saints. It has been known as a distinct rite from the seventh century, though it has, like all others, received many additions in later ages. IV. The offices of the Gallican church differed widely from the above in various particulars. It seems, from an account which has been preserved of the nocturnal office performed A. D. 499 at Lyons, on the vigil of St. Justus, during a conference of bishops held at that city, that the service began with lessons from Scripture, of which there were four kinds; viz. from the Law, the Prophets, the Gospel, and the Epistles; that psalms were sung between the lessons; that the books of Scripture were read consecutively, and that peculiar psalms and lessons were not prescribed for each day; in fine, that there were no hymns or lessons, except from Holy Scripture, and no reading of the lives or acts of the martyrs or saints. The church of Lyons retained so much of this her ancient custom, even after the introduction of the Roman rites in the eighth century, that, as we learn from Agobard, her offices admitted no lessons except from Holy Scripture, and no hymns of human composition". And Mabillon informs us that in his time (the latter part of the seventeenth century) this ancient church still adhered so far to her customs, as to use no hymns in her offices except at Compline-a practice which was also followed by the equally ancient church of Vienne ". 8 It is alluded to by the ancient Irish writer already mentioned p. 177, who is considered by Spelman, Usher, and Stillingfleet, to have written in the seventh century. * Mabillon, De Liturgia Gallicana, p. 399. "S. Agobardi Archiepisc. Lugdunensis Opera à Baluzio, Paris, 1666. Liber de Divina Psalmodia, p. 81-83; Liber de Correctione Antiphonarii, p. 86. V Mabillon, ubi supra, p. 401. There is sufficient evidence that the ancient Gallican church had offices only for the nocturnal, the matin, and the evening hours of prayer. We read of the introduction of the lesser intermediate offices in the sixth century in some parts of Gaul". Sidonius Apollinaris, who wrote in the preceding century, speaks indeed of a service at the third hour; but his language shows plainly that even in the church. of which he was speaking, there was no office between the nocturnal office and that for the third hour*, thus proving that Lauds and Prime had not then been instituted. V. The ancient Spanish offices, which were superseded by the Roman in the eleventh century, and which are represented by the Mosarabic Breviary, were different from the Roman and Benedictine. In the Mosarabic office (which has however been much interpolated) the Psalter is never read through, but some few select psalms or canticles are appointed for each office. The lessons are taken only from Holy Scripture, but hymns of human composition are admitted. The Mosarabic office is ascribed to Isidore bishop of Seville, and formerly extended to twelve hours of prayer, of which eight are retained in the Breviary. In the ancient Spanish church no sacred poetry of human composition was permitted, as we find in the canons of that church ". VI. The rite introduced by Columbanus in the sixth century at the monastery of Luxovium in France, and adopted by the monasteries which followed his rule, differed from all the offices already mentioned, in not assigning particular hours of prayer, or distributing the Psalter according to those hours. According to this rule, the chant of the psalms never ceased by night or day, but the monks were divided into classes which undertook the duty of psalmody in succession. This custom of continual psalmody had been introduced in the fifth century at Constantinople, by Alexander, an abbot; and the monks who adopted it were styled akoμпTai or "watchers." ἀκοιμηταὶ "watchers." The Studite monks, who occupy so conspicuous a place in the history of the Oriental church, were of this class. After the time of Columbanus the practice prevailed in many parts of the western church". VII. We now turn to the Oriental rites, which are perfectly distinct from those of the Latin churches. There can be little doubt that the offices for the canonical hours in the Eastern or Greek church have received various additions and interpolations in the xii. "Bernardus enim in vita Sancti Malachiæ postquam de multitudine b Concil. Bracarens. Can. factus ibi in gentem magnam. Aiunt tam magnam fuisse, ut succedentibus sibi invicem choris continuarentur solemnia divinorum, ita ut ne momentum quidem diei ac noctis vacaret à laudibus." Bona, Divina Psalmodia, c. i. § iv. n. vii. monasteriorum Hyberniæ et Scotia loquutus est; ex quibus, inquit, ad has nostras Gallicanas partes S. Columbanus ascendens, Luxoviense construxit monasterium d Bingham, b. vii. c. ii. § 10. Bona, ubi supra. t middle ages, as has plainly been the case with their liturgies. But notwithstanding this, I think that the original design, order, and structure of their ecclesiastical offices, have been preserved far more perfectly than those of the western churches. The accounts which we have of the Oriental offices in writings of the third, fourth, and fifth centuries, all appear to agree most singularly with the existing Greek offices; indeed, I have not observed any evidence of disagreement. Let us trace this identity in a few instances. John Cassian observes, that, in all the offices of the diurnal hours, i. e. of the lesser hours, three psalms were regularly sung'. He is here speaking of the customs prevalent in the monasteries of Palestine, Mesopotamia, and the East generally, at the commencement of the fifth century; and it is a fact, that the same number of psalms is found in the corresponding Greek offices at the present day. St. Basil informs us, that Psalm xc. was sung at the sixth hour". It is still found in the Greek office for that hour. The Apostolical Constitutions give the sixty-third Psalm (Deus meus) the appellation of "the morning psalm," and remark, that it should be read at the beginning of the Morning Service3. Now, though we are not to suppose that the offices prescribed in the Apostolical Constitutions were ever really used in any church, still they afford, when k corroborated by other testimony, a sufficient proof of the great antiquity of any rite; and in this case they are thus corroborated; for Chrysostom and Cassian' both mention the psalm in question as a Morning Psalm; and it still remains in the matin office of the Greek church". Again, both the Apostolical Constitutions" and St. John Chrysostom mention the hymn Gloria in excelsis, as being sung in the Daily Morning Service: and there it still occurs in the Greek offices P. In these offices the Kyrie Eleison is repeated very frequently in the matin and other services. In the nocturns it is twice repeated twelve times, and once forty times. This was, doubtless, referred to by the Council of Vaison in France A. D. 529, which prescribed a similar repetition of Kyrie Eleison in the Gallican offices, in imitation of the Eastern". St. Basil speaks of the Fiftieth Psalm as concluding the Vigils about day-break; and it is still sung in the Greek service at that time. The psalm for evening, appointed by the Apostolical Constitutions, is Psalm CXL. Domine clamavi". St. Chrysostom says, that the Fathers directed it to be P Bona, ibid. Chrysostom. Comment. in in Matth. Ps. cxl. Τοιοῦτός ἐστι καὶ ὁ ἑωθινὸς ψαλμός . . . ὁ Θεὸς, ὁ Θεός μου, πρός σε ὀρθρίζω, κ. τ. λ. 1 "De Matutina vero solemnitate etiam illud nos instruit, quod in ipsa quotidie decantari solet, Deus, Deus meus, ad te de luce vigilo.' Cassian, 1. iii. c. iii. m Bona, ubi supra. n c. xlvii. Chrysostom. Hom. lxix. q Ibid. I Concil. Vasens. ii. can. ii. Labbe, iv. p. 1680. S Ἡμέρας ἤδη ὑπολαμπούσης, πάντες κοινῇ, ὡς ἐξ ἑνὸς στόματος καὶ μιᾶς καρδίας, τὸν τῆς ἐξομολογήσεως ψαλμὸν ἀναφέ povo T@ Kupių. Basil. Epist. 207, ad Neocæsar. t. iii. Oper. t Bona, ubi supra. u Apostol. Constitut. 1. ii. c. 59; 1. viii. c. 35. |