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1 Act of Love The Liturgy –
Much More than a form of Words The Christian liturgy is not a form of words. It is an action of the community. What kind of an action? Which community? Action de Grace The French expression action de
grace is translated into English as thanksgiving. This latter word, if
you are an Indian, means a boring speech at the end of a meeting thanking all
and sundry, or if you are an American a sumptious Perhaps the least helpful way of understanding the Eucharist or Holy
Communion is to regard it as a ‘sacrament’, a means of grace. If we focus on
what we get out of the Eucharist, we
have already missed more than half the point. The Eucharist is fundamentally a response of love and gratitude, not
a means of getting something free called grace from God. It is the response
of the Creation to its Creator. It is an expression of gratitude on the part
of the Creator both for having brought it into being from non-being, and for
redeeming it in Christ, when it had moved away from being to non-being again
by its own wilful choice. But the liturgy is more than an expression of thanks in words. We can
offer thanks to God for creation and redemption without the Eucharist, in
ordinary prayer. The Eucharist is not a mere prayer. It is an act of
self-offering in love, wherein words can serve a function; but it should be
clear that mere words cannot constitute an act of love. There has to be total, loving, adoring, self-surrender in the act of
self-offering. The Eucharist is Agape (love), and the two are inseparable. It
is a response of love to God who is love, who made us out of nothing, and who
gave his only-begotten Son that we may not perish. The forms of words, unless
it expresses this loving response, becomes a mere noisy gong and a clanging
cymbal. Action of the Community The community that makes this act of love has three dimensions. It is
not just a few local people gathered together in a building who offer the
Eucharist. It is offered, in every instance, by the whole body of Christ, and
not just by the fragment of the Church which is the local group of Christians
of one or more denominations. The local Church is the whole Church in its
local manifestation. And so in each local Church, it is the whole Church in
heaven and earth, i.e. in all time and space, that offers the Eucharist. The
commemoration of the departed and of the saints of the Church is not an
optional matter in the Eucharist. It is they with us and we with them that
lift up the offering, and we have to be aware of each other in the body of
Christ. Second, the Eucharist is offered on behalf of all mankind, and not
just Christians. Even those who are not united to Christ by faith and baptism
are linked to him by the fact of the Incarnation. It is human nature that
Christ assumed, not Christian nature. The whole of humanity is now linked to
the Incarnate Christ, whether they recognize it or not. True, there are
fundamental distinctions to be made between the relationship to Christ of
Christians by faith and baptism, and of all mankind to Christ in spite of
themselves. But both relationships exist, and we as Christians and human
beings share in both. Our fundamental solidarity with all mankind has to find
expression in the liturgy, particularly in the prayers of intercession and in
the offertory prayer. The whole Church, the whole Mankind, and the whole Creation _ the
three realms in which we as created Christian human beings participate, have
all three to be lifted up to God in the Eucharist, along with Christ’s
self-offering on the Cross. This third aspect has become doubly important in
our time when the enviornment crisis has begun to explode. It is the fruit of
the earth, wheat and wine, that we offer up to God. With the elements the
whole of material and organic creation is lifted up to God. Man, Christian
humanity in Christ, thus becomes the spokesman, the utterance - giver, the highpriest,
of Creation as a whole. The Eucharist is the response of the Creation as
God’s other, to her Lord. Mankind, and the Church are units within the
creation where the Creation has developed greater consciousness and deeper
awareness. Christians do not offer the Eucharist in order to get something out
of it. The Church in Christ offers the Eucharist as the mouth-piece and High
Priest of Creation. This offering is a response to the act of love which
created the universe and redeemed it. Like all acts of true love, it is not
instrumental to something else, but a manifestation of the highest reality
called love, which when made a means for something else, becomes degraded.
When we offer ourselves, the whole mankind, and the whole creation, God again
gives Himself to us in that continuing act of love called the Communion. His
Body and Blood, God’s own body, becomes united with ours, and through us with
the whole mankind and the whole of Creation. A true Eucharistic liturgy is the highest
art of God and Man, not for some other purpose, but as an expression of the
true being of the Creator and the Creation. The offering is made to the Holy
Trinity. But one of the Holy Trinity, Christ is both the offerer and the
offering, for he has by Incarnation identified himself with the Creation, and
offered it once for all in his own body on the Cross. The Holy Spirit is the
one who unites us to Christ and makes our sacrifice his. The Holy Spirit also
opens the way into the Presence. The Holy Spirit cleanses, sanctifies, removes
barriers, and makes the love - offering possible. The Eucharist is thus an
act of and in the Holy Trinity, into which we are caught up by grace. 2 WHAT IS PRAYER? WHY PRAY? HOW PRAY? What is Prayer? Prayer is like breathing. Without breathing we
cannot live. When we breathe, air enters our lungs, cleanses the blood in our
veins by relieving it of the carbon dioxide, and supplying it with oxygen. If
I do not breathe for a few minutes I die. When I have hard physical work to
do, I need more air than when I am sleeping or sitting in a chair. Fortunately God has so ordained that we do not die
spiritually just because we have failed to pray for sometime. But where there
is no prayer sin accumulates and the proper functioning of the spiritual life
becomes obstructed. And if you have important spiritual work to do you need
more prayer than otherwise. Only those who pray constantly are exercising
their spiritual muscles. Prayer is communion or communication with God
-opening ourselves to Him and receiving His love. It is by living consciously
in this relationship of love that we can be transformed into the image of
God. By prayer we become more like God, more loving, more wise, more
powerful, more kind and good. In prayer we are cleansed of the accumulated impurities
of our life and we are supplied with power to live a good, kind and holy
life. Prayer is not a matter of asking God for all
kinds of things. Some teen-agers speak to their earthly father only when they
need money. We should not become like them in relation to our heavenly Father
- going to Him only when we need something. The relationship is valuable in
itself, as in all true love. It is not what we get out of it that matters,
but the fact that we are in communion with our loving Heavenly Father. Why Pray? Does not God know what we need, even before we ask
him? Why does He want us to ask? Does prayer change God’s will in any way?
