HANDBOOK TO THE CHRISTIAN LITURGY - By James Norman, M.A. - Archdeacon of the Herbert, North Queensland. - first published by the SPCK 1944. - This Edition prepared for katapi by Paul Ingram 2003.

PART II - COMMENTARY

MASS OF THE CATECHUMENS II

the Collect

Here there occurs in the Western liturgies a prayer with different titles.
The Roman name is Oratio', Amb, Oratio super populum.
It is commonly known as 'Collect'.

The origin of the Collect is very uncertain. It is generally stated that it was a 'collective prayer', and was so called' because it was said as soon as the people assembled'. Duchesne adds that the meaning of the word is made clear from the rubrics of Greg relating to Litany days, in which the procession is called 'ad collectam'; e.g. the Feast of the Purification has S. Maria Maggiore as the stational church, but before the Collect for the Mass is 'Oratio ad collectam ad sanctum Adrianum' [ Christian Worship, 167 and note.]. This prayer, then, is thought to have been the prayer said when the people met at one church, and went in procession to the stational church. This was not confined to papal Masses, for we read of the same practice in Africa in Augustine's time [ Serm, cccxxv. 2.]. Fortescue says that the prayer was repeated at the second church [The Mass, 245.]. St. Cyprian does call the congregation 'collectam fraternitatem', and even 'collectam' alone is used in the Passion of the Martyrs of Abitina, where one of them says that in his house ' collectae factae sunt '. [Passio Abitin. 14.]

If this is the true explanation of the word 'Collect', it is curious that at Rome the word Oratio alone was used. Collectio seems rather to be of Gallic origin, and Walafrid Strabo's explanation is probably the true one: 'quia necessarias earum petitiones compendiosa brevitate colligimus' [De exordiis, 22.]; it was intended to sum up in a few words of prayer a longer act of praise or petition. In the East this is the regular procedure, and there are many examples in the West, the Collectio post nomina, the prayers in Bobb after the Trisagion and the Gloria in excelsis, and especially the prayer which there holds the same place as the Roman Oratio, the Collectio post prophetiam, which would sum up the Benedictus, the Gallican counterpart of the Gloria in excelsis. It is quite likely that it was the final prayer of the Roman litany.

In most of the medieval missals it is called Oratio, but York has Collectio, and Sarum after 'dicitur oratio' has 'quando sunt plures collectae dicendae'.

The Collect is preceded by 'Dominus vobiscum' and its response, and 'Oremus'. The original form seems to have been 'Pax vobis', as it is in Or do I; but this eventually came to be restricted to the bishop, as in St. Amand. In the time of Amalarius (827) either seems to have been used by the priest [De eccl. offic. iii.9.]. The rule now is that bishops use the Pax when the Gloria is sung.

The following is the Ambrosian Collect for Epiphany:

Super populum:

O God, who hast hallowed this day of election by the first-fruits of the Gentiles,
and by the star of thy light hast plainly shewed thyself unto us:
grant, we beseech thee,
that the new and marvellous brightness of the heavens may ever arise in our hearts;
who livest &c.

NOTE ON THE CURSUS of the Roman Collect and other prayers.

The Collects composed in the best period in Roma are not strictly prose nor yet verse, but have a modified verse-rhythm, which gives them much of their charm. There are three cadences:

(a) Cursus planus. The final word of three syllables accented on the penultimate is preceded by a word with the accent also on the penultimate; e.g. pietate custodi.

(b) Cursus tardus. The final word of four syllables has the antepenultimate accented, and the preceding word the penultimate, e.g. concede propitius.

(c) Cursus velox. The final word of four syllables has the penultimate accented, the last but one the antepenultimate, e.g. supplices exoramus.

In not many Collects does every phrase end in one of these cadences, but the more they conform the more perfect is their cursus. It is not absolutely necessary that the words should be divided as stated, so long as the word-groups give the same disposition of accents. In the later collects the cursus is less observed.

the lections

Listen to Lectio Consurge chanted by the Schola Gregoriana Pragensis. Music details HERE.

The Sabbath morning services of the Jews contained two lections, one from the Law and the other from the Prophets (Acts i.25; xv.21). This was no doubt continued in the Church for some time, and still survived in Ap-Const, and does today in Nest (according to Baum-stark). [Irenikon, xi (May - June 1934), 140.]
The Mishnah shows that the Synagogue service, Joser, on which the Mass of the Catechumens is modelled, consisted of
(1) the Sh'ma: 'Hear, O Israel, &c.';
(2) the Prayers;
(3) the Law;
(4) the Prophets;
(5) the Exposition.

