Liturgy of the eighth book of the Apostolic Constitutions
Encyclopedia
The Liturgy of the eighth book of the Apostolic Constitutions is a complete text of the Christian
Divine Liturgy
and found in the eighth book of the Apostolic Constitutions
. It is the oldest known form that can be described as a complete liturgy and can be dated the second half of the 4th century. It belongs to the Antiochene Rite
.
("Teaching of the Apostles and Disciples", written in the first half of the third century and since edited in a Syriac version by de Lagarde, 1854); the seventh book is an equally modified version of the Didache
(Teaching of the Twelve Apostles, probably written in the first century, and found by Philotheos Bryennios in 1883) with a collection of prayers. The eighth book contains a complete liturgy and the eighty-five "Apostolic Canons". There is also part of a liturgy modified from the Didascalia in the second book.
It has been suggested that the compiler of the Apostolic Constitutions may be the same person as the author of the six spurious letters of St. Ignatius
(Pseudo-Ignatius). In any case he was a Syrian Christian, probably an Apollinarist, living in or near Antioch
either at the end of the fourth or the beginning of the fifth century. And the liturgy that he describes in his eighth book is that used in his time by the Church of Antioch, with certain modifications of his own. That the writer was an Antiochene Syrian and that he describes the liturgical use of his own country is shown by various details, such as the precedence given to Antioch (VII, xlvi, VIII, x, etc.); his mention of Christmas
(VIII, xxxiii), which was kept at Antioch since about 375, nowhere else in the East till about 430 (Louis Duchesne
, Origines du culte chrétien, 248); the fact that Holy Week
and Lent
together make up seven weeks (V, xiii) as at Antioch, whereas in Palestine
and Egypt
, as throughout the West, Holy Week was the sixth week of Lent; that the chief source of his "Apostolic Canons" is the Synod of Antioch in encœniis (341); and especially by the fact that his liturgy is obviously built up on the same lines as all the Syrian ones. There are, however, modifications of his own in the prayers, Creed, and Gloria, where the style and the idioms are obviously those of the interpolator of the Didascalia (see the examples in Brightman, "Liturgies", I, xxxiii-xxxiv), and are often very like those of Pseudo-Ignatius also (ib., xxxv). The rubrics are added by the compiler, apparently from his own observations.
. After the readings (of the Law, the Prophets, the Epistles, Acts, and Gospels) the bishop
greets the people with II Cor., xiii, 13 (The grace of Our Lord Jesus Christ and the charity of God and the communication of the Holy Ghost be with you all). They answer: "And with thy spirit"; and he "speaks to the people words of comfort." There then follows a litany for the catechumens, to each invocation of which the people answer "Kyrie eleison"; the bishop says a collect
and the deacon
dismisses the catechumen
s. Similar litanies and collects follow for the Energumens, the Illuminandi (photizómenoi, people about to be baptized) and the public penitents, and each time they are dismissed after the collect for them. The Mass of the Faithful begins with a longer litany
for various causes, for peace, the Church, bishops (James, Clement, Evodius
, and Annianus are named), priests, deacons, servers, readers, singers, virgins, widows, orphans, married people, the newly baptized, prisoners, enemies, persecutors etc., and finally "for every Christian soul". After the litany follows its collect, then another greeting from the bishop and the kiss of peace. Before the Offertory
the deacons stand at the men's doors and the subdeacons at those of the women "that no one may go out, nor the door be opened", and the deacon again warns all catechumens, infidels, and heretics to retire, the mothers to look after their children, no one to stay in hypocrisy, and all to stand in fear and trembling. The deacons bring the offerings to the bishop at the altar. The priests stand around, two deacons wave fans (‘ripídia) over the bread and wine and the Anaphora
(canon) begins. The bishop again greets the people with the sursum corda
, the words of II Cor., xiii, 13, and they answer as before: "And with thy spirit". He says: "Lift up your mind." R. "We have it to the Lord." V. "Let us thank the Lord." R. "Right and just." He takes up their word: "It is truly right and above all just to sing to Thee, Who art truly God, existing before all creatures, from Whom all fatherhood in heaven and on earth is named.…" and so the Eucharistic prayer begins. He speaks of the "only begotten Son, the Word and God, Saving Wisdom, first born of all creatures, Angel of thy great counsel", refers at some length to the garden of Eden, Abel, Henoch, Abraham
, Melchisedech, Job, and other saints of the Old Law. When he has said the words: "the numberless army of Angels … the Cherubim and six-winged Seraphim … together with thousands of thousand Archangels and myriad myriads of Angels unceasingly and without silence cry out", "all the people together say: 'Holy, holy, holy the Lord of Hosts, the heaven and earth are full of His glory, blessed forever, Amen.'" The bishop then again takes up the word and continues: "Thou art truly holy and all-holy, highest and most exalted for ever. And thine only-begotten Son, our Lord and God Jesus Christ, is holy …"; and so he comes to the words of Institution
: "in the night in which He was betrayed, taking bread in His holy and blameless hands and looking up to Thee, His God and Father, and breaking He gave to His disciples saying: This is the Mystery of the New Testament; take of it, eat. This is My body, broken for many for the remission of sins. So also having mixed the cup of wine and water, and having blessed it, He gave to them saying: Drink you all of this. This is My blood shed for many for the remission of sins. Do this in memory of Me. For as often as you eat this bread and drink this cup, you announce My death until I come."
