Liturgical Texts

\* Liturgy And History.
1- First century.
2- Second century.
3- Third century.
4- Fourth century.

Liturgy and History

Before the sixteenth century there was no need to go back to the liturgical history, or any sacramental history, for the living practice sufficed. But when the sacraments of the Western Church were attacked, it was necessary to go back to the liturgical history and its source for the aim of defending the Church.

This present historical research does not have the same aim, for we want to know the solid rock of the historical facts of the Liturgy on which all the worship of the Early Church is based, so that through this living knowledge we come to understand the liturgy and practice it accordingly while worshipping. This study tells us the manner which those early generations worshipped and reveals to us Christian life and its concepts.

Liturgical Sources

The liturgists give importance to the early Egyptian liturgies. As an example Fr. Jungmann, in his book "The Early Liturgy" says: "Dust-covered volumes in the libraries of oriental monasteries were made accessible. From the sands of the Egyptian desert, papyrus rolls and papyrus fragments were brought to light. All these investigations and discoveries enriched our knowledge of the liturgical life of those early days, while an ever-increasing number of scholars labored to exploit these results and to make them bear fruit."

The most important early sources of the liturgy at our disposal at the present time are the following:

1- the First Century

The Holy Bible: Three evangelists are telling the "Narrative of Institution" of the Last Supper. It is the center and the source of all celebrations of the Eucharist.

The "Acts" and the Epistles of St. Paul describe the early church steadfast in the teaching of the Apostles and in the Communion of Breaking the Bread and in prayers.

Fr. Dix 2 says that of the liturgical tradition must have originated independently of the literary tradition in all its forms, Pauline or

Synoptic, and must have been very solidly established everywhere as the invariable practice before the first three gospels and the first epistle to the Corinthians began to circulate with authority.

2- the Second Century

A. St. Justin: This martyr wrote his first apology about 150 A.D. It contains a complete description of the celebration of the Eucharist. He describes its rites twice: First, concerning the newly baptized, and secondly, concerning the Lord's Day.
B. The Didache: The teaching of the twelve Apostles around the end of the first or the beginning of the second century.

3- the Third Century

A. The Apostolic Tradition (or the Church Order) of St. Hippolytus of Rome, the most important source of information we possess on the liturgy of the pre-Nicene Church. Some liturgists attribute it to the Egyptian Church, as it was called "The Egyptian Church Order" and others say that it is a genuine work of St. Hippolytus of Rome. It was written about 215 A.D., and contains the Anaphora prayers.
B. The Anaphora of SS. Addai and Mari, for the Syrian Church. It started from the third century according to Botte or from the fifth century according to Raes.

4- the Fourth Century

A. The Euchologuin of Serapion: The Egyptian Bishop Serapion was a friend of St. Athanasius. It was put together around the year 350 A.D.
B. The Strasburg papyrus, which represents the liturgy of St. Mark.
C. The Apostolic Constitutions, commonly called the "Clementine Liturgy."
D. Writings based on liturgical texts and rites:
I. The Mystagogical Catecheses delivered by St. Cyril of Jerusalem in 347 A. D.
II. The Baptismal Catecheses of St. John Chrysostom,

delivered between the years 386 and 398 A. D.

III. The Mysteries of St. Ambrose of Milan.

5- the Fifth Century

A. The voyage of Etheria: This is a description of a pilgrimage made by a nun called Etheria (native of Gaul) in the year 400 to the Holy places. It was discovered in 1887 by an Italian scholar, Camurrini. It contains a long description of the church services in Jerusalem in those days.

I. The daily service.
II. The Canonical Hours.
III. The Sunday service.
IV. Services of the Holy Week in detail.
B. The catechesis of Theodore, Bishop of Mopsuestia at Cilicia, in Iraq. He died in 428. This work was discovered and published in 1932 by Mingana in Syriac and English. These are catchetical instructions of the newly baptized, and contain a detailed explanation of Baptism and the Eucharist.

6- Other Sources

Fr. Jungmann says, "We can add to these sources also various papyri rescued from the desert sands of Egypt which contain valuable liturgical texts from Christian Antiquity. Of these the papyrus of Der Balyzed is especially famous, it also contains a section from the prayers of the Eucharist.

Despite this fact, it was put together at a later date (fifth/sixth century) but it seems that the prayers which it contains can lay claim to a much greater antiquity."