THE  GREGORIAN   LITURGY

                       THE  DIVINE  LITURGY  OF  THE

                          HOLY  ORTHODOX  CHURCH 

                          (AMERICAN  JURISDICTION)




                                     
                            A  HISTORY  OF  THE

                          LIVING  CONTINUITY  WITH

                       THE  SYNAGOGUE,  THE  TEMPLE

                          AND  THE  EARLY  CHURCH








                                     
                                COMPLIED BY

                              MOST  REVEREND

                      MAR  RAMON  ALLEE, S.S.B., D.D.


                                  FORWARD


It is of paramount importance to know something of the history of
the Liturgy that is ours in the Holy Orthodox Church (American
Jurisdiction), for only by a competent knowledge of the origins of
our Rites can we attain to a true understanding of the real meaning
of the prayers and actions of the Divine Liturgy.  For too long have
these prayers and ceremonies been "explained" by Western
theologians particularly as priori theories, culminating very often in
the merely fanciful.  History is a valuable corrective of speculation,
of subjective hypotheses, and the only really sound knowledge of
the Gregorian Rite must be based on a historical foundation, on the
rock of historical fact.

     The Gregorian Liturgy as revised by the Russian Orthodox
Synod of Bishops, St. Petersburg, Russian in 1870, has remained
almost undisturbed.  There are deletions from the original text but
several optional prayers have been added to accommodate its
traditional Anglo Catholic use.  There is a provision for the optional
use of the Preparation of the Gifts, the Prothesis, to be done prior
to the beginning of the Liturgy, and for the proper entrance of the
Holy Gifts to the altar at the proper time just prior to the Lavabo. 
This additional provision not only compliments a similar action
which takes regularly within the Byzantine tradition, but also is a
restoration of a Western practice which prevailed in certain areas of
Europe and within various monastic houses for centuries.   Hence,
the "Great Entrance" has been restored to the Gregorian use by the
American Jurisdiction.

     When the late Russian Archbishop X Aftimos (Ofiesh) instituted
the Western Rite within his archdiocese in 1932 he requested that
the Byzantine custom of the Prothesis and the Great Entrance of
the Gifts be observed.  In the wisdom of the Synod of Bishops in
February 1982 allowed the preparation of the Holy Gifts to remain
optional due to the various circumstances encountered by priests in
celebrating the Divine Liturgy, such as, in nursing homes, small
homes, etc., but whenever and wherever possible the wishes of the
late Archbishop Aftimos must be honored.














                                  PREFACE


The following pages have been written in order to gather together
the results of work by authoritative writers on the history of the
Liturgy for the sake of those people who, while anxious to know
more about the meaning and history of the worship of the Church,
are unable, for one reason or another, to take up a really serious
study of the matter.  In these days of "liturgical movements" of one
kind or another, worker priests as well as lay folk as tending more
and more to take an interest in liturgical matters from both the
practical and historical points of view, but are in most cases unable
to find time to look it up for themselves.  What seems to be much
needed, nowadays, is some kind of text book on the history and
explanation of the Divine Liturgy -  The Gregorian Liturgy, that is,
the restored Orthodox Western Rite more commonly referred to by
Catholics, both Orthodox and Roman, as the Liturgy of the Mass -
(by a Orthodox Catholic English speaking writer), and no such
book exists in this country exists to the best of my knowledge.

     With regard to the historical aspect of Orthodox Western
Christian worship and the need of a text book on the subject for
Catholics as well for our fellow Orthodox and interested persons
within the various Protestant denominations, there is a well-known
theological axiom: Nil volitum quin praecognitum ("Nothing is
desired unless it be known first").  In order to really love and
appreciate the Liturgy of the Holy Orthodox Church (American
Jurisdiction) as it deserves; in order to really desire to take part in it
- that is, by an active sharing in the celebration of the Divine
Liturgy - Holy Sacrifice of the Mass and in order to participate in
or make use of the Sacraments of the Church as she herself intends
us to - it is necessary, or at least a very great help, to know
something about the origin and development of the prayers that are
said and the ceremonial actions that are carried out.  In other
words, it is necessary, or very helpful, to find an answer to the
"why and wherefore", and even to the "when", of the various
elements of Christian worship.  But the historical study of the
Liturgy should not be a mere delving into the past - a "dry as dust"
gathering together of things which have happened long ago.  The
Rites and ceremonies of the Christian religion are not, as in the case
of the old religions of the pagan world, mere ritual acts handed
down from time immemorial, and objects of a superstitious
reverence simply because they were so old - because they had
"always been done."  Orthodox Catholic Christian Rites and
ceremonies are true expressions of its teaching and worship; they
really mean something, and that meaning has lasted through the
ages of the Church's life, and will last until the end of time.










                               INTRODUCTION

                          SACRIFICE  AND  PRAYER


The real, substantial importance of the restored Gregorian Liturgy
and of the "Liturgical Movement" of the present day lies simply in
the fact that the Liturgy is the worship of the Blessed Trinity by
Christ our Lord Himself, in person, and by His Mystical Body, the
Church which is the "whole Christ", as St. Augustine says in his
treatise on Psalm 65:4, " When Christ hath begun to dwell in man's
heart by faith ... there is made up the whole Christ, the Head and
the Body, and out of many one." 

     The word "Liturgy" is derived from the Greek word leiturgia,
which means "public work" or "service".  Originally referring to
service owed to the state by its members, the word has come to
refer elusively to "divine service", that is, the public or social
worship of God.  Public, social worship is found in all forms of
religion and from the earliest periods of human history, for man is a
"social animal" with regard to his religion as in all else that concerns
human life.

     From the philosophical and theological points of view, God has
an absolute right to the worship of human society as well as to that
of each individual composing it, since He is the Creator and Lord of
the former as well as of the latter.  Besides this, God has a right,
not only to the interior adoration of each and of all in general, but
also to the exterior expression of this adoration - through the body,
in words, actions, signs and ceremonies.  He has, in fact, a right to
the worship of the "whole man" - body and soul.  Worship of God,
individual and social, finds its expression in two ways - in prayer
and sacrifice.

     Prayer means the intercourse of mind, heart and, in fact, the
whole of man's soul with God - this is interior or "mental" prayer. 
"Vocal" prayer includes the use of the voice and other exercises of
the body.  Purely mental prayer cannot be public or social, but is
entirely personal.

     Sacrifice might be loosely described as the fulfillment in act of
the dispositions expressed mentally and vocally in prayer.  It is the
pledge and proof of the reality and sincerity of the "religious
attitude", and it is the supreme and all embracing act of the virtue of
religion.  Sacrifice can be offered to God alone, as the Beginning
and End of all life.  As the internal and external recognition of that
fact, sacrifice consists in the offering and entire surrender - the
consecration and devotion - of life to God.  The intention and
desire of the offerer (individual or society, nation or family) to
perform this sacred act is the interior sacrifice, the "soul" of the
exterior sacrifice without which this latter would be mere
formalism.  The exterior act of sacrifice, in the Religion of Israel
and in all other known religions, consisted principally in the
ceremonial offering of a living creature of some description - the
"victim".  This word is derived from the Latin victima, and is
cognate with the Gothic word weihan, which means "to consecrate"
(weihs = "holy").   This fact fits in, too, with the word "sacrifice",
itself derived from the Latin sacrum facere - to "make holy", to
"consecrate".  For far too long the real substantial meaning of
sacrifice has lain hidden under the general belief that the word
signified the destruction of life in token of the supreme power of
God over all existence - especially in connection with reparation for
sin in order to obtain reconciliation with an offended Deity.  The
fact that living victims were killed and, in part at least, burned, and
other offerings of inanimate articles (food and drink, etc., also
included in sacrificial worship) were usually burned or destroyed in
some way, led to this notion of the destruction of life instead of its
consecration - the latter, surely, far more consonant with God's
honor and majesty than the former, for God neither destroys nor
desires the destruction of anything that He has made.  The fact,
however, that life can be consecrated and offered to God only
through death or surrender in some form is a valuable lesson to
keep in mind.  This fact is the result of sin, and it entered into all
forms of sacrifice, even those offered entirely in adoration or as
signifying peace and union with God.

     Properly speaking, man should have offered his own life to its
Maker.  But, since on account of sin as we have just seen, life can
be offered to Him only through death and suffering, and since this
would mean that man must take his own life or that of some fellow
creature in his place, God decreed that some substitute for human
life should be the victim of sacrifice.  This was usually a domestic
animal - as more representative of human life than any wild animal -
and also of other (inanimate) kinds of food, especially the universal
food and drink - bread and wine.

     The classic example of the "substitute sacrifice" in the Old
Testament is the sacrifice of a ram offered by Abraham in place of
his son Isaac (Gen. 22:1-13).  In pagan religions, however, human
sacrifice was often offered, even in comparatively civilized nations.

     In the revealed ritual code of Israel in Leviticus and
Deuteronomy, we find special emphasis laid upon the offering of
the victim's blood - which act was reserved to the priest alone,
though any other, a Levite or the "lay" offered himself, might
actually kill the victim.  The blood poured out upon or around the
altar by the priest represented the victim's life and that of the offerer
- as the text says: "the life of the flesh is in the blood and I have
given it to you, that you may make atonement with it upon the altar
of your souls" (Levit. 17:11). this consecrated blood "made
atonement" (i.e., effected a reunion, an "at-one-ment") with God
for the sinful or otherwise unworthy life of the offerer, as it was the
offering of a more worthy and pleasing gift of an, at least ritually,
"pure and unblemished" life.  Even in those sacrifices offered
expressly in reparation for sin in general or for some "trespass" in
particular, the slaying, out pouring of blood and burning in the altar
fire were not regarded as punishments - either of the victim, which
was "holy" and "consecrated" and so in no sense needed,
"punishment", or even of the sinful offerer; it was all simply the
unavoidable result of ancestral sin by the First Man which made all
approach to God difficult and painful.

     With regard to the meaning underlying the ritual burning of the
victim or other offerings, in whole or in part, the daily morning and
evening sacrifice of incense in the Temple at Jerusalem really
provides the best explanation.  No one would be likely to suggest
that the burning of precious gums on the altar of incense in the
Holy Place was intended to destroy them.  On the contrary, the
burning effected their sublimation - producing the sweet smelling
smoke which ascended to Heaven (in the words of Holy Writ "as a
sweet savor before the Lord".  The latter words were applied also
to all sacrificial burnings, but in the case of ordinary sacrifices
(especially those of animal victims) the words were merely
symbolical; the "sweet savor" was realized in the literal sense only
in the offering of incense; the "sweet savor" in other sacrifices
implied that they were acceptable to God through the intentions of
those who offered them.

     These symbolical sacrifices of the Old Law, and to a certain
extent those of pagan religions also, were summed up and
transcended in the One Sacrifice of the New Law.  Jesus Christ Our
Lord offered His own life upon the Cross, to make real
"at-one-ment" between His Heavenly Father and all mankind.  The
perfect life of the Perfect Man (officially) "consecrated" in sacrifice
restored the ability of the human race to become partakers in His
Divine Nature and made complete reparation for the evil of sin. 
The sufferings and death freely undergone in this sacrifice and
suffered on behalf of all men gave complete restitution for all
offenses against God.  This supreme Sacrifice offered once in blood
upon the Cross is offered continually upon the altars of the Holy
Orthodox Catholic Church in the Sacrifice bequeathed to her by her
Divine Head at the Last Supper, "on the day before He suffered". 
In this unbloody Sacrifice we have the most complete and most
perfect example of "consecration" - sacrum facere - that could be
imagined.  The Church, fulfilling the command of her Founder and
Redeemer, makes her offering of bread and wine, representing the
life, both spiritual and temporal, of her children, and representing,
too, the "Holy Bread of everlasting life" and the "Chalice of
salvation", the true supports of all life.  These offerings become
sacred in the official or ritual sense at the invocation of the Holy
Spirit - the Epiclesis - transmuting them substantially as the
celebrating priest petitions Almighty God: "to vouchsafe in all
respects to bless, consecrate, and approve this our oblation, to
perfect it and render it well pleasing to Thee, so that through the
life-giving power of Thy Holy Spirit this bread and wine may
become the Body and Blood of Thy most beloved Son, our Savior
Jesus Christ.." Thus the Body and Blood of the victim of Calvary
whose voluntary act of self- oblation is thus brought from eternity
into time until the end of time and remains present the reserved
Sacrament.

     Besides sacrifice and prayer - the Divine Liturgy and the Divine
Office - the sacraments and, in a lesser degree, what are known as
"sacramentals" must be included in the Liturgy.  Our Lord's
disciples and their successors founded the Christian religion on the
sacramental system, the Incarnation of the Second Person of the
Blessed Trinity being the Supreme Sacrament - using the word in a
wider sense.  In the strict, official sense a sacrament is "an outward
sign of inward grace, ordained by Jesus Christ, by which grace is
given to our souls".  In the wider sense, the world "sacramental"
can be given to any external signs of higher things.  For example,
the external rites and ceremonies of sacrifice are the sacramental
indications of the interior meaning of the act.  As we noted on page
iii of this Introduction, St. Augustine tells us plainly that the "visible
sacrifice is the sacrament, that is, the sacred sign of the invisible
sacrifice."

     In the strict, official sense a sacrament is an outward sign of
grace given to man's soul, but it is not merely a sign,, a symbol of
God's gift.  A sacrament is an "effective sign" - that is, it really
produces the grace in the soul - provided that neither the person
receiving nor the one dispensing the sacrament puts any obstacle in
the way.  A sacrament is a human act (thought a supernatural one),
it is not a magical performance.  In the sacrament of baptism, for
instance, pouring water on the recipient's head while pronouncing
the words "I baptize thee in the name of the Father, the Son and the
Holy Spirit" really brings about in the baptized person the spiritual
washing of the soul from the stain or ancestral sin and/or of any sins
committed since birth.  Baptism is the first of the seven sacraments:
Baptism, Chrismation, Holy Eucharist, Penance, Matrimony, Holy
Orders and the Unction (anointing with oil).  Baptism - Chrismation
incorporates (literally "embodies") the recipient into the Mystical
Body of Christ - that is, the Church.  It makes the recipient
"another Christ", as Tertullian tells us that all Christians are by their
very vocation.  But the Holy Eucharist is the greatest and highest of
the seven, for not only Divine grace is given to the soul, but the
Author of all grace, Jesus Christ Himself, who is really and actually
present under the forms of bread and wine.  Our Savior is present in
this Sacrament, in order to be offered in sacrifice by His Church - as
its result -He gives His Body and Blood to all as the Food and
Drink of the spiritual life.

     The chief difference between a sacrifice and a sacrament is that
in the former man offers something to God, and this is true also of
prayer, in which man offers to God the homage due to Him and
recognizes Him as worshipful, and as the source of life and of all
that is needed in life. In the latter it is God who offers something to
man: Chrismation in Baptism; the "consecration" of the natural
contract of matrimony which makes it a living copy of the union
between the soul and Our Lord; a share in His own Priesthood in
Holy Orders; forgiveness of sins committed since Baptism-
Chrismation in the Sacrament of Penance; a share in the Sacrifice of
Redemption and nourishment of the soul in the Holy Eucharist. 
Finally, in the Anointing of the Sick, God sometimes restores heath,
but always strengthens His servant for the journey ever forward and
upward in this life, or for the journey of death, if this be their
appointed time, if the latter journey  anointing with Holy Chrism,
cures each member of the body that has perhaps been used in sin -
in look, hearing, speech, touch or step.

     All the Sacraments are connected with and depend upon that
Sacrament which is known distinctively as "the Blessed Sacrament". 
Each of the other Sacraments is a means of applying to all men, and
in all ages of the world, the saving effects of the Redemption.  In
the Holy Eucharist we have the Work of the Redemption itself.

     Sacramentals were originally so-called, either because of their
connection with the Sacraments or their resemblance to or analogy
with them.  Now, however, the term indicates only those rites and
ceremonies instituted by the Church in the course of ages and which
bear a certain resemblance to the Sacraments instituted by Our
Lord Himself.

     The seven Sacraments produce - each in its own way - what is
called sanctifying grace in the recipient's soul; that is, the free gift
(gratica) from God to His faithful of holiness and the means to
preserve and develop it.  But the sacramentals, not being
immediately "commissioned" by Jesus Christ, are simply helps for
obtaining special graces.  Some examples are the blessing of Icons,
holy water: making the Sign of the Cross and so on.  All these offer
the means of obtaining spiritual help in one way or another.  Also,
as is shown by long experience, they can serve as "arms" to be used
against the attacks of Satan and his fallen angels.

     With regards to sacrifice and prayer: the Divine Liturgy
comprises two distinct public services - the Holy Sacrifice of the
Mass, of which we have just spoken above, and the divine Office. 
The Liturgy includes a number of prayers as well as ceremonial
actions; but the Divine Office forms besides an ordered system of
public, corporate prayer at stated times of the day.  We read in the
acts of the Apostles that the disciples went up to the Temple to pry,
according to the Jewish custom, at the ninth hour of the day - about
3 PM of our time.  This was, at that period, the hour of the daily
evening sacrifice offered in the Temple.  In earlier times the daily
sacrifices had been offered at sunrise and sunset respectively.  It is
not till the fourth century of the Christian era that we find official
corporate prayer fully developed and distinct from the Holy
Eucharist and private prayer.  It is them found in two forms: the
"ecclesiastical Office" - public prayer carried out by the clergy and
their congregations; and the "Monastic Office" - the family prayer
of the "Ascetics", both men and women; monks and nuns, as we
should call them today.  Quite distinct at first, these two offices
gradually influenced each other in one way or another, and were
finally welded into the "Divine Office", the solemn, corporate
prayer of the whole Church.   The Monastic Office, although it has
preserved certain characteristics of its own distinct from that of the
clergy in general, is no included in the Public Prayer of the whole
Church, carried out officially in the name and with the authority of
the Church.










