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First Apology, which was written most probably at the end of A. D. 138 or beginning of 139.

Ἡμεῖς δὲ μετὰ τὸ οὕτως λοῦσαι τὸν πεπεισμένον καὶ συγκατατεθειμένον ἐπὶ τοὺς λεγομένους ἀδελφοὺς ἄγομεν, ἔνθα συνηγμένοι εἰσί, κοινὰς εὐχὰς ποιησόμενοι ὑπέρ τε ἑαυτῶν καὶ τοῦ φωτισθέντος καὶ ἄλλων πανταχοῦ πάντων εὐτόνως, ὅπως καταξιωθῶμεν τὰ ἀληθῆ μαθόντες καὶ δι ̓ ἔργων ἀγαθοὶ πολιτευταὶ καὶ φύλακες τῶν ἐντεταλμένων εὑρεθῆναι, ὅπως τὴν αἰώνιον σωτηρίαν σωθῶμεν. ̓Αλλήλους φιλήματι ἀσπαζόμεθα παυσάμενοι τῶν εὐχῶν. Ἔπειτα προσφέρεται τῷ προεστῶτι τῶν ἀδελφῶν ἄρτος καὶ ποτήριον ὕδατος καὶ κράματος, καὶ οὗτος λαβὼν αἶνον καὶ δόξαν τῷ πατρὶ τῶν ὅλων διὰ τοῦ ὀνόματος τοῦ υἱοῦ καὶ τοῦ πνεύματος τοῦ ἁγίου ἀναπέμπει καὶ εὐχαριστίαν ὑπὲρ τοῦ κατηξιῶσθαι τούτων παρ ̓ αὐτοῦ ἐπὶ πολὺ ποιεῖται· οὗ συντελέσαντος τὰς εὐχὰς καὶ τὴν εὐχαριστίαν πᾶς ὁ παρὼν λαὸς ἐπευφημεῖ λέγων. Αμήν. Τὸ δὲ ἀμὴν τῇ Ἑβραΐδι φωνῇ τὸ γένοιτο σημαίνει. Εὐχαριστήσαντος δὲ τοῦ προεστῶτος καὶ ἐπευφημήσαντος παντὸς τοῦ λαοῦ οἱ καλούμενοι παρ' ἡμῖν διάκονοι διδόασιν ἑκάστῳ τῶν παρόντων μεταλαβεῖν ἀπὸ τοῦ εὐχαριστηθέντος ἄρτου καὶ οἴνου καὶ ὕδατος, καὶ τοῖς οὐ παροῦσιν ἀποφέρουσι.

Καὶ ἡ τροφὴ αὕτη καλεῖται παρ' ἡμῖν εὐχαριστία, ἧς οὐδενὶ ἄλλῳ μετασχεῖν ἐξόν ἐστιν, ἢ τῷ πιστεύοντι ἀληθῆ εἶναι τὰ δεδιδαγμένα ὑφ' ἡμῶν, καὶ λουσαμένῳ τὸ ὑπὲρ ἀφέσεως ἁμαρτιῶν καὶ εἰς ἀναγέννησιν λουτρόν, καὶ οὕτως βιοῦντι ὡς ὁ Χριστὸς παρέδωκεν. Οὐ γὰρ ὡς κοινὸν ἄρτον οὐδὲ κοινὸν πόμα ταῦτα λαμβάνομεν, ἀλλ ̓ ἂν τρόπον διὰ λόγου Θεοῦ σαρκοποιηθεὶς Ἰησοῦς Χριστὸς ὁ σωτὴρ ἡμῶν καὶ σάρκα καὶ αἷμα ὑπὲρ σωτηρίας ἡμῶν ἔσχεν, οὕτως καὶ τὴν δι' εὐχῆς λόγου τοῦ παρ ̓ αὐτοῦ εὐχαριστηθεῖσαν τροφήν, ἐξ ἧς αἷμα καὶ σάρκες κατὰ μεταβολὴν τρέφονται ἡμῖν, ἐκείνου τοῦ σαρκοποιηθέντος Ἰησοῦ καὶ σάρκα καὶ αἷμα ἐδιδάχθημεν εἶναι. Οἱ γὰρ ἀπόστολοι ἐν τοῖς γενομένοις ὑπ ̓ αὐτῶν ἀπομνημονεύμασιν, ἃ καλεῖται εὐαγγέλια, οὕτως παρέδωκαν ἐντετάλθαι αὐτοῖς τὸν Ἰησοῦν, λαβόντα ἄρτον εὐχαριστήσαντα εἰπεῖν· Τοῦτο ποιεῖτε εἰς τὴν ἀνάμνησίν μου, τουτέστι τὸ σῶμά μου· καὶ τὸ ποτήριον ὁμοίως λαβόντα καὶ εὐχαριστήσαντα εἰπεῖν· Τοῦτό ἐστι αἷμά μου, καὶ μόνοις αὐτοῖς μεταδοῦναι. Οπερ καὶ ἐν τοῖς τοῦ Μίθρα μυστηρίοις παρέδωκαν γίνεσθαι μιμησάμενοι οἱ πονηροὶ δαίμονες· ὅτι γὰρ ἄρτος καὶ ποτήριον ὕδατος τίθεται ἐν ταῖς τοῦ μυουμένου τελεταῖς μετ' ἐπιλόγων τινῶν, ἢ ἐπίστασθε ἢ μαθεῖν δύνασθε.

