The Byzantine Rite 9781463217037

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The Byzantine Rite

Analecta Gorgiana

136 Series Editor George Kiraz

Analecta Gorgiana is a collection of long essays and short monographs which are consistently cited by modern scholars but previously difficult to find because of their original appearance in obscure publications. Carefully selected by a team of scholars based on their relevance to modern scholarship, these essays can now be fully utilized by scholars and proudly owned by libraries.

The Byzantine Rite

Archdale King

gorgias press 2009

Gorgias Press LLC, 180 Centennial Ave., Piscataway, NJ, 08854, USA www.gorgiaspress.com Copyright © 2009 by Gorgias Press LLC Originally published in 1948 All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, scanning or otherwise without the prior written permission of Gorgias Press LLC. 2009

1 ISBN 978-1-60724-099-0

This is an extract from Archdale King's The Rites of Eastern Christendom, Vol. 2, Chapter VII.

Printed in the United States of America

BYZANTINE RITE WITH VARIANTS The Byzantine rite spread far beyond the frontiers of the Empire, and its influence was dispersed over an area which stretched from the plains of northern Russia to the deserts of Egypt, and from the mountains of Armenia to the coasts of Italy. It is numerically the most important of the Eastern rites, both for the Catholics 1 and the Orthodox,2 although the number of the former will be considerably reduced by the occupation of the Western Ukraine by Soviet Russia. The varying fortunes of the several national churches into which the Byzantine world is divided will be considered later in the chapter. Since the 12th century there has been a substantially uniform rite, dictated by Constantinople, which from motives of imperialistic centralization forced the patriarchates of Antioch, Alexandria and Jerusalem to conform to the liturgy of the emperor. As, however, a large proportion of the Christians of these patriarchates had already severed communion with Constantinople the other rites were happily saved from extinction. An important figure in the centralising movement was * In 1942, the Catholics of the Byzantine rite were said to number 7.033.385. KOROLEWSKIJ, I Riti e le Chiese Orietitali, vol. I , tav. I , pp. 20-21. ' T h e Orthodox numbered 135.164.000 (Ibid.). * - A. A. KING, The Rites of Eastern Christendom - 2nd Vol.

[1]

2

THE RITES OF EASTERN CHRISTENDOM

Theodore IV Balsamon, patriarch of Antioch (1185-ab. 1214). He had been present at Constantinople3 in 1194 when Mark II, patriarch of Alexandria, had visited the city and celebrated his liturgy, and he had, in the presence of the emperor, disputed with Mark respecting the merits of the different liturgies. Balsamon4 maintained that "all the churches of God ought to follow the custom of New Rome."

C a t h o l i c s and O r t h o d o x We have already seen that the final rupture between the churches of East and West took place some time after 1054, and that the main causes of the schism were jealousy of the primacy of Rome and the unchristian behaviour of the Crusaders. Michael Caerularius, patriarch of Constantinople, indeed called filioque in the creed, fasting on Saturdays, and azyme bread "horrible infirmities," but these variations in

* It has recently been suggested (George EVERY, Syrian Christians in Palestine in the Early Ages. Eastern Churches Quarterly (July-September, 1946, p. 368) that Balsamon's encounter with Mark should rather be connected with negotiations between the Byzantines and the sultan of Egypt (1187-1189). T h e meeting clearly took place when Balsamon was persona gratissima with the emperor Isaac Angelus, and in 1191 the emperor passed over Balsamon for the patriarchate of Constantinople, and appointed Dositheus of Jerusalem instead, " t o his bitter chagrin." 4 "Wherefore all the churches of G o d ought to follow the custom of N e w Rome, namely Constantinople, and to celebrate the holy things according to the tradition of the great doctors and luminaries of piety, St. John Chrysostom and St. Basil." LEUCLAVIUS, Juris Graec-Rom., lib. V , p. 263; GUERANGER, Institutions Liturgiques, 2nd edit., t. I, p. 217. Paris, 1878. T h e supremacy of Constantinople was claimed also in other respects, and the patriarch Isaias in writing to the katholikos of Armenia calls the Church of Byzantium the "common mother of all the churches." Incontro ai Fratelli Separati di Oriente, pp. 205-206.

[2]

BYZANTINE RITE WITH VARIANTS

3

custom served as excuses rather than as reasons for the separation. Since the n t h century, despite the unceasing efforts of the popes, there has been no lasting union between Rome and Constantinople, although members of the different national groups have at various times returned to communion with the Catholic church. The council of Bari, held by Pope Urban II (1087-1099) in 1098, appealed to the Greek church to return to unity, but the oriental bishops who signed the profession of faith were all from south Italian sees. Hatred 5 of Catholicism grew apace at Constantinople, and in 1182 there was a massacre of Latins, among whom was the papal legate. The Crusades, so far from helping the cause of unity, did an infinity of harm by setting up Latin principalities against the empire, while the conduct 6 of the Venetians at the capture of Constantinople (1204) is to this day recalled with loathing. Even the papal policy was not always conducive to reconciliation. Innocent III (1198-1216) sometimes approved the co* In 1170, in a discussion at Constantinople on the subject of union, the patriarch Michael I I I Anchiales said: " Rather the Turks than the Papists." One wonders whether this was the real origin of the saying falsely ascribed to Pope Benedict X V after the first world war (1918) in regard to the church of St. Sophia: "Rather a mosque than an Orthodox church?" In 1937, the hegumenos of the monastery of Vatopedi, Mount Athos, instanced the behaviour of the crusaders at the sack of Constantinople as a "plain reason against joining the Church of Rome!" Arnott Hamilton (Byzantine Architecture and Decoration, chap. V I I P. 98) says: " The disaster of the Latin invasion was the genesis of a gradual decay, and although art flourished in the last Byzantine period, the Empire could never approach its ancient state of glory."

[3]

1HK KITES OF EASTERN CHRISTENDOM

existence of two rites, yet he seemed prepared at one time to replace the Byzantine rite by the Latin. Thus, he wrote to Morosini, 7 the Latin patriarch at Constantinople, that the supreme hierarchy had not yet settled the matter of rites, whereas to the emperor Baldwin of Flanders the same pope 8 had said: "The empire has been transferred to the Latins; and now the rite ought to be changed. It is important that Ephraim, come from the land of Judah after being liberated from the old leaven, should begin to be nourished with the azyme bread of purity and truth." This attitude towards the Byzantine rite was certainly not representative of Roman opinion. A Greek embassy from the emperor John III Vatatses (1222-1254) came in 1253 to Pope.Innocent IV (1243-1254) at Anagni, and terms of union were agreed upon which included the right to omit the filioque in the creed. Unhappily, the settlement proved stillborn as both pope and emperor died shortly afterwards. Innocent I V , 9 however, in 1248 had founded an "oriental institute" for poor Eastern Christians who might wish to study theology at the university of Paris, and ten years later (1258) a bull of Alexander IV referred to twenty such students who had availed themselves of this privilege. Union was accomplished at the 2nd council of Lyons (1274), which was attended by the former patriarch of Constantinople, Germanos III, and Theophanes, metropolitan of Nicea. Pope Gregory X (1268-1276) sang the Mass of thanksgiving, while the Greek bishops chanted the filioque in the creed three times. At Constantinople John Beccos was appointed patriarch, ' Giovanni SMIT, Roma e I'Oriente * SMIT, ibid.,

' Incontro

p. 193, n.

Cristiano,

p. 37.

17.

ai Fratelli Separati di Oriente,

[4]

p. 157.

BYZANTINE RITE W I T H VARIANTS

5

but the union was unpopular with the people, and it never materialised. In 1369, the emperor, John V Paleologus, made a Catholic profession of faith at Rome. All too often, however, the emperor seems to have been actuated by political motives, merely seeking an ally against the ever increasing menace of the Turks. Isidore of Kiev was among the Easterns present at the council of Basle (1437), but the state of Latin Christendom was not one to inspire the dissidents with much confidence, and Eneas Silvius Piccolomini, who later ascended the chair of Peter as Pius II, said: "Risit Oriens latinorum insaniam, qui sibi ipsis dissentientes aliorum unionem requirerent!" 10 A solemn act of union 11 between East and West was promulgated under more propitious circumstances at the council of Florence in 1439, when 33 Greeks 12 and 117 Latins signed the document uniting the Roman and Byzantine churches. John (or Basil) Bessarion, metropolitan of Nicea (ab. 1403-1472), was created a cardinal with the title of Santi Apostoli13 by Eugenius IV (1431-1447). Despairing of his own people, Bessarion came to settle in Rome, where he adopted the Latin rite. He was made bishop of S. Sabina (1449) and later of Frascati, becoming also titular abbot of Grottaferrata and, on the death of Cardinal Isidore (1463), SMIT, op. cit., p. 202. Permission had been given for the filioque in the creed to tie omitted. 12 About 700 Byzantines, without counting the Russians, had come to Florence. Their maintenance, as well as the cost of the journey, was paid for by the pope. Incontro ai Fratelli Separati di Oriente, p. 161. ls II cardinde greco, as he came to be called, died at Ravenna, but his body was brought to Rome, and his monument is found in the clii-t-r* 0 f his titular church, inscribed with a Greek distich of his own composition. 10 11

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THE RITES OF EASTERN CHRISTENDOM

patriarch of Constantinople. In 1 4 7 1 , on the death of Pope Paul II, the conclave hesitated between Francis della Rovere (Sixtus IV) and the Greek cardinal for its choice of supreme pontiff. Cardinal Bessarion spent the last years of his life in a villa close to the church of S. Caesareo, where he was a leader of the Renaissance movement, and a foremost scholar and humanist. Mark of Ephesus had alone of all the Greek representatives refused to sign the act of union at Florence, but on returning to their own country no less than 21 revoked their assent. Metrophanes, metropolitan of Cyzicus, was chosen patriarch of Constantinople, but his efforts for unity were unavailing. He was succeeded in 1443 by another Catholic, Gregory, who was exiled in 1451, and took refuge in Rome. Only five months before the fall of Constantinople, Isidore of Kiev, who had also received the cardinal's hat, renewed the decree of union in St. Sophia in the presence of the emperor, Constantine XII Dragases (1448-1453), but the Turkish threat to the capital only embittered the people still more against the Church of the West. The grand duke Luke Notaras, who had supported the union at Florence, said: " I would prefer to see ruling in the midst of the city the turban of the Turks than the tiara of the Latins." His wish was granted. Constantinople fell, and the last hope of union fell with it. In 1472, a synod was held in which the union 14 was formally repudiated. Several patriarchs of Constantinople in the 17th century 14 Between 1439 and 1472, the Byzantine church was at least officially in communion with Rome.

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BYZANTINE RITE WITH VARIANTS

7

favoured communion with the Apostolic See, but they received little encouragement from the rest of the episcopate, and one patriarch, who in synod proposed union, was assassinated at the end of the session. In 18 years (16211639) there were 12 changes of patriarch! Individual relations, also, existed for about 100 years (1620-1737) between some of the monks of Athos and Catholic clergy, although there was never much likel'hood of a general conversion. From 1636-1641 there was a Catholic school at the Protaton in Karyes: in 1643 some of the monks offered a monastery to the Italian Brasilian in exchange for a church in Rome: and in 1650 the Jesuits were offered a residence in Athos. T h e Catholics of the Byzantine rite are those who in groups or singly have made their submission to Rome, coming from different nations, at different times, and under very diverse circumstances. The liturgy used is substantially the same for all, but there are minor variations in such matters as the calendar and ceremonial, while the language may be Greek, Staroslav or Rumanian, with Magyar and Arabic as auxiliary tongues. The

Italo-Greek-Albanians

The Italo-Greek-Albanian group is derived from three sources: a) T h e community of southern Italy (Magna Graecia), who in the 7th and 8th centuries were of the Byzantine rite. b) T h e Greek colonists of Rome and the seaports of Italy. c) T h e Albanian and Greek refugees, who in the 15th and 16th centuries fled before the oncoming Moslem invasion of the Balkans. T h e present Italo-Greeks owe little to the first two

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THE RITES OF EASTERN CHRISTENDOM

sources, and it is possible that without the Albanian immigrants at the close of the middle ages the Byzantine rite in Italy would have been confined to the badia of Grottaferrata. Greek influence in southern Italy had existed from classical times, but the number of Greeks had increased as a result of the Moslem conquests and the iconoclastic controversy. Several of the popes 15 were Greeks from Calabria or Sicily; while Rome abounded with Eastern monasteries. In 726, the emperor Leo III the Isaurian (717-741), without any ecclesiastical authority, added south Italy to the patriarchate of Constantinople, on the ground that "rite followed patriarchate." Popes Adrian I (772-795) and Nicholas I (858-867) contented themselves with spirited protests against this high handed behaviour, and John XIII (965-972) set up Latin provinces for the faithful of the Roman rite. The Norman conquest of Magna Grecia providentially saved the Italo-Greeks from sharing in the schism of Michael Caerularius (1053), and the majority of the people remained in communion with the Apostolic See. Unhappily, however, centuries of latinisation followed, and many parishes 16 abandoned the Byzantine rite. So late as 1300, the collegiate church of St. Januarius at Naples 17 had a mixed chapter of Latins and Greeks, and in the 14th century the Latin archbishopric of Reggio 1 8 had more " St. Zosimus (Calabrian, 417-418); St. Agatho (Sicilian, 678-682); St. Leo II (Calabrian, 682-683); St. Sergius I (Palermitan, 687-701); John VII (Calabrian, 705-707). " The following dioceses passed in the 15th and 16th centuries from the Greek to the Latin rite, Oppido (1449), Gerace (1467), Bora (1571). Incontro ai Fratelli Separati di Oriente, pp. 144-145. 17 Naples in the 13th century had six Greek parishes. Ibid., p. 144. " Incontro ai Fratelli Separati di Orisnte, p. 144.

