Early Liturgies1 Lecture 11: Early Liturgies Dr. Ann T. Orlando 11 October 2015

Early Liturgies 2 Introduction First a word of caution Early Sources Liturgical Calendar Roman Liturgical Developments Assignment

Caution There may be no early Christian research that is more uncertain and contested than liturgical studies  Limited sources  Geographical variations  Variations among bishops in same/nearby location Calendar issues, in addition to having few sources, also complicated by  Lunar vs. solar calendar year basis (Jewish calendar is lunar, not solar)  A solar year is slightly longer than 365 days  Calendar adjustments between Julian and Gregorian calendars Julian calendar based on developments by Julius Caesar, c 44 BC, introduced leap years Gregorian calendar developed for Pope Gregory XIII in 1582 Early Liturgies 3

Liturgical Sources Pliny’s Letter to Trajan (c. 112) Justin Martyr, First Apology (c. 160) Church Orders  Didache (Syria, late 1 st or early 2 nd C)  Hippolytus, Apostolic Tradition (c. 215)  Apostolic Constitutions (c. 310, may depend on both Didache and Apostolic Tradition) Tertullian, On Baptism (c. 200) Episcopal letters and homilies from 2 nd – 4 th C (especially for liturgical calendar) Early Liturgies 4

Weekly Celebrations Weekly gathering in Pliny Eucharist celebrated weekly on a Sunday (see First Apology) Fasting on Wednesdays and Fridays (Didache, Tertullian)  Station Days Local celebrations in memory of the ‘birthday’ of the martyrs Early Liturgies 5

Easter Controversy Key for early Church was what day of week and when to celebrate Easter Key for Easter was Good Friday  Some wanted to follow Jewish calendar for Passover, 14 of Jewish month of Nisan; known as Quartrodecians  Based on Julian calendar this could be 25 March or 6 April  Especially prominent in Asia Minor in 2 nd C; Irenaeus said Polycarp followed this practice  By end of century, Pope Victor condemns the practice Eventually, at Council of Nicaea (325) all agree Easter to be celebrated on Sunday  Sunday following the 14 th day of the paschal moon  Paschal moor after spring equinox  Equinox determined by the Church in Alexandria In the West, beginning of Lent at 40 days before Good Friday (but not clear if for all or only catechumens) Lent officially said to begin on Ash Wednesday by Pope St. Gregory Great (d. 604) Early Liturgies 6

Ester Controversy (cont.) Due to variations in calculating spring equinox and phases of moon, Easter calendars start to vary by location in 6 th C By 16 th C problem with Julian calendar leads to calendar reform and new calculation for specifying Easter by Pope Gregory XII (1578)  Leap years every 4 years unless century is divisible by 4  Easter is first Sunday, after the first full moon, after the spring equinox  New martyrology Early Liturgies 7

Liturgical Calendar: Christmas Popular ‘history of religion’ theory from 19 th C was that Christmas was a Christian replacement for Roman winter solstice Sol Invictus celebration  But Christmas celebrated (2 nd C) before Sol Invictus celebrated by Romans (3 rd C)  Christmas celebrated on Dec 25, not Dec 22 Far more likely key for early Christian celebration of Christmas based on Good Friday  A traditional date for Good Friday was taken as 25 March  Early Christians seem to have honored this also as the date for Incarnation; thus Jesus birth is nine months later, Dec. 25  Some Christians used the other popular date for Good Friday, April 6, and follow the same reasoning to recognize Jan 6 as Christmas; still the case for a few Eastern Christians Early Liturgies 8

Other Important Early Feast Days Epiphany  From Greek for manifestation  In early centuries Jan 6 variously celebrated as Birth, Visit of Magi, or Baptism of Jesus  Traditional day for bishop to proclaim when diocese would celebrate movable feasts (i.e., Easter) Ascension and Pentecost  Celebrated continually since apostolic times (Acts of Apostles) Assumption (Dormition) of Mary  Church in Ephesus then elsewhere celebrated the assumption of Mary on/about August 15  Became common feast day in Church in 5 th C Early Liturgies 9

10 St. Hippolytus (170 – 240) Roman presbyter and teacher; opposed Pope Calixtus election as Bishop of Rome  Calixtus was an uneducated deacon (note: Calixtus had been sent to the mines and ransomed out)  Too lenient  Eventually, Hippolytus reconciles with Calixtus Like Irenaeus and Tertullian, wrote Refutation of All Heresies Wrote Apostolic Tradition  Among earliest complete liturgies  Greek, but no Greek versions survived (portions in Latin, Coptic, Ethiopian, Syriac, Arabic)

Back to a word of caution… Or perhaps nothing on the previous slide is true…or maybe only some of it is true (but what)  Almost everyone accepts the Hippolytus wrote Refutation of All Heresies This has been hotly contested over the last 20 years, without resolution to today  See John Baldovin, “Hippolytus and The Apostolic Tradition,” Theological Studies 64 (2003), for summary of current research and arguments against the ‘traditional’ view  Available at I accept the traditional view (more or less) Early Liturgies 11

Apostolic Tradition Usually considered in 3 parts  I. Of Clergy  II. Of Laity  III. Of Prayers and Fasting Note ordained (laying of hands) and non- ordained ministries Note similarities to our Mass today  Basis of Eucharistic Prayer II Early Liturgies 12

Elements of Anaphora (Ancient and Modern) Anaphora, Greek, Lifting Up Sursum Corda, Latin, Let us lift up our hearts Anamnesis, Greek, Remembrance Epiclesis, Greek, Invocation of Holy Spirit Doxology, Greek, Giving glory to the Trinity Early Liturgies 13

Latin Mass Sometime in late 3 rd, early 4 th C some Christians in Western Roman Empire celebrate liturgy in Latin. Pope Damasus (late 4 th C) encouraged Latin usage in the West Word ‘Mass’ (Missa)  Used in 3 rd C as dismissal, first of catechumens, then of faithful  Used by Sts. Ambrose and Augustine in this context, specifically for dismissal at end of liturgy  Eventually (6 th C??) becomes Latin for entire Eucharistic celebration Early Liturgies 14

Early Lines of Latin Liturgy Two main forms in West in 2 nd – 5 th C  Roman Liturgy Seems to have been a translation of what is available from Apostolic Tradition  Gallican Liturgy Seems to have been a translation of liturgy from Antioch (Irenaeus??) Some standardization by Pope St. Leo I and Pope St. Gelasius (Leonine and Gelasian Sacramentary, mid and late 5 th C, respectively) Sacramentary of Pope St. Gregory I  Accepted as standardized basis for liturgy in West Early Liturgies 15

Kyrie Eleison, Another Uncertain Example Greek for “Lord Have Mercy” First mentioned in Apostolic Constitutions  Deacons intone and faithful respond Does not seem to have been part of earlier Greek liturgies (at least not mentioned) Does not seem to have been part of Gallican or early Roman liturgy Pope St. Gregory the Great mentions it, may have introduced it into into Latin liturgy to maintain some reference to earlier Greek liturgies Early Liturgies 16

Early Liturgies 17 Assignment Read Hippolytus, Apostolic Tradition, selections, handout Prepare paper for discussion on Thursday