Ἡμεῖς δὲ μετὰ ταῦτα λοιπὸν ἀεὶ τούτων ἀλλήλους ἀναμιμνήσκομεν· καὶ οἱ ἔχοντες τοῖς λειπομένοις πᾶσιν ἐπικουροῦμεν, καὶ σύνεσμεν ἀλλήλοις ἀεί. Ἐπὶ πᾶσί τε οἷς προσφερόμεθα εὐλογοῦμεν τὸν ποιητὴν τῶν πάντων διὰ τοῦ υἱοῦ αὐτοῦ Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ καὶ διὰ πνεύματος τοῦ ἁγίου. Καὶ τῇ τοῦ ἡλίου λεγομένῃ ἡμέρᾳ πάντων κατὰ πόλεις ἢ ἀγροὺς μενόντων ἐπὶ τὸ αὐτὸ συνέλευσις γίνεται, καὶ τὰ ἀπομνημονεύματα 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. Επειτα ἀνιστάμεθα κοινῇ πάντες καὶ εὐχὰς πέμπομεν. Καί, 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 ἀμήν· καὶ ἡ διάδοσις καὶ ἡ μετάληψις ἀπὸ τῶν εὐχαριστηθέντων ἑκάστῳ γίνεται, καὶ τοῖς οὐ παροῦσι διὰ τῶν διακόνων πέμπεται. Οἱ εὐποροῦντες δὲ καὶ βουλόμενοι κατὰ προαίρεσιν ἕκαστος τὴν ἑαυτοῦ ὁ βούλεται δίδωσι, καὶ τὸ συλλεγόμενον παρὰ τῷ προεστῶτι ἀποτίθεται, καὶ αὐτὸς ἐπικουρεῖ ὀρφανοῖς τε καὶ χήραις, καὶ τοῖς διὰ νόσον ἢ δι ̓ ἄλλην αἰτίαν λειπομένοις, καὶ τοῖς ἐν δεσμοῖς οὖσι, καὶ τοῖς παρεπιδήμοις οὖσι ξένοις, καὶ ἁπλῶς πᾶσι τοῖς ἐν χρείᾳ οὖσι κηδεμὼν γίνεται. Τὴν δὲ τοῦ ἡλίου ἡμέραν κοινῇ πάντες τὴν συνέλευσιν ποιούμεθα, ἐπειδὴ πρώτη ἐστὶν ἡμέρα, ἐν ᾗ ὁ θεὸς τὸ σκότος καὶ τὴν ὕλην τρέψας κόσμον ἐποίησε, καὶ Ἰησοῦς Χριστὸς ὁ ἡμέτερος σωτὴρ τῇ αὐτῇ ἡμέρᾳ ἐκ νεκρῶν ἀνέστη. τῇ γὰρ πρὸ τῆς κρονικῆς ἐσταύρωσαν αὐτὸν καὶ τῇ μετὰ τὴν κρονικήν, ἥτις ἐστὶν ἡλίου ἡμέρα, φανεὶς τοῖς ἀποστόλοις αὐτοῦ καὶ μαθηταῖς ἐδίδαξε ταῦτα, ἅπερ εἰς ἐπίσκεψιν καὶ ὑμῖν ἀνεδώκαμεν.

It must be remembered that Justin Martyr was at this time apparently living at Rome, and that he was writing a defence of his fellow-Christians to the Roman people, addressed to the Emperor Antoninus Pius. It is at least then more probable that he should describe the service used by the Christians at Rome, than that used in a distant province; unless of course the two were identical, or nearly so. Now in his account there are nine distinct points mentioned, with all of which in their order the Clementine Liturgy exactly corresponds. These

are :

I. Lections, from the Old and New Testaments.

2. Sermon.

3. Prayers for all estates of men (said by all).

4. The Kiss of Peace.

5. Oblation of the Elements.

6. Very long (ἐπὶ πολύ) Thanksgiving.

7. Consecration, with the Words of Institution.

8. Intercession said by the Celebrant, all the people responding 'Amen.'

9. Communion.

Justin Martyr also seems to imply something like, at any rate, the first beginning of penitential discipline in the words οὐδενὶ ἄλλῳ μετασχεῖν ἐξόν ἐστιν ἢ τῷ πιστεύοντι .. . καὶ οὕτως βιοῦντι ὡς ὁ Χριστὸς παρέδωκεν. It surely is no stretch of probability to see in this description exactly the service which a century later

would emerge in a little more definite form just like the Clementine Liturgy. There are liturgical notices in other early writers of various countries all consistent with the hypothesis of a Liturgy of similar type.

1

of Liturgies.