[8]

BYZANTINE

RITE

WITH

9

VARIANTS

Greek priests than Latin. At a diocesan synod 19 at Otranto, no fewer than 200 priests of the Greek rite took part. Two Roman cardinals in the 16th century stand out as supporters of the Italo-Greeks — William Sirlet (1514-1585) and Julius Antony Santoro (1532-1602), although the latter, the author of the Clementine Instruction, was responsible for several latinising restrictions.20 T o arrest the decline of the Byzantine monasteries, Pope Gregory XIII (1572-1585) by the bull Benedictus Dominus (1579) united all the houses into one congregation on the model of St. Justina at Padua, but by joining it to the Order of Spanish Basilians 21 the decay of the houses in Italy was hastened by a process of voluntary latinising. In 1683, a missal was printed in Rome on the model of the Roman missal. Monasteries remained Greek in little more than name, and when Felice Samuele Rodotà, 22 the first ordaining bishop for the rite in Calabria, wrote in 1758 he mentioned 44 struggling houses 23 "where once there were more than 1,000." l s J. M . NEALE, Essays chap. V I I , p. 216.

on Liturgiology

and

Church

History,

M e. g. Priests were forbidden to give chrism in confirmation; the indicative formula in absolution was ordered; and some feasts and fasts were changed to conform to Latin usages. 21 T h e name Ordo Sancti Basilii had been used since 1382. T h e Spanish Basilians, a purely Western order, were founded in 1559, and are now extinct. 22 Rodotà was the author of Dell'origine, progresso, e stato presente del rito greco in Italia osservato da' Greci, monaci Basiliani e Albanesi, a work of three volumes published in Rome, 1758-1763. 25 Of the 44 Basilian houses, 3 were in the States of the Church, 18 in the kingdom of N a p l e s , and 23 in Sicily. Allowance must be made for exaggeration in the number of Greek houses in south Italy and Sicily, and there were never " more than 1,000." KOROLEWSKIJ (I Riti e le Chiese Orientali, vol. I, p. 532), is on safer ground when he estimates their number at " about 300."

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THE RITES OF EASTERN CHRISTENDOM

By the middle of the 19th century, 24 there remained only Grottaferrata near Rome, which had so far fallen from eastern tradition as to have adopted Latin vestments and azyme bread. "This oriental pearl adorning the pontifical tiara," as Pope Leo XIII (1878-1903) called the monastery, was founded in 1004 by St. Nilus (ab. 908-1004),25 a native of Rossano, shortly before his death. His co-founder and compatriot, St. Bartholomew (980-1065),26 obtained the consecration of the church in 1025 by Pope John XIX (10241032). A period of great literary activity followed. The Typikon, revised by Blaise II, 25th archimandrite (1300), has formed the basis of the 18th century publications, and also of those used to-day. A printing-press in the monastery now produces the liturgical books of the Italo-Greeks and also of the Slavs. The internal character of the church was changed in 1575, and about a century later a baroque erection with a gloria of angels in white marble was set up in the middle of the nave. When the church was restored to eastern usages 24 T h e Greek monasteries in the kingdom of Naples were suppressed during the ministry of Bernardo Tanucci (1759-1777), and those in Sicily in 1866, after the union of that country with Italy. 25 About the year 981, St. Nilus and his sixty monks, fleeing from the Saracen raids in southern Italy, sought the hospitality of Monte Cassino. Here the abbot (Aligern) permitted them to sing their Greek office in the abbey church in order that " everything should be provided for their life, according to the word of God." St. Nilus wrote a hymn in honour of St. Benedict, and learned Latin so that he could sometimes take part in his host's services. T h e monks of the two rites naturally discussed their differences, and St. Nilus said to them: "However we differ, we both do all things for the glory of God. Don't allow yourselves to be disturbed by these criticisms." 26 Bartholomew wrote much poetry in honour of our Lady, a-"i also many canons, kontakia, etc. of the saints. Manuscripts of his w o r k are preserved in the library.

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BYZANTINE RITE WITH VARIANTS

(1881) this was transformed into the iconostasis, and the gloria was made to contain a highly venerated icon of our Lady (Hodegetria). The blessed sacrament is reserved in a hanging pyx in the form of a dove. Pope Julius II (1503-1513), the first pope since primitive times to wear a beard, was commendatory archimandrite of Grottaferrata, and one may reasonably wonder whether this connection with a Byzantine house gave the supreme pontiff a taste for beards.37 In 1881, Grottaferrata was cleansed from Latinisms, the elevation after the consecration was given up, and oriental vestments and eucharistic bread were restored. To-day, free from the obligations of a Latin parish, 28 the Byzantine rite is celebrated with exactitude. 29 The monks all again (1935) wear the rason and kalimavkion. In 1907, D. Laurence Tardo began a work of transcribing and interpreting the most ancient chants, and to-day, under his direction, a flourishing school of chant exists in the abbey. Pius XI, who spoke of Grottaferrata as "the golden chain that binds the East to the Father's house," by the bull Per vetustum Cryptoferratae coenobium (1937), raised the badia to a "monastero exarchico," equivalent to an abbey nullius of the Latin rite, and the prior was appointed archimandrite,

"

Cardinal Alain de C o e t i v y suspected the faith of Bessarion as

he had a beard. 28

A

L a t i n parish was formed in 1928 apart f r o m the monastery,

thus freeing the badia for an exclusive use of the Byzantine rite. 29

The

"

I n 1932 also, a small house was founded at San Basile (Calabria),

filioque

is not said in the creed.

and in 1935 a house for students in Rome, while after 1938 ther» were several missionary residences in Albania. di Oriente, J1

dizione

p.

Incontro

ai Fratelli

Separati

151.

A monastery had been founded here in 1609. Storico-Ecclesiastica,

vol. X X X I I , art. Grecia

Venice, 1845.

[11]

Dizionario e Greci,

di erup.

152.

12

THE RITES OF EASTERN CHRISTENDOM

In October 1940, an intereparchial synod was held in the monastery under the presidency of Cardinal Lavitrano. The seminary (1881) was restricted in 1918 to juniors. In 1935, there were 14 hieromonks and 9 monks, mostly Italo-Albanians. A small monastery30 was established in 1932 at Mezzojuso 31 near Palermo, where since 1920 there had been a novitiate for the training of missionaries for Albania and, later on, for Greece. The total number of religious in 1939 for the Basilian Congregation of Italy was 16 hieromonks or hierodeacons; 22 simple monks or clerics and 26 novices. The small chapel of the procurator of the Order is in Via San Basilio, Rome, which was restored in the time of Pope Clement XI (1676-1689). Few traces of the Byzantine maritime colonies have survived. The Greeks at Naples, Ancona 32 and Venice all went into schism; while the church at Leghorn 33 is now served by the Melkites. The Greek church at Lecce (St. Nicholas), although it still (1945) retains the iconostasis, has been recently transferred to the Latin rite, as the Greek priest has died and there are no longer any resident faithful of the Byzantine rite. A Greek dialect is still spoken in certain villages of Terra d'Otranto, and it would appear that this is derived primarily from the Greeks of ancient times rather than from the later Byzantine colonists. The main source of the Italo-Greek population comes " Clement V I I (1523-1534) gave the Latin church of St. Anne to the Greeks, all of whom went into schism in 1797. " T h e Greeks came to Leghorn in 1600, and the church of the Annunciation, built in 1607, was given by Benedict XIV in 1758 all the privileges of the basilica of S. Maria Maggiore. Dizionario di erudizione Storico-Ecclesiastica, vol. XXXII, p. 151. Venice, 1845.

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BYZANTINE RITE W I T H VARIANTS

13

from the Albanian immigrations 34 of the 15 th and 16th centuries (1467-1470; 1566-1574), which was further increased by refugees about 1740. T h e native country of the immigrants covered the old province of Epirus, and in some districts their descendents are still called Epirati. During the pontificate of Paul III (1534-1549), Benedict, an Albanian bishop in Sicily, protested at Rome against the hostility of the Latins towards the eastern rite. T h e pope sent a brief to the Sicilian bishops, in which he praised the Coronei35 for their valour and their fidelity to the Catholic faith, at the same time forbidding any interference with their Byzantine usages. Pius IV (1559-1565) in 1564 ordered the Albanians to obey the authority of the local bishop, "but by this we do not mean that the Greeks themselves are to be taken from their Greek rite, or that they are to be in any way hindered by the ordinaries or by others." As we have seen, Benedict XIV (1740-1758) legislated for the Italo-Greeks by the encyclicals Etsi pastoralis " (1742) and Etsi persuasum (1751); and two other popes in the same century—Clement XII (1730-1740) and Pius V I (1774-1799)—were concerned with their spiritual welfare. ' 4 The last immigration took place in 1791. T h e number of places founded by the Albanians was about 120. 35 Koputvn in the Peloponnesus. T h e immigration from Corone took place in 1534. 38 The encyclical, while admitting the legitimacy of the Greek rite, showed clearly that it was considered " inferior" to the Roman. Thus, a child of a mixed marriage must be Latin; a Greek wife could join her husband's rite, whereas a Latin husband was forbidden to go over to that of his wife. A Greek priest, however, needed the permission of the pope to become a Latin; a layman that of his bishop. Except in a case of grave necessity there must be no interchange of holy communion. Communion in both kinds was only permitted in those churches where it had not been already abolished. The liturgy of St. John Chrysostom might be celebrated in Lent and on fasts; and side altars were permitted.

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THE RITES OF EASTERN CHRISTENDOM

In spite, however, of this papal solicitude, there was always a feeling that the Roman rite was superior, and that any Latinism which might be introduced was a step in the right direction. This deplorable and misleading point of view came to an end in the middle of the 19th century and in the 20th the Greek diocesan hierarchy was restored. By the constitution Catholici fideles (February 13, 1919) the eparchy of Lungro (Lungrensis Graecorum) was established, and Mgr. Mele added the title of archimandrite of the ancient monastery of Patir 37 near Corigliano to that of bishop. The Greek see embraces the parishes of the Byzantine rite in the Latin dioceses of Rossano, Bisignano, Cassano and Anglona. Clement XII in the constitution Inter multiplicis (1732) had appointed an ordaining bishop without jurisdiction38 for the rite, with residence in the college (Corsini) of San Benedetto d'Ullano. In 1820, the collage and bishop moved to the former Basilian monastery of Sant'Adriano 39 near San Demetrio Corone, and, finally, the bishop lived at Naples. A titular Byzantine prelate was appointed in 1595 by Clement VIII (1591-1605) to ordain the students of the Greek College in Rome, but some obscurity surrounds the succession until 1625, when Urban VIII (1623-1644) issued the constitution Universalis Ecclesiae, in which he enjoined the bishop to follow the "pure Greek rite." The Diario40 "

rod irarpós. A Latin bishop with parishes of the oriental rite in the diocese had a Byzantine vicar general, and a metropolitan was required to have a Greek judge, or at least an assessor, if a case concerning the ItaloGreeks should come up on appeal. 38

" St. Nilus had built an oratory at Sant'Adriano. " N . 28; ap. Dizionario di erudizione Storico-Ecclesiastica, vol. XXXII, p. 150.

[14]

BYZANTINE RITE WITH VARIANTS

15

di Roma (1816) records the funeral ceremonies of one of these bishops—Mgr. Giuseppe Angeluni di San Giovanni of Acri, Basilian monk (Greco-melchita) of the Congregation of San Giovanni di Soairo, and titular archbishop of Durazzo. The funeral took place in San Clemente. First, there were the liturgy and absolutions in the Greek rite; then followed pontifical Mass in the Maronite rite, Mass in the Armenian rite, and lastly pontifical Latin Mass. In 1937 (October 26), the constitution Apostolica sedes of Pope Pius XI erected an eparchy for Sicily at Piana dei Greci 4 1 (Pianensis Graecorum), with the archbishop of Palermo as apostolic administrator, and Mgr. Giuseppe Perniciaro, Byzantine auxiliary, vicar general, and ordaining bishop for the rite. The Greek bishop, who is titular bishop of Arbano, continues to reside in the college at Palermo, which was established in 1734. The 12th century church of La Martorana, 42 which was founded as a convent for Greek nuns, and until 1221 used the Byzantine rite, has become the co-cathedral. The major seminary for priests of the rite is the Greek College in Rome, which was founded by Gregory XIII (1572-

1 1 T h e church of St. Demetrius, by the bull Moderantibus of L e o XII (1823-1829), was made a collegiate church. In 1845 there were still Basilian monks at Piana dei Greci w h o recited the office in Greek. Dizionario di erudizione Storico-Ecclesiastica, vol. XXXII, art. Grecia e Greci, p. 152. Venezia, 1845.

" L a Martorana was originally known as St. M a r y of the Admiral, from the founder (1143), George of Antioch, admiral of K i n g Roger of Sicily. Ibn-Jubair, writing of this church at the end of the 12th century, said: " One of the most remarkable works w e have seen at Palermo is the church which they call Antiochean." Arnott HAMILTON, Byzantine Architecture and Decoration, chap. X, pp. 142-143- L o n d o n : Batsford, 1933.