                                  PART  I

                      SACRIFICE:  THE  HOLY EUCHARIST



































                               CHAPTER  ONE

              THE  INSTITUTION  OF  THE  HOLY  EUCHARIST
AND
                  THE  EARLY FORMATION  OF  THE  LITURGY


The Institution of the Holy Eucharist by Our Lord at the Last
supper is described in the Synoptic Gospels; St. John does not
record it, although he speaks of the Last Supper and the washing of
the feet of the disciples by Our Lord, His instructions to them and
His prayer for them - and the going forth to the Garden of
Gethsemane (John 13-18).  The Synoptic Gospels tell us that Our
Lord, after the Supper with His disciples, took bread and wine,
blessed God, "giving thanks" over them and declaring that they
were now His Body and Blood, commanded His disciples to repeat
what He had done in anamnesis (Gr. "recalling to memory") of
Him; broke the consecrated bread and distributed it, together with
the chalice of consecrated wine, to disciples (Matt. 26:17-30; Mark
14:12-26; Luke 22: 7-21).  St. Luke is the only Evangelist who
gives the words used by Our Lord after the words of institution. 
These are: "Do this for a remembrance of Me." Scholars are not
agreed as to the exact nature of the supper which preceded the
institution of the of the Holy Eucharist - that is, as to whether it
was the actual Paschal Supper after the sacrifice of the Paschal
Lamb in the Temple court; whether it was an anticipation of that
supper, before the actual day of the Passover, or, finally, whether it
was simple one of the ordinary Jewish "family meals".  These latter
also had a religious - even a sacrificial - character, e.g., the Kiddish
and the Chaburah (or Haburah).  The former was held on the eve of
the Sabbath day; the latter was a meal shared by a company of
friends - the name being derived from chaber or haber, a friend or
comrade.  

     All Jewish meals consisted of the following elements: (a) a
preliminary informal course eaten seated, in which everyone blessed
the food and drink for himself; (b) the formal meal taken reclining,
which opened with the blessing and breaking of the bread by one
"leader" for all present; (c) at the conclusion, the "grace after
meals", called the "food blessing" - also said by the leader for all
present.  On simple occasions the "food blessing" was merely said
without any accompanying ceremony, but on special, joyful
occasions it was said over a common cup, known as the "cup of
blessing" or "of the blessing".  No former cup was thus blessed by
one person for the whole group.  (d) Finally, came, in some cases,
the cup called the "kiddish-cup", blessed with a double blessing -
"of the wine" and "of the day".  This, too, was a "common" cup and
was blessed by one person.

     As Jesus usually adhered to Jewish  custom we can take this
description as the "procedure" He would have followed at the Last
Supper, the consecration of the bread would have taken place at the
blessing and breaking of the bread by the host - in this case, Our
Lord Himself - and after the preliminary informal course.  The meal
proper then followed, and the consecration of the wine would have
been during the grace after meals or "food blessing".  As this
Supper was a special occasion of joy (in the institution of the Holy
Eucharist), there was a cup of blessing - which fully justified its title
in its result; that is, the change of ordinary wine into the Precious
Blood of Our Savior (1 Cor. 10:16) - where St. Paul uses explicitly
the term "cup of blessing" in speaking of the Eucharist).  In
Matthew and Mark the consecration of the bread is not clearly
stated to have taken place at the beginning of the Supper and that
of the wine after it, but St. Luke, after mentioning the first cup of
wine before the supper proper began, speaks of the consecration of
the bread, and then goes one: "in like manner the chalice, after He
had supped, etc." (Luke 22:17-20).  The first cup was probably that
of the preliminary course of the meal, and Our Lord, no doubt,
blessed this cup only for Himself, that is it was His own personal
"grace", but He would have passed the wine (not the cup from
which He Himself drank) to His disciples.  St. Paul, too, in the
above quotation expressly states that Our Lord blessed the chalice
(in which blessing He changed the wine into His own Blood) "after
supper".  There would then have been quite a long time between
the two consecrations and communions.  The whole rite ended,
after the communion of the chalice, with the singing of the hymn
(Matt. 26:30; Mark 14:26), and the usual hand washing.  After the
Crucifixion, if at first the Holy Eucharist was celebrated during or
after the usual evening meal, this order would, no doubt, have been
adhered to by the disciples.  But when - perhaps on account of the
troubles and lack of reverence spoken by St. Paul in 1 Cor.
11:17-34  - this connection between the ordinary meal and the
Eucharist which had been continued at first, owing perhaps to the
desire to follow Our Lord's example as closely as possible, was
given up, we find that the usual time was in the early morning, in
honor of the Resurrection.  Some authorities consider that the
above quotation form 1 Corinthians refers to a special meal before
the Eucharist introduced by the early Church, named the "agape",
that is, "love feast" (from the Greek word meaning "love"), which
was continued during the early centuries, in memory of the Last
Supper.  But the whole question of the  agape is still very much
disputed, and Liturgical authorities do not agree about its true
character nor the method of usage.  In any case, the agape was
never a universal custom, and, in fact, at Rome was never accepted
as Liturgical ceremony, but only tolerated as a "private devotion".
When the meal before the Eucharist was given up, the short
blessing of the bread - the usual grace before meals - was dropped,
and the long blessing of the wine (the usual grace after meals)
became the long, uninterrupted "Eucharistic [thanksgiving] Prayer". 
Besides the words of  blessing and thanksgiving in this prayer, there
were the words used by Our Lord at the Last Supper - known as
"the Words of  Institution" or "of Consecration": "This is My
Body", etc.; "This is My Blood", etc.  These words are found in all
Liturgies, Eastern and Western - except in one Liturgy as used by
an heretical body, of which we shall speak later.  In the Eastern
Liturgies, the words of Our Lord are taken from 1 Cor. 11:23: "the
Lord Jesus, the same night in which He was betrayed, took bread",
etc.; in the Western Liturgies, the Roman and almost certainly the
Gallican, the words are: Who, the day before He suffered, took
bread:, etc.  The origin of these latter words is unknown.  In the
Spanish Liturgy (the same, practically, as the Gallican), the Eastern
form was used, and still was at Toledo before the Novus Ordo was
instituted by Vatican II.  But this seems to be the result of later
Eastern influence - as in so many cases in the "Gallican family" -
and the fact remains that the prayer immediately after the
consecration is nearly always preceded in the Missal, by the rubric:
Post Pridie ("after [the words] the day before", etc.), which seems
to indicate naturally that his was the original form.

     With regard to the blessing in the Holy Eucharist, we have to
keep always in mind the Jewish conception of the meaning of
blessing.  A Jewish blessing did not ask God to bless the food (or
whatever was to be blessed); it blessed God - for the food, etc.,
provided by Him.   Thanksgiving, blessing, praising, all meant the
same to the Jew.  To bless God was the way to "free" the food for
human use or consumption - for to eat or use anything without first
blessing God over it would have been a theft on man's part of what
really belonged to God - a sacrilege.  So, the idea of sacrifice - that
is, of declaring that all creation belongs first to its Creator - entered
into the whole of life and among all ancient nations, pagan as well
as Jewish.  

THE  PREPARATORY  SERVICE:  Quite early in the history of
the Church, the Eucharistic Sacrifice was celebrated after a service
of reading from Holy Scripture, chanting of psalms and recitation of
intercessory prayers.  This service was almost certainly derived (but
also adopted) from the weekly service held by the Jews in the
synagogue.  This preparatory service was not at first considered to
be a necessary part of the Holy Eucharist.  The latter was often
celebrated without it, and, on the other hand, the service itself was
sometimes celebrated alone as complete in itself.  As we shall see,
the service thus celebrated alone was probably the origin of the
Divine Office of the Christian Church.  But little by little the two
distinct services tended to fuse into one.

     Of this Christian adaptation of the Jewish synagogue service and
its connection with the Holy Sacrifice, we have a possible
indication, even as early as the Acts of the Apostles - in chapter
20:7-12.  Here it is said that on the "first day of the week" (already
tending to take the place of the Jewish sabbath) the disciples were
"assembled to break bread"; St. Paul "discoursed with them, being
to depart on the morrow, and he continued his speech until
midnight" (7 and 8).  Nothing is said, it is true, as to any readings
from Scripture - unless it might be presumed, fairly reasonably, that
the Apostle's discourse implies that reading, or took its place to a
certain extent.  The extreme length of this discourse, coupled with
the heat of the "great number of lamps in the upper chamber", led
to the disastrous fall "from the third loft down" of poor Eutyches,
unwisely sitting in the window, and to the miracle worked by the
Preacher St. Paul  - and so we come to the "breaking of bread"
(11), which almost certainly means the Holy Eucharist.

     This preparatory service is officially described for the first time
in the second century, by St. Justin Martyr, in his Apology.  It was
known by a title which sounds nowadays very "Protestant", the
"meeting" - in Greek, synaxis or syneleusis.  This meeting became,
later on, the principal service on what were known as "aliturgical"
days - that is, certain days of the week on which the Holy Sacrifice
(the "Divine Liturgy" in the full sense) was not celebrated.  This
word "aliturgical" is equivalent to "non-liturgical" - the "a" being
what is known as the Greek "alpha primitive" (that is, the
"depriving A"), which, when used in certain cases at the beginning
of a word, implied the negative or opposite - as in the case above,
"aliturgical".  Examples of the old aliturgical service is still to be
found in the Roman Rite, in the Mass of the Pre-Sanctified
celebrated on Good Friday - and in the Liturgy of the Pre-Sanctified
usually celebrated on Wednesdays of Lent in the Eastern Churches. 
In the Western Liturgy as far as the "bidding prayers" or "solemn
collects" after the Passion, inclusive.

     The preparatory service was derived from the old synagogue
service on the Sabbath (Saturday).  Besides this, shorter services
were held also, on Tuesday and Thursday, and these latter days
were fast days.

     Let look at an outline of the synagogue services in the time of
Our Lord - as far as it is possible to reconstruct it now.

THE  SYNAGOGUE  SERVICE  IN  THE TIME  OF  OUR 
LORD: While the Temple was the place of worship par excellence -
in the daily morning and evening sacrifices, and also in prayer and
praise, the chanting of the psalms during the sacrifices (special
psalms being assigned to each day of the week) - and while the
original object of the synagogue was to be a place of teaching and
instruction about Holy Scripture, it tended to become, especially in
places far distinct from Jerusalem, a place of public worship also,
and prayer gradually became a substitute for sacrifice.  The service
held both evening and morning on the Sabbath (Saturday) and on
the Tuesdays and Thursdays was as follows:

     (i) The "offering of prayer" (the Shema, consisting of the
following parts of Scripture: Deut. 6:4-9; 11:13-21; Num.
15:37-41).  To these passages were attached certain
"Benedictions", followed by more prayer.

     (ii) The reading of the Law (the Torah).

     (iii) The Tepilla or Shemoneth Esreh - that is, the "Eighteen
Benedictions".

     (iv) The reading of the Prophets - known as the Haptarah, that
is, the "Conclusion".

     (v) A sermon or exhortation based upon what had been read.

     (vi) The "Offering of Praise" - which was probably introduced
by the chanting of "Holy,   Holy, Holy" (Isaiah 6:3) and of Ezekiel
3:12.
     
     (vii) Then - again, probably - the chanting of the psalm
appointed for the day in the     Temple, at the end of the morning
and evening sacrifices.

     (viii) The "Aaronic Blessing" (Num. 6:24-6), with the response,
"amen", from the     congregation.

     This is the service which seems to have formed the basis of the
Christian synaxis or service preparatory to the Eucharistic Sacrifice,
and also of the synaxis or "meeting" in itself alone, on "aliturgical
days", and which formed the beginnings of the "Divine Office". 
The Christian service, however, did not follow the Jewish example
slavishly in everything.  The reading of the law, for example, was
given up quite early and, in later times, that of the Prophets did not
always form an element in the reading, the Epistles and, especially,
the Gospels gradually taking its place as these came to be written.

EUCHARISTIC  SACRIFICIAL  RITES: There are three chief
elements in the Rite of the Holy Eucharist - which are found in all
liturgies, Eastern and Western.  These are: (i) "Taking" bread and
wine - in order to set them apart for special use; (ii) "Giving
thanks" over the bread and wine; (iii) "Communion - that is, eating
and drinking the"eucharistised" (consecrated) bread and wine, and
so entering into communion with Christ and all the members of His
Mystical Body, the Church.

     No. i developed into the "offertory", which in some places
became a very long and intricate ceremony.  No. ii  developed into
the long, undivided "Eucharistic - i.e., "thanksgiving" - Prayer
which was called the "Anaphora: (offering) in the East; in the West,
the "Canon", that is, "rule", from the Greek word meaning a "ruler"
or any straight rod or bar and so, metaphorically, a "rule" or
standard of excellence, direction, etc.  At first, this latter name was
given to the whole Eucharistic Prayer, but later to the first part of
the Liturgy up to the threefold Sanctus (when it was introduced
into the Liturgy) was called the prefatio (i.e., the "Preface",
introduction or preparation), the word "Canon" being preserved for
the consecratory portion, after the Sanctus.  The Eucharistic Prayer
- in both Eastern and Western liturgies - besides the introductory
acts of thanksgiving to God for all His benefits to mankind -
Creation, Incarnation and Redemption - contained a reference to
the Last Supper, and also the actual words used by Our Lord in
instituting the Eucharist (hence known as the"words of
institution"), and also His words after the Institution, commanding
the disciples to: "Do this as memorial [or "in commemoration'], also
His words in some places (not everywhere) developed into what is
called the anamnesis ("recalling to mind"), a prayer founded on the
above words of Our Savior, and referring besides to His Passion,
Death, Resurrection and Ascension.  In other places, however, only
a prayer of oblation of the consecrated offerings is found in this
place.  No. iii - at first very simple - the giving by celebrant and
deacons of the Bread and Wine (after their own communions) to all
present, was preceded by the "Breaking of Bread", the Fraction, (in
Latin, the fractio), which preceded it to be divided among all the
communicants, and which actually was the earliest name given to
the Holy Sacrifice.  Among the Jews, the expression "breaking
bread" or to break bread" was the general term for any meal,
religious or profane.  It was always the duty of the host to break the
bread and distribute it among his guests - as we have seen with
regard to the Last Supper.  This action signified friendship, union
and peace between all who were to partake of the broken bread. 
Among both the Jews and all ancient nations, even pagan, all meals
among family or friends had a sacrificial character.  Every meal
included the preliminary offering to God, or the gods, of the life of
those present and of food and drink, in recognition of the
dependence of both upon the Divine bounty.

OTHER  NAMES:  The title "The Mysteries" was used also -
especially in Rome.  This title, externally, from that of the secret
rites in the Greek "mystery religions", was actually realized in the
fullest and deepest sense in the Christian "Secret Rite".  The Holy
Sacrifice was at first offered in secret in the catacombs, owing to
the persecution of the Roman Imperial authorities, but in the deeper
meaning of the word the Eucharist is the "Mystery of the mysteries"
- it was expressed in the words of the former Latin Roman Mass as
the "Mystery of Faith".  

     In the Eastern churches, the holy sacrifice was, and still is, called
the "Divine Liturgy:, for the Holy Sacrifice sums up in itself the full
significance of that word which means, as we have seen, "public
social work", "the work of the people" or "service" - in the
Christian sense the service rendered by man to God.  The name
given by St. Benedict in his Holy Rule to the Liturgy in the wide
sense  "the Work of God" (opus Dei) - is realized again most fully
in the Holy Eucharist - the "work" of sacrifice offered by the
God-Man Himself.  In the Western Church, the word "Liturgy"
usually includes, as well as the Holy Eucharist, the other
Sacraments and the Divine Office.  The usual name for the Holy
Sacrifice in the Western Church is "Mass".  This word, in Latin
missa, is derived from the Latin form of dismissal at the end of the
Holy Sacrifice in the old Latin Rite which was recited by the
deacon: Ite missa est - that is, the end).  This dismissal was also
pronounced by the deacon at the end of the synaxis - not only when
it was celebrated apart from the Eucharist, but when the latter
followed it immediately.  This dismissal concerned those not yet
baptized (chrismated) (the "catechumens", still under instruction),
or others who, for some reason, were unable to take full part in the
sacrifice of the Liturgy of Mass.  In the sixth century, St. Gregory
the Great mentions in his Dialogues what seems to be a relic of the
first dismissal.  In the second book, which gives the life of St.
Benedict, he speaks in chapter 23 of two nuns whom the patriarch
of monks had threatened to excommunicate on account of their
uncharitable treatment of their unfortunate "man of business".  A
few days after his reprimand, both the nuns died and were buried in
the church which they attended.  While Mass was being celebrated
there, the deacon - in the words of St. Gregory - "according to
custom, cried aloud: `if there be anyone who does not
communicate, let that person depart'".  The former nurse of the two
nuns, who was in the habit of making an offering of bread and wine
for them at Mass, saw them both arise from their tombs and go out
of the church at the above words of dismissal.  St. Gregory does
not say at what precise moment of the Mass this dismissal was
pronounced, but it seems most probable that it took place after the
chanting of the Gospel - at the end, that is, of the preliminary
synaxis and before the beginning of the Holy Sacrifice itself.

     Various additions made after the words Ite missa est during the
Middle Ages deprived them of their original significance. 
Sometimes their place is taken by other forms of dismissal  - for
example, when the Gloria in excelsis is not said, the form of
dismissal is: "Let us bless the Lord", and in a requiem Mass for the
dead, it is "May they [the dead] rest in peace".  The reason for the
latter is easy to see, but the reason for "Let us bless the Lord" is not
clear.  It has been suggested that, originally, these words were
chanted during Lent when the Liturgy of the Mass was followed
almost immediately by Vespers, so as to allow those present to
break their fast (which lasted still after Vespers) as soon as
possible.  As the people were not expected to leave the church till
the end of the latter office, the deacon exhorted them to stay and
"bless the Lord". 

EARLY  TEXTS  AND  LITURGIES:  Up till about A.D. 140, the
only references to the Christian Liturgy since the time of the
Apostles are found in the letter written by St. Clement of Rome to
the Corinthians (A.D. 96), the letter of Pliny (Caius Plinius
Caecilius), the Governor of Bithynia, a Roman province in Asia
Minor, to the Emperor Trajan (A.D. 112), and in a document
known by the Greek title Didache (:teaching"; the full title is The
Teaching of the Apostles).  In Clement's letter are found certain
words and phrases which occur in the liturgies of a later period, and
the whole of his letter bears the character of a liturgical "Eucharistic
Prayer" - but this does not mean that it was necessarily the
reproduction of an already fixed form.   Pliny's letter provides a
non-Christian's description of Christian ceremonies in the second
century.  One rite is described as the meeting "before day break" to
sing a hymn "to christ as God"; the other as a meeting later in the
day, to eat food, which is declared to be "common and harmless" -
"common", i.e., "ordinary" food such as bread and wine, the
practically universal type of human food and drink in all ages - and
harmless", i.e., not a feast of gorging and drunkenness, as so often
among the pagan Romans.

