Fourth scribed, and he who presides sends up thanksgivings and prayers as well as he is able (oon Súvauis aura), and the people answer Amen,' &c. The phrase ὅση δύναμις αὐτῷ, to the best of his ability,' in the latter passage, has by some been understood as referring not to the delivery, but to the composition, of the prayers, and has been claimed as an authority for leaving the expression of the Church's devotions to the ability and discretion of the individual Minister. The phrase is too ambiguous to be quoted with any force in this behalf; at the same time we must admit, that there is no direct proof on the other side. It may be that the public devotions of the early Christians were all prescribed and fixed by the authorities of the Church, so as to leave the Minister no power of varying them, or of introducing his own compositions but we have no conclusive evidence that this was the case. In the year 325, St Cyril, Archbishop of Jerusalem, delivered a series of catechetical lectures, in one of which he described and explained the Communion-service, as it was celebrated in his own times. In many respects it agrees exactly with our own office, as will be seen from the following summary of his discourse: 'The Deacon gives water to the Priest to wash. This washing of the hands is a symbol that ye ought to be pure from all sinful and unlawful Ps. xxvi. 6 deeds; as David says, "I will wash my hands in innocency, O Lord, and so will I go to thine altar." 'Then the Deacon cries aloud, "Receive ye one another; and let us kiss one another." The kiss is a sign that our souls are mingled together, and have banished all remembrance of wrong; accordMatt. v. 23. ing to the commandment of Christ, "If thou bring thy gift to the altar," &c. And St Paul says, "Greet ye one another with a holy kiss." See also 1 Cor. xvi. 1 Pet. v. 14. 'After this the Priest cries aloud, "Lift up your hearts." For indeed we ought at that solemn season to have our heart on high with God, and not below, thinking of earth and earthly things. Then ye answer, "We lift them up unto the Lord.” Then the Priest says, "Let us give thanks to the Lord." Then ye say, "It is meet and right." 'After this we make mention of heaven and earth, &c.; of angels, archangels, &c., and of the seraphim whom Isaiah saw encircling the throne of God, and who cried, "Holy, holy, holy, Lord God of Sabaoth." And we repeat this confession of the seraphim, that we may join our hymns with those of the heavenly hosts. 'Then having sanctified ourselves with these spiritual hymns, we call upon God to send his Holy Spirit upon the gifts of bread and wine lying before Him. 'Then we intreat God for the peace of the Church and world, for kings, for soldiers, for the sick and afflicted, and all who stand in need of help. 'Then we commemorate those who have fallen asleep before us; first, patriarchs, prophets, apostles and martyrs, that at their prayers God may receive our petitions; afterwards all holy fathers, bishops, and the rest of the departed, believing that our supplication will be of advantage to their souls. 'Then we say the Lord's Prayer. After this the Priest says, "Holy things to holy men." Then ye say, "One only is holy, one only is the Lord, Jesus Christ." For he alone is 20. Fifth Cen tury. holy by nature; we are holy by participation, and discipline, and prayer. After this the chanter, with a holy melody, invites you to the communion of the holy mysteries, saying, “O taste and see that the Lord is good." 'Then ye receive, not common bread and wine, but the sign or antitype (avτíтvπov) of the body and blood of Christ. 'Then follows a prayer and thanksgiving.' The ancient Greek liturgies adverted to above (at p. 2), those namely of St James, St Mark, &c. probably include the liturgy or Communion-service as it was celebrated in different parts of the Eastern Church at the beginning of the third century. They contain, however, interpolations of the fourth and fifth centuries, which cannot easily be distinguished and separated from the older portions; and as the separation of the earlier from the later parts, and the origin and date of the former, are still questions for critical speculation, it is not within the scope of the present treatise to ascertain what light these venerable monuments throw upon the devotional forms of the primitive Church. They do, however, clearly testify to the practice of the fifth century; for before the close of that period, they had assumed the form in which they are now extant, and in which, from that time to the present, they have been used in one part or another of the Eastern Church. To these must be added the various ancient liturgies of the West, such as the Roman, the Gallican, the Ambrosian, &c., which are also of high antiquity. And as all these, both the Eastern and the Western, agree together in their essential features, they manifestly point back to a common origin. By comparing them together, and taking those parts only which are common to all, we may approximate to that more ancient service from which they are derived. Without entering upon this analysis at present, we may add, that the result of it is to exhibit a liturgy similar in its main features to that which is described by St Cyril, and shadowed out by Justin Martyr. the most mode of From what has now been said, it will be seen Nature of that the origin of liturgies, and their growth and ancient development during the first four centuries, cannot Worship. be very clearly traced. There seems, however, to have been a gradual progress from a simple and short to a full and elaborate form of worship. It appears that for two or three centuries the offices of the Church were not committed to writing, but preserved by oral tradition: and while that state of things continued, we have no direct evidence that extemporaneous prayers were entirely excluded; but the earliest written liturgies leave no room for such effusions, and afford no warrant for supposing that they had ever been permitted. A general uniformity of worship prevailed in all the churches; but individual Bishops sometimes introduced alterations and additions, which were extensively adopted. The names of several ancient fathers, and especially that of St Basil, Bishop of Cæsarea in Cappadocia in the fifth century, are celebrated as having in this way contributed to the extension and embellishment of the Church Service. of the Church. man and The two principal liturgies in the Western Liturgies Church were the Roman and the Gallican, which, Western though substantially the same, were formed inde- The Ropendently of each other. The former has been the Gallitraced back to the fifth century, and was at that can. time considered to be of apostolical antiquity. The Gallican liturgy, like the Gallican Church, appears to have been derived from Asia Minor, from which The Mosarabic. What liturgy was used in Britain. country missionaries were sent into Gaul at the beginning of the second century. It was in Gaul that measures were first taken to secure an uniformity of public worship, the Bishop of each province agreeing to conform his liturgy to the model of the metropolitan Church. Thus at the council of Vannes in Brittany, held for the province of Tours, in the fifth century, a canon was promulgated to the effect, that one and the same custom in celebrating divine service, and the same order of psalmody, should be kept in all churches; that as they held one faith and confession of the holy Trinity, so they should keep to one rule of divine offices, lest if they varied in their observations, that variation should be interpreted as a disagreement in one point or another'.' The Gallican liturgy was used in Spain, and there took the name of the Mosarabic, the Christians in that country being so called from their being mixed with, or dispersed among, the Arabs or Moors. In course of time, however, it everywhere gave place to the Roman ritual; which was introduced into Gaul in the time of Charlemagne, and into Spain in the eleventh century. Whatever may have been the origin of the Church in Britain, whether it were planted by Joseph of Arimathea, or by St Paul, or, as is far more probable, by missionaries from Gaul, it appears to have been completely established, and to have had a regular hierarchy before the middle of the fourth century. But in the fifth century the ancient Celtic population, who had embraced Christianity, were dispossessed by the Saxon invader, and driven to take refuge on the western 1 Bingham, Ant. xiii. 5, 2. Labbe, Concil. IV. 1057. |