Then follow the Anamimnesis ("Remembering therefore His suffering and death and resurrection and return to heaven and His future second coming …"), the Epiklesis or invocation ("sending Thy Holy Spirit, the witness of the sufferings of the Lord Jesus to this sacrifice, that He may change this bread to the body of thy Christ and this cup to the blood of thy Christ …"), and a sort of litany (the great Intercession) for the Church, clergy, the Emperor, and for all sorts and conditions of men, which ends with a doxology, "and all the people say: Amen." In this litany is a curious petition (after that for the Emperor and the army) which joins the saints to living people for whom the bishop prays: "We also offer to thee for (‘upér) all thy holy and eternally well-pleasing patriarchs, prophets, just apostles, martyrs, confessors, bishops, priests, deacons, subdeacons, readers, singers, virgins, widows, laymen, and all those whose names thou knowest." After the Kiss of Peace (The peace of God be with you all) the deacon calls upon the people to pray for various causes which are nearly the same as those of the bishop's litany and the bishop gathers up their prayers in a collect. He then shows them the Holy Eucharist, saying: "Holy things for the holy" and they answer: "One is holy, one is Lord, Jesus Christ in the glory of God the Father, etc." The bishop gives the people Holy Communion in the form of bread, saying to each: "The body of Christ", and the communicant "answers Amen". The deacon follows with the chalice, saying: "The blood of Christ, chalice of life." R. "Amen." While they receive, the xxxiii Psalm (I will bless the Lord at all times) is said. After Communion the deacons take what is left of the Blessed Sacrament to the tabernacles
(pastophória). There follows a short thanksgiving, the bishop dismisses the people and the deacon ends by saying: "Go in peace."
Throughout this liturgy the compiler supposes that it was drawn up by the Apostles and he inserts sentences telling us which Apostle composed each separate part, for instance: "And I, James, brother of John the son of Zebedee, say that the deacon shall say at once: 'No one of the catechumens,'" etc. The second book of the Apostolic Constitutions contains the outline of a liturgy (hardly more than the rubrics) which practically coincides with this one.
Christian
A Christian is a person who adheres to Christianity, an Abrahamic, monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth as recorded in the Canonical gospels and the letters of the New Testament...
Divine Liturgy
Divine Liturgy
Divine Liturgy is the common term for the Eucharistic service of the Byzantine tradition of Christian liturgy. As such, it is used in the Eastern Orthodox and Eastern Catholic Churches. Armenian Christians, both of the Armenian Apostolic Church and of the Armenian Catholic Church, use the same term...
and found in the eighth book of the Apostolic Constitutions
Apostolic Constitutions
The Apostolic Constitutions is a Christian collection of eight treatises which belongs to genre of the Church Orders. The work can be dated from 375 to 380 AD. The provenience is usually regarded as Syria, probably Antioch...