St. Paul ordered that his letters should, on occasion, be read to the churches under his care.
This reading tended to change, as time went on, from a pastoral to a scriptural lesson.
Christians would of course add the Gospel, when once it had been established as authoritative.
This made four readings, which is the number today with the Copts. But one Old Testament lection came to be thought sufficient, and eventually even that dropped out, especially when the Offices, in which the Old Testament played a great part, were developed. Meanwhile the New Testament lessons increased in number in some regions, both the Acts of the Apostles and the Catholic Epistles being regularly read. While the Epistle (including the other New Testament writings except the Gospels) and the Gospel became the norm, Ap-Const has five lections (Law, Prophet, Epistle, Acts, and Gospel); Syr-Jac, on certain days, six (Law, Writings, Prophet, Acts, Epistle, and Gospel); Copt and Eth four (Paul, Catholic Epistle, Acts, and Gospel); Nest four (O.T., Acts, Epistle, and Gospel); Arm three (Prophet, Epistle, and Gospel). There is a blessing of the lector in Nest:

Blessed is God, the Lord of all,
who maketh us wise with his holy teaching;
and upon the reader and upon the hearers
be his mercy outpoured at all times for ever.

THE OLD TESTAMENT LECTION

This is mentioned by Justin Martyr: 'Memoirs of the Apostles (τὰ ἀπομνημονεύματα τῶν αποστολων -ta apomnemoneumata ton apostolon), or writings of the prophets (τὰ ἀπομνημονεύματα τῶν προφητῶν - ta apomnemoneumata ton propheton)' [Apol. l. Ixvii. 3.], St. Basil [Brightm. Lit. E.& W. 524, n. 2.], St. Chrysostom [Ibid. 531, n. 5.], St. Maximus [Mystag. 23.]. It is in Ap-Const, Syr-Jac, Nest, Arm, Amb, Gall.

There was originally an O.T. lection in Rome, which was omitted somewhere in the fifth century; but in the time of Charlemagne it was still used on the Vigil and night of Christmas. It was in use in Africa in the fourth century, as Augustine testifies; but it must often have been omitted, for he speaks of their having heard the Epistle and Gospel, and counts the Psalm as the third lection: 'We have heard the Apostle, we have heard the Psalm, we have heard the Gospel, and all the divine lessons harmonize.' [Serm. clxv; in clxxvi, they are called "three lessons'.] Amb sometimes substitutes stories of the Saints, and on some days omits the O.T. altogether. Bobb keeps it only on a few days, but the Luxeuil Lectionary always, Gregory of Tours also, and Moz. According to Gelmain, Gall too replaced it by the Apocalypse in Eastertide, and on Festivals of Saints by their Lives. The Carthusian liturgy has an O.T. lesson on the Vigil and Feast of Christmas.

In the time of Maximus each lesson was preceded by 'Peace be to all', and its response. Amb has a blessing of the reader: 'May the Prophetic Lesson be to thee an instruction for salvation.' From St. Chrysostom we learn that it was introduced in Constantinople by the words: 'Thus saith the Lord' [In Act. Ap. xix.5.]; the same use probably obtained in Antioch.

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The OT lesson is now read

The Lections were originally interspersed with Psalms, but most of these have disappeared.
In the Byz-Greg, however, there is a προκείμενον - prokeimenon before and after the O.T., and Arm has the 'Psalm of Dinner-time' (Saghmos Jashou) before the Prophet.

THE ACTS OF THE APOSTLES

St. Basil mentioned this [In Ps. xxviii. 7; In s. bapt. i.].
It is not now in the Greek or Arm liturgies, but was in Ap-Const, and remains in Syr-Jac, Nest, Copt, and Eth. In Ap-Const, Copt, and Eth it is after the Epistle. In Copt the Synaxar, or Legends of the Saints, are sometimes substituted. Gall had it in Eastertide: 'pro novitate gaudii', together with a lection from the Apocalypse.

There is a prayer before the reading in Syr-Jac that they may be immovable in the faith and practice of the apostles; and in Eth of the same tenor, but also for the steadfastness of the Church. Copt has the same prayer as Eth, but it is attached to the Catholicon. Nest has a Psalm, called Shuraya, with antiphon and Alleluias, at any rate on festivals.

THE LESSON FROM THE ACTS OF THE APOSTLESIS NOW READ

In Copt the people or the deacon answer:

The Word of the Lord shall endure, and shall be multiplied and wax mightily, and shall be established in the holy Church of God.

There is also with the Copts the offering of incense before or during the reading of Acts, with a prayer that is called the 'Prayer of the Acts', but has no reference to it; it is purely a prayer of incense. There follows a repetition of the intercession said after the last censing (p.150). The same prayers occur in Eth after the Tersanctus, which follows the Acts, and precedes the Trisagion. It runs thus:

Holy, holy, holy art thou, God the Father almighty.
Holy, holy art thou, only Son,
which art the living Word of the Father.
Holy, holy, holy art thou, Holy Ghost,
which knowest all things.

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the Benedicite

Moz had the Benedicite (Benedictus es domine and Benedicite - Dan. hi. 52-88, Vulg.) between the O.T. and the Epistle. The Council of Toledo (633) implies that it was ancient, for it says:

The Hymn of the Three Children, in which all creatures in heaven and on earth together praise the Lord, and which the Catholic Church dispersed throughout the whole world celebrates, certain priests at Mass on Sundays and Feasts of the Martyrs neglect to sing. Wherefore this holy Council decrees that throughout all the Churches of Spain or Gaul it is to be sung on all festal Masses from the pulpit.
[Canon 14.]

