CHAPTER III. SERVICES DESCRIBED BY THE ANCIENTS. 7. St. Cyril's Lectures.-The elder Cyril, bishop of Jerusalem (351-386), delivered in that city, c. 347, five lectures entitled Mystagogic Catecheses, or addresses to the newly enlightened, giving descriptions and explanations to catechumens of the sacramental offices of his Church (D. C. A. 1019; Sw. 206). From these materials no inconsiderable amount of the Jerusalem Liturgy of that period has been constructed (vid. Sw. 209, Grk., and Hum. 4, Engl.). The following forms in our present office were in use at Jerusalem when St. Cyril wrote: "Lift up your hearts. We lift them up unto the Lord.Let us give thanks unto our Lord God. It is meet and right so to do." Cyril quotes portions of the Ter Sanctus, and describes a prayer which corresponds to our Prayer for the Church Militant. He also describes prayers resembling some once found in our services, but now discontinued; such as the invocation of the Holy Spirit on the bread and wine, and a prayer that at the intercession of the patriarchs, prophets, apostles, and martyrs, God would receive our petitions (Hum. .c.). § 8. St. Augustine's Writings.-From this vast storehouse much information as to the African services c. 400 may be obtained. A German writer, F. J. Mone, in his Lateinische und Griechische Messen, 1850 (cap. iii. p. 90), has collected all the chief passages, and an outline of them in English may be seen in D. C. A. 1027. § 9. The Ancient Liturgy of Antioch.-From the voluminous writings of St. Chrysostom, belonging to the period while he was presbyter of Antioch (381— 398), Mr. Hammond has drawn sufficient materials for a constructive service, arranged in form and bearing the above title, printed in 1879 (Ham. A. L.A.). Dr. Swainson has also illustrated the Liturgy of St. James from the writings of Chrysostom (Sw. 206). CHAPTER IV. MEDIEVAL SERVICE BOOKS. § 10. THE Missal, the Breviary, the Manual, and the Pontifical, the books from which our Common Prayer was reformed, are those we are concerned with. The Missal contained the service of the Mass, which corresponded to our Holy Communion Office. The word "mass" is derived from the Latin missa, denoting dismission; but the appropriateness of the term is by no means obvious. It appears that there is evidence to show that in ancient times missa est was the official signal declaring a meeting of any sort, secular or religious, ended and the dismissal of the assembly; but in Church meetings an additional technical sense naturally grew up, from the custom of dismissing in the middle of them those probationary members called catechumens, and proceeding with a service appropriate to the fideles alone. The dismissal of the catechumens was called missa catechumenorum, more briefly missa, and the service which followed (the Holy Communion) would be familiarly known as the missa service, when the dismissal of the catechumens gave the signal for its commencement. Current popular language thus fixed the word, which was at length officially adopted, and as early as the fourth century missa was the word for the Communion Service (vide D.C.A. MISSA, 1193-4). or § 11. The Breviary carries its own meaning in the title. It was an abbreviation or compendium of the ordinary Church services, exclusive of the Missal and the Occasional Offices. It originated with Pope Gregory VII. (1073-1085), but underwent revisions subsequently; and in 1278 Invocations of Saints were first introduced into it, at which time also legends of the saints began to take the place of lessons from Holy Scripture, which they afterwards displaced more and more. The Hours. The Breviary was arranged on the plan of providing a distinct worship for various stated hours, called the canonical hours, of day and night. These hours were in the earliest times but few, those probably mentioned in the New Testament, viz., the third (9 a.m.), the sixth (noon), the ninth (3 p.m.). Others were added until the list grew to these nine : Nocturnum, nocturns. familiarly Tertia, tierce, 9 a.m. Sexta, sext, 12 noon. Matutina, sc. hora, matins. Nona, none, 3 p.m. Laudes, lauds. Prima, prime, 6 a.m. Vespera, vespers. The day being considered as beginning at six o'clock, four of the nine hours fix their own time precisely, and four more generally, while lauds would suit any time. Vespers are said to have been at the eleventh hour, i.e., 5 p.m., and compline at the twelfth, i.e., 6 p.m. Nocturns point to midnight; matins and lauds were assigned to some of the small hours of morning, which do not appear to have been fixed. Each hour had its own office, and to this day, when the hours have long ceased to be separately observed in public worship, they give titles to portions of the service in the Roman Breviary. But though there were nine hours and nine offices, only seven performances of Divine service and seven attendances were enjoined, so as to conform to the Psalmist's "seven times a day," and the hours are always officially called the Seven Canonical Hours. This was managed by an accumulative process, holding nocturns, matins, and lauds continuously together as one service; and when the seven hours have to be enumerated, the early triple service was called sometimes matins, sometimes lauds, sometimes matins and lauds; but the individuality of the offices was not lost by their being included in one performance, like our Morning Prayer, Litany, and Communion. The injunctions of the council of Clovesho in 747, and of Pope Leo IV. c. 850, show that clergy and monks were at those dates expected to observe all the seven hours (Mask. M.R. iii. pp. v. 8q.). § 12. The Manual.-As our Communion Service was in its origin a variation from the Missal, so was our ordinary daily service one from the Breviary. There was yet a third, the Manual, requiring notice; but it will suffice to observe that it contained the Occasional Offices, from which ours were generally borrowed and reformed. § 13. The Pontifical was an office book containing those forms alone which were used by bishops, e.g., for Ordination, Confirmation, etc. |