Can my prayer change the future that God has already determined? These are legitimate questions that need to be
answered. The Bible says clearly ‘your Father knows what you need before you
ask Him’ ( Prayer is thus a way of becoming good by using our
freedom to turn towards the good and to will the good. By prayer we become
like God. God is good and wills the good. We should also become like God in
willing and desiring what is good. By communion with God we also learn to
desire the good which God also desires. God said: ‘Let there be light’ and there was
light. And God saw that the light was good (Gen. 1:3-4). What God willed
became reality. We are to become like God. So we must also acquire the
capacity to will the good, and it will happen as we desire, when we become
more and more like God. Prayer is an expression of our will in desiring the
good and realising it. When we are delivered from selfishness, pride, and
evil desires, our prayers will become more like the creative Word of God,
which merely by saying ‘let there be light’ can create light. God has made us partakers of His own divine
nature. He has called us to share in God’s own glory and excellence (2 Pet.
1:4). When we trust in God and live a life of discipline, prayer, worship,
virtue, knowledge, godliness, brotherly affection and love (2 Pet. 1:5-8), we
are transformed into God’s likeness and share in His divine power. God wants
us to have a part in the task of shaping this world through prayer and
knowledge and work. By prayer we do change reality. God has given us
that power. But this power is not available to us until we become more
godlike. That is why the prayers of the saints are more effective than our
own prayer - because they are more god like than we are. If the power to
change the world by our will is in the hands of evil men, they will make the
world evil. We have to grow in the capacity for prayer by developing the
habits of prayer and loving service. And our prayers should not be selfish. In prayer
the first focus is God. The second focus is other people. Only in the third
place should we ask things for ourselves. In the Lord’s Prayer all the first
petitions are focused on God - His name, His kingdom, His will. This is the
way our prayer should also be. We pray that God’s purposes may be established
in the lives of all people, that evil may be banished from the earth, that
all men may live together in peace and justice, praising God the centre and
source of all good. Even in the prayers that ask for daily food, for
forgiveness and for protection from evil, the first person singular (I, me)
is not used in the Lord’s Prayer. We ask things for us, for all men. When we all pray with love and faith, without
selfishness or pride, our prayer changes things. God has more laws than the
laws of physical science. He can make prayer achieve ‘miracles’ of healing
and transformation which cannot be explained by medical science. Our science
knows only some of God’s laws. Prayer is also subject to certain laws. It is
the same power of God which operates in the scientific realm, and in the
realm of prayer. In prayer, we are never alone. Not even alone with
God. Especially in group prayer, we commemorate all those who are members of
the Body of Christ, for it is as a member of the Body that we pray, and the
other members are always with us. This is why we commemorate the Prophets,
Apostles, the Blessed Virgin Mary, the Martyrs, the Saints, the great
Teachers and all the faithful departed and all the faithful living. How Pray? Prayer has to be learned. It is like swimming.
When you are first thrown into the water, you may sink. You then may think
that the law of gravity is final and cannot be changed. But there are other
laws, like those of buoyancy and motion. The mere knowledge of these laws
cannot teach you to swim. One jumps in and slowly, by repeated practice,
acquires the skills of remaining afloat and of moving on the surface of or
under the water. And some people are more skillful swimmers than others,
because they have learned the rules and acquired the skills by constant
practice. The first rule in prayer as in swimming, is not to give up just because you do not
succeed in the first three or four attempts. Prayer is a spiritual skill
to be acquired by constant practice. The second rule, again as in swimming is to ‘let go’, to let the water support you,
to be unanxious and relaxed. In prayer also we have to let ourselves go,
relax, trust in God to support you and teach you how to pray. The third rule is to keep up the practice, even if you do not feel like it, or enjoy it.
In the life of prayer, our inherent love of sensual pleasures and our selfish
love of laziness and comfort, will interfere to make us reluctant to keep up
the practice, finding various excuses for not praying. There is no use saying
‘I don’t feel like praying’ or ‘I do not get anything from it.’ It will
take years before you get the habit of prayer and really begin to enjoy it.