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THE RITES OF EASTERN CHRISTENDOM

1585) in 1576 by the bull In Apostolicae Sedis specula. From 1624-1773, and again from 1890-1897 the college was under the direction of the Jesuits, and both Urban VIII (1623-1644) and Alexander V I I (1655-1667) demanded oaths from the students that they would never join any religious order except that of the Basilians. In 1897, by the motu proprio Sodalium Benedictinorum, the college was given to Belgian Benedictines, who are still in charge, and have the privilege of adopting the Byzantine rite. T h e rector holds the rank of archimandrite. T h e regulations of the college, first formulated in 1624, were amended in 1880, 1912 and 1923. There were 28 students resident in 1932 4 Greeks, 7 Italo-Albanians, 4 Melkites, and 13 Rumanians. T h e church (St. Athanasius), which was built in 1583-1586, was adapted fully to the Byzantine rite in the second half of the 19th century, and an internal chapel, dedicated to St. Benedict, was arranged in the college by the Benedictines. T h e blessed sacrament is reserved in an artophorion on the altar of the house chapel, not normally in the hanging pyx in the church. T h e terms Italo-Greek and Italo-Albanian are used interchangeably for members of the rite, who number about 55,000. T h e eparchy of Lungro has 35,000, with 27 priests and 6-, churches and chapels (2 of the Latin rite). Piana dei Greci, 15,850 faithful, with 34 priests and 35 churches and chapels (3 of the Latin rite). In 1935, there were about 15 married priests. T h e use of traditional Greek costume has been restored indoors and for formal occasions; while most rectors call themselves protopopes (archpriests). T h e rite has also congregations of sisters for educational work. T h e Congregation of the Daughters of St. Macrina

[16]

BYZANTINE RITE W I T H

17

VARIANTS

was founded in 1924 at Mezzojuso, and has 4 houses. 43 The Sisters of the Collegio di Maria, originally established by Cardinal Piermarcello Corradini (1658-1743) at Sezze, were transplanted to Sicily, and have houses of the Greek rite at Piana dei Greci and Contessa Entellina; while the Italo-Albanians of Calabria have a branch (Piccole Operate dei Sacri Cuori), founded by the archpriest of Acri, Francesco Maria Greco, in 1902, with houses at Lungro, San Demetrio Corone, Firmo, Vaccarizzo and San Basilio. In all, there are about 50 sisters of the rite. The Albanians first came to Sicily in the 15th century, and a fair proportion of their descendents still speak a somewhat debased Albanian, using it also for certain responses and formulas in the liturgy. Fr. George Guzzetta in 1715 founded a "Congregation of the Oratory of the Greek Rite" in Sicily, which was approved in 1747 by Rome, in the constitution Ad pastoralis dignitatis, but it has long since ceased to exist. At Cargese 44 in Corsica is a colony of about 500 ItaloGreeks, descendents of the Mainotai from Boitylos in the Peloponnesus, who fled from their country in the 17 th century (1675). The patron of the group is St. Spiridion (December 12), and that of the church our Lady, under the title of the Koimesis (August 15), the dedication of the old church at Boitylos. The little church at Cargese has an iconostasis, but the three altars are furnished more Romano, and the blessed sacrament is reserved in a tabernacle on the high altar. Benediction is given in a service "

Mezzojuso,

Palazzo

Adriano,

Acquaformosa,

and

Fieri

near

Elbasan in Albania. "

T h e immigrants setded down first at Paomia and then at Ajaccio.

In 1770 the first French governor, Count de Marboeuf, built for them the township of Cargese. 2 - A . A . KING, The Rites of Eastern Christendom

[17]

- 2nd Vol.

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THE RITES OF EASTERN CHRISTENDOM

called the "Prayer of the most holy mystery," which includes the singing of the trisagion and a troparion. In the years 1874 and 1876, about 300 of the colony from Cargese emigrated to Sidi-Mervan 4 5 in the diocese of Constantine in Algeria, where they have a church under the title of the Koimesis. T h e Italo-Greek church of S. Maria Damascena (Our L a d y of Damascus) in Valetta, which was founded after the capture of Rhodes by the T u r k s (1522), was destroyed by bombs in the siege of Malta (1940-1942), and the Byzantine liturgy is now celebrated in a Latin church. T h e faithful of the rite number about 15. T h e Italo-Greek emigrants in the United States have one priest and a small church in N e w York. T h e churches in south Italy and Sicily were for the most part built by Latins, and resemble the general architecture of the period. T h e iconostasis is found at L u n gro, Acquaformosa, San Basilio, Plataci, Macchia, San D e metrio Corone, Lecce (1945), and in the monastery of San Basilio, all in south Italy. In Sicily, the screen may be seen at St. Nicholas in Palermo, St. George in Piana dei Greci, Mezzojuso, and Contessa Entellina. Many of the churches have been deplorably latinised, but there is a strong movement in favour of a return to traditional ways and usages. In 1845, we read 4 6 that in the Greek collegiate church of S. Maria del Graffeo, Messina, the Roman rite was celebrated in G r e e k ; while in the church of the Assumption, Cassano (Italy), two pyxes for communion were reserved "

A t Sidi-Mervan, there are 200 of the rite, and about 150 else-

where in Algeria. 44

Dizionario di erudizione Storico-Ecclesiastica,

pp. 1 5 1 - 1 5 2 .

Venice, 1845.

[18]

vol.

XXXII,,

BYZANTINE RITE W I T H VARIANTS

19

on the altar, one containing azyme bread and the other fermented bread. These strange hybrids are happily things of the past, and the liturgy of the Italo-Albanians in Sicily has few substantial differences from that of the Orthodox in Constantinople. 47 A priest 48 of the rite in Sicily, who recently travelled in the Greek-Byzantine East, has also called attention to the many usages and ceremonies found in the monasteries of Mount Athos, which are identical with those of his own church. The Italo-Greeks in Italy are not so exact in copying out the prescriptions of the Byzantine ceremonial, but there is a revival of liturgical propriety among the younger clergy of Calabria. The custom of celebrating a "private Mass" was introduced about the middle of the 17th century. Priests at these services often cut the "lamb" and the particles for the various commemorations beforehand; never leave the altar during the Mass; and use neither incense nor the zeon. As we have seen, a rescript of Benedict XIV (1755) granted certain privileges to the Basilians, but the secular clergy were unable to share in them. Except in the monasteries and in the Greek College, Rome, the filioque is recited in the creed. Men receive holy communion standing, but the women have adopted the Latin practice of kneeling. The music follows that of Constantinople, but it is

"

MANDALA, Nell'Oriente Greco Bizantino, p. 32. Palermo, 1940. "A Monte Athos riscontrato ora nell'una ora nell'altro monastero mtmerose cerimonie ed usi, che si hanno nelle colonie italo-albanesi di SicHia." Marco MANDALA, Nell'Oriente Greco Bizantino, p. 102. 41

[19]

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THE RITES OF EASTERN CHRISTENDOM

often simplified and westernised. Albanian hymns are sometimes sung. The title of the following brochure shows that musical instruments have found their way into the churches of the rite in the United States: "La S. Liturgia Greca di S. Giovanni Crisostomo. Canti tradizionali delle Colonie ItaloGreco-Albanesi, armonizzati PER ORGANO OD A R M O N I U M dal Sac. Carlo Rossini. J. Fischer. N. Y., 1924." The Italo-Greeks were the first Eastern Catholics to adopt the Gregorian calendar (1582). Some Latin feasts are observed, as Corpus Christi, the Sacred Heart (1st Sunday in August) and our Lady of the Rosary; while other days are kept on both the Roman and Byzantine dates,—St. Joseph, March 19 and (with our Lady) December 26; All Saints, November 1 and the 1st Sunday after Pentecost; All Souls, November 2 and the Saturday before Sexagesima. Holy water is found in many of the churches, but it is blessed in the Eastern way on the Epiphany, and without salt. Confirmation has been separated from baptism, and is conferred by a bishop, while absolution is given in the Roman form. Pope Benedict XV restored the privilege of priests (in the eparchy of Lungro) administering confirmation, but the reform has not yet been effected. The rite of Benediction has been adopted, and a book 4 9 published in 1845 speaks of the same monstrance (church of SS. Peter and Paul, St. Cosimo) used for azyme or fermented bread. The use of antidoron has been restricted to Maundy Thursday, the Assumption, St. Nicholas of Myra, and some Lenten ferias. " Dizionario di erudizione Storico-Ecclesiastica, Crecia e Greci, p. 151. Venezia, 1845.

[20]

vol. XXXIII, art.

BYZANTINE RITE W I T H VARIANTS

21

The Albanians Albania has only a small Catholic population, and of this over 1,000 follow the Latin rite, and but some 140 are Byzantines. A Catholic mission was maintained in the 17th and 18 th centuries in the mountainous district of Chimara, but the difficulty of recruiting priests brought the work to an end in 1765. A college for Albania and the people of the Illyrian provinces had been founded in 1633 by the Congregation of Propaganda fide at Fermo nelle Marche, under the title of St. Peter and St. Paul, but the building was acquired in 1746 by the Oratorians, and the students were transferred to the Urban College, Rome. Some Albanians were reconciled to the Church in 1895, and by 1912 the Catholics of the Byzantine rite numbered 120. There are missions at Elbasan, Vlora (Valona), Kor^a, Fieri and Argirocastro, 50 but the work has not been developed, and the present state of affairs in the country is hardly conducive to progress. In the Latin church of the Sacred Heart at Tirana, a chapel of the Byzantine rite was opened in 1940, the first time, says the Osservatore Romano, that the two rites are to be found together in the same church. Several Franciscan Conventuals have transferred to the oriental rite for work in Albania.

"" Five Basilian sisters (Daughters of St. Macrina), Italo-Albanians of the Byzantine rite, in charge of the civil hospital at Argirocastro were expelled without warning from the country on Good Friday 1946. T h e other Catholic sisters in Albania had been turned out two month» previously.

[21]

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THE RITES OF EASTERN CHRISTENDOM

T h e liturgy is said at present in Greek, but the people want Albanian, which is at present impossible, and the books of the Orthodox are incomplete and need revision. T h e majority of the population is Moslem, with Latin Catholics in the north and Orthodox in the south. These latter number about 400,000. The Greeks T h e many attempts which Rome has made to heal the schism between East and West have been already considered, and here it only remains to describe briefly the Catholic mission in Greece and Constantinople. T h e work at Constantinople was started in 1856 by Fr. John Hyacinth Marango, a Latin priest from Syra, with the object of persuading the dissidents to return to unity. By 1861 a small nucleus existed at Pera, and the mission, under the apostolic delegate at Constantinople, was organised. Father Polycarp Anastasiadis, a former student at the Orthodox seminary at Halki, in 1878 continued the work. With the apostolic letter Adnitentibus nobis (1895), Pope Leo XIII (1878-1903) sent the Augustinians 5 1 of the Assumption to Constantinople, where they founded a Greek seminary 5 2 and two parishes 53 of the Byzantine rite (Constantinople and Chalcedon). T w o years later (1897) 51 The Augustinians of the Assumption were founded in 184«; by Emmanuel Alzon (1810-1880). The constitutions were approved in 1928 for the Societas Presbyterorum ab Assumptione. 52 Seminary of St. Louis had been founded at Constantinople in 1882 by the French Capuchin fathers, and was attended by students of all rites. Between the years 1882 and 1924, 93 priests had been educated there. 53

T h e Augustinians also served 2 Latin parishes.

[22]

BYZANTINE RITE WITH VARIANTS

23

three of the Augustinians were permitted to join the oriental rite, and others followed. The seminary at Kadi-Keuy (Chalcedon) was attended also by Bulgarian students, for whom a separate chapel was set up. The Augustinians also founded an institute for Byzantine studies, which was directed by Latin fathers, and in 1907 the first number of the Echos d'Orient was published. By 1911 the number of Greek Catholics had risen to 3,000, and in that year (June 28, 1911) Pius X (1903-1914) by the brief Titulares Ecclesias appointed Isaias Papadopoulos, who had led a Catholic movement in the Thracian village of Malgara, to be bishop for the Greek rite. Mgr. Papadopoulos in 1917 retired to Rome, where he was made assessor of the Oriental Congregation, and died in 1932. He was succeeded in 1920 by George Calavassy, a native of the island of Syra, where there is a Byzantine Catholic church. Life under the new Turkey with a laicised state was more difficult for Catholics than under the sultan, but, although the seminary (S. Leo the Great) at Kadi-Keuy had been closed as a result of the war (1914-1918), a college for priests under the secular clergy was opened in 1919, and, two years later, a congregation of sisters was founded at Cospli. This congregation of Theotokos Pammacaristos was placed under the direction of an Ursuline from Athens, who, at the express wish of Pope Benedict XV (1914-1922), had joined the Byzantine rite. In 1922, following the disastrous campaign of the Greeks in Asia Minor, came the exchange of populations, when the Greeks in Turkey and the Turks in Greece were repatriated, save for the Phanar with its patriarch at Constantinople and a small Turkish enclave near Kavalla (Greece). Mgr. Calavassy and the new community of sisters withdrew to Athens, as also the seminary, and in 1938 the Assumptionist fathers removed to Bucharest the

[23]

24

THE RITES OF E.1STERN CHRISTENDOM

Institute of Oriental Studies. Constantinople thus became denuded of many of its Catholic activities. The Greek exarchate was divided in 1932, and while Mgr. Cavalassy was left in charge of Greece, Mgr. Dionysius Varuchas was appointed bishop for Turkey. The exarchate in 1932 had 6 priests and 1 deacon, with 2 or 3 students at Rome. The number of faithful does not exceed 1,000. In Greece, the bishop lives at Athens, and a school 54 of St. John the Theologian serves as a preparation for the Greek College in Rome. The sisters (10 religious), have a school for girls, an orphanage and a printing press. A small Catholic mission is found at Ghiannitsa near Salonika, where the church of St. Peter and St. Paul is served by Lazarists. The congregation is composed of immigrants from Turkey. In all, there are 9 priests (all celibate), who form a sort of congregation called "of the Holy Trinity," 1 deacon, and 3 churches or chapels. The faithful, as in Turkey, number about 1.000. The Orthodox in Greece and Turkey are over 6 millions. The hostility of the Orthodox towards their Catholic brethren is a great obstacle to an extension of Catholic activity. The Greek liturgy is celebrated without any latinization, but private Masses of St. John Chrysostom may be said in Lent and on other fasts. In 1930, a group of Greek Orthodox resident in Lyons (France) was reconciled to the Catholic church, and a small chapel has been opened there. The converts number about 150. " The " little" seminary is in charge of the Augustinians of the Assumption.

[24]

BYZANTINE RITE WITH VARIANTS

25.

