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.

1042/1096 (page 1022)

$also used by the Monophysites (Renaudot, i. 154); the former on fast days, the latter on feast days, except in Lent and the month “ Cohiac,” during which the liturgy of St. Cyril is used. (21.) We will turn first to the Greek liturgy of St. Mark and the Coptic of St. Cyril. We have already mentioned that words recently dis- covered in the Kpistle of Clemens Romanus are found here. These words are (Bryennius, p. 105), Raise those that are fallen ; bring back those who are wandering; feed those who are hungry ; deliver those of us who are in bonds ; comfort the feeble-minded.” They are all found both in the Coptic (Renaudot, vol. i. p. 65), and in the Greek (Neale, Greek Liturgies, ed. 1868, p. 21). The Coptic has also : “ Save those of us who are in trouble,” which are also Clementine. This fact is interesting in more ways than one, as we shall see. I may men- tion now that it is a renewed proof of the connexion between the churches of Alexan- dria and Rome, to which Dr. Neale speaks in his ‘General Introduction’ (vol. i. p. 120). In the Greek St. Mark, we have the introductory or proanaphoral portion, which is quite distinct from anything in the Coptic. In point of fact, the liturgy of St. Cyril begins with the kiss of peace immediately preceding the Sursum Corda (Renaudot, i. 88). We are informed that the Preparation ” which is given in the Coptic St. Basil (Renaudot, i. 1-82) is always used, what- ever the liturgy proper may be. Passing on to the canon, I would observe that the intercessory prayers, which are offered by the priest after the giving of thanks in the “ dignum et justumest,” are addressed in the Greek liturgy to the Father, in the Coptic to our Lord. In both, the Virgin is commemorated, whilst the “ Hail thou that art highly favoured,” occurring in the Greek, is not found in the Coptic. This, therefore, is apparently of late introduction. In the Coptic the prayer is addressed to Christ to receive “ the sacrifices and oblations of those who offer on His spiritual heavenly altarin the Greek a similar prayer is addressed to God. The petitions which I have mentioned just now as occurring in Clemens Romanus occur at this part of the ser- vice. The words of St. Paul with reference to Christ (Eph. i. 21) are found in both, and thus it is with reference to Chris't that the words follow, “ Thousand thousands, and ten thousand times ten thousand of holy angels and archangels stand before Thee ! ” Then the words of institu- tion follow. In both versions the appeal is made to God the Father that we are setting forth the death of His Son, and confessing His resurrection, and waiting for His second coming to judge the world ; and with this before oui mind we have set before Thee Thine own of Thine own gifts.” The epiclesis or invocation follows, the .same in both, bearing, however, in- ternal marks that it was composed after the council of Nicaea, a prayer for sanctification, and the Lord’s Prayer. Here the Coptic of St. Cyril lapses into the Coptic St. Basil. The Greek, however, proceeds to the end. The “ Sancta sanctis,” on p. 28, and the “ unus Pater sanc- tus,” etc., on the same page; the benediction and the dismissal, p. 30. (22.) By comparing the Coptic St. Basil with the Greek and Arabic versions of the same liturgy, we are again able, in some degree, to note the history of liturgic change. It would appear that many of the Greek .phrases were continued in use in the Coptic church, as we have already noticed them in the Coptic version of the Apostolic Constitutions (Renaudot, i. 13). Here, after the “ Sanctus,” the liturgy reverts to the history of our fall, our being placed in paradise, our transgression. It thus passes onwards with great beauty through the warn- ings given by the prophets to the birth of the Saviour, His love for us. His death. His resurrection. His ascension. Then it records how He left to us this great mystery' of piety (the words of 1 Tim. iii. 16) and instituted the Eucharist, giving the words of the institution. Then it proceeds, as in the Greek St. Mark, only where that had “ we have offered to Thee of Thine own gifts,” here we read, “ we do offer Thee.” The Epiclesis follows, in the Coptic the appeal being to Christ, in the Greek and Arabic to God. Then come the intercessory prayers (not before the words of institution, as in St. Mark and St. Cyril), and these are addressed to God. Commemoration is made also of the Virgin and other saints, including, in the Coptic St. Basil, several of a late date, and the diptychs are read and the Lord’s Prayer follows ; then an interest- ing absolution of a precatory character and the “ Sancta sanctis.” The fraction takes place and a confession (which we also find in the Gregorian liturgy), “ that this is the flesh of Christ which He received from the Virgin, and made one with His divinity and delivered for us all on the cross.” Further intercessions—in some respect like those of Clemens Romanus, but with the addition, “ give rest to those who have fallen asleep before us ”—follow in the Arabic, but are not in the Coptic. The dismissal of the people takes place, and then that of the deacons. This does not occur in the Coptic. The communion of the people is mentioned in the Coptic (p. 24), but not in the Greek or Arabic. (23.) The liturgy of St. Gregory will not detain us long ; it begins in the Greek and Arabic with a prayer which is also found in the Greek St. James (Neale, G. L.. p. 54), with a few words in- terpolated that the “sacrifice may be for the rest and refreshment of our fathers who have fallen asleep before us, and for the strengthening of Thy people.” Moreover, in the Greek “St. James ” it is addressed to God, in the Egyptian “ St. Gregory ” to Christ. This liturgy resem- bles the Egy])tian St. Basil rather than that of St. Cyril; after the “ vere dignum,” however, there is a hymn of thanksgiving which we do not find there, but, in some respects like the other, it passes on to a touching appeal to God. “ No language can measure the ocean of Thy love : Thou madest me a man, not Thyself being in need of my service; .... it is Thou who, in the bread and the wine, hast delivered to me the mystic participation of Thy flesh.” The account of the Institution follows in the form of a narrative addressed to the Saviour, and the priest continues: “ Remembering Thy coming upon earth. Thy Death, Thy Resurrec- tion, Ascension and coming Advent, we offer to Thee of Thine own gifts”; and he beseeches Christ to come and comj)lete the mystic service, to send His Spirit and sanctify and change the gifts into the Body and Blood of our redemption.$