THE  "CHURCH  ORDERS":  The Didache is probably the earliest
example of a class of liturgical literature known as "Church Orders"
- i.e., documents purporting to have been composed by the
Apostles themselves and laying down laws, rules, examples - the
"order" of rites and ceremonies to be observed by clergy and
faithful.  These documents were invented in Syria and Egypt, and
"there alone that literature took firm root, and there alone it
continued to be valued long after the rest of Christendom had
forgotten it". It seems that the Didache was probably written
towards the end of the second century (c. A.D. 190).  Its interest
lies principally in the fact that it gives what appears to be an
example of the combined agape and Eucharist.  But liturgical
authorities are not agreed as to its real character - through most of
them do agree that it was never actually in use in any church of the
East.  It follows, apparently, the usual type of Jewish meals,
described on page 6 and following.

     Besides the Didache, the other Church Orders are: The
Apostolic Church Order, derived partly from the Didache, and
dating from the fourth century, but also from other sources which
date from the third century.  The later and more developed ones
are: The Canons of Hippolytus; Egyptian Church Order; Ethiopic
Church Order; Verona Latin Fragments; Constitutions through
Hippolytus; The Testament of Our Lord; The Apostolic
Constitutions; The Arabic Didascalia ("teaching").  These
documents arose probably during the third and fourth centuries,
each of them to a certain extent adapting and revising the contents
of these earlier than itself.  It seems that  - except perhaps in the
case of the Testament of Our Lord, which is one of the latest and
may come from Asia Minor - all these writings are certainly of
Syrian or Egyptian origin.  The Canons of Hippolytus and other
writings attributed to him are made up out of a third century
document actually written in Greek at Rome by Hippolytus - who
was a bishop and for a time anti-pope in opposition to the real
Pope, St. Callistus; both were born in the second century.  This
document written by Hippolytus himself is called The Apostolic
Tradition - not as being written by any Apostle, for St. Hippolytus
(who, in spite of having been an anti-pope, was afterwards
martyred and canonized by "Vox populi") lays no such claim - but
as lying down what its author considered to be the true, apostolic,
traditional organization and ceremonies of the Roman Church, in
contradistinction to those in use under the authority of St. Callistus.

THE  APOSTOLIC  TRADITION:  This was written about A.D.
215, and it seems correct to say that the result of comparing it with
the information given us by other and earlier Christian writers
makes it very probable that the Eucharistic Liturgy described in it is
a true example of what it claims to be: "The usage which he
[Hippolytus] describes having a surprising number of contacts with
those referred to by other early writers," The Apostolic Tradition of
St. Hippolytus, pp. xxxvii and xxxviii - the latter page gives a
discussion of Hippolytus and his connection with the more ancient
Roman traditions).  This is especially interesting and important, as
Hippolytus provides a text of a Eucharistic Liturgy - including the
consecration of a bishop and other directions concerning the
Liturgy - to which we shall return.  The title and contents of The
Apostolic Tradition led to its inclusion in the pseudo-apostolic
literature of the Church Orders.  But it entered among these only
towards the very end of the series, when they had already taken on
the character of works composed from many different sources,
rather that of original productions.

     The strange inclusion of a really Western document among
Eastern liturgical literature was owing to the steady search for older
material of this kind which was going on in Syria in the later fourth
century - as an effort to uphold the importance and authenticity of a
type of literature that was really dying out.  The inclusion of The
Apostolic Tradition among the Church Orders is, as a matter of
fact, a very fortunate things, for it has preserved it for us and made
a correct edition of the original document possible in these days. 
This is especially valuable as - apart from Hippolytus' own
followers - this work of his does not appear to have had any general
lasting influence on the Western Church.  The original Greek text is
no longer extant; there are only later versions and adoptions in
Latin and in Eastern languages.  But the original text has been
restored, so far as this is possible at present, and translated into
English by Dom Gregory Dix under this title. 

THE  APOSTOLIC CONSTITUTION  AND  THE 
TESTAMENT  OF  OUR  LORD:  These two documents are of far
fuller character than earlier documents of this kind.  The Apostolic
Constitutions may be regarded as the climax (in importance) of the
Church Orders, and The Testament, as well as other Church
Orders, contain interpolations from the Apostolic Tradition.  The
Testament (c. A.D. 350 - some think it more probably of fifth
century origin), which originated somewhere between Asia Minor,
Syria and Egypt, made use of a very good text of The Apostolic
Tradition.  While a great deal of his own composition has been
added by the author, he nevertheless "has succeeded", says Dom
Dix, "in treating his source with remarkable respect". (The
Apostolic Traditions of St. Hippolytus, p. lxvii).  In fact, The
Testament gives the whole Liturgy of Hippolytus in a better text
than in any of the other Church Orders.

THE  EARLIEST  OFFICIAL  ACCOUNTS  OF  THE
LITURGY:  

     I.  In the West:Apart from the outlines in the Synoptic Gospels,
the earliest full description of the Christian Liturgy is found in the
First Apology of St. Justin Martyr (c. A.D. 140), written to the
Roman Emperor Antoninus Pius.  This description is evidently that
of the contemporary Liturgy in use in Rome and elsewhere in Italy. 
St. Justin give two descriptions: one of the Liturgy following
immediately after baptism; the other of the ordinary Sunday use.

     The first begins with the Kiss of Peace, which takes place just
before the offerings of bread and wine are brought to the altar
(what we should now call the "offertory"), and does not include any
preliminary service of readings from Scripture.  The second
description, however, does describe this preliminary service.  In
those days, when the Liturgy followed after a baptism - or an
ordination (as in the Liturgy of The Apostolic Tradition) - the
preliminary service was, apparently, omitted altogether, its place
being supplied by the administration of the Sacrament of Baptism or
Holy Orders.  The Sunday Liturgy is described as follows:

     (a)  The Lessons: These, according to St. Justin, were taken
from "the memoirs of the Apostles" - this would seem to be a
general description without details regarding the exact nature or
order of the various lessons, and, no doubt, including the Epistles
and Gospels.  The "writings of the Prophets" (lessons from the Old
Testament) are also mentioned; again the exact order is not given.

     (b)  The Sermon: This was an instruction based upon the
Scripture lessons, and was given by the "president" of the assembly.

     (c)  The Prayers nd the Kiss of Peace: The Prayers were those
later known as the "Intercessions" - or "Prayers of the Faithful" -
which really formed the conclusion of the synaxis and Eucharist
came to be regarded as the first part of the later service.

     (d)  The Kiss of Peace: This was the original beginning of the
Eucharist.  It was followed by what later developed into the
"offertory".  The deacons, after spreading a cloth on the Altar,
brought the offerings of bread and wine, presented by the faithful,
to the Altar, and a little water was mingled with the wine.

     (e)  The Eucharistic Prayer: A long, solemn prayer of "praise
and glory to the Father of all through the Name of the Son and the
Holy Spirit" and "giving thanks [in Greek, eucharistein] at great
length:.  In the second description, instead of the above last words -
"at great length" - St. .Justin says: "according to his [the
president's] ability".  This suggests, perhaps, extempore prayer. 
The people answered at the end: Amen.

     (f)  The Communion of Celebrant, Deacons and People:
Communion in both kinds was administered to all present by the
deacons, and the deacons also took the consecrated Bread and
Wine to those unable to take part  in the Sacrifice.

     St. Justin goes on to state that the bread and wine of the Liturgy
were received "as the Body and Blood of Christ."

     There seem to have been no prayers of thanksgiving after
communion, and that ceremony alone brought the whole rite to an
end.

     Justin does not give any text of the Liturgy described by him,
but it is interesting to note that the text supplied by St. Hippolytus
in his Apostolic Tradition fits the order of Justin's description
perfectly.

     St. Justin's is the earliest account of the Liturgy in the West. 
Besides being probably the Liturgy used in the West - and
especially in Rome and its dependencies during the second century -
Justin's description gives us those elements which are found in
practically all known forms of the Eucharistic Liturgy.

     As The Apostolic Tradition of Hippolytus provides us with a
text which exactly fits the description given by St. Justin: let us
examine a brief sketch of text.

     The Liturgy follows immediately after the consecration of a
bishop and the latter's reception of the Kiss of Peace from
everyone.  The deacons then "bring the oblations, and he [the
bishop] with all the presbyters laying his hand on the oblation shall
say, giving thanks [euchariston]: 'The Lord be with you,' etc., and
the long undivided Eucharistic Prayer begins with the words: 'We
render thanks unto Thee, O God, through Thy beloved Child Jesus
Christ'" (see The Apostolic Tradition of St. Hippolytus,pp. 6-11). 
There is no Sanctus - the Eucharistic Prayer is entirely undivided,
and after the thanksgivings leads up to the Words of Institution and
ends with a very short anamnesis - that is, the prayer developing the
words of our Lord to His disciples: "Do this as a memorial of Me" -
and including an oblation of the consecrated Gifts.  this is followed
finally by an invocation of the Holy Spirit and a prayer of all "who
partake, to be united [to Thee]". concluding with the doxology of
the same type as in to be found in the Roman Tridentine Latin
Mass: "... that we may praise and glorify Thee through Thy
[Beloved]  Child Jesus through whom glory and honor be unto
Thee with the Holy Spirit in Thy holy Church now and for ever and
world without end.  Amen."

ANOTHER  EARLY  DOCUMENT:  This is found in the Western
Church in the work entitled De Sacramentis Libri Sex ("Concerning
the Sacraments, in Six Books").  This document was written by St.
Ambrose, Bishop of Milan (A.D. 374-97).  In Book IV, chapter iv
of the De Sacramentis there is a treatise on the Holy Eucharist, in
which the author shows that Our Savior is the author (auctor) of all
the sacraments and so of the Sacrament of the Eucharist, and he
refers to parts of the Liturgy to establish what he says.  As regards
the earlier part, the Saint says that here all is carried out by the
priest as a human being: "Praises are offered to God; prayer is
besought for the people, for kings, for the rest."  The "praises
offered to God" would seem to be the series of praise and
thanksgiving for all His benefits to mankind with which the old
Eucharistic Prayers always began.  Hence, the "prayers" for the
people, kings and "the rest" were, perhaps, the Ambrosian
equivalents of the Roman Memento (of the living), the
Communicantes and the Hanc igitur; in other words, these prayers
appear to have been recited within the Eucharistic Prayer and were
apparently not the old "Prayers of the Faithful" recited after the
Gospel.  The exact position in the Eucharistic Prayer, however, is
not clear, as St. Ambrose says nothing about the chant of the
Sanctus itself, as some liturgical writers have suggested, for St.
Ambrose, as Dix points out, declares that they were said by the
priest - "For everything which is said before is spoken by the priest:
praises are offer to God", etc. - and the Sanctus when introduced
into the Liturgy of the Mass was chanted only by choir and
congregation, and the priest waited in silence until they had finished
chanting before starting the Canon.  Hence, it would appear that the
Sanctus had not yet become part of the Eucharistic Prayer at Milan. 
In chapter  v of  the De Sacramentis, St. Ambrose quotes prayers
from the consecratory portion of the Canon, which lead up to and
follow the words of Christ Himself.  These prayers are very similar
to those of the Roman Tridentine Canon, probably because the two
rites were fundamentally the same in spite of certain elements of the
Ambrosian rite, showing interpolations from the Gallican rite where
this differs from Rome.  Having spoken of those parts of the
Liturgy of the Mass said by the priest "as a man", St. Ambrose goes
on to show that "when it comes to making [or "bringing about"] the
venerable sacrament, the priest no longer uses his own words but
the words of  Christ".  Then come the texts of the above mentioned
prayers (which seen to be earlier forms of those in the Roman
Tridentine Canon) one leading up to the words of Christ; and one
after the institution-consecration.

     In the later the three prayers of the Roman Tridentine Canon
are, in St. Ambroses description, united in one form, and the order
of meaning is slightly different.

TWO  EARLY  EUCHARISTIC  PRAYERS:  Somewhat later
than the De Sacramentis are two interesting examples of the early
Western Eucharistic Prayer.  These were discovered, in the
fragments of a work by a Western Arian heretic in North Italy, by
Cardinal Mai, and published by him in 1827.  The date of the texts
themselves, unfortunately, is uncertain, but it seems probable that it
falls between A.D. 380 and 450.  The prayers in themselves are,
however, must older than the MSS.  The special interest of these
texts is that the second of the two (which is more complete than the
first) provides the example of an undivided Eucharistic Prayer -
leading up to the institution without the interruption of, or any
reference to, the Sanctus. The last clause, too, of this prayer recalls
very closely the Te igitur clause of the Roman Latin Canon - as far
as the words in which the gifts are offered to God.  This prayer, in
fact, passes at once from the thanksgivings of the first part (which
again provide at least a relic of the old thanksgiving series) to
petitions for the acceptance of the sacrificial offerings.  

THE  LETTER  OF  INNOCENT I:  Finally, in the year 416 Pope
St. Innocent I wrote a letter to Decentius, Bishop of Eugublium
(now Gubbio) in Central Italy, in answer to certain liturgical
questions made to him by the bishop.  These concerned especially
two matters: first, the position in the Liturgy of the Mass for the
recital of the names of those who had presented offerings of bread
and wine for the Sacrifice; second, the position of the ceremonial
Kiss of Peace.  Both these ceremonies were in earlier positions in
the rite of Gubbio - that is, in general, the Western Rite outside
Rome.

II.  In the East:  The earliest official written Liturgy - the earliest,
too, from every point of view - is found in the euchologion (literally
"prayer book", the Greek equivalent of the Western
"sacramentary") of Sarapion, who was Bishop of Thmuis in Egypt
in the Nile Delta, about A.D. 337- 9.  This bishop was the personal
friend of St. Athanasius.

     The euchogion was in the Eastern Churches practically
equivalent to the sacramentary" (in Latin, sacramentarium or liber
sacramentorum, i.e., "book of the sacraments") of the Western
Church.  The sacramentary was not only the earliest form of "Mass
Book: in the West; it contained, besides the prayers of the Liturgy
of the Mass proper to the celebrant, all that is now divided among
several books - the pontifical, the ritual, etc.; as, in fact, its very
title - "book of the sacraments" - makes clear.  Sarapion's book,
written about A.D. 350-6 - he appears to have written the whole of
it himself - was, as it would be called in the West in these days, his
"pontifical" - that is, it was intended primarily for the use of a
bishop.  It contains thirty prayers divided into six sections: 1 to 6:
The Prayer of Oblation of Sarapion the Bishop" - in Greek, Eche
Prosphorou; this was the Eucharistic Prayer, the sacrificial prayer; it
contains the Words of Institution of the offerings of bread and wine
and the blessing of oil and water - for the sick; 7 to 11: baptismal
prayers; 12-14: ordination prayers; for bishops, priests and deacons
- nothing is said about sub-deacons or readers, although they are
mentioned in the "prayers before the Oblation" (No. 25); 15-17: the
blessing of oils and of bread and water, for the healing and use of
the sick; 18: prayer for one to be buried; 19-30: "prayers before the
Oblation".  At the end of this last section is a rubric - very unusual
at this period: "All these prayers performed before the Oblation
prayer" (that is, the Eucharistic Prayer).  This rubric is of great
importance with regard to the original position of these prayers -
usually called the great or general intercessions.

     In 1907 three pages of papyrus on which were written what
appeared to be parts of the Alexandrian (Egyptian) Liturgy of a
Coptic monastery were discovered at Der-Balizeth in Upper Egypt
by Flinders Petrie and W. Crum.  These writings were closely
inspected by Mr. C. H. Roberts and Dom Capelle of the Bodelian
Library and other scholars who concluded that they are not
fragments of a euchologion, but rather a collection of prayers of
considerable antiquity and not a unitary liturgy. 

     What is most interesting that there is a fully developed
invocation of the Holy Spirit before the Words of Institution,
immediately after the Sanctus of the Eucharistic Prayer (Anaphora). 
But whether this was the only invocation in the Liturgy or whether
there was another after also, it is not possible to decide, as the
manuscript ends with the first part of the anamnesis.

     Another ancient Egyptian liturgical fragment was found in 1928,
by M. Andrieu and F. Collomp, in the Library of Strasbourg
University.  This fragment contains a part of the Greek Liturgy of
St. Mark, which consists of a portion of the great intercession.  In
the extant texts of the actual Liturgy of St. Mark, the intercessions
come in the middle of the Anaphora before the Sanctus - a position
found only in this particular Liturgy.  Apparently this fragment
belongs to the fourth century, and so shows an earlier and simpler
form of the Liturgy - to the best of our knowledge this is the
earliest known example of it thus far discovered, all other extant
texts are of the twelfth century.

FULLY  DEVELOPED  LITURGIES: The fundamental division of
the Eucharistic Liturgies is into Eastern and Western, and each of
these is subdivided into "families", those of the Eastern Rites being
far more numerous than those of the Western.  The Eastern
Liturgies may be broadly divided into West Syrian, originating at
Antioch; East Syrian, which arose in what was once known as
Persia, and which is usually known as the "Nestorian Liturgy", as
they accepted  Nestor, a heretic, as their Patriarch.  The
Alexandrian or Egyptian Liturgy - called "Alexandrian" because it
originated in the Patriarchal see of Alexandria.  All these liturgies
are called after various Saints - St. John Chrysostom, St. Basil, St.
Mark, SS. Addai and Mari, St. James of Jerusalem.  But such titles
are mere dedications; the various Saints were not the actual authors
of the liturgies called after them, any more than the Apostles were
the actual authors of the Teachings of the Apostles (the Didache) or
of the other Church Orders dedicated to them.   It is true, however,
that St. Basil of Caesarea did author two Liturgies in his life time.
     In the course of time the Liturgy of St. Chrysostom - usually
known as the Byzantine Liturgy form the older name of
Constantinople  - Byzantium - superseded almost entirely the other
national or local rites throughout the Orthodox Eastern Church
subject to the Patriarch of Byzantium.  The Nestorians, however,
and the Chaldeans still use their own Liturgy untouched by
Byzantine influences, and the same is true of the Syrian Jacobites
and the subjects of the famous convert bishop, Mar Ivanios, the
Malankarese, in India.  With regard to the Egyptian Rite: the
Egyptian "Coptics" (this title is probably a corruption and
adaptation of the Greek word for Egypt - Aiguptos) still use a
Liturgy which, although known as the Liturgy of St. Cyril (of
Alexandria) is really the Liturgy of St. Mark translated into the
Coptic language, the ancient language of Egypt.  It should be noted
that some "Coptic's" also use a Liturgy attributed to St. Basil.  The
Ethiopian or Abyssinian Church also makes use of this Liturgy, and
it is an interesting fact that in connection with it, an Anaphora is
used which is simply that written by St. Hippolytus of Rome in his
Apostolic Tradition.  This is the only example of a living use of this
ancient form of the Roman Liturgy.  Its preservation in the East is
the result of the circulation of its text in the churches of Syria and
Egypt, in which regions the literature known as "Church Orders"
arose.