The Georgians Georgia or Iberia lies between Russia and Armenia, south of the Caucasus. A Byzantine legend, invented to extol the singular sanctity of Mount Athos, says that the blessed Virgin, accompanied by St. John and some other disciples, set out in a boat provided by St. Lazarus of Cyprus to preach the gospel in Iberia (44). During a storm our Lady heard a voice saying: "Preach the gospel in the country where the vessel will touch. Iberia will be given to Christ by other means." The boat was subsequently thrown by the waves on Athos. John, the first bishop of Iberia, was consecrated by Eustathius of Antioch (324-331), following the conversion of King Miriam at the preaching of St. Nina, a fugitive from the Diocletian persecution. Nina is said to have been a relative of St. George, whose insignia, adopted towards the end of the 6th century, caused the name of the country to be changed to Georgia. Others, however, have derived the name from Jorzan, a tribe of the upper valley of the Kura, which the Arabs called Georgia, while some authorities say that the old Iranian name Karka developed later into Gorga. The Georgians have connected Nina with the heroine of a story told by Rufinus in his continuation of the Ecclesiastical History of Eusebius, and she has been identified with one of the maidens of the Armenian St. Gaiana. Nina is said to have retired to a hermitage on a mountain at Bodbeli in Kakheti, where she died. Her feast is celebrated in the Georgian church on January 14, and she is described as "equal to the apostles," while the Roman

[25]

26

THE RITES OF EASTERN CHRISTENDOM

Martyrology mentions her on December 15 as sancta Christiana ancilla. Tradition gives the church of Jerusalem an honorific protectorate of Georgia by reason of the mission sent in 301 by Hermon, bishop of that city, and the Melkite patriarch still includes "Iberia" among his titles. Mtskhetha (Mzhet) became the seat of the metropolitan, known as the church of the Living Pillar, in memory of a miracle ascribed to St. Nina at the building of the first church. In 455, Tiflis replaced Mtskhetha as the first see, "becoming in 601 the capital of an ecclesiastical province. In 1946, the cathedral of Sion at Tiflis and that of Mzhet, -which had been secularised, were restored by the Soviet authorities to the Orthodox. About the middle of the 6th century a band of thirteen Syrian monks 55 came into the country, led by John Zedazneli, and made a beginning of that intense monastic life which took such a hold on the country. One of St. John's disciples, St. Khio Mghvimeli, is reputed to have had two thousand monks under his direction. T w o of these missionaries became bishops. One of them, St. Abibus, bishop of Nekressi, was stoned to death by Persians at Rekhi. Monasteries 56 of Iberians came to be founded in Palestine, Syria, Sinai, and so far west as Salonika and Crete. Each of the thirteen monks has his own feast day, while on December 4 they have a common feast tinder the name of the "Father? of the Iberian Church." In the earlv years of the 13th century, Georgia was drawn into the Byzantine schism. From then on a Latin mission worked in the country, and at least one king and Donald ATTWATER, The Golden Book of Eastern Saints, p. 25. Iviron, Mount Athos, was founded in 980 by St. John the Iberian but later passed into the hands of the Greeks. "

56

[26]

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RITE

WITH

VARIANTS

27

one katholikos were formally Catholic. King Constantine 57 in 1496 sent an embassy to Pope Alexander VI, subscribing to the decrees of the council of Florence. In 1801 the emperor Alexander I annexed Georgia to his dominions, and its Orthodox church became a exarchate of the church of Russia. In 1918 an independent katholikos was again appointed for the dissident church. The Catholic group in Georgia dates from the 17th century, and was said in 1917 to number about 40,000. The majority of these are of the Latin rite, for whom in 1848 Pope Pius IX created the diocese of Tiraspol. Of the others, there are Armenians and Byzantines, but the last named have had to go to the Latin church, as Catholics of the rite were strictly forbidden in the Russian empire. Since the revolution, an apostolic administrator lives at Tiflis, and the few hundred Catholics of the Byzantine rite are said to have their liturgy in Georgian, ministered to by a priest of the congregation founded in 1861 at Constantinople" by Father Peter Karischiaranti (f 1890). This congregation, Benedictines of the Immaculate Conception, numbered 17 59 in 1925, the year in which the constitutions were revised and sanctioned by the Holy See. There are 2 houses of the Sisters of the Immaculate Conception, with 18 religious. The feast of St. Ketewane, queen and martyr, who died in 1624, is observed on September 13 by Orthodox as well as Catholics, although the saint died in communion with the Holy See. "

L E BRUN, Explication

de la Messe,

t. I V , p. 212.

I n the monastery at Constantipople, the liturgy is celebrated in Georgian. 58

58 O f these, 9 were missionaries in Georgia, 2 lay brothers and 6 students.

[27]

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THE RITES OF EASTERN CHRISTENDOM

Palm Sunday, says Dr. Neale, 6 0 is called by the Georgians Bzobifa Aghebifa, "Prostitution Sunday," by a strange reference to St. Mary Magdalene! The liturgical books were translated into Georgian in the i o t h - n t h century, probably by monks who had settled on Mount Athos and in Palestine. Greek seems to have been the liturgical language in the earlier centuries. Under Vakhtang I (1703-1711 & 1719-1723) the first Georgian printing establishment was founded at Tiflis (ab. 1707), and liturgical impressions were continued under Theimouraz II and his son, Trekli II (1744-1798). From this time came the first editions of the Liturgikon (Kondaki).61 The Gregorian calendar was adopted in 1927. The Bulgarians Bulgaria is inhabited by a Finno-Turkish people from central Asia, who established a kingdom here in the 7th century. Tsar Boris in 861, largely from political motives, received Christianity from Constantinople. Five years later, Boris, who wanted his church to be independent, asked Pope St. Nicholas (858-867) to send him a bishop, as Illyricum was in the Roman patriarchate. The pope sent two bishops, and a metropolitan see was created in 872 at Okhrida. A contest followed on the question of the pa" "

Essays on Liturgiology and Church History, chap. XVII, p. 519. Diet. d'Archéol. Chrét. etc., art. Grecques (Liturgies). De Meester. Salaville (An Introduction to the Study of Eastern Liturgies, chap. II, p. 40) says: " It is ordinarily believed, on the testimony of Moses of Khoren, the Armenian historian (t ab. 458), that it (the Georgian liturgy) is derived from the Armenian liturgy, and that it was introduced in the course of the 5th century. Its immediate derivation from Greek is, however, not impossible. In any case from the 7th century onwards, Greek influence predominated."

[28]

BYZANTINE RITE WITH VARIANTS

29

triarchate to which Bulgaria belonged. About 885 followers of St. Methodius came from Moravia and Pannonia. Their leader, St. Clement, and four of his clergy, together with S t Cyril and St. Methodius, are known as the "Seven Apostles of Bulgaria." Boris, however, soon changed his allegiance from Rome to Constantinople. The golden age of culture and the zenith of the military and political power of the independent kingdom of Bulgaria were reached in the reign of Tsar Simeon (893-927), but in 1018 the country was conquered by the emperor Basil II ("the Bulgarslayer"), and the province of Okhrida eventually became involved in the Byzantine schism. An autonomous church existed until 1767, when it fell under the complete domination of Constantinople. Eastern Bulgaria recovered its independence in 1105, and from 1204-1234 was in communion 62 with Rome. The primatial see was at Tirnovo. The politics of Tsar John Assen II dragged the church into schism, and when in 1393 Bulgaria was conquered by the Turks its territory was united to that of Okhrida, although managing to retain semi-independence until 1767. A period of ruthless hellenising of the Bulgarian church followed; Greek became the liturgical language, and only Greek bishops were appointed. In 1856, the ecumenical patriarch offered some concessions to national sentiment, but the time was past when the Bulgars would accept anything short of an autonomous church. An influential minority wanted reunion with Rome, assured by Mgr. Hassun, Catholic Armenian archbishop of Constan,2

I t may be of interest to note that the only known formal leg-

islation promulgated b y the Bulgarian church against the Bogomil sect was in 1 2 1 1 at the council of T i r n o v o , while contemporaneously measures were being taken b y P o p e Innocent I I I heresy in southern France.

[29]

to suppress the Albigensian

30

THE RITES OF EASTERN CHRISTENDOM

tinople, that their rites and customs would be respected. The archimandrite Joseph Sokolski was consecrated in 1861 by Pius IX as prelate of the Catholic Bulgarians of the Byzantine rite. The response to the appeal for unity was encouraging, and 60,000 abjurations were made. One of the most remarkable was that of the aged monk Panteleimon, 63 who tried to introduce frequent communion among the monks of Athos. Orthodox opposition, however, especially of Russia, the avowed champion of the Balkan peoples, was successful in virtually crushing the Catholic movement. Sokolsky was kidnapped 64 a month after his return to Bulgaria, and interned for the last eighteen years of his life in the monastery of the Caves at Kiev. In 1870, at the instigation of Russia, the Porte issued a firman, which permitted an autocephalous Bulgarian Orthodox church under an exarch (primate). Constantinople, two years later (1872), excommunicated this church, which remained out of communion with the Phanar until 1944. A second Catholic bishop, Raphael Popof (1862-1883), was consecrated for Bulgaria in 1862, and later the Assumptionists and other Western coiigregations were sent to work in the country. It is estimated, however, that by 1872 three-quarters of the converts had returned to schism, while those who remained in communion with Rome lived for the most part in Macedonia or Thrace. Pope Leo XIII in 1883 appointed a vicar apostolic in each of these districts, and a Bulgarian archbishop was resident at Constantinople. So " Panteleimon, who became a Catholic in 1863, founded two monasteries, one for men and one for women, but they failed after his death in 1868. He was ordained priest only in 1865, at the express wish of Pius IX. 64 There is some uncertainty as to whether Sokolsky was himself privy to the kidnapping.

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RITE

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31

early as 1864, four priests of the Congregation of the Resurrection had been permitted to pass to the Byzantine rite, and in 1883 a Bulgarian priest and layman of the Augustinians of the Assumption followed the same course. Seminaries were started at Zeitenlik near Salonika by French Lazarists (1885) and at Karagatch near Adrianople by Assumptionists (ab. 1890). After the Balkan War (1912-1913), an Orthodox bishop of Macedonia contemplated union with the Apostolic See, but once again political forces frustrated the venture. The first world war (1914-1918) brought ruin to both vicariates, and the remnant of the Catholic Bulgars sought refuge in their own country. In 1924, the archbishop resident at Constantinople, Mgr. Miroff, died, and the office has not been continued. Two years later (1926), Mgr. Epiphanius Kurtef was consecrated apostolic administrator for the Byzantine rite in Bulgaria, and since 1931 the Holy See has an official representative at Sofia. There are 41 priests, about half of whom are married. The Augustinians of the Assumption have some priests of the oriental rite, and serve the parishes 65 of Plovdiv, Yambol, Varna, Sliven and Mostratli, in addition to the "little" seminaries at Yambol and Plovdiv. Ecclesiastical studies are completed at Eastern colleges elsewhere. The Resurrectionists 66 have two houses in Bulgaria with four priests—at Malko Tirnovo (776 faithful) and Stara Zagora (125 faithful). The Eucharistine sisters, whose constitutions are similar to those of the Daughters of Charity, came to Sofia from Macedonia (1889) in 1920. They have 15 religious. In the whole country there are 5,598 "

T h e r e are also 3 missionary stations. T h e Congregation of the Resurrection was founded in 1836 b y

two Poles, Bogdan

Janski, a layman, and Fr. Peter

[31]

Semenenko.

32

THE RITES OF EASTERN CHRISTENDOM

(1932) Catholics of the Byzantine 67 rite, with 18 churches and chapels. The Orthodox number about 4 millions. The liturgy has been in Staroslav since the 9th century, when it was used at the court of King Boris as a sign of independence from Constantinople. The Catholics have Ruthenian books. In common with most other Catholic orientals, the Bulgarians have a form of "low Mass" without the use of incense. The old vicariate of Macedonia was more latinized than that of Thrace. The Julian calendar has been retained. Church music is either Greek chant or Russian polyphony. The Jugo-Slavs Croatia has a homogeneous oasis of the Byzantine rite in the eparchy of Krijevtsi. The Jugoslav state of the Serbs, Croats and Slovenes came into being after the first world war (1914-1918). The Serbs are for the most part Orthodox; the Croats and Slovenes Catholics of the Roman rite. The kingdom of Serbia took shape thro'igh the activity of Stephen I Nemanya, between 1159 and 1195. In company with the rest of the Byzantine and Slav (for the most part) worlds, Serbia lapsed into the Photian schism, although it was probably some considerable time before Constantinople was considered a "different church." The synod of Dioclea (1199) declared that "the most holy Roman church is the mother and mistress of all churches," while King Stephen II (1196-1228), brother of St. Sava (Sabas), asserted: "I always follow the footsteps of the holy Roman church, as did my father of happy memory, and always obey the command of the Roman church." " Latin Catholics are said to number about 35,000.

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VARIANTS

33

St. Sava had founded the Serbian monastery of Khilandari on Athos, and, after returning to his native land (1207), was appointed first metropolitan in 1219. Arseny, the successor of Sava, fixed the see at Ipek (Petch). St. Sava informed Pope Honorius III of his episcopal consecration, asked for the papal blessing, and requested that his brother might receive the royal crown. On May 25, 1221, Stephen II, "the First-Crowned," was crowned in the monastery church of Zitcha by St. Sava or, as others say, by a papal legate sent for the purpose. The fluid state of Christendom may be seen in St. Sava receiving consecration from the patriarch of Constantinople and then asking the pope for recognition and blessing. Pope Alexander II (1073) had written to a bishop of Dubrovnik (Ragusa), telling him to take equal care of all monasteries, whether Latin, Greek er Slav. Nevertheless, the Serbian Orthodox regard St. Sava as the founder of their national church, and maintain that he was never in communion with Rome. The whole question is at the moment (1946) sub judice by the Catholic church, although he figures in the Bollandist Acta Sanctorum (January 14) and in several Latin calendars of Illyria and Dalmatia, as well as in that of the Catholic Byzantine eparchy of Krijevtsi. St. Sava died in 1237 at Tirnovo in eastern Bulgaria. In 1347, a synod declared the church of Serbia to be autocenhalous, and the metropolitan of Ipek assumed the title of patriarch.68 The last king of the Nemanyich dynasty, St. Urosh V (1355-1371), who is commemorated in the Orthodox calendar on December 2, seems to have been in communion " T h e Orthodox patriarchate was abolished in 1766, and restored in 1920. 3 - A. A. KING, The Rites of Eastern Christendom - 2nd Vol.