There is, however, no sign that it was ever used in the liturgy in the East.
Gall had it after the Epistle, though the position seems to have varied, and Amb uses a part of it on Good Friday and Easter Eve. There are also traces of it in the Roman books. Gel has two prayers under the heading of Post benedictionem, both referring to the Three Children. One of these:

O God, who didst assuage the flames of fire for the three children,
grant that the flame of vices may not burn up us thy servants,

is still used on Ember Days after the lection about the Three Children (Dan. iii. 47-51, Vulg.), and the introduction to the Benedicite,'Benedictus es, &c.' (vv. 52-6); and, in the private thanksgiving of the priest, it occurs after Benedicite, but with Ps.cl and versicles between. Bobb has this prayer as the last of the series of prayers that follow the Canon and are apparently not often varied. It has there the title post benedictionem. Greg has it as an Ember prayer, but once gives it the heading Ad missam, and so Leofric which also has the other Gel prayer, mentioned above, with the heading Oratio post ymnum trium puerorum. The prayer is evidently not an original Gallic feature; there is no trace of it in Goth.

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the catholic epistle (Catholicon)

Copt and Eth have this between the Pauline Epistle and Acts. From the fact that they call it by the Greek καθόλικον, it was probably used in the original Alexandrian rite.

The Catholic Epistle

After the Catholicon the reader or the people say: 'Love not the world, &c.' (i John ii.15,17), Eth has v.16 as well, and a petition for the help of the Holy Trinity. Copt has a 'Prayer after the Catholicon', which is the same as that of Eth after Acts, and in spite of its name appears to belong to the Acts. Eth repeats the Prayer of Incense, slightly modified (see p.150), before the Epistle, and has the censing between Paul and Catholicon instead of at the Acts as Copt. There is no repetition of the intercessions, but forms peculiar to this liturgy.

the epistle

When there are more Epistles than one, this is Pauline. Before the 'Apostle' there is a Psalm, as originally between all the lections. In Byz, Pet, and Jas it is called Prokeimenon; in Nest Turgama (this is invariable). Arm Mesedi; Jas-Ross calls it τρόψαλμα - tropsalma. Copt has one on anniversaries and fasts. In Chrys and Arm it is only an antiphon and verse; in Nest a hymn has taken the place of the Psalm.

This chant was a Respond, the meaning of which is explained in connexion with the Gradual. The Roman Gradual properly belongs here, for it was originally the Respond between the O.T. lesson and the Epistle, but when the former was dropped its position was changed. Amb has a Psalmellus, which is a verse of a Psalm, with versicle and response. The following is that for the Epiphany:

Blessed be the Lord God of Israel:
who only doeth great wonders for ever.

V. Let the mountains bring peace unto thy people.
R. He shall abase the oppressor:

and he shall endure with the sun,
and before the moon from one generation to another:
And shall come down like the rain into a fleece of wool,
and as the showers that drop upon the earth.
(Ps.Ix.18 and 3-6.)

A prayer precedes the Epistle in Syr-Jac, Nest, and Eth. In the first it is for worthiness to keep the Divine commandments and those of Paul, 'the architect and builder of the Church'. Eth has a long and beautiful prayer of the same nature that in Copt follows the Epistle; it is followed by an anathema, said by the deacon, against all who do not love our Lord and believe in the Virgin-birth, 'in the second ark of the Holy Ghost'.

At this point in Moz (Missale Mixtum) there is a deprecatory litany.
The 'Peace to all' and its response is preserved in the Ruthenian (Uniat) and Russ.

THE EPISTLE IS READ

The Copts read it in both Coptic and Arabic. While the Epistle is being read the priest censes the choir and church; this is the censing mentioned above (p.150), as the Pauline Epistle comes first in this rite. So Eth. After the Epistle Copt has a 'Grace', which varies with the rank of the ecclesiastic who gives it; then comes the prayer which in Eth precedes the reading. This is said by the priest while the Epistle is being read in Arabic. The Byz also censes the altar during the reading of the Epistle. Gall had the Benedicite here (see p.169).

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the respond (Gradual)

It has already been said that the lections were originally interspersed with Psalms. Tertullian mentions it in the second century: 'prout scripturae leguntur aut psalmi canuntur.' [De anima, 9.] The cantor (ψάλτης) is often mentioned in the third century. Ap-Const (Book II, the Didascalia) says that the Psalms were sung between the reading of the different lessons: ' One of the readers shall sing the Psalms of David, and the people shall repeat the acrostics (τὰ ἀκροστίχια ὑποψαλλέτω);' the acrostic was the refrain. Athanasius speaks of a deacon reading a Psalm to which the people respond, 'For his mercy endureth for ever.' [De fuga, 24.]

There were three methods of singing Psalms in early times, all of which are illustrated in the chants of the Roman Mass.
(1) Cantus in directum; a solo in which the Psalm was simply sung through without any repetitions. It is likely that the same method was also adopted in unison. The Tract (p.176) is an example of a solo in directum.
(2) The Respond, which is the characteristic chant for the lessons of the liturgy.
(3) The Antiphon, which is used for the other chants of the Roman Missal, Introit, Offertory, and Communion (see p.142).