THE  WESTERN  LITURGIES:  These can be divided into only
two clearly known types - viz. (i) the Roman Rite; (ii) the Gallican
Rite.  Liturgists speak also of the Mozarabic or Spanish Rite, the
African Rite and the Celtic Rite, but the Mozarabic Rite, except for
a few unimportant local differences, is substantially of the same
type of the Gallican (it is uncertain which of them is the mother,
which the daughter).  The Celtic Rite, too, appears to be merely,
like the Spanish Rite, the Gallican Rite with unimportant local
differences.  As for the African Rite, not very much is known about
it.

     The Roman Rite was followed in Rome and in most of the rest
of Italy; the Gallican Rite was observed in Gaul - that is, France and
parts of Germany, and in some part of Italy also; the Mozarabic 
Rite - which, as we have seen, was substantially the same as the
Gallican Rite - was used in Spain.  The "Celtic Rite" was used in
Scotland and Ireland, and for a time in parts of England also.  With
regard to the "African Rite", although, as Dr. Srawley says: "We
have no such liturgical forms as are available for the history of the
liturgy in Egypt and Syria ... the fragmentary references of
Tertullian, Cyprian [Bishop of Carthage], Optatus [Bishop of
Milevis in Numidia in the fourth century] and Augustine enable us
to reconstruct fairly well the scheme of the liturgy, and supply us
with occasional notes as to some of the shorter liturgical formulae
which were current". Besides these examples of the Western Rite,
we must also mention that of Milan, also known as the "Ambrosian
Rite", as it was attributed to the great Bishop of Milan in A.D. 397,
St. Ambrose.  This Rite possesses both Gallican and Roman
features, and its original character is still disputed; that is, whether
it should be considered as substantially Roman or substantially
Gallican.  The former view seems to be the most likely.  Eventually,
as in the Eastern Empire the Byzantine Liturgy ousted all the other
and much older rites of the various Eastern Churches, so also in the
West the Roman Rite gradually supplanted the other Western Rites,
even those of Gaul and Spain.  These latter, however, survived to a
certain extent in some prayers and ceremonies - not only in France
and other places, not only in some religious orders (e.g., Cathusian,
Dominican and in the old Carmelite rite now observed by the
Calced Carmelities only), but even in Rome itself.  The Tridentine
Roman Latin rite, in fact, was no longer the "pure" rite of the city
of Rome.

THE  ROMAN  SACRAMENTARIES:  The earliest written form
of the Roman Rite is The Apostolic Tradition of St. Hippolytus in
the third century.  The earliest fully official texts are the Leonine
Sacramentary (sixth century; attributed to St. Leo the Great, A.D.
440-61); the Clesian Sacramentary (seventh century; attributed to
St. Celasius I, A.D. 492-6) - this latter sacramentary is based
probably on the Pope's own work,and also give us probably the
Roman Liturgy of his time, or of at least the sixth century; the
Gregorian Sacramentary - this text is of eighth century date; it is
ascribed to St. Gregory the great (A.D. 590-604), and probably
does give substantially his revision of the Roman Rite in the sixth
century.  The Leonine Sacramentary (which is not complete and
does not contain the Canon of the Mass) has been judged by some
scholars as being a private collection of liturgical prayers and not an
official Mass book.  In recent times, however, the tendency is to
dispute this view and to look on the Lenonine Sacramentary as an
official - if incomplete - sacramentary.  

THE  ORDINES  ROMANI: Besides the sacramentaries, there are
other ancient documents which provide further knowledge about
the later development of the Roman Rite - the Ordines Romani.
There are what we should call ceremonials, giving the order (hence
the name ordo, "order, series, list") of the ceremonies to be
observed in celebrating the Liturgy of the Mass.  They were the
necessary accomplishments of the sacramentary, since the latter
gave only the words of the prayers, blessings and consecrations,
without any directions as to carrying out the different rites and
ceremonies.  The late Dome Pierre de Puniet, of the French
Congregation, says in his book on the Roman pontifical: "They are
wholly Roman in origin; in fact, the earliest of them do not take any
account of any ceremonies except those performed by the supreme
Pontiff in person."  Dom de Puniet goes on to show how the
Ordines soon became models for the pontifical ceremonies carried
out by all bishops, and spread, together with the sacramentary, to
France, Germany and England.  The Ordines outside Rome came
inevitably under foreign influences, which led to modifications -
incorporated, finally, in the Roman Liturgy itself.  In the Ordines
were regulated the ceremonies of the Mass, baptism, ordinations,
the dedication of churches, etc.  Usually they did not contain the
actual formulae and rubrics which were reserved for the
sacamentary, but only the "ordering" in detail of the rites and
ceremonies.  Some, however, of these Ordines were introduced into
the sacramentary in the case of baptism and penance, for example,
in the Celasian sacramentary of the seventh and eighth centuries.  

THE  ROMAN  MISSAL:  As it is today it is a very composite
book, made up of a number of books, formerly quite distinct - the
sacramentary, the ordo, the lectionary (with the lessons from the
Old and New Testaments), the evangeliary (containing the four
Gospels), and the antiphonary, in which latter were contained the
various chants of the Liturgy of the Mass.  In the Eastern
(Byzantine) Churches, this combination of the various liturgical
books has never taken place.  There are still separate books - the
euchologion (from two Greek words - euche, prayer and
logion,word; that is, "form of prayer"), the Eastern equivalent of
the Western sacramentary, and separate books containing the
Lessons, Epistles, Gospels and chants, each series is a different
book.

     The earliest witness to the Gallican Rite is found at the end of
the third century or beginning of the fourth. This witness is
concerned especially with the Spanish or Mazarabic form of the
Rite, and is found in the Council of Elvira in Spain in A.D. 305 or
306, in a decree concerning the recitation of the names of those
who had made offerings of bread and wine at the offertory of the
Liturgy of the Mass.  This recitation was to be made aloud, during
the offertory, when the oblations of bread and wine were actually
presented by the people.

THE  GALLICAN  TEXTS: These date from the seventh century
and they are:

     1. The Missale Gothicum: This is really a sacramentary, not a
missal in the later sense - in spite of its title - and it is French not
Spanish.  What the word "Gothicum" signifies is not clear.

     2. The Sacranentarium Gallicanum (really a missal) - this is
generally known as the "Bobbio Missal" as it was found by Dom
Mabillon at Bobbio in North Italy, and, in spite of its name (given it
by Mabillon), it is Irish in origin and character but of the Gallican
type.

     3. Missale Gallicamum Vetus (like the Missale Gothicum, really
a sacramentary).  There is also a collection of Gallican Masses in a
MS. of the seventh century, published in 1850 by Herr Mone; a
description purporting to be of the Gallican Liturgy, in two letters
formerly ascribed to St. Germanus of Paris (555-76), but no
historical reliance can be placed upon this text with regard to the
Gallican Liturgy in general, as it is now shown to be not really the
work of St. Germanus, but of much later date.  The contemporary
treatise of St. Isidore of Seville, De Officiis Ecclesiasticis, gives a
very different impression of the nature of the Gallican Liturgy of
that time.  These so-called letters of St. Germanus probably refer to
some local and temporary customs in connection with that Liturgy.

     Of the Mazarabic Liturgy - the only example of the Gallican type
that has left any more or less complete texts - the earliest account is
at the beginning of the fourth century.  The name "Mozarabic" is
derived originally from the use of this rite by the Christians in
Spain, who were in the Moorish dominions and who were known as
"Mazarabes" or Muzarabes".  The derivation of these words is
uncertain, but the best theory is that the origin is Musta'rab", which
means a naturalized Arab or one who had adopted Arab nationality
or customs.  This term applied only to the persons using the Liturgy
and not to the Liturgy itself, which shows no sign of Arab
influence.

     In spite of certain external differences between the various rites -
Roman, Ambrosian (or Milanese), Gallican, Spanish (or
Mozarabic), Celtic and African - they never developed into
distinctive "liturgies" in the same sense as did the many rites of the
Eastern Churches.  It is, in fact, a mistake to read back into the fifth
and sixth - or even into the seventh or eighth - centuries, the far
later conception of special, distinct rites, each providing the
consciousness of such differences and leading to a kind of rivalry
between them.  In the earliest times there was no idea at all of
different "rites" or "liturgies" - even in the East - there was simply
the Liturgy", which was fundamentally the same everywhere.  But
each local church developed its own traditional customs in the
manner of celebrating this "one Liturgy", and such customs were
freely revised, improved or added to as appeared good to each local
and later to each national church.  In the course of the sixth and
seventh centuries these local differences tended to become real
distinctions, and so, in the West, we arrive at distinct "rites" - of
Rome, Gaul, Spain and Milan.




























                              CHAPTER  TWO  

                   THE  INTRODUCTORY  SERVICE  AND  THE
                      EUCHARIST  IN  EAST  AND  WEST

We have seen that the Liturgy of the Holy Eucharist is composed of
two originally quite different service, each of which at first could be
celebrated without the other.  We have noted that the first service,
known in Greek as the synaxis - the "meeting" - was derived from
the service held by the Jews in their synagogues on the Sabbath day
and (in a shorter form) on Mondays and Thursdays as well, but in
Christians hands it was adapted to their own special circumstances
and was not a mere "copy".  This adaptation was concerned first
with the lessons or readings from Holy Scripture.  The synagogue
practice was to read the Book of Holy Writ in the following order
of importance - first the Law (the Heptateuch), then the Prophets
and then other books.  In the Christian meeting the Old Testament
books were still read first, but as of lesser importance and leading
up to those of the New Testament - Epistles, Acts and, as the
summing up of all, the Gospel.  Secondly, the series of prayers of
intercession for all causes were recited at the end of the whole
service - after the Gospel, but in the synagogue service of today
similar prayers are said at the beginning.  If this latter was the case,
too, in the time of Our Lord and of the early Church, the Christian
position would be another example of independent adaptation.  But
it is possible that it was the later Jews who changed the position of
the prayers in the synagogue and that the Christian Church kept the
original place.  If, however, this latter position of the prayers was
really due to Christianity, the change was made probably because
the preparatory service, as a public meeting, was open to all who
cared to attend - Jews, pagans - anyone interested in Christianity. 
All such people could be admitted to listen to the readings from
Holy Writ and to the sermons and teaching connected with them,
since the Church considered that she had a general duty to preach
the Gospel "to every creature" and to witness to the truth before all
men.  United prayer, however, was possibly only for those actually
united in the one faith of Jesus Christ.  Now, up till the end of the
preparatory service there was no prayer of any kind; only
instruction, since the prayers were at the end of the whole service. 
Those who did not share in the one faith were asked to depart by
means of a form of "dismissal",  and then the disciples of Christ
could join together in prayer for all - for those who had just
departed as well as for themselves.

THE  LESSONS: In the early Church there were usually three
lessons from the Holy Scripture; a lesson from the Prophets or
other book of the Old Testament; another from the Epistles or
Acts, and finally the solemn reading of the Gospel - the "Law of
Christ" - which among Christians took the place of importance
given in the synagogue to the Law of Moses.  Between or after
these lessons, psalms were chanted, as in the synagogue.

     The lessons were not read in an ordinary reading voice - as one
person may read aloud to another - but were "chanted with a simple
inflection, partly that they [the lessons] might be heard more easily,
partly to give them solemnity" (Dix, The Shape of the Liturgy, p.
39).  This was the usual custom in the synagogues, except in small
country places.  The psalms and canticles, between the lessons,
were real "responsories", in the original sense of that word - that is,
they were responses, "answers" to the lesson which they followed. 
They were also in a sense themselves lessons (form the psalter),
chanted for their own sake and not merely to fill up time while
something else was being carried out - as, for example, were the
later chants in the Liturgy of the Mass - the Introit, Offertory and
Communion Anthems.  This form of chant was to become known
as "responsorial chant" - as opposed to "antiphonal chant", which
was introduced later and in which the verses of the psalms were
sung by two alternate choirs or choruses.  In the synagogue, the
cantor made use of the cry "hallelujah" ("Praise be to God") as a
signal for the people's refrain in the psalmody.  It seems that the
Christians use of "alleluia" in the psalmody of the Liturgy is derived
from this custom.  In later times it became practically a chant in
itself, with verses added from the psalms, after the Gospel.

THE  SERMON: This was the special office of the bishop; it was
his "liturgy" (public work") in this service, as the consecration and
offering of the bread and wine was his "liturgy" in the Eucharistic
sacrifice.  The bishop preached seated in the episcopal cathedra, the
throne which gave its name to the episcopal church itself - the
"cathedral".  As in the case of individual celebrations of the Holy
Sacrifice by simple priests, that of preaching by simple priests came
into use much later in the history of the Church.

THE  DISMISSALS:  Towards the end of the service but before
the series of intercessory prayers which formed its actual
conclusion, those who were not members of the Church, Jews,
pagan and also even those who were "on the way" but had yet been
admitted (the alter catechumens), were asked to leave the meeting
in various forms of dismissal.  This dismissal was of course
specifically insisted upon when the meeting was followed by the
Holy Eucharist.

THE CATECHUMENATE:  This came into being in both Eastern
and Western Churches towards the end of the second century.  The
word "catechumen" is derived from the Greek catcheo "to teach by
words of mouth".  The catechumenate was the state of those "being
taught".  The same Greek term provides us with the word
"catechism" - the "treatise of instruction".  The catechumenate
formed quite a long period of preparation for baptism in which the
catechumen not only followed a course of instruction in the faith,
but also went through a series of ceremonies which are now all
united in the solemn rite of baptism as usually give to adults.

     The introductory service has sometimes been called in the West
the "Mass of the catechumens", as the latter were allowed to assist
only at that part of the service during their catechumenate.  In the
same way, the title of "Mass of the Faithful" was given to the actual
Liturgy of the Sacrifice of the Mass, beginning now with the
intercessions after the Gospel.  Even after these two Masses had
been finally welded into one continuous Liturgy, the distinction
between them remained quite evident, and so remained in the
Roman Latin Mass.   This was especially noticeable in a solemn
Pontifical Mass; that is, a solemn Mass celebrated by a bishop or
other prelate having he right to "pontificalia", the celebrating
prelate remaining at his throne or fald-stool for the first part of the
Mass, up till after the Gospel.  A relic of the dismissal, too, was to
be found at the end of the Liturgy of the Mass: Ite missa est - "go,
it is the dismissal" missa being late Latin for missio, sending away,
discharge, dismissal").  The word missa, moreover - although it was
the name of a very unimportant ceremony - has become the usual
title of the Liturgy of the Mass itself, and so has acquired a specially
sacred character and meaning.

THE  PRAYERS  OF  INTERCESSION:  First the catechumens
were dismissed, after any others who also had to be dismissed -
Jews, pagans, Christian penitents, etc. - and after being told by the
deacon to "bow down their heads" for the bishops blessing.  This
latter was given in the form of a prayer - as were all liturgical
blessings.  Then came the intercessions for all classes (the only
individuals admitted here much later being the Pope and the
Emperor), which now had become the "Prayers of the Faithful" and
formed the beginning of the "Mass of the Faithful", instead of
being, as formerly, the conclusion of the "Mass of the
catechumens", even when followed by the Holy Eucharist.

     The favorite title for these prayers among liturgical scholars is
the "Great Intercession".  A much more accurate description is "the
General Intercession", as the intercessions were made not only for
the different members of the "Christian Priesthood" - bishops, the
various orders of the clergy, the faithful laity and the catechumens -
but also for pagans and Jews and for all those who were sick or in
any need or trouble.  Curiously enough there were no public
intercessions for the dead.  Prayer for the dead was not of course
excluded - every Mass was offered for "the living and dead" - but
the latter were not mentioned "liturgically".  The Liturgy was
concerned primarily and externally with the living members of the
Universal Church in each local church (diocese, as we would say
today).

     The General Intercessions were of an ancient collect form,
which originally was used in the Eastern Churches as in those of the
West, but was superseded later in the East by the litany form of
prayer.