One must strengthen the will to have control over the laziness of the body
and the desires of the flesh if one is to make progress in the art and skill
of prayer. There is nothing like regular practice which can teach you to
pray. A fourth rule, closely connected with the third,
is: develop the discipline of prayer
through fasting and self-control. Man does not become free and good like
God until he learns to control his own inner drives and passions. Restraint
of hunger and thirst, of anger and jealousy, of sexual passion, of the desire
for glory and flattery, of the desire for bodily excitement and for sensual
stimulation, and of all inner turbulences which make us do things against our
own free will, is a necessary preparation for prayer. As good athletes
competing for the Olympic Games go through very rigorous self discipline in
order to keep their body, muscles and nerves in good condition, so should the
man of prayer keep his body, mind and spirit and good condition and under
conscious control. A fifth rule is to use our whole body and even material things in the service of prayer.
Prayer is an act of the whole man, body, soul and spirit - not simply an act
of the mind. The body can participate in prayer through posture, speech, and
acts: Posture - In our Eastern
tradition, the posture for prayer is standing, facing east, with arms
uplifted or folded in adoration and worship. Focus - It is good to have a
focal point outside - a cross with two candles on each side, icons or
pictures of Christ, of the Blessed Virgin Mother and of the Saints, or even a
more elaborate prayer - altar fixed in some part of the house, where the
whole family assembles for prayer. Crucifixes, i.e. crosses with the
representation of the crucified body of Christ on it, belong to the Western
tradition and are not to be encouraged in our tradition. In choosing
pictures, it is best to use eastern icons. Pictures with the sacred heart of
Christ or of the Virgin Mother are to be avoided, because these belong to a
particular period in Latin piety and are not helpful for a balanced
spirituality. Lips and
Mouth -
The body must pray - not merely the mind. Let your lips and mouth sing the
praises of God, even if your mind does not always follow. The act of the lips
and mouth is also your act of
prayer, even without the concentration. Singing is better than saying your
prayers, for in the very music certain human attitudes and aspirations are
expressed. Wandering of
the mind
- Do not get anxious about the wandering of your mind. When you become aware
that your mind is wandering, bring it back by consciously offering your
wandering mind also to God. It is part of our confession about ourselves.
“This is what I am Lord, distracted and unable to concentrate. I offer
myself to Thee as I am. Take my wandering and distracted mind, and heal it by
Thy grace.” God will forgive you and transform you gradually. Gestures - Use the gestures of
prostration, bowing the head, making the sign of the cross, and giving the
kiss of peace. Words are not the only means of expression we have. Folding
the hands and bowing is a sign of adoration, and of waiting for a blessing.
Lifting up your hands with palms open, can mean petition, penitence, and
intercession. Prostration is like Sashtangapranama,
the sign of complete surrender and submission, placing yourselves in the
hands of God with full trust. Making the sign of the cross is a way of
reminding ourselves that we have been saved by the Cross of Christ, in fact
crucified with Christ. Keep your three fingers together (thumb, index and
middle fingers) to touch the forehead (symbolizing the Trinity, the source of
all life and all good) and make a descending motion to the lower side of your
chest to signify the descent of the Son of God from heaven to earth for our
salvation, then take your fingers from your left arm to your right arm
signifying both the horizontal arm of the cross, and the fact that we who
were on the left as children of darkness, have now been brought to the right
side of God as children of light. Giving the kiss of peace is the symbol of
mutual forgiveness and love, and it is a time for us to overcome all feelings
of bitterness or anger against members of the family or others outside. All these signs are part of a language, which goes
much deeper than words and transforms our sub-conscious minds which words can
seldom reach. A sixth rule is to keep the balance between group prayer and personal prayer. Man is
not primarily an individual. It is as a member of the Body of Christ that he
has any standing before God. Therefore it is important for us to come into
the presence of God regularly as a community - as a family, as a youth group,
as a local congregation. And a community is composed of all kinds of people,
not all of them exactly like you. They have different tastes, different ways
of praying, different habits of prayer. I have to join them even sometimes
when I think that their way of worship is not what it should be. Without
participating in community worship and making the necessary adjustments
necessary for joining them, we cannot get rid of our selfishness and pride,
and grow to be a real human being. But community worship is not enough by itself. We
need various levels of community with varying degrees of intensity of
relationship. The youth group and the family are more intimate communities
than the congregation. New forms can be used in these smaller groups which
will be difficult or unfamiliar for the congregation as a whole. The prayers
in this book are mainly meant for family and group worship, but can also be
used for personal prayer in the privacy of your own room at home or in the
hostel. In addition to these forms, however, some other
forms of prayer should be mastered for personal use. The most effective and
useful of these forms is called ejaculatory prayer. These are one - sentence
prayers which one can repeat as many times as necessary, no matter, where or
when. You can say them in your mind when you are waiting for a bus; when you
are anxious about something; when you are facing temptation, when you feel
bored and lonely, while you are lying in bed, comfortable and too lazy to get
up; while going to bed and when sleep does not come immediately, and so on. The following are some of the possible forms of
ejaculatory prayer: 1. Lord
Jesus Christ, Son of God, be merciful to me a sinner. 2. O God,
Thou art my God. I love Thee. I am Thine for ever. 3. Lord, you
are my Master and Lord, I give myself to Thee. 4. Lord,
keep me in Thy ways, keep me from all evil. 5. Lord,
have mercy, Lord, have mercy, Lord have mercy upon me. You can make up your own forms of prayer, for here
the Church lays down no rules for personal prayers. Of these forms above, the
first was a favourite with the monks, and is known as the ‘Jesus Prayer.’’