The Responsory or Respond was sung by one voice with a refrain, usually part of the same Psalm, in which the whole congregation joined. In the earliest days of the Church it became very popular, combining as it did the skill of the soloist with a hearty participation in the chant by the congregation. St. Augustine gives an account of its first introduction into Milan. On the occasion of the attack on the Church by the Arian Empress Justina (385),

The pious people kept watch in the Church, ready to die with the Bishop.
Then it was that the custom arose of singing hymns and psalms, after the use of Eastern parts, lest the people should wax faint through the tediousness of sorrow; and from that day to this the custom has been retained, many, nay almost all of the Christian congregations throughout the rest of the world, following therein.
[Conf. ix.7.]

Later on he tells that he himself wavers between approval and fear of the delight given by the beauty of this method of praising God:

When I remember the tears I shed at the psalmody of thy Church, in the early days after my acceptance of the faith, and how at the present time I am moved, not by the singing, but by the things sung, when they are sung with a clear voice and a modulation most suitable, I acknowledge the great use of this institution. Thus I fluctuate between the peril of pleasure and its approved wholesomeness.
[Ibid. x.3.]

In Rome the deacon sang the Psalm until Gregory I (595), fearing that it would distract the deacon from more important duties, stopped him from singing it. In Ordo I it is called Responsum; in Ordo III Responsorium. From being sung from the step of the ambo it received the name Graduate. The Council of Laodicea ordered the Lessons and Psalms to be delivered from the ambo. At first it was a whole Psalm, and an important feature about it is that, unlike the other chants in the liturgy, it is not there to fill up with praise the moments when necessary actions were being carried out without words, but it is itself the rite of the moment, sung as a Lesson by a single cantor, though the congregation took up and repeated the ending of the chant. This did not, however, prevent it from being shortened in the same way as the other chants. The whole Psalm was still sung in the time of Leo (440-60), though Schuster suspects that the process of shortening had begun earlier [The Sacramentary, i. 94.]. He thinks that the responsories were never very long, and quotes a case mentioned by St. Augustine in which a lector apologized for having by mistake sung a long Psalm. The Gradual now consists of only two verses. Schuster thinks it was condensed by the Schola cantorum for musical purposes somewhere between 450 and 550. There is no Doxology. In Ordo I there was a refrain, a verse, and the refrain repeated. Later the Alleluia, or Tract, ousted the second refrain. The name 'Gradual' does not seem to occur before the ninth century. In Moz the Responsorium (or Psallenda) preceded the Epistle; in Gall it followed, being sung by boys in Germain, but by a deacon in Gregory of Tours.

In Eastertide, from Easter Saturday to the Saturday after Pentecost, the Gradual is replaced by the 'Great Alleluia', i.e. four Alleluias with two verses. For the Gradual for Epiphany see p. 307; the Amb Psalmellus is given above.

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the Alleluia

Listen to the Choir of St Gregory of Nyssa sing an Alleluia (Zimbabwe Chant) at - http://www.saintgregorys.org/Music/MFLbook-contents.html.

This acclamation is made here in nearly all liturgies; it is not in Eth.
How the Alleluia came into the liturgy is not known. Its prominence in Jewish literature, and especially in the Alleluiatic Psalms, would lead us to expect its frequent use by early Christians, but in spite of its occurrence in the Apocalypse it is seldom found in early Christian monuments or writings. Tertullian says that those who are very careful in the matter of prayer add Hallelujah and Psalms of that kind, to the clauses of which congregations respond [De oratione, 27.]. He is urging people to use common worship, so this may refer to its actual use in the liturgy, though the reference is general. By the time of St. Augustine the word is often used on Sundays and in the Paschal season, but he does not speak of it in connexion with the Mass [Ep. ad Januarium, 17; Ep.cxix.17.]. It was specially used at funerals at that time [Jerome, Ep. Ixxvii.]. There is no evidence beyond the liturgies themselves to throw light upon its advent into its place before the Gospel.

Cabrol suggests that at first it was only sung with the Alleluiatic Psalms, which were used for the Gradual at Eastertide, and that the Alleluia tended to lengthen and to separate from the Psalm, and thus extend to other times, and to be sung after other Psalms [D.A.C.L. i. 1243.]. Sozomen does indeed say that in his time (c. 450) it was only sung on Easter Day, so that the saying 'May they hear and sing that hymn' was a way of wishing anyone another year's Life [H.E. vii.19.].

Fortescue says that Alleluia is a Roman speciality, and Schuster states that the East has it after the Gospel [The Mass, 268; Schuster, The Sacramentary, i. 99.]. But this is not so. The Eastern liturgies all have it before the Gospel, except Eth, where it does not occur. It seems specially to be connected with the Gospel, but it is difficult to say why.

St. Gregory attributes it to Damasus, who received it from the Church of Jerusalem under the influence of Jerome, and says that he himself ordered it to be used on other occasions than Easter, but that he has had much of it (presumably the musical embellishments) 'amputated'. [Ep. ix.12.]