. It is the oldest known form that can be described as a complete liturgy and can be dated the second half of the 4th century. It belongs to the Antiochene Rite
Antiochene Rite
Antiochene Rite designates the family of liturgies originally used in the Patriarchate of Antioch.-Liturgies in the Antiochene Rite:The family of liturgies include the Apostolic Constitutions; then that of St. James in Greek, the Syriac Liturgy of St. James, and the other Syriac Anaphoras. The line...
.
The Apostolic Constitutions
The Apostolic Constitutions consist of eight books purporting to have been written by St. Clement of Rome (died c. 104). The first six books are an interpolated edition of the Didascalia ApostolorumDidascalia Apostolorum
Didascalia Apostolorum is a Christian treatise which belongs to genre of the Church Orders. It presents itself as being written by the Twelve Apostles at the time of the Council of Jerusalem, however, scholars agree that it was actually a composition of the 3rd century CE, perhaps around 230...
("Teaching of the Apostles and Disciples", written in the first half of the third century and since edited in a Syriac version by de Lagarde, 1854); the seventh book is an equally modified version of the Didache
Didache
The Didache or The Teaching of the Twelve Apostles is a brief early Christian treatise, dated by most scholars to the late first or early 2nd century...
(Teaching of the Twelve Apostles, probably written in the first century, and found by Philotheos Bryennios in 1883) with a collection of prayers. The eighth book contains a complete liturgy and the eighty-five "Apostolic Canons". There is also part of a liturgy modified from the Didascalia in the second book.
It has been suggested that the compiler of the Apostolic Constitutions may be the same person as the author of the six spurious letters of St. Ignatius
Ignatius of Antioch
Ignatius of Antioch was among the Apostolic Fathers, was the third Bishop of Antioch, and was a student of John the Apostle. En route to his martyrdom in Rome, Ignatius wrote a series of letters which have been preserved as an example of very early Christian theology...
(Pseudo-Ignatius). In any case he was a Syrian Christian, probably an Apollinarist, living in or near Antioch
Antioch
Antioch on the Orontes was an ancient city on the eastern side of the Orontes River. It is near the modern city of Antakya, Turkey.Founded near the end of the 4th century BC by Seleucus I Nicator, one of Alexander the Great's generals, Antioch eventually rivaled Alexandria as the chief city of the...
either at the end of the fourth or the beginning of the fifth century. And the liturgy that he describes in his eighth book is that used in his time by the Church of Antioch, with certain modifications of his own. That the writer was an Antiochene Syrian and that he describes the liturgical use of his own country is shown by various details, such as the precedence given to Antioch (VII, xlvi, VIII, x, etc.); his mention of Christmas
Christmas
Christmas or Christmas Day is an annual holiday generally celebrated on December 25 by billions of people around the world. It is a Christian feast that commemorates the birth of Jesus Christ, liturgically closing the Advent season and initiating the season of Christmastide, which lasts twelve days...
(VIII, xxxiii), which was kept at Antioch since about 375, nowhere else in the East till about 430 (Louis Duchesne
Louis Duchesne
Louis Marie Olivier Duchesne was a French priest, philologist, teacher and a critical historian of Christianity and Roman Catholic liturgy and institutions....
, Origines du culte chrétien, 248); the fact that Holy Week
Holy Week
Holy Week in Christianity is the last week of Lent and the week before Easter...
and Lent
Lent
In the Christian tradition, Lent is the period of the liturgical year from Ash Wednesday to Easter. The traditional purpose of Lent is the preparation of the believer – through prayer, repentance, almsgiving and self-denial – for the annual commemoration during Holy Week of the Death and...
together make up seven weeks (V, xiii) as at Antioch, whereas in Palestine
Palestine
Palestine is a conventional name, among others, used to describe the geographic region between the Mediterranean Sea and the Jordan River, and various adjoining lands....
and Egypt
Egypt
Egypt , officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, Arabic: , is a country mainly in North Africa, with the Sinai Peninsula forming a land bridge in Southwest Asia. Egypt is thus a transcontinental country, and a major power in Africa, the Mediterranean Basin, the Middle East and the Muslim world...
, as throughout the West, Holy Week was the sixth week of Lent; that the chief source of his "Apostolic Canons" is the Synod of Antioch in encœniis (341); and especially by the fact that his liturgy is obviously built up on the same lines as all the Syrian ones. There are, however, modifications of his own in the prayers, Creed, and Gloria, where the style and the idioms are obviously those of the interpolator of the Didascalia (see the examples in Brightman, "Liturgies", I, xxxiii-xxxiv), and are often very like those of Pseudo-Ignatius also (ib., xxxv). The rubrics are added by the compiler, apparently from his own observations.