They used to recite it thousands of times in a day as a sort of Mantra. In These forms of personal prayer as well as others
should be developed. Each child of God has a right to speak to God any time
and at all times, using his or her own words. There are no Church rules for
personal prayer. It is an act of your personal freedom, and therefore is all
the more pleasing to God when you use your own personal intimate language.
Personal prayer enriches group prayer; common prayer in the family, group or
congregation enriches one’s personal prayer; neither should be neglected. The
two should balance each other. But the use of extemporary prayer is not to be
encouraged in group worship. A seventh rule is that prayer should be nourished by the reading of the scriptures and
meditation. One can discipline oneself to read a chapter of scripture
every day. Read aloud or silently. Meditate on the meaning of
the passage. Devotional books may be helpful, but may also obscure the
meaning of the scripture. Do not worry about whether the reading of
scriptures gives you a feeling of devotion or not. Feelings are deceptive.
What you need to find out is the answer to the following questions: “What was
God saying to the people of that time through this passage? What does God say
to me now?” Systematic reading of the scriptures and
memorizing some passages which touch you deeply will be found very helpful as
life advances. You will be grateful to God in your middle age that you
started reading and memorizing when your mind was still impressionable. Conclusion
All these rules are to help you to become a praying Christian. Only your own sustained and disciplined practice will make you perfect. But remember one thing. Prayer can never be isolated from the common worship of the Eucharist and from the continuous, active compassionate love for your fellowmen. Let us all pray: “Lord, Teach us to pray. Amen.”3 BIBLE AND LITURGY Some definitions of the term Liturgy (1) “Liturgy can be defined as the public and official service of
worship that the Christian Church renders to God.” F. Cabrol in Dictionnaire de
Theologie Catholique (2) “Liturgy comprises the whole group of symbols, chants and actions
by means of which the Church expresses and manifests her religion towards
God.” Dom Gueranger in Institutions
Liturgiques, Tome 1, p.1. (3) Adrian Fortescue in Catholic Encyclopaedia distinguishes between
the western use of the term to mean “the whole complex of official services,
all the rites, ceremonies, prayers and sacraments of the Church, as opposed
to private devotions”, and the Eastern use of it to mean only the Eucharistic
Service. Etymology. Greek leitourgia translates Hebrew ‘abodah’ in the LXX. Leitos comes from archaic Greek Leos = people, and erqo = to do, to work. In Old Testament, abodah
can mean the temple service of God, public service, or even slavery. In New Testament leitourgia
means temple service (Zachariah, Lk. Liturgical Influences in the Formation of the
Scriptures (a) In the cases of the Old and the New Testaments, leitourgia in the
sense of the public worship of God, precedes the writing down of the
Scriptures. (b) A good deal of the materials in the Old and New Testaments had a
liturgical provenance before they were reduced to writing. (c) certain liturgical formulae can now be found embedded in the
scriptural text. (d) The New Testament has a significant amount of Old Testament
sacramental symbolism. (e) The liturgical practices of the Church, especially in regard to
Baptism and the Eucharist are reflected in the New Testament, and have
profoundly influenced the form and content of the latter. Scripture in the formation of the liturgies of the
Church (a) Does the liturgical practice of the Church need in each case to
be expressly authorized by the Scriptures? (b) The place of the reading of the Scriptures within all services of
the Church. (c) Some examples of the scriptural language and thought - structure
the prayers of the Church. Mystery, Revelation and Apostolate or Liturgy,
Scriptures and The unfortunate heritage of opposition between the Bible and Liturgy
has a hoary ancestry. Tension between the cultic and the kerygmatic, the
priestly and the prophetic, occurs in all religions. The danger is always too
easily to resolve the tension in favour of the one and against the other. A
study of the Bible itself is the best corrective to this false opposition. 4 Church Calendar And Festivals The Western Calendar
and the Eastern Calendar The Origin of the Difference Julian Calendar,
established by Roman Emperor Julius Caesar in 46 BC was the calendar followed
by church as well as state till the 16th
century. This is still followed by most of the Eastern Orthodox churches. The
western Church follows the Gregorian Calendar proclaimed by Roman Pope Gregory
in 1582. Nearly all governments in the world have accepted the Gregorian
Calendar. The The Gregorian Calendar is more accurate. Sosigenes, the
Egyptian (Alexandrian) Astronomer who formulated the Julian Calendar for
Julius Caesar took it that the year (time taken by the earth to complete the
orbit around the Sun) was 365 days and 6 hours. In fact, it takes only 365
days, 5 hours, 48 minutes and 46 seconds. The difference is 11 minutes and 14
seconds per year. Julian calculation = 365. 25 days, present precise
calculation = 365.242199 days. The error is thus exactly 0.007801 days per
year. This error adds up through the centuries. In one century, the
difference adds up to 0.7801 days, and in four hundred years it is 3.1204
days. In 1000 years it becomes 7.801. In 2000 years it should 15.6 days. But
due to certain later reforms in both the calendars, the actual difference in
our century is only 13 days. In the Gregorian Calendar, 1700, 1800 and 1900
are not leap years, though they are divisible by four. The difference of 3
days in 400 years is adjusted by this arrangement. This means that December 25th,
Christmas day in the Julian Calendar, becomes January 7th
in the Gregorian Calendar. That is why even today Christmas in Fixed Feasts and Moveable Feasts Our Calendar is luni-solar or soli-lunar. This means we
calculate the year by the sun and the month by the moon. But it is difficult
to fit the phases of the moon (new moon to new moon = about 29.5 days) into
the 365.25 days of the year. In the Church there are two cycles of feasts: fixed and
moveable. They usually devolve around the dates of Christ’s birth
(Christmas), and the date of Easter or the crucifixion and resurrection of
Christ. Christmas, since the 4th
century is a fixed feast in the solar calendar, i.e. December 25th.