It is generally used as the refrain of a Psalm, i.e. before and after it, and sometimes twice or thrice in each place, as in Syr-Jac, Copt, Nest, Byz, Amb; Jas and Mk do not say how it is to be used. It is in Byz in the ninth century (Barb) with a Psalm. In Copt it is preceded by the Trisagion, which Germain says was also sung here in Paris, and a Psalm.

Moz had no chant between the Epistle and the Gospel; the Responsorium was before the Epistle, and the Alleluia, under the name of Laudes, after the Gospel 'propter gloriam Christi' as ordered by the Council of Toledo (633). Amb and Gall have an 'Anthem before the Gospel' on great festivals. There is also one in Mk-Ross, but not in Mk-Vat.

The following is the Alleluia in Amb for the Epiphany:

Alleluia, Alleluia.
'There came wise men from the East to Jerusalem, saying:
Where is he that is born King of the Jews?'
Alleluia.
(Mt ii.1-2.)

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the tract

Alleluia is a song of triumph; it is not sung in the West on fast-days or on the Sundays in Lent. There is no such restriction in the East, nor in Moz, where the first Sunday in Lent is called' in Alleluia'. In the Middle Ages attention was drawn to the exclusion of Alleluia from Septuagesima to Easter by ceremonies devised for the purpose, sometimes rather absurd. The hymn 'Alleluia duice carmen' was used in the Office for the 'clausum Alleluia'. It is now used by Anglicans without much understanding of its meaning:

Alleluia our transgressions
Make us for a while give o'er.

Rome merely adds two Alleluias at Vespers of the Saturday before Septuagesima, and at the pontifical Mass on Easter Eve the deacon sings: 'I announce to you a great joy, which is Alleluia'.

Its place is taken in Lent by the old Psalm before the Gospel, which it has dispossessed at other times. This is neither antiphonal nor responsorial, but a solo in directum. It receives its name 'Tract' either from the drawn-out melodies that characterize it, or from being sung through without response (in uno tractu). Amalarius says that the Tract differs from the Responsorium in not having a response by the choir [De eccles. offic. iii.12.]. It is perhaps a relic of the ancient method of singing the Psalm before the Respond and Antiphon were introduced.

Amb has a similar chant called Cantus. It has the same structure as the Psalmellus, and sometimes, as with the Ingressa, other portions of Scripture take the place of the Psalm. The Moz Tractus was a Respond, and seems to have differed little from the Psallenda which it replaced during Lent. It has no relation to the Roman Tract. The Roman chant is always taken from the Psalter, except that three are from the Song of Solomon.

The Tract for Lent I is Ps. xc. 1-7 and 11-16, the Gradual being the two verses 11 and 12.

Cantus for the Lent II:

If the Lord had not been on our side, now may Israel say:
if the Lord had not been on our side.

v. Our soul is escaped out of the snare of the fowler:
the snare is broken and we are delivered,

v. Our help standeth in the name of the Lord;
who hath made heaven and earth.

The Tract is not said on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays (except Ember Days), nor on week-days before Ash Wednesday; but it is used from Septuagesima on Sundays.

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the sequence

This song dates from the tenth century. The Alleluia had been at a very early time sung with long cadences, called by the name of jubilus. Augustine speaks of it:

'He that sings a jubilus speaks no words,
it is a song of joy without words,
the voice of a heart dissolved with joy.'
[In Ps.xcix.4.]

Later a second jubilus was added to that of the last syllable of the Alleluia, and, without the modem system of writing music, it became difficult to memorize these long melodies. In the ninth century the practice arose of putting words to the notes, and so the ' Prose' came into existence. Notker of St. Gall was one of the most noted writers of the 'Prose' or Sequence. In all these compositions each musical phrase was sung twice, so that, though the phrases varied in length and rhythm, they made up pairs of equal lines, with often the first or last a single phrase, which represents the original Alleluia. Gradually the words of the Sequence were written independently, and melodies made to fit them, when they became metrical and lyrical instead of prose compositions.

In 1570 all the Sequences were removed from the Missal except five, those for Easter, Whitsuntide, Corpus Christi, the Seven Griefs, and Requiems. No other liturgy has these compositions.

The following is an eleventh-century Sequence used in the Sarum Missal for the first Sunday of Advent:

Salus aeterna, indeficiens mundi vita,
Lux sempiterna, et redemptio vera nostra,
Condolens humana perire saecla per tentantis numina,
Non linquens excelsa, adiisti ima propria clementia.
Mox tua spontanea gratia assumens humana,
Quae fuerant perdita omnia salvasti terrea,
Ferens mundo gaudia.

Tu animas et corpora
Nostra, Christe, expia,
Ut possideas lucida
Nosmet habitacula.

Adventu primo justifica,
In secundo nosque libera,
Ut cum, facta luce magna, judicabis omnia,
Compti stola incorrupta, nosmet tua subsequamur
Mox vestigia quocunque visa.

There is a translation of this by M. J. Blacker in The English Hymnal, No.10.

GOSPEL ANTHEMS.