     The full collect form was as follows: the object or intention of
the prayer and of exhortation to the faithful present to pray, was
announced by the celebrant - perhaps originally by the deacon.  This
latter then gave the signal for prayer - saying, if it were a penitential
season: flectamus geua ("let us bend the knees"), and all then
prayed in silence - on their knees, only in a penitential season, but
on other occasions and especially in Easter tide, standing in honor
of the Resurrection. After a pause of some length for this silent
"common prayer", the sub-deacon - at least in later ages, but
perhaps originally the deacon - gave the signal to rise if all were
kneeling, in the words: levate ("arise").  If they were standing in
silent prayer, no doubt the celebrant simply began the prayer aloud
at his own discretion. This prayer aloud was the summing up by the
celebrant (usually a bishop) of all the petitions of the congregation -
in the Roman Mass in the characteristic Roman short, terse and
expressive form.  If kneeling for the silent prayers, all alike arose to
listen to and join in the celebrant's prayer of summing up, because:
"the corporate prayer of the church is a priestly act, to be done in
the priest posture for prayer standing.  Therefore all, not the
celebrant only, rose for the concluding collect" (Dix. p. 42).  The
best example is found in:

     THE  GOOD  FRIDAY  SERVICE  (Roman Rite:):  This
service, forms the first of the two lessons up till the end of the
orationes solemnes ("solemn prayers), after the Passion, gives us a
perfect picture of the ancient aliturgical synaxis.  The rest of the
Good Friday service is a development of another ancient ceremony
of the Roman Rite - communion with the Consecrated Bread
(reserved Host) only, apart from the Holy Sacrifice, with the Pater
noster ("Our Father") as the only accompanying prayer and an
"ablution" of unconsecrated wine and water.  The procession from
the "Altar of Repose", the chants and the incensing and additional
ceremonies are all of later date.  In the orationes solemnes of  Good
Friday there is first the prefactio or monito ("Preface" or
"announcement"); that is, the long exhortation of the celebrant to
the people, beginning Oremus, dilectissimi nobis ("Let us bend the
knees") for the silent prayer, but now, immediately, the sub- deacon
chants: levate ("arise")/  Thus, the congregation in these days only
has time to make a rapid genuflection, and no time at all for any
silent prayer.  Nevertheless, the standing and kneeling are at least
signs of the congregation's union with the celebrant in the general
intercessions.  In their present form in the Tridentine Mass these
Good Friday collects date probably from the fourth or fifth century,
but they also probably follow very closely the earlier type of
intercessory prayer.  The exhortation was called  prefactio
("preface"), as preparing the way for the prayer itself, known as
oratio (literally "speech" or "announcement" or, again,
"declaration").  There are sever other cases in the Roman Rite of
survivals of this full form of the collect; the latter title, by the way,
was never accepted at Rome; it was in use in the Gallican Rite,
where the full collect form existed up till the end.  In the Canon of
the Tridentine Roman Mass, the celebrant addresses the people
before the Pater noster, with the words Oremus: preceptis
salutaribus moniti et divina insitutione formati; audemus dicere:
Pater noster, etc. ("Let us pray: instructed  by saving precepts and
taught by Divine example, we make bold to say: Our Father", etc.). 
In this particular case, the Our Father, chanted immediately, takes
the place of the silent prayer. It was probably originally chanted at
Rome as in Gual, by all the people together with the celebrant, and
so was the "general prayer" of all.  The Pater is followed by the
collect beginning Libera nos ("Deliver us, O Lord"), but now
recited secretly - except in the Mass of the Presanctified on Good
Friday.  Better examples of the collect preceded by the long
prefactio occur in the Ordination Masses.  But in all other cases the
"Preface" has been reduced to the word: oremus ("let us pray") - an
example, as Dix in The Shape of the Liturgy puts it, of the
"different genius of the two Western  liturgical rites, Italian and
Franco-Spanish" - the former cutting down the lengthy "Prefaces"
to one simple, expressive term; the other tending to make them
even more lengthy - "some Mozarabic praefationes are fifty or sixty
lines long" (p. 489).

     THE INTERCESSIONS  IN  THE  EAST:  In the East the
collect form of "the Prayers" was replaced by the "litany form -
introduced from Antioch during the fourth century.  The word
"litany" comes from the Greek litaneuo, which means to pray in a
supplicating, entreating manner - with great force!  The litany was
composed of a series of petitions or intercessions for various
classes of people or for various needs or intentions, pronounced in
a few short words by the deacon, the people responding aloud to
each petition with the words Kyrie eleison (the Latinized
orthography of these Greek words - meaning "Lord, have mercy" -
turns the second, "e" into an "i").  There was no interval of silent
prayer as in the collect.  At the end, the celebrant summed up the
whole series of petitions in a prayer which was formerly chanted
aloud, but is now said secretly.  As the author of The Shape of the
Liturgy states, the litany has become a kind of dialogue between
deacon and congregation - the former having the "lion's share" -
while the celebrant sings only the doxology at the end, the
celebrant's prayer being said secretly during the chanting of the
litany instead of at the end.  This method of silent recitation by the
celebrant, while prayers are being chanted aloud by the deacon and
the people, is a special feature now of the Eastern Liturgies, but
originally each section of the "Christian priesthood" exercised its
own special function and took its own part in the offering of the
Holy Sacrifice.  Nevertheless, although the celebrant in the Eastern
Liturgies now says the closing prayer of the litany secretly, and
while the latter is sill in process, the prayer is not looked upon as
his private devotion.  Many other prayers in the Liturgy which are
now recited privately are of their very nature really public.  With
regard to this, a critic of The Shape of the Liturgy in The Eastern
Churches Quarterly (October-December 1945, pp. 170-200),
declares in denial of Dom Dix's statements to the contrary that the
deacon's exhortations are really "exhortations" addressed to the
people, not prayers addressed to God, and that the people reply by
the recital of the words Kyrie eleison - which are addressed directly
to God.  Thus, he says, the people's part is not reduced to mere
"chorus"; but it is still now, in spite of this, that the people's pat in
intercessory prayer is at least more evident, though not more
audible, in the collect than in the litany.  It seems probable that the
litany and its methods of recital are due to the introduction in Syria,
in the late fourth century, of the Sanctuary Veil; that is, a curtain
drawn in front of the entrance to the Sanctuary.  This curtain hid he
celebrant and the Altar altogether from the sight of the
congregation during the greater part of the Liturgy, and so the
deacon was obliged to act as a "link" between them both, and also
to act as the people's guide in taking part in the Liturgy.  The litany
form of prayer appeared for the first time, fully developed, in the
north Syrian Rite known as the Apostolic Constitutions (viii, c.
A.D. 370; see Dix, p. 477).  In the East this new form of prayer
took the place of the old series of collects, but the collect form still
"shows up" in the Egyptian Liturgy to a certain extent.

     SPECIAL  INTEREST  AND  IMPORTANCE  OF 
INTERCESSORY  PRAYERS:  This lies in the fact that these
prayers are examples of the way in which public intercessions were
made in early times - namely, by a corporate act in which the whole
Church took part, each "order" - bishops or priests, deacons,
congregation - actively carrying out their own distinct function in
the Mystical Body of Christ.  This public intercession, too, was
made, not only for the local community and its members present at
the Liturgy nor only for the Church in general, but also for the
whole world outside the Church.  By the middle of the fourth
century, which was in a special sense the period of far reaching
liturgical changes, developments and the disappearance of some
earlier and even universal customs, this form of intercessory prayer
was beginning to disappear also.  With its disappearance or
modification, the litany had a good deal to do.  It was during this
century that the intercessions in the Eastern Liturgies were
transferred from the end of the preparatory service (or beginning of
the Eucharist) to a position within the Anaphora - actually after the
consecration, but the exact place differs according to the different
national rites of the East.  The change, too, involved one of two
results - either the  duplication of the series of intercessions - one
series remaining in is original position. the other entering the
Anaphora, and so the complete abandonment of any form of
intercession in the original place.  In the West - both at Rome and
elsewhere - the intercessions about this period were dropped
altogether in the ordinary Liturgy of the Masses, being reserved for
very special occasions, e.g., at Rome, the Wednesday and Friday of
Holy Week.  Later, the Wednesday intercessions were dropped also
- when on the Holy Sacrifice came to be celebrated regularly,
instead of only the introductory service as still on Good Friday.  In
the Gallican and Spanish Rites, and in the Ambrosian Rite as well,
the intercessions were reserved, as at Rome, for Holy Week only,
but on Holy Saturday in all these three Rites.  In the Gallican and
Spanish Rites, however, the old place of the prayers after the
Gospel was taken in everyday use by a litany of intercessions of the
Eastern type.   In the Ambrosian Rite a litany of this type is also
found, but in a much earlier position - at the beginning of the
Liturgy of the Mass, after the "ingressa", the equivalent of the
Roman "Introit" - that is, the psalm and antiphon chanted during the
entrance of the celebrant and sacred ministers into the Sanctuary to
begin the Liturgy of the Mass.  The threefold Kyrie eleison, chanted
in the Ambrosian Rite after the Gospel (there is also a threefold
Kyrie after the Communion), is not a relic of a litany, according to
Dom Gregory Dix, but a form of hymn (Dix, pp. 461-2) and
footnote 1 on the latter page).  In the Roman Rite, too, the place of
the intercessions of the synaxis was taken by a litany of the same
Eastern form, but for the same series of intentions as the former
collect type.  The litany, as in the case of the Ambrosian Rite, was
put at the very beginning of the Liturgy of the Mass, after the
Introit.  In the Roman Rite this litany was recited in every mass, but
at Milan only on the Sundays of Lent.  It is important to remember
that in the West, the old intercessions were not moved from the
first service to the Eucharistic Prayer, as in the East, but suppressed
altogether except on the special occasions mentioned.  The fact
that, both in Rome and Milan, the litanies which, to a certain extent,
took their place in the early part of the ordinary Mass were recited
at the beginning of the whole service is probably the result of the
complete fusion of the preliminary service and Eucharistic at that
period into one undivided service.  In the case of the Roman
Liturgy of the Mass, the ninefold Kyrie was recited at the beginning
of every Mass is a relic of the litany described above, as we shall
see farther on.

     There were two occasions when the connection between the
intercessions and the synaxis of pre-Nicene days was not observed. 
In the Liturgy as described by both Justin and Hippolytus when
celebrated after Baptism/Chrismation (Confirmation), the
intercessory prayers were recited between the administration of the
two Sacraments and the celebration of the Eucharist, although there
had no preliminary service. In The Apostolic Tradition there is
another example of the Liturgy without the introductory service - in
the case of the consecration of a bishop.  In this case the "Prayers"
were not said - precisely because there had been no such service,
and they were still looked upon as its conclusion - being distinct
from the Eucharist, even when celebrated just before it.  The
prayers, on the other hand, were recited at the Baptismal Liturgy;
the reason being, probably, to allow the newly baptized to take part
at once in the privilege of the "order" to which they had just been
admitted - the "order of lay folk", the "Holy People of God" in the
Mystical Body of Christ - the privilege that is, of joining in common
or corporate prayer.  Before their Baptism, catechumens prayed "by
themselves apart from the faithful", and after the prayer they did not
receive or give the Kiss of Peace, "for their kiss is not yet pure"
(The Apostolic Tradition of St. Hippolytus, p. 29).  After the
prayers of the catechumens, special prayer was said for them, they
were blessed and then dismissed.

     THE  EUCHARIST  AND  THE  AGAPE:  The development
of the ceremonies and prayers of the actual sacrifice leads us back
to the question of the agape once more.  In spite of the fact that the
Holy Eucharist was instituted during a meal and in the evening,
there does not seem to have been any desire among the first
Christians to reproduce the actual circumstances of the Last Super
in detail.  It appears that very early if not from the beginning, in the
newly founded Church, the Holy sacrifice was celebrated in the
early morning of the "first Day of the week" (Sunday), and that this
day and time were chosen in honor of the Resurrection of our Lord.
The agape was celebrated in the evening, but there is no indication
of any immediate connection with the Eucharist in the early church. 
St. Paul, in his first Epistle to the Corinthians, is probably not
speaking of the agape, followed by the Eucharist, but of the
Eucharist alone and of the danger of turning the Holy Sacrifice
itself into a means of eating and drinking - in fact, into an ordinary
meal (1 Cor. 11:17-34).  It seems, however, that in this particular
case the Eucharist was celebrated in the evening, through this is not
explicitly stated.  It is also possible that if it was the evening the
Apostle was objecting to this very attempt to imitate the Our Lord's
action in too material a manner.  In the account of the Eucharist
celebrated by him at Troas (at which his too lengthy sermon
brought about the death of the drowsy Eutychus and the
subsequent miracle of his restoration to life by the Apostle), the
Holy Sacrifice was offered after midnight - that is, in the early
morning of the "first day of the week" which, according to Jewish
reckoning, had begun on the evening of the Saturday (Acts
20:7-12).

     DEVELOPMENTS  IN  THE   EUCHARISTIC  LITURGY
are concerned with: (i) The Offertory; (ii) the Eucharistic Prayer;
(iii) the Fraction, that is the ritual breaking of bread; (iv) the
communion of celebrant, ministers and congregation.

THE  OFFERTORY: In later days this was the development of the
original simple acts of spreading a linen cloth over the Altar and
laying out on it the bread and wine later provided by the people
assisting. Each person brought a little of both for himself or even
flowers were often added to the essential oblations of bread and
wine.  (See Apostolic Tradition, v and vi; also xxviii.)  Such
offerings were placed upon or beside the Altar, and were blessed
after the consecration of the bread and wine with a special blessing,
which exits at the end of the Tridentine Roman Canon in the words:
per quem haec omnia, etc.  This is the moment in the Roman
Tridentine Mass for the consecration of the Oil of the Sick on
Maundy Thursday.  But, as will be shown farther on, the above
words in earliest times probably referred directly and primarily to
the consecrated Bread and Wine themselves.

     While it was the people who brought the offerings of bread and
wine for the sacrifice and who presented their offerings in the
"place of meeting" (private room in a home, basilica, chapel, etc.),
it is not very clear as to how the  presentation was carried out. 
Was it a ceremonial act at the altar, or were the offerings given up
to the proper authorities in what we should now call the Sacristy,
and afterwards taken to the Altar by the deacons without any
special ceremonial connecting them directly with the offerers? 
Whatever was he fact in the earliest times, the solemn ceremonial
offering by the people at the time of the offertory became the usual
custom in Rome, and is fully described in the eighth century Ordo
Romanus Primus.  At Rome, too, this ceremonial offering by the
members of the congregation was kept up, at least on certain great
feasts, till towards the end of the Middle Ages.  The provision of
the bread and wine for the Sacrifice was considered as the "liturgy"
of the faithful laity - as Dom Dix puts it: "The communicant brings
the prosphora ("offering"); the deacon "presents" it or "bring it up";
the bishop "offers" it (Dix, pp. III et seq.).  The gifts thus providing
the matter of the Eucharist were "at all points `the gifts of thy holy
church;" presented for use at the Altar by each "order" according to
its own special "liturgy" - that is, public office or duty.  Above all,
the bishop's "liturgy" was the ritual sacrificial oblation of the gifts
which, in the Person of Christ Himself, he would bless and
consecrate and so transform them into the only "acceptable
oblation" of His sacred Body and Blood.  As Dom Dix again says:
"The whole rite was a true corporate offering by the church, in its
hierarchial completeness, of the church in its organic unity" (Dix.,
p. 117).  But, again, this undoubted truth does not supply us with a
clear notion as to the way in which the corporate act of the offering
was actually carried out in the earliest periods.

     In the fourth century and onwards, there was an important
difference between Eastern and Western customs.  In the East the
people took their offerings to the Sacristy before the Liturgy began,
and the deacons brought them from the Sacristy to the Altar when
they were needed at the offertory.  This practice led to the
preliminary service known as the Prothesis ("sitting forth" or
"placing before") in the side chapel or at the side-table in the
Sanctuary (both also called Prothesis), and to the solemn
procession with the offerings, treated with great reverence, known
as the Great Entrance. In the West in Rome the people brought
their offerings of bread and wine to the chancel rail or colonnade,
laid the bread on a dish held by a deacon and poured the wine into a
large two handled chalice held by another deacon.  These deacons
then took the offerings to the Altar, and the bishop advanced and
laid his hands upon them and so "offered" then as high priest of the
Christian priesthood.  It seems, at least in our present knowledge of
liturgical history, impossible to decide which use is more ancient or
whether perhaps both existed side by side from the beginning. 
According  to some scholars the ceremonial offering by the people
at Mass in the West started in Rome as a local practice in the fourth
century, and the Eastern practice described above was the original
practice of the whole pre-Nicene Church.  But - to quote Dom
Gregory Dix again - "We have no evidence at all anywhere from the
pre-Nicene period as to how the layman's oblation came into the
hands of the deacons," apart from a passage from the Syrian
Church Order known as the Didascalia (c. A.D. 250) which speaks
of the deacons standing - one by the oblations, and the other by the
door - to observe those who come in (Dix, p. 122), which suggests
that at that period the later practice of the Eastern Rites already
existed, at least in Syria.

     THE  EUCHARISTIC  PRAYER:  This was originally one
undivided prayer, beginning with a series of thanksgivings offered
to God for His benefits to mankind - the Creation, Incarnation,
Redemption - leading up to the Last Supper, and so to the
consecration of the offerings of bread and wine.  But later on this
one prayer was practically divided into two parts both in the East
and West, by the introduction of the Sanctus -the words "Holy,
Holy, Holy, Lord God of Hosts", taken from the prophecy of Isaiah
6:3.  The "Thanksgiving Prayer" itself was probably derived from,
or rather adapted from, the long thanksgiving prayer recited at the
end of all Jewish meals - the "grace after meat" - rather than from a
combination of the two shorter prayers.   According to Dom Dix,
these latter prayers appear in the agape but not in the Eucharist. 
The long " grace" at the end of the Jewish meals was always looked
upon as the blessing of all that had gone before it.  It was,
moreover, the special blessing for what was actually known as "the
cup of blessing", and which is spoken of by St. Paul in referring to
the Holy Eucharist (1 Cor. 10:16).  Thus in the Lord's Supper this
blessing became the "prayer of blessing or thanksgiving" - the
"Eucharist" - and it was pronounced over both bread and wine
together.

     The word eucharist" (from the Greek eucharistia, meaning
"thanks") became the usual title of the Christian Sacrifice.  It is
simply the Greek translation of the Hebrew word berakah -
"blessing" or "thanksgiving", for to a Jew the two things were one
and the same - to "give thanks" to God was to "bless" Him, to
declare Him to be "blessed" and to "praise" Him.  To do this over
any objects - that is, to declare God to be blessed over them - was,
in effect, to bless such objects themselves.

     Another name for the Holy Sacrifice was eulogia - also a Greek
word meaning "blessing", and this word, too, could be used as a
translation of berakah.  Eucharistia was used when the emphasis
was laid upon God to whom one gave thanks; eulogia when the
emphasis was rather upon the thing for which thanks was given to
Him (Dix, p. 79).

     In the Jewish meal - whatever its precise nature or the particular
occasion on which it took place - the president of the meal invited
the guests to join in the "grace", in words which were probably the
source of the opening words of the Christian Eucharistic Prayer. 
The Jewish words were  as follows: "Let us give thanks to the Lord
our God" - and those present "gave their assent".  We do not know
in what formula they gave this assent, but the traditional Christian
response to the celebrant's exhortation at the Eucharist - "it is meet
and just" - seems to be Jewish in character and may be descended
from the old Jewish words.  The Jewish thanksgiving prayer, too,
ended with a doxology.  This word, from the Greek, means an
expression glorifying somebody or something - in this case, the
Name of God.  From this notion comes that of the Christian
doxology at the end of the Eucharistic Prayer, which is found in
analogous terms in all rites, Eastern and Western.  In the Roman
Tridentine Rite we have "Through Him and with Him and in Him all
honor and glory is given to Thee, O God the Father Almighty, in
the unity of the Holy Spirit."  To this doxology - which sums up the
whole meaning and effect of the Liturgy of the Mass in a few words
- those present answered Amen, the Hebrew response meaning "so
be it", in sign of faith and acceptance.

