Volume 1

A dictionary of Christian antiquities : being a continuation of the 'Dictionary of the Bible' / edited by William Smith and Samuel Cheetham ; illustrated by engravings on wood.

Date:: [between 1890 and 1899?]

Credit: A dictionary of Christian antiquities : being a continuation of the 'Dictionary of the Bible' / edited by William Smith and Samuel Cheetham ; illustrated by engravings on wood. Source: Wellcome Collection.

1041/1096 (page 1021)

$notices of the celebration in this version ; I two of them analogous to that in the eighth took of the Greek version, which is called the Clementine liturgy, and is really an account of a service after the consecration of a bishop. There are several points of deep interest con- nected with the Coptic constitutions, not the least that the Copts had introduced into their language the Greek terms for presbyter, deacon, bishop. Spirit, Eucharist, offering, salutation; indeed we may say every technical term con- nected with the celebration. We read (Tattam, Apostolical Constitutions in Coptic, with Trans- lation ; Orient. Trans. Fund, 184-8; bk. ii. p. 32), “After the salutation and the kiss of peace, the deacons present the offering to the newly-made bishop; he puts his hand upon it with the presbyters, and says the eucharistia.” It begins with the prayer, “ The Lord be with you all,” and the people say, “ And with thy spirit.” The bishop says, “ Lift up your hearts they reply, “We lift them up unto the Lord.” He says again, “ Let us give thanks unto our Lord the people say, “ It is right and just and then he is directed to say the prayers which follow accoi'ding “ to the form or custom of the holy offering.” It is quite clear that the service was in Greek throughout when this version of the “ canons of ^e apostles ” was made. But Archdeacon Tattam, to whom we owe our edition of the book, unfortunately missed some of the points in his translation; and thus, to the mere English reader, his words can scarcely be said to represent adequately the character of the original. Thus he translates “Let us pray.” It was really a mistake for ^xop^v. (16.) We have a further account in the same second book (Tattam, p. 62). This may be com- pared with the last lecture of St. Cyril of Jerusalem, for it is the account of the Communion as administered to the newly baptized. We have again the instruction that the deacon should bring the of ering to the bishop, and that the latter should give thanks over the bread and over the cup of wine, because of the similitude of the one to the flesh of Christ, and of the other to the blood of Christ. Mention is made of an offering of milk and honey in remembrance of the promise made to the fathers : “ I will give you a land flowing with milk and honey.” Then the bishop divides the bread, and gives a portion to each. “ This is the bread of heaven, the Body of Christ Jesus ” (the last clause in Greek). The presbyter or deacon takes the cup, and gives them the blood of Jesus Christ our Lord, and the milk and the honey, saying, “ This is the Blood of Christ Jesus,” and he who i-eceives says, “ Amen.” The account concludes; These things have been delivered to you briefly concerning the holy Baptisma and the holy Offering. (17.) There is yet a third account in the fourth book (§ Ixv. p. 116). This is a second represen- tation of the service after the ordination of a bishop ; it is somewhat longer than the other, supplying additional details. Thus we have the direction of the deacon : “ Let no unbeliever remain in this placethe words bidding them salute one another with a holy kiss; the exclu- sion of the catechumens and the “ hearers,” and of all who were not partakers of the holy mysteries. The deacons bring the gifts to the bishop to the holy altar (dva-iaar^pLoii), the pres- byters standing on his right hand and on his left, and the “ high priest ” prays over the offering that the Holy Spirit may descend upon it and make the bread the body of Christ, and the cup the blood of Christ. Then all partake; first the clergy, then all the people, and then all the women; a psalm was sung during the distribu- tion, and when all was over the deacons called out, “We have all partaken of the blessed Body and Blood of Christ; let us give thanks to Him ;” the bishop gives them the blessing, and they are told to depart in peace. (18.) There can be no doubt that the rubrics of these second and fourth books represent the ser- vice at slightly different epochs ; thus the word apxifpfvs, which is limited to the Jewish high priest on p. 108, is given to the bishop on p. 122. The word Qvaia(TT'i]piov occurs, however, twice in the first book (p. 20). But the whole account will serve us as an introduction to the later liturgies of the church of Alexandria as we find them in the Greek and Coptic versions. (19.) Of the Alexandrine Fathers, Clemens speaks {Stromat. i. 19) of those who use bread and water in the offering not in accordance with the canons of the church ; and Origen of our offering sacrifices to the Father through Christ (on Isa. vi. 6; Homil. i. near the end; tom. xiii. Lommatzscii), Of the liturgies that have come down to us as connected with various branches or offshoots of the church of the patri- archate of Alexandria, Renaudot gives several, but they may be reduced to three distinct works :— (1) The Greek liturgy of St. Mark and the Coptic of St. Cyril. (2) A Coptic, Arabic, and Greek liturgy, en- titled the liturgy of St. Basil. This must be carefully distinguished, as we shall see hereafter, from the liturgy of the church of Caesarea. (3) A Coptic, Arabic, and Greek liturgy, en- titled the liturgy of St. Gregory the Theologian, i.e. Gregory Nazianzen. To these we must add what is called ‘The Universal Canon of the Aethiopic Church.’ (20.) The Greek liturgy of St. Mark and the Coptic liturgy of St. Cyril are related to each other, as are the Greek and Syriac liturgies of St. James; they have much in common ; but the liturgy of St. Cyril has been used even to the present day by the Monophysites, who have formed the mass of the Egyptian Christians, whilst that of St. Mark was in use only for a limited time by the Melchites or orthodox. For the latter body being small in numbers, and weak in influence, have, for many ages, been drawn within the circle of the church of Con- stantinople, and have used the liturgy of that church. And thus it is that apparently only one copy of the Greek liturgy of St. Mark has survived. This was found in a monastery ot the order of St. Basil, at Ro.ssano, in Calabria. Renaudot saw it at Rome in the house of the religious of the same order. The MS. is of the 10th or 11th century. By comparing the two together, we are able to infer what was the common property of the whole patriarchate before the schism of A.D. 451, and thus also to discover what each body added at later periods. The liturgies of St. Basil and St. Gregory are$