Nest has a variable hymn called Turgama after the Alleluia and before the Gospel. Amb has an 'Anthem before the Gospel' on great feasts. That for Epiphany is:

In Bethlehem of Judaea
was a Saviour born:
Herod was troubled:
the whole world rejoiceth.
John bearing record by the river Jordan saith:
He that cometh after me is preferred before me.

The resemblance in the style of this to Gall and Moz compositions will be noticed.

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the Gospel

There is a prayer before the Gospel in most Eastern liturgies.

Illuminate our hearts, O loving Lord,
with the undented light of thy knowledge,
and open the eyes of our understanding
to the comprehension of thine evangelic messages;
implant in us also the fear of thy blessed commandments
that, treading down all fleshly desires,
we may have our part in the spiritual commonwealth,
both thinking and doing all things that are pleasing unto thee.
For thou art the illumination of souls and bodies,
O Christ, &c.

Chrys, not in Barb. This prayer is in Jas also; Syr-Jac and Nest are similar. Copt and Eth have, before the Psalm, a beautiful prayer:

Master Lord Jesus Christ,
who hast said to thine holy disciples and thy pure apostles:
'Many prophets and righteous men have desired
to see the things which ye see, and have not seen them,
and have desired to hear the things which ye hear, and have not heard them;
and blessed are your eyes that have seen and your ears that have heard:'
make us also, like them, meet to hear and to do the word of thine holy Gospel
through the prayer of the Saints.

Mk, Arm, and West have no prayer.

While this prayer is being said, in Jas there is a Litany, similar to that of the Little Entry. So also Copt and Eth, with the bidding: 'Pray on account of the Holy Gospel' (Copt has this in Greek), with Kyrie. The 'Peace' is given in Jas, Syr-Jac, Eth, and Nest. The deacon is blessed by the priest in Rom.
The deacon says:

Cleanse my heart and my lips, Almighty God,
who didst cleanse the lips of the prophet Isaiah with a burning coal;
vouchsafe of thy gracious mercy to cleanse me
that I may worthily proclaim thy Holy Gospel, through, &c.
Pray, Sir, a blessing.

The priest:

The Lord be in thy heart and on thy lips,
that thou mayest worthily and fitly proclaim his Gospel, in the name, &c.

Thus also Amb. The Blessing is probably an original Roman element, going back at any rate to Ordo I.
The deacon's prayer is fourteenth century.
It is not in Angl; York has another prayer after the Blessing.

Eth has its Little Entry at this point, the priest during a short Litany compassing the altar, with a taper before him and the Gospel after. There follows a triple blessing of the separate persons of the Holy Trinity. Then a prayer, and a much longer Litany, said by the assistant priest. Syr-Jac prefaces the Gospel with Benedictus qui venit.

Incense is offered before the Gospel in Jas, Mk, Eth, Nest, Chrys, and Rome. Germain gives the Trisagion in Greek as used for a second time during the procession to the tribunal analogii (the Western Ambo), and in Latin while returning. Sozomen mentions that 'it is a strange thing with these Alexandrians; while the Gospel is being read, the bishop does not stand, a thing I have never known or heard of elsewhere'. [h.e.vii. 19.]

Silence was ordered up to the seventh and eighth centuries. The Melkites say: 'Venerable passage of the Gospel of St. N. the Evangelist, the pure disciple; let us attend.' At Rome the deacon gives the Salutation and receives the reply; it is already in Ordo II.

Most of the liturgies have some sort of proclamation of the Gospel, e.g. 'Stand and let us hear the Holy Gospel'. In Syr-Jac after the Benedictus qui venit of the deacon, the priest says a preface: 'In the time therefore of the dispensation of the Lord ... who was incarnate of the Virgin Mary, these things were done.' Rome has 'The beginning (or continuation) of the Holy Gospel according to N'. (so Ordo II), with the response 'Glory be to thee, O Lord', which the Copts also use, in Greek. Amb: 'The lesson of the Holy Gospel according to N.' Sarum and York simply 'The Gospel according to N.' Amb always begins the Gospel with the words, Dominus Jesus. The response of Rome is also that of Germain and Moz; Gregory of Tours has 'Gloria Deo omnipotent!' [Hist. Franc, viii. 4.]. Rome took it from Gaul about the ninth century.

THE GOSPEL IS READ

Amb uses the Old Italian version instead of the Vulgate. In Gall and Moz it was read at first by lectors; but it became one of the special functions of the deacon, and is recognized as such in Ap-Const II, Jerome [Ep. ccxivii.6.], and the Council of Vaison (529) [Canon 2.]. In Egypt it was the Archdeacon: 'There (in Alexandria) only the Archdeacon reads this holy book; in other places the deacons. But in many churches the priests only, and on special days bishops, as in Constantinople on Easter Day.' [Sozomen, H.E. vii.19.] The Coptic deacon being a boy, the priest now reads the Gospel, as in Nest.

There is a response in Rome: 'Praise be to thee, O Christ,' which is not in the Ordo Missae, but in the General Rubrics. The priest then says: 'By the words of the Gospel may our sins be blotted out.' At York the priest said: 'Benedictus qui venit.' Arm, 'Glory be to thee, O Lord our God.' Eth has an ending to the Gospel, which varies according to the Evangelist used: Mt, 'Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away, saith the Lord to his disciples'; Lk, almost the same; Mk, ' He that hath ears to hear let him hear'; Jn, 'He that believeth on the Son hath eternal life'. To each there is a response by the people, not, except that for Jn, particularly appropriate to the Evangelist.