     THE  FRACTION:  The breaking of bread at meals and at the
Eucharist was originally merely the practical means of distributing it
among a number of people.  It had no symbolical meaning - except
in so far as it was a sign of hospitality, the host offering his guests
the bread which he had provided for them.  In the early Eucharistic
service, the consecrated bread was broken immediately after
consecration, as communion followed at once; there were, at first,
no distinct prayers of oblation after the consecration and no Lord's
Prayer.  All this is clear from Justin and (a little later one) from
Hippolytus also.  The symbolic notion, however, of breaking the
bread to represent the "breaking" of  Our Lord's Body upon the
Cross was introduced, later on, into the Liturgy.  To justify it there
is the reading of 1 Cor. 10:24: "This is My body which is broken for
you."  In the Vulgate the words are: "which shall be delivered for
you."  The words "shall be delivered for you", are perhaps due to
the influence of Matt. 26:26; Luke 22:19, but in any case they have
"too little support to be trusted".  The other reading "which is
broken for you", is better supported but not strongly enough to be
adopted in preference to the one which he has adopted - perhaps an
abbreviation of the phrase such as that in Luke 22:19 - "which is
being given for you - on your behalf".  In any case, such words
point clearly to the offering of a sacrifice at the Last Supper.

     THE  COMMUNION  AND  CONCLUSION:  In the
pre-Nicene Church it appears to have the custom for all to receive
communion standing - as is still the custom in the Eastern
Churches.  The Jews sat to eat the bread at their religious meals,
but stand to drink from the "cup of blessing."

     As we have seen, the consecration of the bread was later on
united directly with that of the wine, both consecrations being
effected in the one prayer of thanksgiving.  As it was the Jewish
custom to stand when reciting the berakah (thanksgiving), this
affected the reception of the bread as well as that of the cup.  The
psalm sung at the end of the Jewish religious meals is found at the
end of the agape - not of the Eucharist which ended at once with
the communion, no need being felt for any special thanksgiving
after it, since the Eucharistic Prayer was the thanksgiving of the
whole Rite.  Special thanksgiving after Communion was not
admitted till the church had lost all contact with the Jewish origins
of the Eucharistic Rite, that is, only during the fourth century, when
it began to make its appearance in the Syrian and Egyptian
Liturgies.  Even then it was very short - a mere section added to the
"Eucharistic Action", which really ended in the communion, as its
climax.  In the pre- Nicene Church, a single sentence of dismissal
probably said by the deacon seems to have been the only element
that followed the Communion.  Portions of the consecrated bread
were taken home by the faithful for their communion on the days
when the Liturgy was not celebrated, and the deacons - after the
third century, their assistants and acolytes - also carried such
portions to all those who had been unable, for any reason, to take
part in the public Liturgy.  The deacons - in later times again the
acolytes - carried portions of the bread consecrated at the Solemn
Mass, celebrated by the Pope or by other bishops in their own
dioceses to priests celebrating Mass elsewhere.  These portions
were placed by each priest in the Chalice at the Fraction, and this
was done as a sign of the union between the Pope (or bishop) and
his priests in the one Sacrifice of which Pope (or bishop) was the
"high priest", the principal celebrant by right of his "Order", or
"Office, in the Church.

     LATER  DEVELOPMENTS:  While it is true that at first the
communion of all present marked the end of the whole service, the
necessary "clearing up" took place at the end in public and before
all present.  As at the beginning of the Eucharist, the Altar was
covered with its linen cloth and the bread and wine were laid upon
it in Paten and Chalice in the presence of all taking part in the
sacrifice; so at the end the cleansing took place in the presence of
all, before they were dismissed.  This remained the practice in the
West, even when a formal thanksgiving  after Communion had been
introduced, and it remains in the Tridentine Mass, both in the full
ceremonial of the "High Mass" and in the simple rite of "Low
Mass".  In the former the sub-deacon cleanses the Chalice and take
it with the Paten, covered with the "Chalice Veil", to the Credence
Table; in the latter it is the priest himself who cleanses and covers
the Chalice.  In both High and Low Mass, the priest drinks
the"ablutions" ("washings" "cleansing") of wine and water with
which the Chalice has been cleansed - formerly these "ablutions"
were poured away into the "piscina" (a Latin word originally
meaning a tank for keeping fish); that is, the drain made in the wall
for this purpose, and usually on the Epistle side of the Altar.

     THE  KISS  OF  PEACE:  The Kiss was originally given at the
very beginning of the Eucharist - after the intercessions (when there
was a preliminary service, as was usually the case). The Kiss was
given in all the Eastern Liturgies at this part of the Rite, and it is
still so given - more or less.  In the Western Rite as described by
both Justin and Hippolytus, the Kiss was given in this place, and it
seems to have been the liturgical tradition that it should occur at
this point.  Before joining in the sacrifice the matter of which  (the
bread and wine) they had provided, the faithful, present exchanged
this sign of Christian unity and charity, receiving it through the chief
celebrant from the Altar; that is, from Christ Himself, Victim and
"Altar" of His own sacrifice.  Nothing is hear about the position of
the Kiss again till about two hundred years after Hippolytus, and
then its position at Rome is just before the Communion.  Some
writers on the Liturgy suggest that in the beginnings the Kiss was
given in all, or practically all, liturgies, in both places since it is
equally appropriate in each.  Before the offertory (to use the later 
term or convenience' sake), the Kiss expressed the more ancient
idea of charity between those about to be fed with the same Food
and Drink - Body and Blood of the Divine Victim - in the sacrificial
Banquet, the true agape or "Love Feast".  Those who uphold the
two places for the Kiss as the ancient custom in all liturgies,
consider that East and West independently dropped one or other of
the two according to the prevalent attitude of each.  But it is
perhaps more likely that there was at first only the one position at
the beginning of the Eucharistic Rite, and that the position before
Communion was new and really contrary to primitive usage.  Dix,
however, points out that this change was "the only change [as
distinct from insertions] in the primitive order of the Liturgy which
the Roman Rite has ever undergone".  He adds that in the change in
position of the Pax, Rome was probably following an innovation
first admitted into the African Churches.  The position just before
Communion is, in fact, attested in that country, at the end of the
fourth century, by St. Augustine in his Epistola (lix (cxl), ix);
Sermo vi.  The adoption of this custom by Rome was probably, it
seems, made not long before A.S. 416, since at this date the matter
is mentioned by Pope Innocent I, in his letter to Bishop Decentius
of Gubbio.  The position before the Offertory was still the custom
in the church of Gubbio and in other Italian Churches outside Rome
(Dix, p. 108).  In the Eastern Churches the Kiss is now placed after
the developed rites of the Offertory instead of being at the very
beginning of the Eucharist proper.  This slight change was first
made at Jerusalem, later on at Antioch and at Constantinople, and
then, during the fifth or sixth century, all over the East except in the
Coptic and Abyssinian Rites, in both of which it is still in the early
position - the only existing example of this primitive practice.  The
reviewer of The Shape of the Liturgy - in The Eastern Churches
Quarterly, already referred to in the Preface - maintains that in spite
of this the Kiss of Peace still holds the ancient position in the
Eastern Rites - that is, just before the beginning of the Anaphora,
but that this fact has been obscured by the introduction of the Creed
and the various ceremonies of the Offertory before the Kiss is
given.  In the Western Rites of Gaul and Spain, the Kiss was, as at
Gubbio, at the beginning of the Eucharist, but in the Eastern
position after the Offertory prayers and ceremonies, which had been
adopted, together with  a certain number of other Eastern practices,
probably in the sixth century.  In Spain this may have been the
result of the temporary occupation by Byzantine forces under
Justinian (Dix, p. 109); in Gaul, on account of the close association
also with the Byzantine Court and the Western Court of the two
Empires.  The predecessor of St. Ambrose as Bishop of Milan was
an Arian called Auxentius, and so had special  sympathy with the
East, the home of Ariansim.  In the church of Gubbio and other
Italian churches, apart from that of Rome, the Kiss remained in the
primitive position before any Offertory prayers.  At Milan the
Roman position had been adopted before the ninth century, but to
the present day the deacon in the Milanese Rite still chants Pacem
habete ("have peace [with one another]") just before the Offertory. 
In the Celtic Rite the Kiss was also in the Roman position, and
there is no tradition as to the date of its adoption.

     THE  LORD'S  PRAYER;  THE  PATER  NOSTER:  The view
that the Lord's Prayer is a primitive and universal element of the
Eucharistic Liturgy in no longer held as certain by liturgical
scholars, as their are early examples of its absence from some
liturgies Eastern and Western.  In the East it is absent from the
Apostolic Constitutions or Clementine Liturgy - so-called as it was
probably put together by a learned writer of the fourth century
generally believed to be the interpolator of the Epistles of  St.
Ignatius of Rome to the Corinthians.  It is true that this liturgy was
never in use as a liturgy, but is merely a compilation of liturgical
formulae made by the above interpolator of  St. Ignatius's Epistles,
but it is n nevertheless, based upon the Syrian type of the Liturgy at
the end of the fourth or beginning of the fifth century, and is in fact
the earliest written account of it.  The first evidence for the use of
the Lord's Prayer towards the end of the Anaphora or Eucharistic
Prayer is given by St. Cyril of Jerusalem (A.D. 348).  St. John
Chrysostom does not speak of it at Antioch a generation later, so
even in St. Cyril's time it could not have been a widespread custom
(Dix, p. 130).  It is absent again in the early form of the Egyptian
Rite given us in the Liturgy of Sarapion.

     In the West St. Ambrose speaks of the Pater in his De
Sacraments (iv. 24 ) about A.D. 395 at Milan.  In Africa, early in
the fifth century, St. Augustine says: "The whole of this petition"
[that is, the Eucharistic Prayer - which the Saint describes as : `the
prayers made when the elements are blessed and consecrated, and
broken for distribution'] "almost the whole Church concludes with
the Lord's Prayer". (Italics nine).  Notice that the Saint says:
"almost the whole Church" - not the whole Church", absolutely
speaking.  The chief exception of which St. Augustine was thinking
here was perhaps the Roman Church - where the Lord's Prayer
seems to have been introduced only in St. Gregory the great's time
(c. A.D. 595, Dix, p. 131 - and in a footnote giving reference to the
writing of St. Augustine - Epist. ix. 12 - in which he speaks of the
Lord's Prayer at Mass; see also John the Deacon, Vita Greg., ii,
20).  It seems curious to us that Our Lord's own prayer given to all
His disciples at their request, "Lord, teach us to pray" (Luke 11:1),
should ever have been absent from His act of sacrifice - the
summary of all prayer.  Probably the explanation lies in the
emphasis then placed upon the Eucharistic Prayer itself as
containing all necessary for that Act.  The Pater is not mentioned by
St. Justin in his two descriptions of the Liturgy, nor by St.
Hippolytus in the text of the Apostolic Tradition.  As we shall see,
it appears probable that St. Gregory the Great himself actually
introduced the Pater into the later Roman Rite.  Up till fairly
recently, he was considered to have only moved it from just before
the Communion to immediately after the doxology of the Canon -
its place in the Tridentine Mass.









                              CHAPTER  THREE

               THE  FUSION  OF  INTRODUCTORY  SERVICE 
AND 
                           EUCHARIST   IN   ROME


The union between the two services, the synaxis or "Mass of the
catechumens" and the Eucharist or "Mass of the Faithful", was not
a conscious or deliberate act of ecclesiastical authority - or
conscious and deliberate in anyway.  It just "happened", as many
other developments or changes in the history of the Liturgy.  In
fact, we must free our minds from the subconscious idea of a
species of "congregation of rites" introducing and deciding the
various elements of the Liturgy.  As a matter of fact, such
developments and changes were usually brought about by the
Christian people itself in various places and according to various
circumstances, and later on were accepted and established by
authority. The union of preparatory service and Eucharist during
the fourth- fifth centuries was due, to a great extent, to the growing
infrequence of lay-communion and the consequently gradual
cessation of the offerings of bread and wine made by the laity
during the Liturgy.  Besides this, there was the gradual
disappearance of  catechumens, penitents and so on, as "official"
person to be ceremonially legislated for and publicly dismissed from
the church at special points in the service.  All this helped to
obscure the distinction between the two services, and to made each
simply a part of one whole, at which all could be present.  At the
same time the real distinction between the two was not altogether
lost.  It is still evident in the Western Church.  In the latter it is seen
most clearly in the pontifical Latin Mass; that is, a Mass celebrated
by a bishop or other prelate possessing the right or privilege of
pontificalia. In a pontifical Mass the celebrant goes to the Altar - to
remain there - only at the Offertory.  The first part of the Liturgy of
the Mass (the old Synaxis), apart from the Prayers at the Foot of
the Altar and the censing of the altar at the beginning - all of late
introduction - take place entirely at the throne.

     THE  DISMISSALS  ABANDONED:  These were given up in
Rome probably during the sixth century, but survived in South Italy
to a later date. In Gual the dismissal of the catechumens lasted until
at least the eighth century in some places, and it is still found in the
Mozarabic books, together with the dismissal of the penitents.  The
dismissal are still found in the astern Liturgies, and the deacon still
announces them.  But no one goes out; they are a mere relic of past
usage; a formula without effect.

     In most places the fusion of Introductory Service and Eucharist
took place very gradually, and even while it was taking place, either
of the two services was occasionally celebrated without the other. 
This is especially the case with regard to the Introductory, the
"aliturgical", Service, of which we have already spoken, and which
continued in some places - e.g., Rome - on Wednesdays and
Fridays.  These days were next reduced to the Wednesday and
Friday of Holy Week only and finally to Good Friday and Palm
Sunday, and communion from the Blessed Sacrament reserved from
Maundy Thursday Mass together with an ablution of unconsecrated
wine was added on Good Friday.  This Communion (originally, no
doubt, for all present but now allowed only to the celebrant) is
accompanied by the recitation of the Pater noster with its little
"Preface" and following prayer, Liber nos, also recited aloud.  All
this is probably a relic of the pre-Nicene method of receiving
communion outside of the Holy Sacrifice - which at first took place
only in private homes.  It was transferred to parish and other
churches, perhaps during the fifth century, when "domestic
reservation" was being given up (Dix pp. 440 and 441).  In the East
the "aliturgical Liturgy", accompanied by the communion of the
reserved Sacrament,but for the ministers and laity as well as the
celebrant, became the custom on the weekdays of Lent.  During this
season the full Liturgy is celebrated only on Saturdays and Sundays.

     THE  EUCHARIST  WITHOUT  PREPARATORY 
SERVICE:  This seems to have disappeared everywhere in the East
after c. A.D. 500, but in the West it lasted longer in some places, on
Maundy Thursday alone.  The choice of this day was in order to
provide for a special reminder of the Institution of the Holy
Eucharist at the Last Supper, and the Liturgy of the Mass was
therefore celebrated in the evening.  In some churches three Masses
were celebrated on Maundy Thursday; one for the reconciliation of
the penitents in the morning; one for the consecration of the Holy
Oils, at midday; the third in memory of the Last Supper, in the
evening.  At the first Mass the preparatory service was omitted -
the long rite of the reconciliation of penitents taking its place.  The
second  Mass was preceded by that service, in the usual way.  The
third Mass, like the first was celebrated without it, beginning at the
offertory.  No more is heard at all this after the ninth century.

     It is uncertain whether or not there were three Masses on
Maundy Thursday in Rome, as the texts for these Masses in the
Gelasian Sacramentary do not seem to be Roman in origin, but to
have been taken from other parts of Italy - or even from France.
The formulae for the Blessing of the Holy Oils in this Sacramentary
are of Roman origin, but these Roman prayers are for only one
Mass on the day.

     SPECIAL  ADDITIONS:  The result of the fusion of
Preliminary Service and Eucharist led, in the former, to an
introduction as the principal new feature.  The pre-Nicene service
began at once with the lessons without even a greeting and
response - as the Mass of the Prescantified in the Roman Tridentine
- and in this latter not even the titles of the lesson are announced. 
Besides the introduction, there was also the addition of special
prayers and of chants with certain actions were taking place.

     THE  INTRODUCTION:  In the East the introduction may be
divided into three forms, which took shape during the fourth-fifth
centuries.  In the West there was only one form which, while
differing from any of the three Eastern forms, was influenced to a
certain extent by them, and it was partly borrowed from them.  The
three Eastern forms are:

     (i) In the liturgies of Mesopotamia and East Syria and of
Armenia.  In these parts of the world the inhabitants regarded what
we usually call "the East" as the "West", compared with their own
positions.

     (ii) In the Egyptian or Alexandrian Liturgy.

     (iii) In the Greek Liturgy - Jerusalem, Antioch and
Constantinople (Byzantine).  The Western introduction is of more
immediate interest to us for, as we have seen, there is plenty of
literature about the Eastern Rites, and texts, too, of the actual
Liturgies themselves, but there is not so much about the Western
Rite - even that of Rome; the Western introduction is, besides,
much less complicated than the Eastern.

THE  ROMAN  INTRODUCTION: This consisted of:

     (i) The Introit - the chant of a psalm with an antiphon repeated
after each verse.  The title is taken from the Latin introitus -
entrance" - as the psalm was chanted during the entrance of the
celebrant and ministers from the secretarium (the Sacristy as would
call it now) into the church.

     (ii) A  litany - of prayers for all intentions of the old Intercessory
Prayers formerly recited after the Gospel; later, this long litany was
replaced by the Greek words Kyrie eleison and Christie eleison
(Lord have mercy, Christ have mercy).

     (iii) A  hymn - the Gloria in excelsis - followed by the greeting
Dominus vobiscum ("The Lord be with you") and the response - et
cum spiritu tuo ("And with thy spirit" - a Hebrew form of reply,
meaning "and with you also").  The greeting Pax vobis ("Peace be
with you") was reserved for bishops, and in later times for older
prelates also, on certain day.