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with Rome, although his father, Stephen III Dushan 85 (i331-1355) had issued a code in which the penalty was death for any Serb who adhered to the "Latin heresy" or any Latin priest who sought to make converts. In 1389, the battle of Kossovo destroyed the independence of the country, and Serbia came under Turkish rule. A group of Orthodox in 1530 emigrated to Croatia, and at Zumerak formed a company of Uscocchi confinari.70 Others at various times sought refuge in the western and Latin districts of the Balkan peninsula. Contact with Catholics soon raised the question of union, and in many quarters the matter was discussed. The chief centres of the movement seem to have been the monastery of Mahine (Montenegro), the scene of the abjuration of Bishop Mardaros (October 8, 1640); Pustrovici near Antivari, where the majority of the Orthodox were reconciled in June 1636; the convent of St. George at Budimlje 71 near Berane; the monastery of the Assumption at Moracia, 72 from which a deputation was sent to Pope Innocent X (1644-1655) and one of the religious, Paisi, bishop of Budimlje, was killed by the Turks; the convent of Nopovo in the Fruska Gora; 7 3 the monasteries of Marca, Gojmirje and Lepavina; and, a little later, the convent of Zavala in Herzegovina. Three patriarchs of Ipek, also, sent letters to the pope expressing a desire for reunion—John (1592-1614); Paisi (1614-1648); and Gabriel (1648-1654). Bishop Basil Predojevic was " In order to gain support against the T u r k s , Stephen Dushan repeatedly entered into friendly relations with the pope, and even held out the prospect of union with the Latin church. 70 Ustasa is a Croat organisation, derived from ustati, " t o rise to liberate one's own people." 71 N-orth-west of Ipek. " T w o synods were held in this monastery—1648 and 1654. " O n the borders of Croatia and Camiola.

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known as "vir vere catholicus;" while Epiphanius Stefanovic, Orthodox metropolitan of Dalmatia, fled into Venetian territory and abjured his schism (November i , 1648). The last named was prevented by old age from going to Rome in person, but he wrote three letters to Innocent X, in which he declared: " I desire to Uve and die in the arms of our holy mother the Roman Catholic church. I hope that all those who have submitted may live and die in that holy faith in which our holy fathers lived : St. John Chrysostom, St. Basil the Great and St. Spiridion..." Many of these strivings for unity were only transitory, while others were personal, but the conversion of the monk Simeon Vratanja in 1 6 1 1 was the germ from which the present Byzantine eparchy originated. Simeon 74 was received into the Catholic church at Rome, where he was consecrated sub conditione75 by St. Robert Bellarmine (1542-1621), as bishop of Svidnica with jurisdiction over all the faithful of the Eastern rite in Croatia, Slavonia, Hungary and Carniola. The new bishop had his residence in the monastery of Marca, where in 1630 he died. Many dangers threatened the existence of the union, and not less the struggle of the Latin bishops of Zagreb against the jurisdiction of the oriental bishop in their territory. Later, the bishops of Svidnica assumed the title of Marèa, although the Orthodox monks of that monastery bitterly opposed the union, and Bishop Paul Zorcic (1671-1685) risked his life more than once. The eastern Catholic seminary at Zagreb was founded during his episcopate. In 1690, there was a further persecution on the part of the dissidents, and the M At the same time, the national assembly of the military chiefs of M a r i a was reconciled. There was some doubt concerning the validity of the orders of his Orthodox consecrator, Cosmas of Corinth.

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bishop was driven out. Later, the monastery was burned and the monks were massacred or dispersed. In the 18 th and 19th centuries, attempts were made to reconcile the remaining Orthodox in Croatia, but on every occasion the violent opposition of the dissidents proved too strong. In 1777, in the episcopate of Bishop Bozifkovic, Pope Pius VI (1774-1799) changed the tide of the eparchy to Krijevtsi. A little later the residence of the bishop was at Tkalec (near Krijevtsi), and in 1801 at Krijevtsi itself. The number of Byzantine Catholics was increased in the 18 th century by a migration of Podcarpathian Ukrainians to the south-west, and at the end of the 19th by another cf Galicians to Bosnia and Slavonia; while there were also some Rumanians and Bulgarians from Macedonia. Thus, there are 5 parishes in the Ba^ka; 12 in Sirmio (Sriem); and 10 in Bosnia. The post-war (1914-1918) Jugoslav state with its Orthodox majority oppressed the Catholics of the Eastern rite, but under the present dictatorship of Tito a more savage persecution 76 has overtaken those Byzantines who are in communion with the Apostolic See. Mgr. Janko ffimrak, bishop of Krijvetsi, has died in prison, and 5 priests, 77 including a Basilian father, are known to have been murdered. The greater part of these Eastern Catholics are Ukrainian in origin, but there are also a number of croatised Serbs. The eparchy of Krijevtsi 78 has more than 50,000 faith76 The persecution of Latin Catholics is similar in its ferocity and cruelty. " Martyrium Croatiae, p. 7. Typis Staderini. Romae, 1946. " Martyrium Croatiae (Rome, 1946), p. 7. Slightly different statistics were given by Korolewskij (I Riti e le Chiese Orientali (1943).

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ful, in i i deaneries and 50 parishes, with 53 priests. T h e cathedral church of the Holy Trinity has 4 canons. There is one Basilian monastery (15 monks) and 2 Basilian convents (48 nuns). T h e clergy are educated in the seminary at Zagreb 79 (1685) or at the Ruthenian College in Rome, 8 0 and many of them are married. T h e three Franciscan friars minor of the province of Slovenia, who are of the Byzantine rite, wear the rason over the Franciscan habit and cord, with a kalemavkion instead of a hood. T h e liturgy is celebrated in Staroslav, with the exception of 2 parishes in the Banat, where Rumanian is used. There has been little latinization of the rite, and the permission granted by the Oriental Congregation for the latest edition of the Ruthenian liturgy, to restore the zeon before holy communion, has been carried into effect for solemn liturgies in the eparchy. The Rumanians Rumania, the only country of the Byzantine rite to claim Latin origin, has the second largest group of Eastern Catholics. T h e people are said to be the descendents of the "veterans of Trajan," planted in the province of Dacia at the beginning of the 2nd century, and fused with the native Thracians. T h e country covers approximately Dacia Tra:ana and part of Dacia Aureliana (Moesia Inferior). T h e reputed apostle of the Daco-Romans is St. Nicetas, bishop of Remesiana (ab. 335-ab. 414), and the country Tav. II, pp. 422-423): 42,000 faithful in 6 deaneries and 44 parishes, with 50 priests. ,0 The seminary is directed by the Basilian monks. ,0 The priests educated at Rome must be celibate.

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remained in the Roman patriarchate until the conquest c : Rumania by the Bulgars in the 9th century. It is probable therefore that the rite was Latin until it was substituted by the conquerors for the Byzantine. Transylvania (the Ardeal) was taken by the Hungarians under King St. Stephen in the n t h century, but nothing was done for the inhabitants of the eastern rite, despite a decree of the 4th Lateran council (1215) ordering the appointment of oriental vicars in such circumstances, and the people gradually fell away. The Bulgaro-Rumanian state, established in 1186, was at first in communion with Rome, and in 1204 was granted ecclesiastical autonomy by Pope Innocent III (1198-1216). Soon after the 4th Crusade (1204), however, it appears to have lapsed into schism. The civil independence of the country was lost in 1389, as a result of the battle of Kossovo, and in 1393 the primacy of Tirnovo was abolished and replaced by direct dependence upon Constantinople. Three metropolitans were given to the principalities of Valachia and Moldavia in the 14th century, when they obtained a measure of independence. Latin missionaries had worked in the Danubian plain since the 13th century, but the faithful of the dioceses that were formed mostly turned Orthodox or Calvinist at the Reformation. In 1359, Jachint, bishop of Arges, received from the patriarch of Constantinople the title of "Metropolitan of Hungaro-Valacchia, Exarch of Hungary and of the Mountains," while in 1401 a metropolitan of Moldavia was recognised, with residence at Suceava. 81 Damianos, 82 bishop of Suceava, signed the act of union at the council of Florence " In 1563, the place of residence was transferred to Jassy. " Representatives from Valachia and Moldavia were at the council of Constance (1418), but a Turkish invasion prevented a delegate from the former principality being present at Florence.

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(July 5,1439), but his action was not endorsed by the people, and both he and his successor were forced to take refuge in Rome. The Franciscan St. John of Capistrano (13851456) was able to rally about 30,000 to the union, but the movement did not last more than 25 years. The Protestant reformation wrought havoc in Transylvania, although 5 Orthodox sees 83 were founded in the 16th century. Calvinism made great inroads both among the Catholics and the Orthodox, who became "Calvinist by creed, Eastern by certain externals," and there was even a Calvinist "superintendant" for the Orthodox. In 1687, the emperor Leopold I of Austria drove the Turkish overlords from this province, and the Jesuits entered into the lists to stem the Protestant dry rot. Theophilus Thomas Szeremy, 16th Orthodox metropolitan (1692-1697), in 1692 was informed by the Latin authorities that "all the Oriental priests who were united to Rome would enjoy the same privileges as the Latin Catholic priests." Fear of Protestantism and need of protection caused the Orthodox to contemplate union, and at a synod held on March 21, 1697, Mgr. Theophilus signed the document by which the Orthodox of Transylvania accepted the supremacy of the Apostolic See. Within a few months the newly reconciled metropolitan was dead, probably poisoned by the baffled Calvinists. His successor, Athanasius Angelus Popa (1697-1713), was consecrated Orthodox "Bishop of the Ardeal" at Bucharest, but on his return to Alba Julia he entered into negotiations with the Catholics. A second act of union was signed by the metropolitan and 38 protopopes (deans) in a declaration of desire to become "members of the Holy Catholic Church of Rome." r h e seat of the metropolitan was at Aiba Julia.

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The bishops and archpriests had stipulated that their "discipline, church ritual, liturgy, fasts and customs remain unchanged, if not, neither do our seals bind us." The Protestants and Orthodox tried by every means in their power to wreck the union, but the powerful assistance of the Jesuits successfully stabilised the union. Thus, 1,500 priests and 200,000 other Rumanians were brought into communion with the Holy See. In 1700, a general synod of the clergy was held at Alba Julia, and the union was solemnly renewed: "freely and spontaneously moved thereto by the impulse of divine grace, we have entered upon a union with the Roman Catholic Church." This was confirmed in Rome and Vienna. The Orthodox in Transylvania to-day are descended from those who left the Catholic church in 1735-51, stirred up by the Serbs, although the mischief was partially remedied by the good efforts of the 4th Catholic bishop, Peter Paul Aron (1752-1764). In 1721, the Latin bishop of the Ardeal claimed the successor of Athanasius, John Pataky, as his "ritual vicar." Pope Innocent XIII (1721-1724) in the bull Raiione congruit replied that Pataky was the bishop-in-ordinary of the Catholics of his rite, but that he should in future reside at Fagaras. 84 Bishops were henceforth to be nominated by the Austrian emperor. John Pataky, who had been born of Orthodox parents, was permitted to pass from the Latin to the Byzantine rite, but Clement XI (1700-1721) refused the request of the primate of Hungary, Cardinal Leopold Kollonich, 85 who asked leave for a Jesuit to change his rite. T o many Latins at this time a change of rite was considered comparable to embracing the Mosaic law in "

In 1738, the residence of the bishop was moved to Blaj. In the time of Pope Paul V (1605-1621) some Latins were permitted to change their rite for entrance into the Basilian Order. 85

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order to convert the Jews! A diocese for north Transylvania was created in 1777 at Oradea Mare, by the bull Indejessum personarum, and two more sees followed in 1853, when Fagaras became an archbishopric (Ecclesiam Christf). In spite of complaints of Hungarian oppression, the union became very popular, and church documents are often dated, not only by the year of our Lord (pre anul Domnului), but also by the year of union (pre anul de la sfanta Unire). The establishment of the kingdom of Great Rumania in 1919 brought Transylvania under a sovereign of Rumanian blood, and the constitution of 1926 declared the united church to be "national," equally with that of the Orthodox. Two years later, a certain amount of ill feeling was stirred up by the dissidents, and an attack was made upon a religious procession at Târgul Muresh (March 18, 1926). The Catholic metropolitan declared that to save the soul of his people he would willingly give his hand, but the opposition died down, and a proposal that if a village wished to change its religion all the church property would automatically go with the people was defeated. Relations between Catholics and Orthodox are, for the most part, very cordial, and, on the erection of the Orthodox primatial see into a patriarchate, the holy synod 86 listened without protest to a discourse of Mgr. Bessarion, bishop of Hotin, in which he said that the only patriarch of the universal church was the pope. The concordat of 1929 allowed the nomination of bishops by the Holy See, subject to the approval of the names by the state. All five bishops of the Byzantine rite are ex officio senators of the realm. " Manuel du chap. I l l , p. 58.

Catéchiste

en

Orient.

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Les

Eglises

Orientales,,

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Taking advantage of tie recent world war (1939-1945), the Axis powers gave back to Hungary a large part of Transylvania, but the victory of the allies has restored the status quo. The Catholic hierarchy of the Byzantine rite has the metropolitan see of Fagaras and Alba Julia (resident at Blaj), with the four suffragan eparchies of Gherla 87 and Cluj, Oradea Mare, Lugoj, 88 and Maramures. 89 The archbishop of Fagaras has jurisdiction over the small minority of his rite who live in the "Old Kingdom," including Bessarabia 90 and the Bukovina. The cathedral of Blaj has a chapter of 10 canons; those of Gherla, Oradea Mare and Lugoj have 6. Of the parochial clergy (over 1,000), about 90% are married. There are seminaries 91 at Blaj (1781), Oradea Mare (1846) and Gherla 92 (1857), and a Pontifical Rumanian College was erected at Rome in 1930. The Passionist seminary at Cioplea (1875-1888) was not successful, as many of the students abandoned their rite and entered the Order. The new buildings of the Pontifical College on the Janiculum were opened in 1937, and before that date Rumanian students were educated in the Greek College, Propaganda, and the Greek College again (1919). The church in the new college, which is dedicated to the Annunciation, is used for ordinations etc., but the chapel

" Brief Ad Apostolicam sedem, 1853. " Brief Apostolicum ministerium, 1853. 88 Bull Solemni conventione, 1930. Residence at Baia Mare. There is a vicariate for the Ukrainians (62,000 souls). ,0 As a result of the victory of the allies (1945), Bessarabia has been ceded to Russia. 91 Lugoj has a "little" seminary. T h e house attached to the church of St. Barbara, Vienna, was used (1775-1784) for ecclesiastical studies by Rumanian and Ukrainian students in the Austrian Empire " T h e seminary was moved to Cluj in about 1930.

