1. Lecture 11: Early Liturgies
Dr. Ann T. Orlando
10 October 2017
Early Liturgies

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

3. 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
Some secrecy by Christians concerning the liturgy
Calendar issues also complicated by
Lunar vs. solar calendar year basis (Jewish calendar is lunar, not solar)
A solar year is slightly longer than 365 days
Years usually measured by years during a ruler’s reign (eponymous)
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

4. Liturgical Sources Pliny’s Letter to Trajan (c. 112)
Justin Martyr, First Apology (c. 160)
Church Orders
Didache (Syria, late 1st or early 2nd 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 2nd – 4th C (especially for liturgical calendar)
Early Liturgies

5. 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

6. 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 2nd 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 14th day of the paschal moon
Paschal moon 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

7. Ester Controversy (cont.)
Due to variations in calculating spring equinox and phases of moon, Easter calendars start to vary by location in 6th C
By 16th 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

8. Liturgical Calendar: Christmas
Popular ‘history of religion’ theory from 19th C was that Christmas was a Christian replacement for Roman winter solstice Sol Invictus celebration
But Christmas celebrated (2nd C) before Sol Invictus celebrated by Romans (3rd C)
Christmas celebrated on Dec 25, not Dec 22
Far more likely that for early Christian celebration of Nativity 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

9. 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 5th C
Early Liturgies

10. Anno Domini
Before the 6th C, some Christians numbered years as years since the Passion
In 525 Dionysius Exiguus, a monk in Rome, developed a set of Easter tables to predict for the next 95 years when Easter would occur.
He also included a method for computing Easter beyond this period
Dionysius replaced the older yearly numbering system based on tax cycles and years since Diocletian’s reign with years since the Incarnation (25 March), that is anno Domini
But we did not want to perpetuate the memory of that impious persecutor in our cycles, so we have chosen rather to number the years from the Incarnation of our Lord Jesus Christ, so that the beginning of our hope might stand out more clearly for us, and so the cause of human salvation—that is, the Passion of our redeemer—might shine more conspicuously.
In 6th C rabbis developed a yearly numbering system based on the years since creation or anno mundi, AM
Early Liturgies

11. 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)
Early Liturgies

12. 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

13. 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

14. 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

15. Latin Mass
Sometime in late 3rd, early 4th C some Christians in Western Roman Empire celebrate liturgy in Latin.
Pope Damasus (late 4th C) encouraged Latin usage in the West
Word ‘Mass’ (Missa)
Used in 3rd 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 (6th C??) becomes Latin for entire Eucharistic celebration
Early Liturgies

16. Early Lines of Latin Liturgy
Two main forms in West in 2nd – 5th 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 5th C, respectively)
Sacramentary of Pope St. Gregory I
Accepted as standardized basis for liturgy in West
Early Liturgies

17. Kyrie Eleison, Another Uncertain Example
Greek for “Lord Have Mercy”
First mentioned in Apostolic Constitutions (early 4th C)
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

18. Assignment Read Hippolytus, Apostolic Tradition, selections, handout
Prepare for discussion on Thursday; NO PAPER
Early Liturgies