     (iv)  The Introductory Prayer, often called now the Collect
(from the late Latin word collecta - earlier form, collectio - "a
gathering together").  In the Roman texts the name of this prayer is
oratio ("a speech" or "address" - in the case of prayer - made to
God); the title collectio ("collect") is, as we shall see, really a
Gallican term.

     The above form of introduction in general was derived
structurally from the Greek form (iii, above) - except the oratio,
which was taken probably from the Egyptian Rite (ii).  It appears
that from c. A.D. 430-45 there were very close relations between
Rome and Alexandria, and there are other cases of liturgical
connections between the two Rites. According to the Liber
Pontificalis  (a series of lives of the Popes and their acts,the earliest
part of which was compiled under Boniface II, A.D. 530-2), it was
Pope Celestine I (A.D. 422-82) who ordered the antiphonal singing
of psalms before the sacrifice by all - "which used not to be done,
but only the Epistle of Blessed Paul used to read and the Holy
Gospel!".  Up till this command of Pope Celestine, the only chants
from the psalms in the Liturgy, both Eastern and Western, were the
responsory psalms between the Scripture lesson, which come down
from the use of the Jewish synagogue and belong to the earliest
stage of the Liturgy.  Neither was there originally any prayer before
the lessons; the service began - as we have seen, it still did in the
Tridentine on Good Friday - with the lessons.

     INTRODUCTION  OF  THE LITANY:  This was almost
certainly brought into the Mass by Pope Gelasius I (A,.D. 494-6),
and in order to take the place of the old Intercessory Collects said
after the Gospel - originally as the end of the synaxis.  Down to the
time of Gelasius the intercessions are frequently spoken of at Rome
as coming at the end of the synaxis and in the old collect-form. 
After this Pope's time, however, they completely disappear except
in Holy Week.  The petitions of the litany are for the same purposes
as in the older form of intercessions  - except that prayer for the
dead, which was not in the old form, is included in the litany.  Its
position at the very beginning of the Eucharist seems to be the
result of the fusion of two formerly distinct Rites into one
undivided service.  But besides the resumption of the old
intercessory collects on Good Friday at the end of the aliturgical
synaxis (which is somewhat obscured the addition of the
procession, the celebrant's communion and other ceremonies), there 
is a possible relic of these older intercessions to be found in the Te
igitur prayer at the beginning of the Roman Latin Canon, after the
Sanctus.  There is a very short prayer for the Church, the Pope
(local  bishop elsewhere than Rome) and for all "Orthodox
supporters" of the Catholic Faith.  these latter words refer to the
other brother  Orthodox Catholic bishops, besides the Pope and the
local bishop; they can hardly refer to the faithful in general, as these
have already been mentioned in the prayer for the Church.  As the
words of this particular "mention" (it is hardly long enough to be
called a prayer) are almost exactly the same as those used in the
prayer for the Church in the Good Friday intercessions, it is at least
possible that this part of the Te igitur was introduced (perhaps,
again, by Gelasius) when the fashion was coming in (the East) of
having the intercessions in that part of the Liturgy of the Mass.  The
Roman practical spirit is in evidence again - as in the case of the
prefatio of the collect (e.g., the Oremus dilectissimi of the Good
Friday for example), being reduced to the one word oremus.  We
have seen that in the East the Intercessions found their way into the
Anaphora, and usually after the Words of Institution, before or after
the Invocation of the Holy Spirit.  If the prayers for Church and
Pope, etc., in the Te igitur are really a condensed form of
intercessions, their position is nearer to that of the Egyptian Rite
than to that of the other Eastern Rites.  In the Egyptian Rite (the
Liturgy of St. Mark), the intercessions (which still possess certain
interesting remnants of the collect-form) are recited in the middle of
the Anaphora before the Sanctus, and so cause an interruption in
the Eucharistic Prayer.

     Dom Gregory Dix also agrees with those who consider that the
litany at the beginning of the Roman Mass was inserted by Pope
Gelasius, and he adds, in a footnote, that the last reference to the
old intercessions after the Gospel was in the time of the immediate
predecessor of Gelastius - Felix III (A.D. 587-88).  The petitions
were made by the deacon or by the choir; the responses of the
people were made in the Latin words: Domine exaudi et miserere
("Lord hear and be merciful"). But St. Gregory the Great, in a letter
to the Bishop of Syracuse, shows that the Greek form Kyrie eleison
("Lord, have mercy") was in use in his time, and he denies the
"accusation" that it was he who had introduced these words (and in
general the customs of Constantinople) into the Western Rite.

     ST.  GREGORY  THE  GREAT  AND  THE  KYRIE 
ELEISON:  The Saint declares that the Roman use of Kyrie eleison
was really different from the Byzantine use.  He says: "We neither
used to say nor do we say Kyrie eleison as it is said among the
Greeks.  For among them, all [the congregation] sing it together [as
a response to the deacon].  But with us something is sung by the
choir" - that is, no doubt, the petitions or some of those included in
the Gelasian litany - "and the people answer it (a populo
reespndetur).  And Christe eleison ["Christ have mercy"] which is
never sung by the Greeks is [at Rome] sung as many times.  But on
non-festal days we omit certain things usually sung [i.e., the
petitions(?) - the "something is sung" of the above words] and sing
only kyrie eleison and Christe eleison, so that we may spend
somewhat longer on these words of supplication" (Epist. ix - A.D.
598). These words seem to mean (though it is not absolutely
certain) that on festal days, in St. Gregory's time, the litany -
probably that of Gelasius unless a change had been made in or
about the sixth century - was sung in full.  But on ordinary
("non-festal") days the Pope had introduced the custom of singing
Kyrie and Christe eleison without the litany, where formerly this
litany had been entirely omitted and the Collect had followed
immediately after the Introit.  The Gelasian Sacramentary, when
directing the omission of the preliminary service on Maundy
Thursday in the Liturgy of the Mass for the reconciliation of the
penitents, says that on this day there was to be no Introit nor
greeting ("the Gloria in excelsis would be omitted in any case, as it
was a non-festal Mass}. but the service was to begin at once with
the prayers for the penitents.  At the baptismal Mass on the Paschal
Vigil (Holy Saturday), however, the litany is ordered, and the
Gloria, too, is sung.  There seems no reason to doubt that St.
Gregory, in introducing this chant of Kyrie and Gloria eleison
alone, also fixed the number at nine, though there is again no direct
evidence. This novelty of using the response, Kyrie, etc., as a chant
in place of the litany on non-festal days soon became the accepted
custom on all days, and the litany disappeared altogether - except
on Holy Saturday.  On this occasion the names of the Saints have
been added to the litany, and the ninefold Kyrie and Christe are put
at the end instead of being used as formerly as the response of the
people throughout the litany.  The litany, too (with the above
additions of the Saints), is said or sung on the Rogation days and in
ordination Masses.  In these two latter cases, however, the position
of the litany is not quite the same: in the Rogation Mass it is sung
during the procession before the Mass, and it is  followed by the
Introit and also the usual ninefold Kyrie.  In the ordination Mass -
that is, when all the orders are given at the same Mass - the litany is
sung just before the Epistle, after the minor orders have conferred. 
If deacons alone are ordained, after the Epistle; if only priests are to
be ordained, the litany is also sung after the Epistle.

     While the Deprecation Galas contained the same series of
petitions as in the old intercessory prayers (represented still in the
"Solemn Collects" of Good Friday), there is also the interesting
addition of the Petition for the faithful departed - which does not
occur in any of the old intercessions at the end of the synaxis.  This
is a type of prayer found nowhere else in the diaconal litanies of the
West.  The "oratio fidelium" in its full form from disappears from
the Roman Mass and is simply replaced by a diaconal litany, so
common in the East, and in the new form was placed at the
beginning of the Mass, no doubt because the gradual
Christianization of Rome had broken down the old rigid divisions
between the Mass of the Catechumens and the Mass of the Faithful.

     Thus the old prayers of intercession disappeared from the
Liturgy of the Mass at Rome in favor of a litany of Eastern type, as
they were also replaced, but still in the old position, after the
Gospel, in the Gallican and Mozarabic Rites, and, in turn, the litany
introduced by Pope Gelasius was replace by the nine Kyries
introduced on non-festal days by Pope Gregory.  These latter can
still be regarded as an "intercession" - but in a very general sense,
since they do not include any special petitions, as in the old forms.

     THE  LITANY  AT  JERUSALEM:  The fact that a litany at
the beginning of the Liturgy is found in the East only at Jerusalem,
seems to indicate that this practice actually started at+ Jerusalem. 
From there it may have spread to Antioch, Egypt and the West, as
local Jerusalem customs seem to have done so often.  In the
Egyptian Liturgy of St. Mark, before it "Byzantinization"
(eight-eleventh centuries), there are three prayers in the place of a
litany at the beginning which are known as the "Great Prayers". 
The unusual position of the litany in the Eastern Rites - is perhaps
due to the fact that when litanies were introduced into the Eastern
Rites, during the fifth century, as substitutes for the old Prayers of
the Faithful after the Gospel, the church of Jerusalem had long
before this transferred these prayer from that position to within the
Anaphora (after the consecration), and as there was no reason for
inserting a litany after the Gospel, the position at the very beginning
of the Liturgy was chosen.  When the other Eastern Rites moved on
their intercession from after the Gospel to the Anaphora, they were
moved on in the new litany-form.  At Rome, St. Gelasius,
apparently desiring  to get rid of the old methods of intercessory
prayer, adopted the Eastern litany, taking exactly the same means of
inserting the latter into the Liturgy of Mass as at Jerusalem; that is,
at the beginning of the Liturgy.

     NO  HYMN  BEFORE  THE  TIME  OF  POPE  CELESTINE
I:  Before his time, nothing at all preceded the lections - neither
Introit, Litany, Hymn nor Collect, and even after Celestine's
introduction of the Introit the latter was the only item of the Roman
"Introduction", according to the Liber Pontificalis.  But again,
Rome followed an Eastern custom.  Constantinople had introduced
the Trisagion (a similar type of threefold Sanctus in Greek) between
the entrance chant and the lections before A.D. 450, and Antioch,
and probably Jerusalem, did the same before c. A.D. 470.  It was
not, however, till A.D. 498-514 that Pope Symmachus: "Ordained
that on every Sunday and Martyr's Feast the hymn `Glory be to
God on high' should be said" (Liber Pontificalis, edited Duchense, I,
263).  In his footnote in Dix, p. 456, he shows that this authority is
wrong in saying that earlier it was the Pope Telesphorus (martyred
c. A.D. 130) who ordained that the Gloria should be sung on
Christmas night only, since this Feast did not come into being in
Rome until a century and a half after Telesphorus, and, in any case,
it was connected with Easter more closely than with Christmas at
Rome.

     THE  GLORIA  IN  SYRIA  AND  ASIA  MINOR:  It was
used there in the fourth-fifth centuries and is said to have been
brought into the West by St. Hilary of Poitiers (c. A.D. 363), who
heard it while banished to the East (Dix, p. 456).  The Gloria
apparently arose in the third, or even as early as the second,
century.  In pre-Nicene days it was used as a "hymn of dawn", and
so found it way into the morning office of Orthros ("Day break") in
the Eastern Churches  - an office equivalent to the Western offices
of Matins and Laudis together.  In the above Eastern Offices of
Matins and Lauds the Gloria forms a greater doxology at the end of
the psalms.  In the Roman Church the Benedictus ("Song of
Zachary") seems always to have been used in this place and so the
Gloria was free for use at the beginning of Mass, when the idea of
such a hymn came in from the East.  But it did not become - any
more than did the litany - a constant feature of the Mass, as it was
in the East.  The litany was not used at the beginning of the Liturgy
in the East - except in the Liturgy of Jerusalem.  In the other
liturgies it replaced the older collect form of the intercessions after
the Gospel.  At Rome the Gloria was reserved for Christmas and
certain other great feasts, and at first only in the solemn Mass
celebrated by the Pope and other bishops.  Simple priests were
allowed to make use of it only on Easter Day.  During the eleventh
and twelfth century the use of the Gloria became customary on all
Sundays and feast days and could be used by all priests.

     THE  GREETING  AND  FIRST  PRAYER:  In the earliest
form of the preliminary service we have seen that neither greeting
nor prayer existed at the beginning of the service.  This simple
beginning is asserted to have been the case, by the Liber
Pontificalis, even as late as in the time of Pope Celestine (c. A.D.
430), but it seems probable that both greeting and prayer were
inserted not very much later than that date.  The introduction of a
prayer in this place seems to have been owing to Egyptian
influence.  In the Egyptian Rite the greeting (in both Greek and
Coptic) is "Peace to all"; in the Roman it is Dominus vobiscum
("The Lord be with you" or Pax  vobis - "Peace be unto you"). 
These words were recited immediately before the first Lesson and
were connected with it.  In the Byzantine Rite (Constantinople) the
greeting was chanted immediately after the entrance.   At Milan for
the greeting - Dominus vobiscum, without Oremus - was chanted
before the first prayer (called super populudm - "over the people"),
which preceded the first Lesson.  But in the other Western Rites
(Gallican and Mozarabic) the greeting without any prayer came
immediately before the lessons till later in their history.  Thus it
seems likely that the Roman Collect (to give it the now accepted
title, apart from the liturgical text) was derived from the Egyptian
prayer, at least as far as its position in the Liturgy of the Mass is
concerned.  This arrangement in the Egyptian Rite seems to have
been an independent, local arrangement.  In Sarapion's Euchologion
(the earliest form of the Egyptian Liturgy) the synaxis begins with a
prayer entitled "First Prayer of the Lord's [Day]", and this prayer
comes just before the Lessons, and is, in fact, a petition for grace to
interpret the Scriptures. (Dix, pp. 446 and 447).  As Dix puts it, this
prayer is "by its position, the earliest `collect' we possess".  He says
also that at first sight a prayer in such a position seems to be
completely opposed to the accepted rule that no corporate prayer
should be made in the presence of the catechumens and others who
were not yet members of the Faithful.   But it is possible that, as it
was a prayer  for those present at the Liturgy rather than with them 
(that is, one in which they took an active part), it was not
considered to be a transgression of the rule.

     The chief difference between the Roman and Egyptian Collect is
that the former is variable, according to feasts or liturgical seasons,
and seems to have been so from its introduction into the Liturgy. 
The latter, however, was always invariable like the Egyptian.  The
Roman Collect may have begun life as  invariable like the Egyptian,
and have become variable only with the development of the
liturgical year; but there is no evidence of this.

     That the Roman Rite may have taken the introductory Collect
from Egypt would not be surprising, for there are so many other
striking points of resemblance between the two Rites.  For example:
"The Lord be [always] with you", instead of the usual longer form
of the other Eastern Rites, and these words, except for the one
word "always", are the same as the Roman form: Dominus
vobiscum  ("The Lord be with you").  The Egyptian Rite, it is true,
later on adopted the Byzantine form of entrance, but without losing
its own peculiarity, the Collect.

     Some liturgical scholars have taken it for granted that because
the oratio or Collect came immediately after the litany before the
hymn (the Gloria in excelsis) was introduced, the Collect was
originally the "summing up" prayer of the litany, and that the
insertion of the Gloria between litany and Collect is a mistake,
owing to a lack of knowledge of the older ways.  Others think that
this is not the case, but that the Collect was really connected with
the Lessons and not with the litany, and the insertion of the Gloria
between it and the litany is more correctly regarded as proof that it
had nothing to do with the latter.

     Besides the Collect, we find, about this period, the introduction
of three other similar prayers in the Roman Rite and in other
Western Rites also.

     THE  PRAYER  AFTER  THE  GOSPEL:  This was a prayer of
the same type as the oratio or Collect, and it was placed after the
Gospel - that is, after the intercessions, as long as these were still in
their original place there.  It seem to have formed the opening
prayer to the Eucharist proper. It was peculiar to the Western Rite,
and none of the Eastern Rites had anything like it.  The best
examples of this prayer are found in the Ambrosian Rite (in which it
is still used in every Mass) and in the MSS, of the Gallican an
Mozarabic Rites.  In the Roman Rite there is no direct mention of
such a prayer, but what seems to be an actual relic of it exits in the
Dominus vobiscum and Oremus sung or said in every Mass after
the Gospel (or Creed, when this is said), as the Tridentine contains
it, and it is followed only by the offertory anthem and not by any
prayer.  In his edition of the Gelasian Sacramentary, Mr. H.A.
Wilson says that this Sacramentary (which is of earlier date than the
Gregorian) generally gives two prayers before the Lessons, while
the Gregorian never provides more than one.  Mr. Wilson
continues: "in every case, the later Gregorian Sacramentary leaves
out the second of the two Collects.  This seems to show that the
two Collects in the Gelasian Sacramentary were not two Collects
before the Epistle, but that the second was the prayer after the
Gospel, which disappeared in the Gregorian  - leaving the Dominus
vobiscum and Oremus behind". Dom Gregory Dix also takes this
view, and says that a certain number of these second Collects in the
Gelasian are actually to be found in the Milanese Rite as orationes
super sindonem, the latter being the special title given to this prayer
in the Milanese Rite.  The title oratio  super sindonem means "the
prayer over the linen cloth", that is the "corporal" spread on the
altar at the Offertory on which the Chalice and Host were placed.  
Some scholars hold that the normal pre-Gregorian Mass involved
two reading before the Gospel and that each was preceded by a
prayer.  Thus the introduction of the Gloria in excelsis led to the
exclusion of the First Lesson with its prayer, and to the moving of
the first responsory psalm after the First Lesson to its present place
after the second Lesson as in the Gregorian and later the Tridentine,
so that there were now two responsories (the Gradual and Alleluia
or Tract) after this lesson.  An example of the old use form the
Gelasian Sacramentary is in the Good Friday Mass of the
Presanctified.  In this Sacramentary the rubric on Good Friday
orders the collect Dues a quo et Judas(preceded by Oremus,
lectamus genua and levate - "let us pray; let us bend the
knees,"arise") at the very beginning, before the First Lesson.  After
the Lesson and its responsory, follows Oremus, etc., and another
Collect, which begins Deus quo peccati veteris hereditarium
mortem; then the Second Lesson and responsory; the Passion and
the intercessions.  This rubric explains the two prayers in the
Gelasian Sacramentary in ordinary Masses.