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in the house, where the blessed sacrament is reserved, serves for the daily liturgy and offices. There are two Augustinians of the Assumption and a Rumanian priest, who act as superiors. On Sundays, the liturgy is sung in the little church of Santissimo Salvatore die Coppelle near the Pantheon. In 1913, the bishop of Gherla, in the name of the Rumanian episcopate, asked Pius X for a church in Rome to serve the episcopal procurator, and in the following year this church of 12th century foundation was, by the brief Urtiversi (March 31, 1914), given to the Byzantine province of Fagaras and Alba Julia. Catholic Rumanians in Rome consisted of 2 students in 1926, but their numbers have considerably increased. A faculty of Catholic theology was granted in the national University of Bucharest in 1932, but it has not yet been set up. There are 116 deaneries, of which the deans are called "protopopes." The clergy wear the Western cassock, and, like their Orthodox brethren, put on the kalemavkion only in church. The rason is worn by bishops on formal occasions. Bishops also have pectoral crossed and violet kalemavkia; while at pontifical ceremonies they are assisted by two clerks in surplices. The clergy have retained the beard, but cleanshaven priests are often seen in the towns, even among the Orthodox. At the end of the first world war (1918) only one Catholic monk remained. It had been impossible for Byzantine monasticism to flourish, as the emperor Joseoh II (1741-1790) had permitted only Hungarian monasteries in Transylvania, and therefore Rumanian aspirants were forced to choose between entering a Latin orH!"

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The chant of three antiphons with the diaconal litany and concomitant prayers is later than the 7th century, and fashioned as much as possible in conformity with vespers and orthros. For a long time these antiphons were not considered an absolutely integral part of the liturgy, and on vigils the service still begins with the little introit. When the first psalm of the typika or the first antiphon has been sung, the deacon returns to his usual place, makes a low bow, and recites the little synapte: "Again and again in peace let us pray to the Lord." (1st choir) "Kyrie eleison." "Help, save, pity, and guard us, O God, in thy mercy." (2nd choir) "Kyrie eleison." "Remembering our all-holy, immaculate, most blessed and glorious Lady, the Mother of God and ever-virgin Mary, and all the saints, let us commend ourselves, each other, and all our life to Christ our God." (1st choir) " T o thee, O Lord." Then the priest recites aloud: "For thine is the kingdom, the might and the glory, Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, now and for ever, world without end." (2nd choir) "Amen." T h e two choirs now sing alternately the second psalm of the typika or the second antiphon. This is followed by the great dogmatic chant, once the entrance-chant of the church of Constantinople, known from its opening words ( "0 Movoyevrjs Vios ) as the Mono genes: " O only-begotten Son and Word of God, In the beginning immortal, Vouchsaving for our salvation T o take flesh of the holy Mother of God, And ever-virgin Mary; Becoming man, thyself unchangeable;

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It>4

THE RITES OF EASTERN CHRISTENDOM Thou who wast crucified, O Christ our God, And b y death didst trample upon death, Being one of the Holy Trinity, Glorified with the Father, And with the Holy Spirit, Save us!"

In a pontifical liturgy, the bishop, having removed his mitre, stands at the throne, facing the altar. The Monogones 400 has been ascribed to the emperor Justinian between the years 535 and 536, but it was more probably composed by Severus of Antioch (5x2-536). A Franciscan writer 401 has thus portrayed the theological importance of the hymn: "Nicea crying down the ages that Christ is God and consubstantial with the Father, Ephesus proclaiming loudly the divine maternity of the holy virgin Mary, Chalcedon sealing former councils and explaining still more the mystery of the Incarnation. In this prayer, too, we see summed up the glorious writings and preaching of such great defenders of the Word as St. Athanasius, St. Basil and the two Gregorys, with all their rich doctrine on the blessed Trinity. We see, too, in this prayer the magnificent defence of the divine maternity of Mary by St. Cyril of Alexandria, St. Celestine I, and others who followed them. It is truly a profound and tender prayer echoing Scripture, history and tradition." The priest, during the hymn, says secretly the prayer of the second antiphon: " O Lord our God, save thy people 400 D e Meester (Diet. d'Archeol., etc. Ibid., col. 1613) suggests that the hymn formed part of the beginning of other offices in the time of Justinian, and was inserted into the Mass at the same time as the antiphons, that is to say in the 7th-8th century. *01 Cuthbert G u m b i n g e r , O. F . M . Cap., The Cult of the Mother of God in the Byzantine Liturgy, pp. 54-55. Franciscan Studies. September 1941.

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and bless thine inheritance: guard the company of thy Church, sanctify those who love the beauty of thy house, give them honour by thy divine power, and forsake us not who hope in thee." Then the deacon repeats the little synapte, and enters the sanctuary, while the priest says aloud: "For thou art a gracious God, and the lover of men, and we give glory to thee, Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, now and for ever, world without end." (2nd choir) "Amen." This is followed by the singing of the beatitudes 402 ( fioKapia-ftol) or the third antiphon. Towards the end of the former, troparia 403 from the 3rd and 6th ode of the canon of the morning office are interpolated. The canon (KCIVWV) is a system of hymnody peculiar to the Byzantine church. It consists of nine chants or odes ( Mot't) which, in their turn, are composed of a certain number of strophes called troparia ( rpoirapia ). These nine odes correspond to nine biblical canticles in the same office. Every feast and every Sunday has its proper canon. In the monasteries of Mount Athos, 404 the canonarca goes from one choir to the other pre-intoning the respective troparia. The priest meanwhile says the prayer of the third antiphon: "Thou who hast given us to make these common and united prayers, and hast promised to grant the petitions of two or three gathered together in thy name, do thou now fulfil the desires of thy servants; give us in this world St. Matth., V, 3-12. T h e troparia were the first beginnings of hymnology, and one of the characteristic notes of the Byzantine liturgy. T h e earliest traces sre found in kanonaria, which are probably Alexandrine in origin. 404 MANDALA, Ibid., p. 103. 4,1

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knowledge of thy truth, and in the world to come life everlasting." In the 4th century the liturgy began at this point of the present Mass, but the council of Laodicea (ab. 370)40r' seems to indicate that, at least in some churches, a previous chanting of psalms had already been introduced. From the year 518 the synaxis consisted of extracts from the psalter, and by the n t h century the antiphons were substantially the same as they are to-day. During the singing or the Gloria after the beatitudes or the 3rd antiphon, the priest gives the gospel-book to the deacon, and the little entrance 406 ( fiacpa eiaoSos) is made. The ministers, preceded by torches and liturgical fans, come out of the north door of the iconostasis into the middle of the church, thereby signifying the coming of the Messiah into the world to proclaim the good news. This is the culminating point in the liturgy of the catechumens. When they have bowed their heads, the deacon says: "Let us pray to the Lord," and the priest says secretly the prayer 407 of the entrance: "Lord and Master, our God, who hast established in heaven the orders and armies of angels and archangels to minister to thy glory; grant that with us may enter holy angels, who with us serve and glorify thy goodness. For to thee belongeth all glory, honour and worship, Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, now and for ever, world without end. Amen." During this time the choir sings troparia, and sometimes

Canon 17. Cf. Ordo Romanus for the stational Mass in Rome. 107 Cf. first prayer in the administration of extreme unction in the Roman rite. 4,8

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commemorations 408 are made for the hierarchy and the ruler of the state. When the prayer of the entrance is finished, the deacon says: "Sir, bless the holy entrance," and the priest blesses, saying secretly: "Blessed be the entrance of thy saints always, now and for ever, world without end. Amen." And he kisses the gospel-book, which the deacon then elevates, saying: "Wisdom! 409 Stand 4 1 0 upright!" As the procession moves towards the altar, the choir sings the eisodikon411 (eta-odiKov), a troparion or short anthem, which varies according to the day or feast. The following eisodikon is sung on Sundays: "Come, let us adore and bow down before Christ. Save us, O Son of God, who didst rise again from the dead (on other days: 'who art wonderful in thy saints'), we who sing to thee: Alleluia." When there is a concelebration, it is sung by all the officiating priests, as well as the first troparion which follows it, while the senior celebrant censes the altar. In a pontifical liturgy, the bishop, holding the dikerion and trikerion, chants the eisodikon with the priests, and the procession goes to the altar, where the bishop, pastoral staff in hand, censes the altar, icons and people, as he sings the apolytikon and kontakion. The procession to the altar of the bishop and his concelebrants recalls the beginning 412 of the liturgy as *" In the monasteries of Mount Athos, a fimi was recited for the patriarch, and a polychronion for the king (Greece) and his heir. MANDALA, Ibid., pp. 103-104. 101 Here, in the gospels, is the true wisdom. 410 Stand out of respect for the gospel of Christ. 411 So-called because it is sung at the introit or entrance. The bishop was received at the door of the church, and conducted to his throne behind the altar. To-day in a pontifical liturgy the bishop remains outside the iconostasis untr this moment.

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portrayed in manuscripts of the 5th to the 7th century, but in the last named century the chant of the entrance was the trisagion. The little entrance with the gospel-book is said to have originated with the iconostasis. When the ceremonies and chants connected with the entrance are finished, the deacon says: "Let us 4 1 3 pray to the Lord," and, the choir having sung Kyrie eleison, the priest recites aloud: "For thou, 414 our God, art holy, and we give glory to thee, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, now and for ever." The deacon answers: "World without end," and the choir responds: "Amen." Then the choirs 415 alternately sing the trisagion, three times before the Gloria and once again after it: "Holy God, holy strong one, holy immortal one, have mercy on us (thrice). Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost, now and for ever, world without end. Amen. Holy immortal one, have mercy on us." The deacon comes to the holy doors, and, holding his orarion in his right hand, says in a loud voice: "Strength" ( Svvafus), which seems to be a word of encouragement to the choir for the trisagion to be repeated, and perhaps also for the volume of sound to be increased. The trisagion is then sung for the fourth time. The priest in the meanwhile has been saying the prayer 418 of the trisagion secretly: " O God, who art holy and restest in the holy, who art hymned by the seraphim with the cry " * In some books, "Bless, Sir, the time of the trisagion." This is found in the 8th century. 415 Many books direct that the trisagion is sung the third time 414

by the priest and deacon. 416 T h e prayer is in the

Codex Barberini

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of the trisagion; who art glorified by the cherubim and adored by all the hosts of heaven; thou who didst bring all things from nothing into being: who didst make man to thine own image and likeness, and didst adorn him with all gifts of thy grace, who givest to him that askest wisdom and understanding, and dost not despise the sinner, but hast ordained repentence unto salvation: thou who hast granted unto us thy humble and unworthy servants to stand at this moment before the glory of thy holy altar, and to offer thee due worship and honour; do thou, O Lord, receive from the mouth of us sinners the hymn of the trisagion, and look down upon us in goodness. Forgive us all our sins, voluntary and involuntary, sanctify our souls and bodies, and grant that we may serve thee in holiness all the days of our life, by the prayers of the holy Mother and of all the saints who have pleased thee from the beginning of the world. (Aloud) For thou art holy, O our God, and we give glory to thee, Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, now and for ever, world without end. Amen." At the ekphonesis of the prayer it is customary in some churches 417 for the priest to turn and bless the assistants and people. Then the priest and the deacon also say the trisagion, at the same time making three low bows before the altar. There are two alternatives to the trisagion in the liturgy: The first is used at Christmas, Epiphany, Lazarus Saturday, Holy Saturday till the Saturday before the Sunday cf St. Thomas, the apodosis418 of Easter, and Pentecost:

41

This appears to be the custom among the Ruthenians and ItaloAlbanians in Sicily, as well as in some of the monasteries of Mount Athos. i,s i. e. Wednesday before Ascension. The apodosis is the equivalen. of the Western octave.

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"All who have been baptized in Christ have put on Christ. Alleluia." The second, for the feast of the Holy Cross and the third Sunday in Lent: " O Lord, we adore thy cross, and glorify thy resurrection." In a pontifical liturgy, 419 the bishop traces a cross on the gospel-book, first with the trikerian and then with the dikerion, during the singing of the trisagion for the third time by the clergy in the sanctuary. Then, at the threshold of the holy doors, he blesses the people with the two candelabra in his hands, as he sings: "Lord, Lord, look down from heaven, and see, and visit this vineyard, and perfect the same which thy right hand hath planted." The same ceremony is repeated to the north and to the south. The origin of the trisagion has been ascribed by St. John Damascene (ab. 749) to a miraculous occurrence during the earthquake at Constantinople in 446, when St. Proclus (434446) was patriarch. Whatever we may think about this, we have the contemporary testimony of Proclus' heretical and banished predecessor, Nestorius, 420 that it was inserted into the liturgy at Constantinople between 430 and 450. The hymn was certainly on; of the exclamations of the fathers at the council of Chalcedon (451). The many repetitions of this chant in the liturgy have an interesting parallel in the old Gallican rite, where the council of Vaison 421 (529), after ordering it to be said at 4,3

T h e ceremony is described by Simeon of Thessalonika (begin-

ning of the 15th century). 420

Liturgy,

Bazaar of Heraclides,

ed. Bedjan, p. 499; ap. D i x , Shape

chap. XII, p. 451. Canon 3.