The date of Easter is fixed according to the moon: the formula approved by
the Council of Nicea (325 AD) is “first Sunday after the first full moon
after the Vernal or spring equinox.” The Vernal Equinox is taken as March 21.
So the date of Easter can fluctuate between March 22nd
and April 25th. The Eastern churches use the Julian Calendar to calculate
the Spring equinox, which for them now falls 13 days later, i.e. on April 4th.
This means in some years Easter falls on the same day for East and West, and
in other years there is a difference of one to five weeks in the Eastern and
Western dates of Easter. Since the 7th
century, the fixed feasts turn around Christmas day-December 25th.
If Christ was born on that date (there is no evidence that this is so), then
the Annunciation by the Angel Gabriel to Mary the Mother of Christ, by which
she received the Son of God in her womb, would be nine months before the
birth, i.e. March 25th (13 days
later, for the Juliansists). Since that is the date for the beginning of the
Incarnation. March 25th was the New
Year for some centuries. Let us make a quick list of the main fixed feasts, as of
now: January
1st - present New Year,
the circumcision of Christ (8 days after birth), and also the Feast of St.
Basil. January
6th - (19th
for Julian) - Epiphany or the Baptism of Christ - very ancient festival. February
2nd - The Presentation
of the Infant Christ in the March
25th - Annunciation. August
6 - Feast of the Transfiguration. Besides these a large number of other fixed feasts have
been added to the Calendar. e.g. August 15 - The Feast of the Assumption of Virgin Mary. September 14 - Invention (Discovery) of the Cross of
Jesus. Then there are the feasts of the Apostles, Martyrs and
Saints, which vary from church to church: e.g. June 29 - The Apostles Peter and Paul. June 30 - Feast of the Twelve Apostles. July 3 - Feast of The Moveable Feasts Moveable feasts depend on the date of Easter - e.g. 7 days before Easter - Palm Sunday. 2 days before Easter - Good Friday. 40 days after Easter - The Ascension of Christ. 50 days after Easter - Pentecost. 5 A Brief History of Choral Music The Choir or chorus as
such, seems to be of Greek origin. We do not find anything parallel to it in
early Chinese, Japanese or Indian cultures. The original Greek word, Choros (pronounced Khorose) meant actually “group dance
accompanied by music.” The primary meaning of the word has more to do with
dancing rather than singing. But it was not solo dancing, which often
dominates our own Kathak, Kathakali,
Bharatanatyam, Odissi and other dance recitals. It was usually a Choros kuklios or a circular group,
dancing rhythmically in slow or frenzied procession around the altar of a
Greek god, like, for example, the altar of Dionysos or Bacchos at
Dionysos or Bacchos is the
god, not only of wine, but also of dance and frenzy. The cult of Dionysos or
Bacchos probably goes back to the pre history of But it was an orgiastic
cult, a wild and frenzied dance, very popular with women. Many Greek princces
feared this cult, not only because of the sexual license it encouraged, but
also because women possessed by Bacchos could become really wild, mad,
destructive and murderous. This is reflected in Euripides’ (ca 484 - 407 BC)
plays: e.g. Iphigenia at Aulis or Bacchae. Of course his younger
contemporary Aristophanes (ca 445 - ca 380 BC) accused Euripides of being a
woman - hater, which to him is the reason why he depicted women as wild and
destructive. In any case the
Bacchanalian festivals were characterized by drunken and not always very
refused, revelry. The choral dance around the altar of Dionysos was called
the dithyramb, a lofty metric rythm
with high - flown language. The dithyramb was created to celebrate the birth
of Dionysus, but because the basis of all Greek poetry. It is a choral dance
music and lends itself to slow, ritual movements, with or without frenzy. In most Greek plays
(drama) the choros represents the people and ads as their mouth piece: their
lines are people’s comments and questions on the justice or injustice of the
happenings of history. The Choir does not itself narrate the events, but only
make occasional comments. In our Indian tradition the musical group does the
whole narration while the dancer acts it out. In the Greek tradition the
choir does not narrate, but only make occasional comments. In ancient The number of persons to
take part in the choir was fixed by tradition -15 persons for tragedies, 24
for comedy and an unspecified number for satyrical plays. The members of the Greek
choirs were usually young unmarried persons or boys and they were educated
people. In fact in classical antiquity the three main branches of education
were music, grammar and gymnastics. But our present form of