     THE  LATER  CHANTS  OF  THE  ROMAN  LITURGY  OF 
THE  MASS:  The primitive chants between the Lessons were
reduced to two in the later Roman Rite - the "Gradual" and
"Alleluia" or "Tract") in penitential seasons.  The name "gradual"
(in Latin graduale) was given to the first responsory, as it was sung
- at first by deacons, later by special cantors - form the steps (in
Latin gradus) of the pulpit called ambo (from the Greek anabaino,
meaning to go up) from which the Lessons were read in the Roman
Basilica, that is the churches in Rome, either halls of justice
converted into churches, or built in the same style as these halls. 
We have already noted that the Alleluia (in Hebrew, hallelujah),
originally used in the synagogue by the cantor as the signal for the
people to join in the refrain during the psalmody, became in
Christian use a distinct chant like that of the Gradual, verses from
the Psalms being added to the word alleluia. These verses from the
Psalms in the Roman Rite may have been taken from the Byzantine
Liturgy during the seventh century.  This latter Rite began to
reduce the number of Lessons from three to two (suppressing the
first, from the Old Testament) in the fifth century, and in the late
fifth or early sixth centuries, Rome also reduced its Lessons in
general to two, although the old number of three was kept up for
Ember Wednesday and two other Wednesdays in Lent, and on
Ember Saturdays there are even six Lesson (counting the Epistle)
besides the Gospel.  Sometimes (e.g. on the week days of Lent) the
one Lesson before the Gospel is from the Old Testament, the
Epistle or other New Testament Lesson in this case being dropped. 
While three was originally the normal number for the Lessons in the
East, there were and still are, as with the Copts, examples in some
of the Eastern Rites of a larger number.  Although the Alleluia
seems to have always been a part of the first responsory (gradual)
and not a separate chant moved after the gradual when the First
Lesson was discarded, this was done in the case of the Tract which
was always separate from the Gradual and, according to Dix,
possibly the oldest Christian form of the psalmody used between
the Lessons. After the development of the Alleluia verse, the Tract
was regarded as penitential in character, and so was laid down for
use during Lent when the joyful Alleluia was forbidden: these
chants are "primitive" elements of the Liturgy; but besides the
Introit already mentioned, two other chants were introduced in the
Roman Rite and other Western Rites and in the Eastern as well. 
One was sung while the bread and wine was being collected and
taken to the Altar, this chant being known as the "Offertory" (in
Latin, Offertorium); the second was sung while the people were
receiving Communion, this chant being also called "communion"
(Communio).  The Introit - which was introduced probably earlier
than the other two - consisted of a whole Psalm with an antiphon, a
Greek word meaning "to answer", and so, in singing, alternate
chants.  The antiphon as a distinct thing in itself was a verse from
the Psalms or from other parts of Holy Scripture, which was sung
before the Psalm, repeated after each verse, and at the end, before
and after the Gloria Patri ("Glory be to the Father", etc.), when this
doxology was introduced into the Psalmody.  This method of
chanting the Psalms was very similar to the repsonsorial method
spoken of previously.  The difference between the two seems to
have been that in the responsory the refrain was not repeated in full
each time, but, alternately, the whole verse and only a few words of
it.  In the Psalm with an antiphon, the latter was repeated in full
each time.  In later times the Introit was reduced to an antiphon
followed by one verse of a Psalm, the Gloria Patri and the antiphon
repeated; in Medieval Rites the antiphon was still repeated before
and after the Gloria, as in early older chants between the Lessons,
but it was reduced later to an antiphon without even the verse of a
Psalm - except in Requiem Masses, in which, though not taken
from the Psalms, the Offertory is responsorial in form.  The chant
sung during the Communion of the congregation was like the
Introit, a Psalm with antiphon, and has also been reduced to a mere
antiphon or anthem.  In the Tridentine chanted after the
communion.  All these reductions were due both to the shortening
of the procession into the church, and to the gradual lessening and
final disappearance of the offering by the congregation (and also of
less frequent communion), especially during Solemn Mass.

     OTHER  PRAYERS  INTRODUCED:  Besides the "Collect"
and a "Prayer of the Day", we have about the same period three
others: the prayer at the Offertory called Secreta ("secret") in the
Gelasian Sacramentary; Oratio super oblata ("prayers over the
offerings") in the Gregorian Sacramentary; the Prayer of
Thanksgiving after Communion, called Postcommunio - no doubt
originally it was entitled Oratio post communion ("prayer after
Communion") - and, finally, the prayer in the Tridentine used only
on week days in Lent, after the Postcommunion, called Oratio
super populum ("prayer over the people", formerly also ad plebem -
"addressed to the people").  This title is he same as that used in the
Abrosian Rite for the first prayer of the Liturgy of the Mass, before
the Lessons, but the Roman prayer is quite different in meaning and
origin.

     All these prayers are really outward special insistences upon
elements already included in the Eucharistic Prayer as a whole, viz.
the offering of the bread and wine for the Sacrifice; thanksgiving
for the sacred food and drink; the blessing bestowed upon all who
assisted in the Sacrifice.

     The Secret:  This prayer, which indicates the offerings of the
Church for the use in the Sacrifice, is distinguished from the other
prayers of the Collect form by the fact that it possesses neither
Dominus vobiscum nor Oremus, and that is, and apparently always
was, recited secretly, hence its name.  It is true that before the
prayer the celebrant turns to the people and says aloud (but not
chanting) the words Orate fratres ("Pray, brethren"); the continuing
with the words ut meum ac vestrum sacrificium acceptabile fiat
apud Deum Patrem onipotentem ("that my sacrifice and yours may
prove acceptable in the eyes of God the Almighty Father") being
recited secretly.  But these words are not - as has been suggested -
a form of Prefactio to the Secret, like those of the Good Friday
Intercessions (the Oremus dilectissimi).  Originally only the two
words, in the Tridentine pronounced aloud, Orates fratres, were
said, and they were always said, not sung, and in a voice only loud
enough to be heard by those near the Altar.  They seem to have
been addressed originally by the chief celebrant of the Mass, to the
concelebrating clergy standing around the Altar.  They  were, no
doubt, a "call to prayer" - more earnest and more united prayer - as
the most sacred moment of the Mass, the Canon and consecration,
was approaching.  The other words of the "address" and the
response (made by the subdeacon at High Mass and the server at
Low Mass) were added during the Middle Ages.  The silent recital
of the Secret was, perhaps, also partly due to the length of the
Offertory responsory (later antiphon); it may be again, that a feeling
of the respect owing to the Eucharistic Prayer (which the Secret
merely emphasized but could not replace) kept the latter "secret". 
It has been suggested, however, that the title Secreta does not mean
"secret" in the sense of "hidden" or "silent", but really means "set
apart".  This is the primary meaning of the Latin word (derived
from scecerno-ere: "to separate, set apart:), and secret in the sense
of "concealment" is only the secondary meaning.  The former full
title, then, might perhaps have been Oratio super oblato secreta
("prayer over the offerings set apart") - thus combining the two
names found separately in the two Sacarmentaries.

     THE  POSTCOMMUNION  PRAYER  AND  THE 
"PRAYER  OVER  THE PEOPLE": We shall consider these two
prayers together.  The "Prayer over the people" came into being
before the Postcommunion, but it was finally ousted from the
everyday Mass by the latter; it is now found only in the Lenten
weekday Masses.  This prayer "over the people" has always been a
difficulty to liturgical scholars, and has had many and not always
very helpful explanations.  It is more or less the original Roman
blessing at the end of the Mass - which in early days was not a mere
blessing with the Sign of the Cross and pronunciation of the Names
of the Blessed Trinity, but was a liturgical prayer, oratio, "Collect" -
like the other prayers of the Mass described above.  Dix, while he
agrees that this prayer was the original blessing in the Roman
Liturgy of the Mass, maintains that it was not at first at the very end
of the service, but was placed just before the Communion.  This
was the place for the blessing in the other Western Rites - the
Gallican, Spanish, Italian (outside Rome) and African - and, indeed,
it all Rites, Eastern also - by the end of the fourth century.  He
shows, too, that the blessing in this position in the Roman Mass is
actually mentioned by a Roman writer in the late fourth century (c.
385).  This writer was known as "Ambroiaster" (i.e.,
pseudo-Ambrose), because of his commentary on the Pauline
Epistles, from which he omitted Hebrews, and was at first ascribed
to St. Ambrose and included among his writings.  His real name is
not known for certain.  The Oratio super populum or ad plebem is
preceded, not only by the usual Oremus of all such prayers, but also
by the proclamation (sung by the deacon at High Mass): Humiltiate
capita vestra Deo ("Bow down your heads to God"), and these
words are at least suggested by Ambrosiaster when he says: "and
though a man be holy, yet he bends his head to receive the
blessing;" the Roman words are also analogous to those used by the
deacon before the Communion blessing in some of the Eastern
Rites today.  Dix says, too: "The fact that the Roman Rite in the
fifth century always had a blessing before Communion appears to
be certain."  In a footnote on this page he refers us to Dom
Menard's note on the "Gregorian Sacramentary" (M.P.L., lxxxviii,
286-8; Dix, p. 518).  The position of this "prayer over the people"
after the Postcommunion prayer instead of before Communion (as
we find it in the Tridentine Lenten ferias), may have been due to the
introduction of the Postcommunion - sometime during the fifth
century.  Formerly, the "prayer over the people" before
Communion had been the last prayer of the Mass, or the latter
ended with the general Communion which was not followed by any
other prayer.  But when the special Prayer of Thanksgiving after
Communion was introduced, it may have seemed more fitting that
the solemn blessing should now be placed after the Thanksgiving
Prayer, and so conclude the whole service.  The fact too, that many
of the "prayers over the people" were hardly distinguishable from
the Postcommunion Prayers - only a certain number of these
prayers express clearly the notion of blessing - may have led to their
being dropped altogether in the everyday Mass, as being practically
redundant.  The survival in the Lenten weekday Masses is another
example, as Dix put it, that Lent is "a season when archaisms are
apt to survive in all Rites" (Dix, p. 521).

     A  SUMMARY  OF  THE  ROMAN  MASS  RITE:  For
clearness' sake I shall give an outline of the above study of Roman
Liturgical history:

     (i) The Introit: A psalm with antiphon sung during the entry of
the officiating clergy (introduced by Pope Celestine I, A.D.
422-82).

     (ii) The Litany: A series of petitions for "all sorts and
conditions" of people; based on an Eastern form, but of "local
(Roman) manufacture".  (Almost certainly introduced by Pope St.
Gelasius I, A.D. 494-6.)

     (iii) The ninefold "Kyriie Eleison": These Greek words were
repeated thus: Kyrie eleison three times; Christe eleison, thee times;
Kyrie eleison, again three times.  These ejaculations took the place
of the long litany, at least on feast days, in the time of  St. Gregory
the Great (A.D. 540-604).  It was St. Gregory, probably, who
finally suppressed the long litany, and who ordered the number
nine.

     (iv) The "Gloria in Excelsis": This hymn is of Eastern origin, and
used in the East in the Divine Office, not in the Eucharistic Liturgy. 
It was introduced by Pope Symmachus (A.D. 498-514), to be used
on Sundays and certain feasts.  At first only in papal or episcopal
Masses; simple priests were allowed to use it only on Easter Day till
the eleventh century, when it became customary on all Sundays and
feats. 

     (v) The Greeting and Collect: This was probably due to
Egyptian influence (close relations existed between Rome and
Alexandria from A.D. 430 to 435); this latter Liturgy is  the only
Eastern one with greeting and prayer in this position - before and
connected with the Lessons.  The Egyptian prayer is invariable; the
Roman Collect variable - apparently from the beginning.  This was
due to the development of the liturgical year.  Name "collect" not
Roman  - found in Gallican Rite.  Roman term in Latin is oratio
literally a "speech" or "address".

     In the "Mass of the Presanctified" on Good Friday in the Roman
Tridentine Rite, the service begins immediately with the Lessons;
the Collect before the second Lesson was probably a later
introduction from the Gallican Rite; its style is Gallican.

     (v) Psalmody between the Lessons: This is "primitive" - derived
from the Jewish synagogue service.  There were  certain changes
and developments, however, in later times - e.g., two chants
formerly sung separately, one after each of the two Lessons before
the Gospel, came to be sung together after the one Lesson (Epistle
or other New Testament or Old Testament Lesson), the first
(always from the Old Testament) being dropped in ordinary Mass in
Roman Rite, though retained on certain days (e.g., the Lesson
before the Epistle on Ember Wednesdays and of Pentecost).  The
usual number of three Lessons in the Mass before the Gospel was
first reduced to two in the Church of Constantinople in the fifth
century, and Rome followed this example in the late fifth or sixth 
centuries.  In other Eastern and Western Rites the first of the three
usual Lessons was discarded later than the above dates, but not
everywhere.  The first chant was called "gradual" because sung on
the steps (gradus) of the ambo - the pulpit in which the Lessons
were chanted; the "Alleluia" chant; originally the word Alleluia (in
Hebrew, hallelujah), simply the signal for the refrain (chanted by the
people) which was given by the cantor; later it became a separate
chant with verses from the Psalms attached to it - probably from
Byzantine custom (three alleluias sung after two psalm verses
following the Epistle).  A chant of several verses of psalms, called
prokeimenon ("set before"), is sung before the Epistle - probably
the relic of the repsonsory after the former first Lesson from the
Old Testament, and so equivalent to the Roman Gradual.

     The Tract, so-called probably because it was sung slowly and
protactedly by one singer, was perhaps the oldest form of psalmody
used between the Lessons.  Later (after the development of the
alleluia and the introduction of the Lenten season) it became the
accepted form for penitential times. 

     (vi) "The Prayer of the Day": This is a convenient title,
suggested by Dom Gregory Dix, for an otherwise nameless prayer
(i.e., nameless in the Roman Rite), which probably followed the
Dominus vobiscum and Oremus sung or said after the Gospel or
Creed in the Roman Tridentine Mass - but which is followed only
by the Offertory anthem.  The latter is not a "prayer" in the
technical sense and so there is no connection at all between them. 
Such a prayer still in use in the Ambrosian Rite, and there it is
called Oratio super sindonem ("the prayer over the linen cloth", i.e.,
the corporal - it is said just after spreading the latter on the Altar). 
It seems to have been a special feature of the Western rite; it is not
found in any of the Eastern Liturgies.
     Its disuse in the later Roman Rite (there is a trace of it still in the
Gelasian Sacramentary) was quite likely due to the fusion of synaxis
and Eucharist into one service, and the introduction of the prayer at
the beginning, before the Lessons.  The Prayer of the Day had been
the first prayer of the Eucharist, when this was still distinct from the
synaxis; after the union between the two its place was filled by the
Collect before the Lessons, and so it became redundant.

     (vii) The Offertory Anthem (in Latin Offertorium): This chant,
like the Introit (and also the Communion anthem) is one of the later
introductions and was introduced to "fill up time" while something
else was being done - in this case while the people were bringing
their offerings of bread and wine to the Sanctuary entrance. It is
first mentioned by St. Augustine in Africa (Retractationes, II. 11
and 17).  It was originally a responsorial chant, but afterwards was
reduced to and antiphon or anthem.  The responsorial form is still
to be found in the Tridentine Requiem Masses, although the text is
not taken from the Psalms.  The Offertory was probably adopted in
Rome (together with the Communion anthem) in the fifth century -
later than the Introit, however (Dix, pp. 492-3 et seq.).

     (viii) The Offertory Prayer (in Latin, Oratio super
oblata,("prayer over the offerings" or Secreta): At first, in
pre-Nicene days, the action of placing the offerings upon the Altar
and then at once reciting the full Eucharistic Prayer over them was
considered enough.  The Offertory and Postcommunion prayers
(like the Prayer of the Day and the Collect before the Lessons) are,
as it were, clearer expressions and insistences upon the bread and
wine contained or implied in the one Eucharistic Prayer.

     The term Secreta (in English,"secret") seems to mean simply a
"prayer said secretly" - because of the long offering by the people
and the chant of the anthem while it was taking place.  There is no
Dominus vobiscum or Oremus - these words which, as we have
seen, come after the Gospel or Creed have another explanation -
and in any case they are separated from the Secret by the Offertory
anthem.  The Secret, like the Collect (oratio), is variable according
to the Feast or liturgical season.  The address - Orates fratres -
made by the celebrant aloud but not chanted, before the Secret, and
was originally made by the Pope or bishop to the concelebrating
clergy standing round the Altar and so pronounced in a low voice,
for them alone.  Next came the Preface and Canon (which are
treated in a separate chapter later); then we have the Communion
anthem (in Latin, Communio) - the same type of chant as the
Offertory anthem and introduced about the same date.

     (ix) The Postcommunio and the Oratio super populum: It seems
certain that in the fifth century there was in the Roman Rite, as in
the other Rites, Eastern and Western, a prayer of blessing
pronounced by the celebrating bishop over the people just before
Communion.  This prayer was preceded by a proclamation
addressed to the people by the deacon "to bow down their heads
before God".  Such a prayer of blessing is in the Tridentine Roman
Rite, but only in the weekday Masses in Lent, and then, at the very
end of the Mass, after the Postcommunion.  This change of place
was perhaps due to the introduction - towards the end of the fifth
century - of the special prayer for thanksgiving after Communion,
the Postcomunio, and so the Prayer over the people became the
final blessing of the Mass.  But as it often was a kind of second
thanksgiving prayer after Communion, it was dropped as redundant
and later its place as a blessing was taken by the actual form used in
the Tridentine - no longer a complete "prayer", as were the ancient
forms of blessing.  The Lenten "prayer over the people" is preceded
by the "proclamation" chanted by the deacon - or at Low Mass said
by the priest himself - which is identical with that used in the fifth
century - at least in meaning (Dix, p. 518).

     THE  BLESSING  AT  THE  END: In the Tridentine consists in
the Sign of the Cross made over the congregation with the
accompanying words: Benedicat vos omnipotens Dues: Pater et
Filius et Spiritus sanctus ("May Almighty God, Father, Son and
Holy Spirit, bless you").  It was derived from the blessing given by
the Pope as he passed through the basilica after the solemn Mass, in
the eighth century.  The blessing is only recited by a priest even at
High Mass, but is sung by a bishop - with mitre and pastoral staff.  
A metropolitan gives the blessing with uncovered head and his
Cross is held before him.