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BYZANTINE RITE WITH VARIANTS

171

every Mass, continued: "quia tarn sancta et tam dulcis et desiderabilis vox, etiamsi die noctuque possit did, fastidium non possit generare." When the trisagion is nearly finished, the deacon says to the priest: "Sir, command," and they go towards the throne behind the altar. The priest says as he goes: "Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord." In response to the request of the deacon: "Sir, bless the high throne," the priest answers: "Blessed art thou on the throne of the glory of thy kingdom, who sittest upon the cherubim, always, now and for ever, world without end. Amen." In a pontifical liturgy, the bishop sits on the throne with his concelebrants seated round him, while the archdeacon, carrying the trikerion, comes to the doors of the iconostasis, where he says: "Lord, save the pious," which is repeated by the choir. Then the second deacon, with the dikerion, does the same. The two deacons, having chanted "and hear us," return to the throne, where the bishop removes his insignia. A memorial is then made of the ordinary of the place, to which the Melkites add a polychronion. At the end of the chant the bishop 422 blesses with the two candelabra, and "for many years, Lord" is sung. At the conclusion of this ceremony or when the trisagion is finished, the deacon goes before the holy doors and says: "Let us attend," 424 and the reader recites the prokeime422

In monasteries, the hegumenos blesses with the hand-cross. Cf. St. John Chrysostom. The Ruthenian priest after -H-poo^la/iev says: "Peace be with all," and blesses the people. Ordo celebrationis (1944), p. 61. 121

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now,424 which is composed of several verses from the psalms. The deacon then says: "Wisdom," and the reader announces the title of the epistle. Again the deacon gives the warning: "Let us attend," and the reader 425 sings the epistle, 426 outside the screen facing the altar. If there should be a concurrence of feast and Sunday, Catholics sometimes have two epistles (and two gospels) under one heading, whereas the Orthodox 427 normally recite the epistle of the feast and the gospel of the Sunday, or vice versa. The Acts of the Apostles were read during Eastertide as early as the days of St. John Chrysostom, who has left us a homily on the subject. Prior to the 9th century, three lessons 428 were recited in the liturgy, and in the Missae catechumenorum, which are incorporated in Sext and Vespers during Lent, lessons from the Old Testament are still read. Grace and benefits proceed from the word of God, and the deacon 429, by symbolic reference, during the epistle censes the altar, the people and the whole church, a cer4 " The prokeimenon ("of preceding part"), is the equivalent of the gradual in the Roman rite. 4SS In a convent of nuns, the hegumenissa (abbess) reads the epistle. It is sometimes the custom (e. g. Constantinople. M A N D A L A , op. cit., p. 32) to recite the prayers for the catechumens during the epistle, so that after the gospel, at the conclusion of the ekphonesis, the cherubikon can be begun immediately. Fr. Mandala (op. cit., p. 104) notes the two epistles and gospels in the monasteries of Mount Athos, which he says is also the custom in the Italo-Albanian churches of Sicily. Books II and VIII of the Apostolic Constitutions have at least five lessons. "* Mandala (op. cit., p. 190) speaks of the monastery church at Patmos, where the priest performed the censing

[178]

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173

•emony referred to by St. Germanus (7th century) and again in the MVCTTIKTI Qewpia of the 12th century.

This censing often takes place, as at a pontifical liturgy, during the alleluia after the epistle, and the constitution of Philotheos (14th century) left the choice of position to the ministers. When the epistle is finished, the priest says: "Peace be to thee, reader," and the choir begins the "Alleluia," which is repeated thrice, and, in the case of the Slavs, always has verses attached. The priest recites the following prayer secretly: " O Lord and lover of men, make shine in our hearts the pure light of thy divine knowledge, and open the eyes of our mind to the understanding of thy gospel teaching. Instil in us the fear of thy blessed commandments, that trampling upon all carnal desires, we may enter upon a spiritual life, willing and doing all that is thy good pleasure. For thou art the light of our souls and of our bodies, Christ O God, and we give glory to thee together with thine eternal Father and thine all-holy, good, and life-giving Spirit, now and for ever, world without end. Amen." When the deacon has finished the censing, he takes the gospel book and goes towards the priest, to whom, bowing 430 his head, he says: "Bless, Sir, the gospeller of the holy Aposde and Evangelist N." The priest, signing him, answers: "May God by the prayers of the holy and glorious Apostle and Evangelist N. grant that thou announce the gospel with great power, for the fulfilment of the gospel of his beloved Son, Jesus Christ our Lord." (Deacon) "Amen." Mandala (op. eit., p. 32) says that at Constantinople he saw the deacon ask for the blessing on his knees.

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THE RITES OF EASTERN CHRISTENDOM

On very solemn occasions the bishop himself sometimes sings the gospel, and Sozomen mention this as the custom on Easter Day at Constantinople. T h e bishop, before the gospel, takes off the great omophorion and puts on the lesser, 431 at the same time removing the mitre. Standing at the door of the sanctuary, the celebrant exclaims: "Wisdom! Let us stand to listen to the holy gospel. Peace be to all." (Choir): "And with thy spirit." T h e gospel was formerly read from an ambo, as the council of Laodicea (ab. 370) directed, but it is now more generally read in the middle of the church, and most monastery churches have a portable lectern. St. John Damascene (f ab. 749) bears witness to the honour which was paid to the gospel-book, and St. John Chrysostom (f 407) prescribed washing the hands before touching it. T h e reading of the gospel is accompanied by portable lights and incense. St. Jerome 432 (f 420) speaks of lighted candles "ad signum laetitiae demonstrandum," while Etheria in her Palestinian pilgrimage (end of the 4th century) mentions incense as being used before the reading of the resurrection gospel at the Sunday vigil. T h e deacon announces the gospel: " T h e lesson of the and the priest gives the holy gospel according to N." warning: " L e t us attend." When the choir has sung: "Glory to thee, O Lord, glory to thee," the deacon begins slowly and solemnly to read the appointed passage. At the end, he takes the book for the celebrant to kiss. 431 Sometimes the bishop does not put on the second omophorion, which is of recent origin, or he may only take it after the gospel. MAN-

DALA, op. 433

cit.,

Adv.

p. 104.

Vigil.

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175

The priest says: "Peace be to thee, who hast read the gospel," and the choir again sings: "Glory to thee, O Lord, glory to thee." At a pontifical liturgy, the bishop, after the gospel, blesses with the trikerion, as the choir sings: "For many years, Lord." In the early days of the liturgy, it was customary for the bishop to give a homily on the gospel, speaking from his throne, although both Socrates (f ab. 440) and Sozomen (f ab. 447) have told us that St. John Chrysostom preferred to preach from the ambo, as the people could hear better. When the offering of the eucharistic prayer, which was equally the especial office of the bishop, devolved upon all presbyters the right for them to preach was not disputed, but the custom of preaching fell largely into desuetude. T h e place of the sermon, also, has varied, and a Greek Orthodox bishop in London (1945) preached after the elevation of the sacred gifts. T h e doors 433 of the iconostasis are closed after the gospel, and the deacon from his customary place in the middle of the church recites the ektenes ( eKrevrjs, enrersia), which are similar in character to the little litany at die office of orthros. The name, signifying "continued" or "stretched," may be derived from the wide range of commemorations it embraces, as well as from the repeated Kyris eleison, although it was shortened about the I3th-i4th century. T h e first clause of the litany: " L e t us all say with our whole mind and soul" is followed by a series of petitions for all classes of society, both living and dead—orthodox T h e times at which the doors are open or shut vary as Greek or Russian customs

are f o l l o w e d — G r e e k s

blessing, Russians do not.

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them at the

priest's

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THE RITES OF EASTERN CHRISTENDOM

Christians, hierarchy, inhabitants of the town or monastery, founders of the church, "those who offer fruits and who do good in this holy and most venerable church," and, finally, the "workmen, singers, and all the people here present." The petition "for those who offer fruits" ( i c a p i r o ( f > o p o wres) is thought to refer to those who down to about the 7th century brought their offerings 434 in kind to the church. Others, with Goar,433 suppose it to allude to the benefactors of the local church in general, although these may well be included among those "who do good in this holy and most venerable church." The responses in this "catholic" or "universal prayer" 436 are sometimes repeated three times, as in Sicily and some of the monasteries of Mount Athos. The priest, while the deacon is reciting the ektenes, says secretly the following prayer: 437 " O Lord our God, receive this continual entreaty from thy servants and have mercy on us according to the abundance of thy mercy, and send thy grace upon us and upon all thy people who look for great pity from thee." Then, when the litany is finished, the priest says aloud: "For thou art a merciful God, and lover of men, and we give glory to thee, Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, now and for ever, world without end. (Choir) Amen." The prayers for the catechumens, which follow, are said T h e practice of offering bread and wine by the congregation for use in the liturgy probably died out in the 4th century. "" Euchologion sive Rituale Graecorum (Paris, 1647), p. 144, n. 152. " 6 Doubtless there were prayers of this nature in the Roman Mass after "Oremus" at the offertory, as we find to-day in the Ambrosian rite. " T "Prayer of intense suplication." It was in the liturgy in the 8th century.

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BYZANTINE RITE WITH VARIANTS

silently by the Greeks. The response: Kyrie eleison is made after each petition. "Cathechumens, pray to the Lord. Let us, the faithful, pray for the catechumens. That the Lord may have mercy on them. That he would teach them the word of truth. 438 That he would reveal to them the gospel of righteousness. That he would join them to his holy, catholic, and apostolic Church. Save, pity, help, and guard them, O God, in thy mercy. Catechumens, bow down your heads to the Lord." The last clause has the response: " T o thee, O Lord." The priest meanwhile says secretly: " O Lord our God, who dwellest on high and beholdest the humble, who didst send forth as the salvation of the race of man thine onlybegotten Son, our Lord and God Jesus Christ; look down upon thy servants the catechumens, who have bowed their necks unto thee, and make them in due time worthy of the laver of regeneration, of the remission of sins, and of the robe of immortality. Join them to thy holy catholic and apostolic Church, and number them among thy chosen flock." Then he says aloud the ekphonesis: "That they too with us may glorify thy dread and mighty name, Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, now and for ever, world without end. (Choir) Amen." In the early days of the Church, the synaxis or first part of the liturgy was open to anyone, 439 whether he was a Christian or not, whereas the offering of the sacrifice, A t these words, the priest, making the sign of the cross with the gospel-book on the altar, puts it down before him. *" verbutn

" Ut Dei

episcopus

nullum

sive gentilem,

prohibeat

ingredi

sive haereticum,

ecclesiam

sive Judaeum,

missam catechumenorum." 4th council of Carthage, can. 64 12 - A . A . KING, The Rites of Eastern Christendom

[183]

- 2nd Vol.

et

audire

usque

ad

178

THE RITES OF EASTERN CHRISTENDOM

properly so-called, was the exclusive privilege of the baptized. The prayers for the catechumens were originally longer, and extended to four classes 440 —Catechumens, energumens, 441 illuminandi, 442 and penitents. The council of Laodicea 443 (ab. 370) enjoined that after the dismissal of the catechumens a prayer should be said for the penitents, who were then to be dismissed. In 390, the patriarch Nectarius abolished public penance at Constantinople. The phrase in the present prayer "Have bowed their necks unto thee," so familiar to the fathers, especially in reference to the energumens and penitents, is suggestive of great antiquity. Probably by the end of the 6th century, the retention in the liturgy of the prayers for the catechumens had become a mere form, as it has continued to the present day, and in some churches there is now a tendency on ordinary occasions to omit them altogether. With the unfolding of the eileton, preparatory to receiving the holy gifts, the liturgy of the faithful may be said to have begun, and the deacon bids the catechumens leave the church: "All the catechumens go out. Catechumens, go out. All catechumens go out. Let not any of the catechumens." Apostolic Constitutions, V I I I , 6-9. Those possessed by evil spirits. 441 om£o/ievoi, those to be baptized on the following Easter eve. 4 " Canon 19. The same council (can. 4) also declared that it w a s not fitting that the duties undertaken by priests should be made k n o w n to hearers: "Non decet manifestare, id quod fit in or dine sacerdotali, audientibus, qui nondum recepti sunt in fide, quibus nondum ma~i4cstandum est hoc." 441

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179

L i t u r g y of t h e F a i t h f u l The first prayer of the faithful is preceded by words addressed to the faithful, which show obvious traces of the old practice of subdeacons going down and scrutinising the congregation to see that all those who were unbaptised or under ecclesiastical censures had really left the church. Thus, the deacon, in his customary place, says: "All we faithful, again and again let us pray to the Lord in peace. (Choir) Kyrie eleison." The prayer is said secretly: "We thank thee, Lord God of hosts, who hast deigned that we should stand even now at thy holy altar, to implore thy mercy for our sins and for the ignorances of the people. Accept, O God, our entreaty; make us worthy to offer thee prayer and supplications and an unbloody sacrifice for all thy people. Enable us whom thou hast placed in this thy ministry, by the power of thy Holy Ghost, always and everywhere to call on thee without blame and without offence, with the pure witness of our conscience, so that thou hearkening to us, mayest have mercy on us according to the riches of thy mercy." Before the ekphonesis, the deacon says: "Help, save, pity and guard us, O God, by thy grace." The choir responds: "Kyrie eleison," and the deacon exclaims: "Wisdom." The priest then continues aloud: "For to thee belongeth all glory, honour and worship, Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, now and for ever, world without end. (Choir) Amen." The second prayer of the faithful has a similar setting. The deacon says: "Again and again let us pray to the Lord in peace," and the choir chants: "Kyrie eleison." The prayer follows: "Often and again we fall down before thee, gracious lover of men: that thou mayest regard our entreaty, cleanse our souls and bodies from all defilement

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THE RITES OF EASTERN CHRISTENDOM

of flesh or spirit, and grant us to stand without blame or offence before thy holy altar. Grant, O God, that those who join in our prayer may advance in life, faith, and spiritual understanding. Grant that they may always guiltlessly worship thee with fear and love, share in thy holy mysteries without condemnation, and become worthy of thy heavenly kingdom. When the deacon has said: "Help, save, pity and guard us, O God, by thy grace"—(Choir) "Kirie eleison"—and "Wisdom," he returns to the sanctuary, while the priest recites the ekphonesis of the prayer: "That ever by thy might, we may give glory to thee, Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, now and for ever, world without end. (Choir) Amen." At one time there seems to have been a third prayer of the faithful, but it had disappeared as early as the 8th century, and it is not found in the Codex Barberini. The great entrance (fieyaXt] elaoSos ), which follows, is not only the centre of the Byzantine liturgy, but also its most spectacular and picturesque ceremony, recalling the triumphal processions of the emperors of Byzantium. In its primitive form it may have originated in Jerusalem about the 6th century, but it acquired its ceremonial magnificence at Constantinople. The celebrant, unless he is a bishop, has, since the 12th century, joined in the procession, which, however, only reached its present form in the 14th century. In this procession, tre bread and wine are brought from the prothesis or altar of preparation to the altar of sacrifice. Much controversy and embarrassment have been caused by the reverence 444 and even worship shown to the uncon441

Some Ruthenian churches use a bell to command greater at-

tention.