The Liturgy of the eighth book
The liturgy of the eighth book of the Apostolic Constitutions, then, represents the use of Antioch in the fourth century. Its order is this: First comes the Mass of the CatechumensMass of the Catechumens
The Mass of the Catechumens is an ancient title for the first half of the Roman Catholic or Eastern Orthodox worship service known as the Mass or Divine Liturgy. This part of the Mass is now referred to by the Catholic Church as the Liturgy of the Word...
. After the readings (of the Law, the Prophets, the Epistles, Acts, and Gospels) the bishop
Bishop
A bishop is an ordained or consecrated member of the Christian clergy who is generally entrusted with a position of authority and oversight. Within the Catholic Church, Eastern Orthodox, Oriental Orthodox Churches, in the Assyrian Church of the East, in the Independent Catholic Churches, and in the...
greets the people with II Cor., xiii, 13 (The grace of Our Lord Jesus Christ and the charity of God and the communication of the Holy Ghost be with you all). They answer: "And with thy spirit"; and he "speaks to the people words of comfort." There then follows a litany for the catechumens, to each invocation of which the people answer "Kyrie eleison"; the bishop says a collect
Collect
In Christian liturgy, a collect is both a liturgical action and a short, general prayer. In the Middle Ages, the prayer was referred to in Latin as collectio, but in the more ancient sources, as oratio. In English, and in this usage, "collect" is pronounced with the stress on the first syllable...
and the deacon
Deacon
Deacon is a ministry in the Christian Church that is generally associated with service of some kind, but which varies among theological and denominational traditions...
dismisses the catechumen
Catechumen
In ecclesiology, a catechumen , “‘down’” + ἠχή , “‘sound’”) is one receiving instruction from a catechist in the principles of the Christian religion with a view to baptism...
s. Similar litanies and collects follow for the Energumens, the Illuminandi (photizómenoi, people about to be baptized) and the public penitents, and each time they are dismissed after the collect for them. The Mass of the Faithful begins with a longer litany
Litany
A litany, in Christian worship and some forms of Jewish worship, is a form of prayer used in services and processions, and consisting of a number of petitions...
for various causes, for peace, the Church, bishops (James, Clement, Evodius
Evodius
Saint Evodius is a saint in the Christian Church and one of the first identifiable Christians.Very little is known of the life of St. Evodius. However, he was a pagan who converted to Christianity due to the apostolic work of Saint Peter. In the Book of Acts, one of the first communities to...
, and Annianus are named), priests, deacons, servers, readers, singers, virgins, widows, orphans, married people, the newly baptized, prisoners, enemies, persecutors etc., and finally "for every Christian soul". After the litany follows its collect, then another greeting from the bishop and the kiss of peace. Before the Offertory
Offertory
The Offertory is the portion of a Eucharistic service when bread and wine are brought to the altar. The offertory exists in many liturgical Christian denominations, though the Eucharistic theology varies among celebrations conducted by these denominations....
the deacons stand at the men's doors and the subdeacons at those of the women "that no one may go out, nor the door be opened", and the deacon again warns all catechumens, infidels, and heretics to retire, the mothers to look after their children, no one to stay in hypocrisy, and all to stand in fear and trembling. The deacons bring the offerings to the bishop at the altar. The priests stand around, two deacons wave fans (‘ripídia) over the bread and wine and the Anaphora
Anaphora (liturgy)
The Anaphora is the most solemn part of the Divine liturgy, Mass, or other Christian Communion rite where the offerings of bread and wine are consecrated as the body and blood of Christ. This is the usual name for this part of the Liturgy in Eastern Christianity, but it is more often called the...
(canon) begins. The bishop again greets the people with the sursum corda
Sursum corda
The Sursum Corda is the opening dialogue to the Preface of the Eucharistic Prayer or Anaphora in the liturgies of the Christian Church, dating back to at least the third century and the Anaphora of the Apostolic Tradition. The dialogue is recorded in the earliest liturgies of the Christian...