the choir is of Christian than of pre - Christian origin. The choir as a
separate group within a congregation developed mostly in the Latin and Greek
churches, while the Asian African churches to this day practice
congregational rather than choral singing. In the Byzantine Greek
tradition, since the 18th
century, the choir has virtually taken over from the congregation the chanting
of hymns and responses originally sung or said by the congregation as a
whole. This was partly the consequence of the development of more complex
music and more complex notation systems known only to people with training in
music. Precisely measured music
and musical notation systems are comparatively late developments in western
history, beginning only around the 14th century. As the churches grew rich, due to the
flow of wealth into In In the west, by the 19th century they began
developing huge choirs for popular festivals. The Handels festivals of the 19th century western Europe
had choirs with hundreds of participants, while the “Berlioz concert
monstres’’ in Paris were real monsters with thousands of participants. Part singing as well as
precise music notation developed from the need to get maximum co-ordination
and variety from these huge choirs. Medieval European choirs did only unison
singing of plain chant - often “a capella” or without the accompaniment of
musical instruments. Their music notation system was also not very precise. Choirs have played a very
large role in the building up of unity and harmony in a community. 6 East Syrian
Worship Historical The Liturgical Books The main eucharistic liturgies are three, which go by the names of (a) Addai and Mari, (b) Theodore of Mopsuestia and (c) Nestorius. In addition to various
lectionaries (one for the gospels, a second for the apostle Paul and the qarvana which contains the first two
lessons for the liturgical office, from the OT and the Acts), they have the turgame, which are homilies on the
lessons in the form of hymns to be chanted with the aid of the psalter (Dawida), consecration of an altar
(without chrism), prayers for ferial days, ........ of marriage, the
ordination manual, etc. The offices are chanted with the aid of the psalter (Dawida), the hudra, which contains the
propers of the office, antiphons, hymns and prayers, the gazza, which contains the offices for the feasts of our Lord and
the saints (except those that fall on Sundays), and other books for the
choirs. The eucharistic liturgy What has astonished many liturgists about the liturgy of Addai and
Mari is the absence of the words of institution; this is not unusual in the
West Syrian* tradition either (The two other Chaldean anaphorae* do have the
words of institution). This is shocking only to those who believe that the
recital of the words of institution effect the consecration. There is a form
of the Liturgy of the Presanctified (see
Presanctified Mass) for use on
Good Friday. The Liturgy of the Catechumens begins with the Trisagion*, which is followed by the lections: One from the OT,
and a second from either the OT or the Acts of the Apostles. These are
supposed to be read from the bema,
the raised platform in the centre of the church. After the first two
lections, as the priest leaves the bema
to ascend the altar, the turgama or
the homiletic hymn for the day is sung, interpreting the main point of the
lection from the Pauline epistles which follows it. The turgama of the gospel comes next, followed by the gospel itself. The Liturgy of the Faithful begins with a litany of intercession much
as in the Byzantine liturgy. The diptychs* after the creed and the lavabo* are also in the form of
litanies. Mary is commemorated thus: ‘For the memorial of Lady Mary the holy
virgin who bare Christ our Lord and our Saviour.’ The 318 fathers of
Even when the words of institution are missing, the epiclesis of the
Holy Spirit upon the offering is given in full. There is a second lavabo
before the fraction* and consignation. The priest censes his hands after the lavabo before proceeding to the
fraction. The Lord’s Prayer precedes the elevation and communion. The deacon
who read the epistle is to administer the body from the paten and the deacon
who gave the peace to administer the blood from the chalice. The eucharist is called the Kudasha
or sanctification: the liturgical language is Eastern Syriac, though the
vernacular is used in most churches today. Leavened bread is used and
communion is generally now in both kinds by intinction. Offices The canonical offices are mainly three: lelya (nocturns), sapra
(matins) and ramsha (vespers) (see Canonical Hours). Other liturgies The baptismal liturgy is modelled on the eucharistic liturgy, with a
pre-anaphora and anaphora for the consecration of the water with the chrism.