Some liturgies also have a prayer after the Gospel. Copt has one (apparently not said now), which is almost the same as that of Eth before the Gospel, also a Litany. Jas has a prayer that accompanies the Litany of the Faithful, but belongs to the Gospel.

Nest has an Anthem of the Gospel, which is variable; so has Amb (p.179). Moz has here, under the name of Laudes the Alleluia, transferred from before the Gospel (see above); Ap-Const a blessing: 'The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, &c.' which in Byz precedes the Sursum corda, where in Syr-Jac a different form occurs. In Jas and Syr-Jac there is the 'Peace', and the latter has a Doxology to our Lord.

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the sermon

From early times it was customary to expound the Gospel to the congregation. Justin Martyr (145) says that on Sunday the people gather together, and after the Memoirs of the Apostles or the Writings of the Prophets have been read the president verbally instructs and exhorts to the imitation of the good examples cited [Apol. i.67.]. It is mentioned in Irenaeus [Adv. haer. I.ix.5.], Clement of Alexandria [Strom. vi.14.], Origen [Homilies.], and Tertullian [De anima, 9.]. Ap-Const II says that the presbyters one by one, but not all, are to preach, and last the bishop; and so Jerome. Etheria almost verbally confirms this, explaining the words 'but not all' by saying 'as many as wish' [M'Clure & Feltoe, 51.]. Ap-Const VIII mentions only the bishop, and Sozomen tells us that in Alexandria only the bishop preached in his time because of the heresy that had been introduced by the presbyter Arius [H.E. vii.19.]. The Council of Constantinople (in Trullo 691) ordered a sermon every Sunday.

In Africa the Sermon became almost an essential part of the liturgy, so that Augustine says 'No sermon, no High Mass' [Battifol, Lecons, 136.]. In Gaul also it was the rule, priests as well as bishops delivering homilies. In spite of the disapproval expressed by Pope Celestine to the Bishops of Provence (c. 430) [Jaffe, 381.], the practice of priests preaching was continued and extended, and finally confirmed at the Council of Vaison (529). Germain also at Paris (d. 576) says that a 'doctor aut pastor ecclesiae' should preach, but he must avoid 'rusticity' of language. Rome must have had a sermon, for both Leo (440-61) and Gregory (590-604) have left homilies, though Sozomen, who wrote shortly before Leo, says that no one preached at Rome [H.E. vii.19.]. Priests never preached there. Ambrose (374-97) was an assiduous preacher and allowed his presbyters to preach (tractor e), though he discouraged the younger men from taking this upon themselves [Aug. Conf, vi. 3; Amb. Serm. contr. Aux. 26.]. He had inherited the practice from Auxentius, his Arian predecessor. It never had a place in the Roman Missal, but sermons were later preached, and now are, in the Roman Mass.

The position of the Sermon was not invariable; sometimes it was after the Creed in the West, sometimes after the Offertory [Chaucer, Prol. 712.]. In England it was frequently urged upon the clergy. In the East, though sermons were continued, there is no mention of them in the rites, except in Copt; consequently the place has varied. Copt places it after the Gospel. In practice a homily from one of the Fathers is with them usually substituted. Originally of course the Sermon must have preceded the Dismissal of the Catechumens, but when that disappeared, it might take a later place.

St. Chrysostom says that the 'Peace' preceded the Sermon; so Gregory Nazianzen. It had the usual response. There is a prayer after the Sermon, called the 'Rising up from the Sermon' in Sarap. Origen in some of his sermons ends by saying, 'Let us arise and pray. Augustine too, sometimes ended his sermons with a prayer, but these were not liturgical, as Sarapion's seem to have been.

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dismissal of the catechumens

In the first ages of the Church, when heathen surrounded it, it was neither safe nor proper to admit any but the faithful to the 'Mysteries', nor were even the catechumens allowed to hear the prayers of the faithful. Tertullian reproaches the heretics on this ground: 'Who is a catechumen, and who one of the faithful, is uncertain with them; they all alike are admitted, all alike join in the prayers; they throw what is holy to the dogs, and pearls to swine, though indeed they are not really pearls.' [De praescript. haer.41.] In Clement of Alexandria, however, the catechumens depart, but not until they have shared in the singing of the Psalms [De odor, in spir. et verit. 12.]. A little later they join in some of the prayers.

In Ap-Const there were successive dismissals, each class having its own prayers. First, there was a warning to unbelievers not to be present: 'Let none of the listeners, none of the heathen, be present'. A litany followed, consisting of a series of petitions for the catechumens, and then a prayer for them, and then they were dismissed. This litany is longer than any other, but it is only an expansion of that preserved by St. Chrysostom, as that in use in Antioch, which is as follows [In 2 Cor. ii. 5 sqq.]. The catechumens having first prostrated themselves, the deacon says:

Let us pray earnestly for the Catechumens.