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RITE

WITH

VARIANTS

L8L

secrated elements as they are being carried in procession. Various ingenious theories have been put forward to account for this adoration, such as that the reserved sacrament was once carried, or that it derives from the bringing of the fermentum 445 from the bishop's liturgy to that of the parish churches. The first custom, however, was unknown in the East, and the second had been abandoned by the 4th century. Gregory Dix 446 is probably right when he says: "Theodore's explanation supplies the genuine origin." This explanation is derived from the Catecheses of Theodore of Mopsuestia (f 428), who "regards the bread and wine as being in some sense the body and blood of Christ from the moment the deacons bring them from the sacristy at the offertory." 447 The fixing of a precise moment of consecration, natural to a logical Western theology, was unknown in the early days of the Eastern liturgies. The solemn hymn with its elaborate chant, which was originally sung during the procession, is now divided into two parts—the first is sung before the actual entrance, and the other as the sacred gifts are borne into the sanctuary. The cherubikon, as it is called, has been ascribed by the historian Cedrenus 448 ( n t h century) to the emperor Justin II (565-578), but both entrance and hymn are referred to in one of the works of the pseudo-Dionysius, although the text of the hymn is unfortunately not given. From internal evidence the author of the Areopagitica appears to have written subsequent to the council of Chalcedon 44 * 445

448 449

Dom M O R E A U , Les Liturgies Eucharistiques. The Shape of the Liturgy, chap. X, pp. 282-285. Ibid., p. 284. Historiarum Compendium. Cf. Christological terminology.

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THE RITES

OF EASTERN

CHRISTENDOM

(451), the insertion of the creed into the liturgy (ab. 476), and the publication of the Henoticon 450 of Zeno (482), so that the earliest date for the cherubikon appears to be the last years of the 5th century. St. Euthychius, 4 5 1 patriarch of Constantinople and contemporary of St. Germanus of Paris (f 576), strongly opposed the introduction of the great entrance into the liturgy, but it was mentioned by John the Faster in a typikon of Constantinople in 582. While the first part of the cherubikon is being sung, the priest says secretly: " N o one who is bound by earthly desires and lusts is worthy to come near thee, to approach thee, to minister to thee, O King of glory; for to serve thee is a thing great and terrible, even to the heavenly powers. Yet through thy unspeakable and immeasurable love of men, thou who without change or loss didst become man, and didst take the title of our High Priest, hast given us the ministry of this liturgic and unbloody sacrifice, being thyself Lord of all things. For thou only, Lord our God, dost reign in heaven and on earth, who sittest upon the throne of the cherubim, Lord of the seraphim, King of Israel, who only art holy, and restest among the holy. I therefore pray thee, thou the only gracious and merciful Lord, look down upon me a sinner, and thy unprofitable servant, cleanse my soul and my heart from an evil conscience; and by the power of thy Holy Spirit grant me, whom thou hast endued with the grace of the priesthood, to stand before this thy holy table, and to consecrate thy sacred and spotless body and precious blood. For to thee I approach, with bowed neck, and beseech thee to turn not thy face away from me, 450

A formula which was drawn u p with the idea of uniting the

Orthodor; and Monophysites. 451

Sermo de Paschate SS. Eucharistica, 8.

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BYZANTINE RITE WITH

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183

nor reject me from among thy children, but rather deign that these gifts be offered by me a sinner, thy unworthy servant. For thou thyself dost offer and art offered, dost receive and art received, Christ our God. And to thee we give praise together with thine eternal Father and thine all-holy, good and life-giving Spirit, now and for ever, world without end. Amen." This prayer is not found in manuscripts of the 8th and 9th centuries, but it occasioned a fierce controversy at Constantinople in the 12th century. About the year 1 1 5 5 , a deacon of that church maintained that the prayer was heretical, as the holy Sacrifice is not offered to the Son, but to the Father and the Holy Spirit. A council was held on January 26, 1156, under the patriarch Luke Chrysoberges, to settle the question, and it was decided that the prayer was orthodox, while Soterichus Panteugenus, patriarch-elect of Antioch, who held a contrary opinion, was declared to be unworthy of office. When the prayer is ended the priest and deacon themselves say the cherubikon: 452 "We who mystically represent the cherubim, who sing to the life-giving Trinity the trisagion hymn, let us now lay aside all earthly cares; 453 that we may receive the King of the world who comes escorted454 by unseen armies of angels. Alleluia. Alleluia. Alleluia." At one time the sacred ministers washed their hands 455

Cf. Gallican rite: Sonus (Numbers X, 10) and Laiides. The threefold Alleluia recalls the world before the Mosaic law; under that law; and under the law of grace. " 3 Here ends the part of the cherubikon sung before the entrance. Sopvtfropovfievov (Sopv, " spear"), i. e. escorted on spears, in reference to the custom of thus carrying the victor in a Roman triumph. 455 It may be noted how old usages tend to linger in pontifical ceremonies.

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THE RITES OF EASTERN CHRISTENDOM

before the great entrance, but this is now only done by the bishop. A general censing alwaj's precedes any important liturgical function in the Byzantine rite, and the priest 456 now censes the altar, sanctuary, icons and people, reciting meanwhile psalm L and such troparia as he pleases. It may be of interest to note that it was Pope Sergius I (687-701), born in Antioch and educated in Sicily, who introduced the custom on Good Friday of the supreme pontiff swinging the censer in the procession before a relic of the true Cross. When the censing is finished, the priest and the deacon make three low bows and kiss the antimension and the altar. Then, going to the prothesis, they make a bow and kiss the holy gifts above the veils. Sometimes the names of those to be prayed for in the liturgy are read out before the procession from the altar of the prothesis. 4 3 7 At a pontifical liturgy, the bishop, when he has washed his hands, goes to the prothesis, where he finishes the rite of preparation, and the concelebrating priests detach particles for their own intentions. Then the bishop divests himself of mitre, staff and omophorion, which are carried by priests in the procession, while the bishop himself waits at the holy doors. The priest censes the oblations three times, saying each time: " O God, be merciful to me a sinner." Then, in response to the diaconal: "Sir, lift up," the priest places the aer on the deacon's shoulder, as he says: "Lift up your Censing by the celebrant seems the normal practice, but the euchologion (Venice, 1 8 5 1 ) said that the deacon should offer the incense, and any divergence from this was a " n e w custom." * " e. g. Constantinople. MANDALA, op. cit., p. 32.

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185

hands to the holy places, and bless the Lord." The veiled diskos is put on the head 458 of the deacon, who is holding the censer by one of his fingers, so that it hangs down behind the shoulder. The priest takes the veiled chalice. Thus, the sacred ministers leave the sanctuary by the north door, preceded by taper-bearers and liturgical fans. If other ecclesiastics are present, each carries some liturgical ornament. The procession proceeds to the middle of the church, the ministers saying aloud in turn: "May 459 the Lord remember us all in his kingdom, always, now and for ever, world without end." Before the holy doors, intercessions 460 , are sometimes made for the patriarch and the rulers of the country. The priest censes the sacred gifts three times, as he says: "Then victims of thanksgiving will be offered on thy altar." When the deacon enters the sanctuary, he stands on the right side of the altar, and says to the priest as he comes in: "May the Lord God remember thy priesthood in his kingdom, always, now and for ever world without end," and the priest replies: "May the Lord God remember thy diaconate in his kingdom, always, now and for ever, world without end." In a pontifical liturgy, the bishop, after the procession, resumes his insignia, and when the deacon has prayed that God may remember his episcopate, he (the bishop) censes the diskos three times, and, having prayed for the deacon, takes the diskos, and places it on the altar. This ceremony is repeated for the chalice. When the cherubikon is finished, *" In some churches, the diskos is held high, but not placed on the head, and sometimes a server censes the holy gifts during the procession. 459 Cf. Orate, fratres in the Roman rite. Sometimes, especially among the Slavs, there is also a commemoration of the living and dead.

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THE RITES OF EASTERN

CHRISTENDOM

the bishop again blesses the people with the trikerion, and the choir sings : "Unto many years, O Lord." 4 6 1 T h e veil of the central door is ordinarily closed from the great entrance until the communion, but it is opened each time that the priest or deacon comes to the threshold of the sanctuary, and addresses the people. In Easter week the doors remain open. When the chalice and diskos are placed on the altar, the priest says, in the words of the troparion for Holy Saturday: 462 " T h e noble Joseph, taking down thy undefiled body from the tree, wrapped it in clean linen with spices, and laid it mourning in a new sepulchre." " O Christ, in the tomb bodily, in hell with thy soul, as God in heaven with the thief, on the throne thou wast with the Father and the Holy Ghost, O Christ, filling all things, thyself uncircumscribed." " A s giving life, as more splendid than paradise, and as more radiant than any royal chamber seems, O Christ, thy tomb, the fount of our resurrection." T h e veils 463 are removed from the sacred vessels, and, taking the aer from the shoulders of the deacon, he censes it, and covers with it the holy gifts. Then, as the deacon says: "Sir, deal favourably," 464 the priest censes the oblations three times, saying : " T h e n shall they lay young calves upon thy altar." 46i

Gìs TToWà érti, Aeo-rroTa

482

T h i s recalling of the burial of our Lord may be compared wiffi

canon I of the council of Rouen (650) : " Ut tempore legitur,

finitoque

offertorio, super oblationem

delicet redemptoris 463

nostri, ponatur,

incensum,

quo

evangelium

in mortem

vi-

decrevimus."

Mandalà (op. cit., p. 32) says that in an Orthodox church at

Constantinople the celebrant and the deacon after the great entrance prostrated themselves on their knees before the altar. 484

T h e s e words, as well as those said by the priest while censing,

are taken from psalm L .

They

allude to the sacrifices of the

Testament.

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The dialogue between priest and deacon, which follows, is again reminiscent of the "Orate, fratres" in the Roman rite: Priest: "Remember me, my brother and fellowminister." Deacon: "May the Lord God remember thy priesthood in his kingdom, always, now and for ever, world without end." Deacon (bowing his head and holding his orarion): "Reverend Sir, pray for me." Priest: "The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and the power of the most high shall overshadow thee." Deacon: "That same Spirit shall minister with us all the days of our life. Remember me, reverend Sir." Priest: "May the Lord God remember thee in his kingdom, always, now and for ever, world without end." The deacon answers: "Amen," kisses the priest's hand, and goes to his customary place before the holy doors. The litany which follows marks the old place of the diptychs, 465 which were apparently moved to the anaphora in the 8th-9th century. In the East, the names of the dead were introduced into the liturgy in the 4th century. Pseudo-Dionysius in the scholia on the Ecclesiastical Hierarchy mentions the reading of the diptychs at the offertory. The earliest detailed information regarding these diptychs in the East is given in letters that passed between Atticus of Constantinople (406-42$) and St. Cyril of AlexSis, "two" and irrvcrcretv, " t o f o l d . " T w o tablets on which the names of the dead and of the living, who were to be commemorated in the liturgy, were inscribed. Dom Fernand Cabrol {Diet. d'Archeol., etc. art. Diptyques, col. 1050) has suggested that the prayer of the diptychs may be considered as a special form of litany.

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andria (412-444) in respect to the insertion of the name of St. John Chrysostom (f 407) in the diptychs of the dead. By the third decade of the 5th century, diptychs of the dead and of the living were in use in the church of Constantinople, and kept in two separate "books." Diptychs in the East, both in church practice and in the popular mind, were treated as if they were a touchstone of orthodoxy, and, from 451 until about 550, disputes and schisms largely centred round the names in the diptychs, erasing, re-entering, erasing, etc. The present diaconal litany takes the usual form, with the reply of the choir at first Kyrie eleison and then "Grant, O Lord." The final petition, commemorating our Lady and the saints, has the response: " T o thee, O Lord." The priest meanwhile says silently the prayer of the prothesis, or offering: 466 "Lord God Almighty, who alone art holy, who dost accept the sacrifice of praise from those who call upon thee with their whole heart, accept also the prayer of us sinners, and draw us to thy holy altar. Enable us to offer thee gifts and a spiritual sacrifice for our sins and for the ignorances of the people, and deign that we may find grace before thee, that our sacrifice may be wellpleasing to thee. And let the good Spirit of thy grace rest upon us and upon these gifts here laid forth, and upcn thy whole people." Then, concluding with an ekphonesis, he says aloud: "By the mercies of thine only-begotten Son, with whom and with thine all-holy, good, and life-giving Spirit thou art blessed, now and for ever, world without end. (Choir) Amen." 466 T h i s prayer of offering shows that this ceremony once took place here.

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The priest now turns and blesses 467 the people, saying: "Peace be to all," and the choir responds: "And with thy spirit." In a pontifical liturgy, the kiss of peace (acraafios ) follows, but, except in some concelebrated Masses, this is the only occasion in which it takes place. The ceremony of the pax is performed in the following manner: after having thrice kissed the aer, saying, "I will love thee, O Lord," etc., the bishop stands slightly aside, and the concelebrating clergy, having repeated this, kiss first the hand, then the shoulder of the prelate, and, finally, one after the other receive and give the kiss of peace. As they embrace, they exchange the greeting: "Christ 468 with us, is, and will be." The original position of the kiss 469 of peace, which was before the offertory, has been retained only by the Coptic and Ethiopic churches. Here, the pax, at first followed by the bringing up of the matter for the Sacrifice, fell into line with the gospel precept. 470 At ordinary times, the kiss of peace is only called to mind by the deacon saying: "Let us love one another, 46 ' As we have seen, the Greeks open the doors of the screen at the priest's blessing, the Russians do not. "* '0 XPl