We do not however mean to imply that an absolute uni- Divergence formity of ritual prevailed in all Churches before the liturgical revision of the 4th century. No doubt from that time a clear and striking divergence of particular rites shewed itself, while in particular Church-provinces sometimes abbreviations and sometimes additions were made in different ways, which afterwards naturally remained as peculiarities of the local rite: but those local differences in the Liturgies were already in existence, at least in germ, in the first three centuries; though what was common to all predominated incomparably.'

of dismissal

As compared with other Liturgies, the Clementine has in full 2. Its fulness what in them has been reduced to the proclamation of the forms, Deacon, viz. the elaborate form of dismissing the Catechumens, Energumens, and Penitents. This tells of a time when that discipline was in full force.

2

Preface.

It has also a very elaborate 2 Preface, detailing at length the and elaborate grounds of thankfulness to God for all His dealings with men, Creation, Preservation, Moral Guidance, etc., and finally the Scheme of Redemption through Christ. In the later Liturgies all this has been much abbreviated. This again points to a time before the Church's round of festival and holy-day had been elaborated; for then the general grounds of thanksgiving ceased to be enumerated in detail, and were only indicated in a general formula, while the special grounds appropriate to the occasion were commemorated by special additions to the service in the East by Lections and Anthems only, in the West

1 Cf. 'Messe und Pascha,' p. 23.

2 We would ask anyone who may think that the style of this Preface is unsuitable to such a date as is here assigned to the Liturgy, to compare it with the 3rd chapter of the Second Book of Esdras, or with 1 Ep. S. Clem. ad Cor. c. xx, or, still better, with the newly-discovered chapters of that Epistle, lix-lxi, both of which writings belong to the first century, or with the Ep. ad Diogn. cc. vii-ix.

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by that glorious wealth of special Collects and Prefaces, to which we have already alluded.

The deficiencies of this Liturgy as compared with the rest points in the same direction. It has no introductory Prayers and Hymns, but opens at once with the Lections. There is no Creed. No Prayer accompanies the Kiss of Peace. No stated Prayer is said at the (second) Oblation, though there are directions for a secret prayer (p. II, εὐξάμενος καθ ̓ ἑαυτόν). There are no directions for the Fraction and its accompanying rites, though the place of them is indicated by the recitation of the Litany by the Deacon after the Intercession of the Priest (p. 20). Incense is not mentioned. The absence of the Lord's Prayer is a problem for which no satisfactory solution has yet been suggested.

Other marks which on the whole seem to point to the period above assigned as the true one are, the prayer for persecuting emperors (pp. 9, 18, 20), the titles of, and mode of enumerating, the different lower orders of the clergy and others, the comparative simplicity of the plan of the whole service, the free and rather lengthy diction of the prayers, and the somewhat inexact theological terminology.

It is sometimes thought that shortness necessarily marks an early rite. But, whatever may have been the case with the Apostolic and Sub-apostolic Liturgy, any theory concerning which must of necessity involve much that is conjectural, this is not quite the conclusion to which we seem led by the actually existing evidence. A truer generalisation appears to be that the tendency of Liturgical development has been towards a shortening of the separate parts along with a multiplication of the parts: in other words, towards shorter prayers and greater elaborateness of ritual.

The Clementine 1Liturgy is found incorporated in the Eighth Book of the Apostolical Constitutions, the work of an anony

erate use.

1 We keep this name for the Liturgy, as being attached to it by invetIt is, however, an unfortunate one, and arose from the fact that the Apostolical Constitutions are in their Greek title attributed to S. Clement.

mous writer, the sources and date of which have been, and still are, matters of controversy. It is in fact a treatise on the

duties of the Christian life in its different spheres, public and private, religious and social. The directions given are put into the mouths of the Apostles: but the order is confused, and there is much tautology. The work as it stands was probably compiled in the fifth century, or thereabouts, out of at least three previously existing treatises. Much of the material, including the liturgical forms, is certainly older than the date of the compilation.

used.

The text we have followed is that of Ültzen (1853); only The Text two or three verbal changes being introduced here and there, to change the language of a rubric from being a personal direction given by an Apostle into the usual form: and the paragraphs, which in the German text run on continuously, being broken up to exhibit to the eye the Liturgical form.

tage from the

transmission.

We may advert to one advantage which has accrued from An advanthis mode of transmission of the Clementine Liturgy; viz. that, mode of being incorporated in a literary document, it is free from any suspicion of having undergone interpolation, either in doctrine or ritual.

There is also an argument for its antiquity drawn from the same source not to be passed over, namely, that the Compiler of the Apostolical Constitutions, putting his materials forward as the injunctions of the Apostles themselves, could not have put into their mouths a Liturgy which he himself had composed (which is one theory); or even a recent form. It must have been a form which in his time was already venerable and widely

current.

§ ii. The Liturgy of S. James (Greek).

This Liturgy is the surviving Greek representative of the Liturgy once current in Jerusalem, Palestine, and indeed throughout the Patriarchate of Antioch. In this its extant form however it does not represent the true Liturgy of S. James exactly, since it has certainly been modified in some Marks of respects after the Liturgy of Constantinople. For instance, the

modification.

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