Confirmation does not exist as a separate rite. Neither penance nor the
sacrament of confession is used in this tradition. The anointing of the sick
was also unknown until it was borrowed from the West in the sixteenth
century. The marriage liturgy includes crowning and common drinking of wine
from the same cup, but it is doubtful whether the East Syrians regarded
marriage as a sacrament. The ordination practices are similar to those of
other Eastern churches. Notes * The text of Addai and Mari is given in ET in F. E. Brightman and C. E. Hammond. Liturgies Eastern and Western, I, 1896. Pp. 247-305; G. P. Badger, The Nestorians and Their Rituals, 2 vols. 1852: H. W. Codrington, Studies of the Syrian Liturgies, 1952. 7 West Syrian
Worship Introduction The West Syrian Church, known to many as “Jacobite” (after Jacob
Baradeus, the 6th
century reorganizer of the West Syrian Church) and as Monophysite (after the
erroneous idea prevailing in Byzantium and the Latin West that the West
Syrians believed only in the divine nature of Christ), historically inherited
the Semitic, Palestinian tradition of Christianity, though not uninfluenced
by the Hellenic milieu in which they lived. The Syrian tradition broke up soon into four families - the East
Syrian ( Liturgical rites The West Syrian church has probably the richest and most diverse
heritage in the matter of eucharistic anaphorae and canonical offices. In
addition to these are the rites of baptism and Chrismation of which three
different forms are known. Ordination rites also vary substantially; the
whole liturgical corpus also includes rites of matrimony (separate rites for
first and second marriages), burial (different for clergy, laymen, women and
children), anointing of the sick (not extreme unction - again different for
clergy and laity), profession of monks, consecration of churches and altars,
translation of relics etc. The Eucharistic Liturgy The liturgy is now - a - days celebrated mostly in the vernacular _
Arabic in the Middle East, English in America, Malayalam in India and so on _
though certain portions may still be said by the priest in Syriac. The
officiating priest and the people alternate in practically all the prayers,
and the deacon plays an important part, admonishing and directing the people
to stand with fear, pray and understand the nature of the event that is going
on in the Liturgy. Choirs have not been allowed to usurp the place of the
congregation as in certain other liturgies. Some scholars have spoken of a hundred different west syrian
anaphorae, though only about 70 can be traced by the present writer. Some of
these, especially the principal anaphora of St. James goes back in its basic
structure to the Jerusalem Church of Apostolic times. Other anaphorae come
from the 2nd (Ignatius of Antioch) to
the 14th centuries, if we take the
names of the anaphorae at face value. New liturgies continued to be created
in every century up to the 14th, though production was most prolific from the 4th to the 7th. The twelth century
produced at least six new anaphorae and about the same number was produced by
the 13th. With the 13th century the development
reached its peak in Two peculiarities of the West Syrian rite are (a) the liturgy of
Incense between the liturgy of the word and the liturgy of the Eucharist
proper; and (b) the prayer of adieu to the altar at the end of the liturgy -
The liturgy of incense which recalls the offering of incense in the Temple
(Exodus 30:1-10) seems to have replaced the dismissal of the Catechumens, and
comprises a general absolution of the priest and people before the offering
of the Eucharistic sacrifice. It also represents a sort of offertory, for
incense symbolizes the good works and prayers which are wellpleasing to God.
It symbolizes also the prayers of the departed saints which mix with those of
the congregation, as a true spiritual offering of praise and adoration. The epiclesis occurs in all
the 70 known liturgies, though the form of the epiclesis varies verbally from anaphora to anaphora, as also does
the verbal content of the “words of institution.” Not all the 70 anaphorae are in common use. The ones most commonly
used in India are St. James (on all principal feasts, for the first Eucharist
offered by a priest, or offered at a new altar), Dionysius Bar Salibhi, St.
John Chrysostom and St. John the Evangelist. The canonical offices for ordinary days is called the Schhims, and
has recently been translated into English by the Benedictine Fr. Griffiths.
The more elaborate office, the Fenqith, has not yet been translated into
English or Malayalam and is rarely used even in the Syriac. The Syriac text
of the Fenqith is available in our Indian edition as in a Moral edition
(1886-1896). One major feature of the Eucharistic liturgy and the daily offices is
the Sedra, a long meditative -
homiletical prayer, preceded by a pro -
emion which seems to be an elaborated form of the Gloria. These prayers are rich in theological content, and play a
considerable role in the religious education of the faithful, especially in
the absence of biblical preaching. An introduction and critical text of the Syriac anaphorae with latin
translation have been published by the Pontifical Oriental Institute in
The people communicate rather rarely, the legal minimum of once per
year being observed by most, usually on Holy Thursday. Communion is in both
kinds, usually by intinction for the laity. The priest usually administers,
though the deacon is allowed to serve communion to the laity. Reservation of the sacrament for adoration is forbidden, it may be
reserved in case of need for the sick, and for those who fast till the
evening. Confession before communion is often demanded, though this is not
necessary for those who communicate frequently. Fasting from the previous The lections during the liturgy of the word are three, one from the
acts or Catholic epistles (representing the twelve), then from the Pauline
epistles, and then finally the Gospel which is read with great ceremony by
the officiating priest. Sermons had gone out of use, but are coming back more