The people,

Κύριε ἐλέησον
Let us stand well:
let us pray.
That the all-merciful and pitiful God may hear their supplications.
That he may open the ears of their hearts,
and instruct (κατηχήσῃ) them in the word of truth.
That he may sow his fear in them, and confirm his faith in their minds.
That he may reveal to them the Gospel of righteousness.
That he may give them a godly mind, prudent counsel, and a virtuous conversation, always to think and design and care for the things that belong to God, to walk in his law day and night, to remember his commandments, to keep his statutes.
Still more earnestly let us beseech on their behalf;
That he may deliver them from every evil and unbecoming deed, from every diabolic sin, and from every assault of the enemy.
That he may make them worthy in due time for the laver of regeneration, the forgiveness of sins, and the clothing of immortality.
That he may bless their coming in and their going out, all their manner of life, their houses and households, and their children, that he may bless them as they grow up, and give them wisdom according to their age.
That he may make straight the way before them for their well-being.

Rise.

The angel of peace do ye request, O catechumens.
That all your future may be peaceful.
That the present day and all your days may be peaceful, pray ye.
That your end may be Christian.
For the good and profitable.
Present yourselves to the living God and his Christ.

Chrys is the only living liturgy that has retained the prayers for the dismissal, though much abbreviated. In practice they are said silently during the Sermon.

After their litany there is a prayer in Ap-Const. The catechumens were then dismissed, with a blessing. This, with a prayer, is given in Sarap. The Council of Laodicea (between 314 and 372) directs that the prayers for the catechumens, the penitents, and the faithful should be separate, and that the penitents should come forward for the benediction (προσελθόντων ὑπὸ χεῖρα). We find something like this also in Narsai, 'Bow your heads, Ο ye hearers, believers, baptized, and receive the blessings from the laying on of the hands of the bright (-robed) priest' [Lit. Homilies, R. H. Connolly, 2.]. The catechumens were no doubt dismissed with a similar blessing.

Each group of people who were not allowed to be present at the mysteries was originally dismissed separately. According to Gregory Thaumaturgus (d. c. 270 in Pontus) the first order of penitents, the προσκλαίοντες, were not admitted into the church, but stood without with the heathen; the listeners (ἀκροώμενοι), who were not yet catechumens, stood with the catechumens in the Narthex, and were sent away without any prayers, as in Ap-Const; then the catechumens were sent away, as we have seen; next the third order of penitents, the - hypopiptottes. The fourth order, the συνιστάμενοι, were allowed to remain throughout, but not to communicate [Ep. Canon 11.]. Ap-Const has catechumens, energumens, competentes (φωτιζόμενοι), and penitents, each with their litany and prayer. St. Chrysostom at Antioch mentions prayers for the penitents after the catechumens, but the energumens only stand and bow their heads without prayers; later at Constantinople he only speaks of the catechumens [In Matt. I.4; De incompr. Dei nat. iv. 4.]. St. Maximus (d. 662) still speaks of the dismissal and the shutting of the door, but it was probably in his time not much observed [Brightm. Lit. E. & W. 538, n. 9.]. The world was looked on as Christian, and catechumens were few, their presence insignificant. The dismissal of penitents had disappeared during the sixth century. Pseudo-Dionysius (6th cent.) says:' You must know that this distinction and separation of such classes no longer takes place.' [De praescript. xli.]

That there was a dismissal at Rome is shown by the story of St. Gregory, in which the deacon proclaimed, ' If any one does not communicate, let him go away (det locum)', whereat the bodies of two sinners who had been buried in the church rose from the tomb and left the church [Dialog, ii. 23.]. It had disappeared by the time of the Sacramentaries. Germain speaks of it as a custom evidently not still in use. The Council of Epaone (517) says: 'When the catechumens are told to go, let them depart', which suggests that they were then beginning to remain.

Moz retains the form of dismissal for penitents in Lent. There is none in Amb, but there was originally, for St. Ambrose writes, 'Post lectiones atque tractatum dimittuntur catechumeni' [Rufinus, H.E. ii.18; Sozomen, H.E. vii.25.]. There is no evidence that penitents were excluded, and when Theodosius submitted to penance he was allowed to be present at the sacred rites, but not to communicate until he had been solemnly readmitted.

In most liturgies there is a relic of the dismissals in the warnings which are given in various places for catechumens or other unworthy persons not to be present at the mysteries. Thus Jas before the Cheroubicon:

Let none of the catechumens (be present);
none of the uninitiated;
none of those who are not able to pray with us.
Take note of one another.
The doors.

In many 'the doors' only remains. Germain already interprets this metaphorically: 'We are ordered to keep silence, setting guard over the door, that is, hushing the tumult of words.'

The distinction between the Missa Catechumenorum and the Missa Fidelium was in some places occasionally emphasized by holding them in different churches. So it was in Jerusalem in the time of Etheria, and in Africa early in the fifth century. Augustine says in one of his sermons: 'This sermon has been long enough as the days are short (pauci), and there still remains what we are to do by your devotion in the greater basilica.' [Serm. cccxxv.]

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