Ante-Nicene Fathers/Volume VII/Constitutions of the Holy Apostles/Book VIII/Elucidations





(The Bidding Prayer, etc., p. 485.) &#160;



1. Supplications. &#160;

2. Prayers, Psalms, Hymns, and Spiritual Songs. &#160;

3. Intercessions. &#160;

4. General Thanksgiving. The Kiss of Peace. &#160;

5. Anaphora. &#160;

The Lord Jesus the same night in which He was betrayed took bread: &#160;

And when He had given thanks, He brake it, &#160;

And said, Take, eat: this is my Body, which is broken for you: &#160;

This do in remembrance of Me. &#160;

After the same manner also He took the cup, when He had supped, &#160;

Saying, This cup is the New Testament in my Blood: &#160;

This do ye, as oft as ye drink it, in remembrance of Me. &#160;

For as often as ye eat this Bread, and drink this Cup, ye do show the Lord&#8217;s death till He come. &#160;

6. Our Father, etc. &#160;

7. Communion. &#160;

Let us note also that the Apostle had &#8220;delivered&#8221; unto the Corinthians (1 Cor. xi. 23), as doubtless to others (1 Cor. vii. 17), certain institutions which he ordained in all the churches, and for departing from which he censures the Corinthians in this place (ver. 17 compared with ver. 2) in certain particulars. In chap. xiv. at ver. 40, he refers to these ordinances as a &#964;&#945;&#769;&#958;&#953;&#962;, in the performance of which they were to proceed (&#954;&#959;&#963;&#956;&#953;&#769;&#969;&#962;) with due order, becomingly; not with mere decency, but with a beautiful decorum of service. &#160;

Finally, let me suggest that there are fragments of the Apostle&#8217;s (&#960;&#945;&#961;&#945;&#769;&#948;&#959;&#963;&#949;&#953;&#962;) instructions everywhere scattered through his Epistles, such as the minute canon concerning the veiling of women in acts of worship, insisting upon it with a length of argument which in one of the Apostolic Fathers would be considered childish. He also insisted that his &#964;&#945;&#769;&#958;&#953;&#962; is from the Lord. &#160;

Fragments of the primitive hymns are also scattered through the Apostles&#8217; writings, as, e.g.,&#8212; &#160;

&#769;&#917;&#947;&#949;&#953;&#961;&#945;&#953; &#8001; &#954;&#945;&#952;&#949;&#965;&#769;&#948;&#969;&#957;, &#954;&#945;&#953;&#768; &#7936;&#957;&#945;&#769;&#963;&#964;&#945; &#7952;&#954; &#964;&#969;&#785;&#957; &#957;&#949;&#954;&#961;&#969;&#785;&#957; &#954;&#945;&#953;&#768; &#7952;&#960;&#953;&#966;&#945;&#965;&#769;&#963;&#949;&#953; &#963;&#959;&#953; &#8000; &#935;&#961;&#953;&#963;&#964;&#959;&#769;&#962;.

Of such passages the formula (&#948;&#953;&#959;&#768; &#955;&#949;&#769;&#947;&#949;&#953;) &#8220;It saith&#8221; seems to be a frequent index. &#160;

May we not conclude also that the sublime prayer and doxology of Eph. iii. 14&#8211;21 is a quotation from the Apostle&#8217;s own eucharistic &#964;&#945;&#769;&#958;&#953;&#962; for the whole state of Christ&#8217;s Church militant? &#160;

Might not the same be more constantly used in our days as an intercession for the whole flock of the one Shepherd? &#160;



(Fulfil His constitution, p. 489.) &#160;

The Pauline Norm being borne in mind, we shall best comprehend this Clementine liturgy, as to its primitive claims, by taking the testimony of Justin, writing in Rome to the Antonines a. d.160. Referring to the Apology in our first volume, we observe that the order kept up in his day was this:&#8212; &#160;

1. Prayers for all estates of men. &#160;

2. The kiss of peace. &#160;

3. Oblation of bread and wine. &#160;

4. Thanksgiving. &#160;

5. Words of institution. &#160;

6. The prayer ending with Amen. &#160;

7. Communion. &#160;

Now, a century later, we may suppose the original of this Clementine to have taken a fuller shape; of which still later this Clementine is the product. &#160;

Bear in mind that the early Roman use was (Greek) borrowed wholly from the East; and, comparing the testimony of Justin with the Pauline Norm, may we not suppose that this norm in Rome was augmented by the Eastern uses, and so preserves a true name in that of the first Bishop of Rome, who accepted it from Jerusalem or Antioch? &#160;



(That He may show this bread, etc., p. 489.) &#160;

From a recent essay by Dr. Williams, the erudite bishop of Connecticut, I am permitted to cite, as follows:&#8212; &#160;

&#160;

Compare the original texts thus:&#8212; &#160;

&#160;

Bishop Williams then proceeds to inquire:&#8212; &#160;

&#8220;How is this striking agreement to be explained? Does Iren&#230;us quote from the Clementine, or the Clementine from him? Or is it not much more likely that they are independent witnesses to primitive uses, going back to the period of the persecutions, and extending far beyond the limits of Syria or Palestine&#8217;?&#8221; &#160;

I shall recur to these passages in the elucidations to Early Liturgies (infra): but here I beg the reader to consult Pfaff, to whom we owe the discovery of the fragment cited from Iren&#230;us; also Grabe, in the same volume of Pfaff, whom I have already introduced to the reader. &#160;



American editor had been promised the aid of his beloved friend the Rev. Dr. Hobart in the elucidation of the liturgies; but a sudden and almost fatal prostration of his health has deprived the reader of the admirable comments with which he would have enriched these pages, had Providence permitted. &#160;