recently as priests become better trained. The creed recited is the Niceno - Constantinopolitan, introduced into
the liturgy by Peter the Fuller in the 5th century as an anti-chalcedonian measure. Two of the west syrian anaphora lack the actual words of institution
- Mathew the Shepherd and Sixtus of Rome. The latter says simply: “He, when
he was prepared for his saving passion, by the bread which by him was
blessed, broken and divided among his holy Apostles, gave us his propitiatory
body for life eternal; in a like manner, also by the cup etc.” The canon of the mass, with words of institution, ananesis and
epitlesis is said aloud by the priest, with responses from the people. Select Bibliography 1. Fortescue, A The Lesser Eastern Churches,
2. de Vries, W. Sakramententheologie bei den Syrischen
Monophysiten, 3. Ziade, I article on Syrienne
(eglise) in Dictionnaire de Theologie Catholique, 8 THE ETHIOPIAN LITURGICAL TRADITION The present liturgical corpus of the Ethiopian Orthodox Church is
certainly the result of many centuries of varied development; the decisive
shape was given to it, however, during the reforms under king Zara Yaekob,
who ruled from 1434-1468. During his memorable reign many liturgical and
theological books were translated into Ge’ez,
the national language, from Coptic, Arabic, and possibly Syriac. Ge’ez, also called Ethiopic, is still the official liturgical
language, actually in use in practically all the Churches, except in a few
city churches where, through the efforts of the Emperor, Amharic, the Modern
Ethiopian language, has been introduced. Liturgical Books The main sources for Ethiopic worship are Sunodos (apostolic canons), Metshafe
- Kidan (The Testament of our Lord), Didaskalia
Feta Negest (nomocanon), Ser’at -
we - tezaz (ordinances and instructions), Mets’hafe Bahr’i (The Book of nature), Te’ aqebe Mestir (Stewardship of the mystery). The 17th century liturgical
revision resulted in four major liturgical books - Mets’hafe Qeddase (Missal), Mets’hafe
Nuzaze (Manual of Penitence), Mets’hafe
Taklil (Matrimony) and Mets’hafe
Qandil (Manual of unction of the sick). The Missal has two parts, one
containing 16 to 20 anaphorae (Qeddase)
and another with the psalmody for the Eucharist (Zemmare), often chanted by choirs specially trained. In addition there are four books for the canonical daily offices -
(a) Deggwa, or the antiphonal
chants for the whole liturgical year except Lent; (b) Tsomedeggwa contains the chants for Lent, but not for the Holy
Week; (c) Mawaseet an alternate form, less frequently used, of the daily
offices; and (d) Meeraf, the common order for the daily office. One could also mention paraliturgical works produced in the
monasteries like Wuddase Mariam
(Praises of Mary) and Anqutse -Berhan
(the Gate of Light). Eucharistic Anaphorae Twenty different anaphorae are known, under the names - (1) The
Apostles (2) Our Lord Jesus Christ (3) Our Lady Mary (by Cyriacus or Qirqos)
(4) St. Dioscurus (5) St. John Chrysostom (6) St. John the Evangelist (7) St.
James the Brother of our Lord (8) The Hosanna - Liturgy of St. Gregory (9)
The Christmas Liturgy of St. Gregory (10) The Anaphora of our Lady Mary by
St. Gregory (11) Another Anaphora of our Lady by St. Gregory (12) The 318
Orthodox Fathers of Nicea (13) St. Basil (14) St. Athanasius (15) St.
Epiphanius (16) The longer St. Cyril (17) The shorter St. Cyril (18) St.
James of Sarug (19) St. Mark (20)Yet another anaphora of our Lady Mary.
Marcos Dawud, the Egyptian layman who was the first director of the
Theological School in Addis Ababa, published in 1954 an English version of
the Preanaphora and 14 anaphora (apostles, our Lord, St. John the Evangelist,
St. Mary, The 318 fathers, St. Athanasius, St. Basil, St. Gregory, St.
Epiphanius, St. John Chrysostom, St. Cyril, St. James of Serugh, St.
Dioscurus and St. Gregory II). The Ethiopic and Amharic texts of these also
have been published. Many of the anaphorae indicate a Syrian origin, possibly
in the syrian monastery of the Skete in Structure of Eucharistic Liturgy
The Ethiopic Liturgy has two main parts (1) the pre-anaphora, common
to all the anaphorae (2) the anaphora proper. The pre-anaphora,which is
unusually long, consists of six Psalms (25, 61, 102, 103, 130, 131), prayers
for the cleansing of the celebrants and the vessels, prayers of vesting, the
pro-thesis of the elements (ending with Psalm 117), the Enarxis (the prayers
of the oblation, the prayers of the “wrappings”, the prayers for absolution
and a long litany of intercession), and then the liturgy of the Catechumens
(Censing of the elements) prayers of intercession for the living and the
departed, censing of the priests and people, the three lections from the
Pauline Epistles, the Catholic epistles, and the Book of Acts, the Trisagion
addressed to Christ and embellished with incarnational epithets; prayers of
the gospel, the chanting of an antiphon from the psalms, the blessing of the
four quarters of the world, the censing of the gospel, and then the reading
of the Gospel and a sermon. The pre-anaphora concludes with a long litany of
intercession for the Church and the Catechumens and the people, especially
the poor, the dismissal of the Catechumens, a creed or confession of faith in
the mystery of the Holy Trinity, in the full deity and humanity of Christ, in
the goodness of all that is created, about the underfiled nature of marriage
and childbirth, a repudiation of circumcision, etc., followed by the lavabo, the prayer of salutation and
the kiss of peace. The Ethiopic anaphorae vary considerably in structure. The basic
structure is as follows: 1) Eucharistic thanks giving, parallel to the western canon up to the words of institution, 2) Prayers of intercession and conclusion of the thanks giving prayer, 3) Sanctus (which is missing in one or two anaphorae), 4) Institution Narrative (substituted by a prayer in the Anaphora of James of Sarugh), 5) Anamnesis, Epiclesis, (6) Fraction and commixture, (7) Our Father and continuation prayer, (8) Inclination of the head and prayer o |