. nn. 12, 13, tom. vii. col. 342. 5 Theodorus Lector, Hist. L. ii. p. 566; Par. 1673. theus of Constantinople, who ordered it to be said at every celebration throughout his Patriarchate.1 In 589 the Third Council of Toledo, already mentioned, ordered that the Creed of Constantinople should be recited every Lord's Day in the holy Office "throughout the Churches of Spain and Gallia (Narbonensis) according to the form of the Oriental Churches."2 Isidore of Seville, about 610, speaks of it as an established custom. Councils of Toledo, in 653 and 681, when reciting this Creed, declare that it is the same as that employed "in the sacred solemnities of Masses." There is no direction for saying this Creed in the Gregorian Sacramentary, nor in the oldest Ordo Romanus, the substance of which probably belongs to the earlier part of the eighth century. It seems to have been introduced by Leo III., who became Bishop of Rome in 795; for in a conference with the Legates of Charlemagne, being asked, "Is it not you who have permitted the singing of the Creed in Church? Has this usage of singing it come from us?" he replied, "I have given permission for singing it, but not for adding, diminishing, or changing aught in the singing." It is mentioned in an Ordo Romanus, which appears to have been compiled in or very soon after the time of Leo, from the fact that Amalarius, who flourished from 812 to 836, comments on it. He also notices the use of the Creed, and justifies it.9 Walafrid 10 Strabo, 842, tells us that under Charlemagne, after the condemnation of Felix of Urgel (799), the Creed "began to be repeated in the Offices of Masses more widely and more frequently." He declares himself that it "rightly" had a place there after the Gospel. It is found in two Roman Directories of a later date than those mentioned before, but still, it is believed, 1 As in last note, p. 563. Both ordered it "at every Synaxis.”— See the note of Valesius, p. 169. Some suppose that pseudo-Dionysius refers to it (De Eccl. Hier. c. iii. Opp. tom. i. p. 188) under the title of "the Catholic Hymnology;" but if so, it only proves his book to be later than it is generally thought to be. 2 Can. ii. Labb. tom. v. col. 1009. Gallia Narbonensis (Languedoc) was then under the dominion of the Goths of Spain. De Eccl. Off. L. i. c. 16; Hittorp. col. 189. Symbolum, . . quod tempore Sacrificii populo prædicatur. 4 Labb. tom. vi. coll. 398, 1224. 5 Muratorius, tom. ii. col. 1; Pamelius, tom. ii. p. 178. 6 Mus. Ital. tom. ii. p. 10. 7 Labb. Conc. tom. vii. coll. 1197. 8 Mus. Ital. tom. ii. p. 46. 'Ecloga, n. xvii. Mus. Ital. tom. ii. p. 553. He does not mention it in his book De Eccl. Offic. L. iii. c. 18 (Hittorp. col. 413); but in that he is commenting on the earlier Ordo. 10 De Reb. Eccl. c. 22; Hitt. col. 682. |