, the words of II Cor., xiii, 13, and they answer as before: "And with thy spirit". He says: "Lift up your mind." R. "We have it to the Lord." V. "Let us thank the Lord." R. "Right and just." He takes up their word: "It is truly right and above all just to sing to Thee, Who art truly God, existing before all creatures, from Whom all fatherhood in heaven and on earth is named.…" and so the Eucharistic prayer begins. He speaks of the "only begotten Son, the Word and God, Saving Wisdom, first born of all creatures, Angel of thy great counsel", refers at some length to the garden of Eden, Abel, Henoch, Abraham
Abraham
Abraham , whose birth name was Abram, is the eponym of the Abrahamic religions, among which are Judaism, Christianity and Islam...
, Melchisedech, Job, and other saints of the Old Law. When he has said the words: "the numberless army of Angels … the Cherubim and six-winged Seraphim … together with thousands of thousand Archangels and myriad myriads of Angels unceasingly and without silence cry out", "all the people together say: 'Holy, holy, holy the Lord of Hosts, the heaven and earth are full of His glory, blessed forever, Amen.'" The bishop then again takes up the word and continues: "Thou art truly holy and all-holy, highest and most exalted for ever. And thine only-begotten Son, our Lord and God Jesus Christ, is holy …"; and so he comes to the words of Institution
Words of Institution
The Words of Institution are words echoing those of Jesus himself at his Last Supper that, when consecrating bread and wine, Christian Eucharistic liturgies include in a narrative of that event...
: "in the night in which He was betrayed, taking bread in His holy and blameless hands and looking up to Thee, His God and Father, and breaking He gave to His disciples saying: This is the Mystery of the New Testament; take of it, eat. This is My body, broken for many for the remission of sins. So also having mixed the cup of wine and water, and having blessed it, He gave to them saying: Drink you all of this. This is My blood shed for many for the remission of sins. Do this in memory of Me. For as often as you eat this bread and drink this cup, you announce My death until I come."
Then follow the Anamimnesis ("Remembering therefore His suffering and death and resurrection and return to heaven and His future second coming …"), the Epiklesis or invocation ("sending Thy Holy Spirit, the witness of the sufferings of the Lord Jesus to this sacrifice, that He may change this bread to the body of thy Christ and this cup to the blood of thy Christ …"), and a sort of litany (the great Intercession) for the Church, clergy, the Emperor, and for all sorts and conditions of men, which ends with a doxology, "and all the people say: Amen." In this litany is a curious petition (after that for the Emperor and the army) which joins the saints to living people for whom the bishop prays: "We also offer to thee for (‘upér) all thy holy and eternally well-pleasing patriarchs, prophets, just apostles, martyrs, confessors, bishops, priests, deacons, subdeacons, readers, singers, virgins, widows, laymen, and all those whose names thou knowest." After the Kiss of Peace (The peace of God be with you all) the deacon calls upon the people to pray for various causes which are nearly the same as those of the bishop's litany and the bishop gathers up their prayers in a collect. He then shows them the Holy Eucharist, saying: "Holy things for the holy" and they answer: "One is holy, one is Lord, Jesus Christ in the glory of God the Father, etc." The bishop gives the people Holy Communion in the form of bread, saying to each: "The body of Christ", and the communicant "answers Amen". The deacon follows with the chalice, saying: "The blood of Christ, chalice of life." R. "Amen." While they receive, the xxxiii Psalm (I will bless the Lord at all times) is said. After Communion the deacons take what is left of the Blessed Sacrament to the tabernacles
Church tabernacle
A tabernacle is the fixed, locked box in which, in some Christian churches, the Eucharist is "reserved" . A less obvious container, set into the wall, is called an aumbry....
(pastophória). There follows a short thanksgiving, the bishop dismisses the people and the deacon ends by saying: "Go in peace."
Throughout this liturgy the compiler supposes that it was drawn up by the Apostles and he inserts sentences telling us which Apostle composed each separate part, for instance: "And I, James, brother of John the son of Zebedee, say that the deacon shall say at once: 'No one of the catechumens,'" etc. The second book of the Apostolic Constitutions contains the outline of a liturgy (hardly more than the rubrics) which practically coincides with this one.