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 RITES

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RITES

nion form. It is hardly possible to speak of rite at all in the Calvinist body.

The other ritual functions kept by Protestants (baptism, confirmation as an introduction to Com- munion, marriage, funerals, appointment of ministers) went through much the same development. The first Reformers expunged and modified the old rites, then gradually more and more was changed until Uttle remained of a rite in our sense. Psalms, hymns, pravers, addresses to the people in various combina- tions make up these functions. The Calvinists have always been more radical than the Lutherans. The development and multiple forms of these services may be seen in Rietschei, "Lehrbuch der Liturgik", II, and Clemen, "Quellenbuch zur praktischcn Theolo- gie", I (texts only). The Anglican body stands somewhat apart from the others, inasmuch as it has a standard book, almost unaltered since 1662. The first innovation was the introduction of an English Utany under Henry VIII in 1544. Cranmer was pre- paring further changes when Henry VIII died (see Procter and Frere, "A New History of the Book of Common Prayer", London, 1908, 29-35). Under Edward VI (1547-53) many changes were made at once: blessings, holy water, the creeping to the Cross were abolished. Mass was said in English (ibid., 39-41), and in 1549 the first Prayer-book, arranged by Cran- mer, was issued. Much"^of the old order of the Mass remained, but the Canon disappeared to make way for a new praj'er from Lutheran sources. The "Kol- nische Kirchenordnung " composed by Melanchthon and Butzer supplied part of the prayers. The changes are Lutheran rather than Calvinist. In 1552 the second Prayer-book took the place of the first. This is the present Anglican Book of Common Prayer and represents a much stronger Protestant tendency. The commandments take the place of the Introit and Kyrie (kept in the first book), the Gloria is moved to the end, the Consecration-prayer is changed so as to deny the Sacrifice and Real Presence, the form at the Communion becomes: "Take and eat this in remem- brance that Christ died for thee, and feed on him in thy heart by faith with thanksgiving" (similarly for the chalice). In 1558 Elizabeth's Government issued a new edition of the second Prayer-book of Edward VI with slight modifications of its extreme Protestant- ism. Both the Edwardine forms for communion are combined. In 1662 a number of revisions were made. In particular the ordination forms received additions defining the order to be conferred. A few slight modifications (as to the lessons read, days no longer to be kept) have been made since.

The Anglican Communion service follows this order: The Lord's Prayer, Collect for purity. Ten Commandments, Collect for the king and the one for the day, Epistle, Gospel, Creed, sermon, certain sen- tences from the Bible (meanwhile a collection is made), prayer for the Church militant, address fo the people about Communion, general confession and absolution, the comfortable words (Matt., xi, 28; John, iii, 16; 1 Tim., i, 15; I John, ii, 1), Preface, prayer ("We do not j»rfi8ume"j, Consecration-prayer, Communion at once, I>jrd's Prayer, Thanksgiving-prayer, "Glory be to G(k1 on high ", blessing. Ver>' little of the arrange- ment of the old Mass remains in this service, for all the ideap Protest ants reject are carefully excluded. The Book of Common Prayer contains all the official ser- vices of the Anglican Church, baptism^ the catechism, confirmation, marriage, funeral, ordmation, articles of religion, etc. It has also forms of morning and evening j)rayer, composfid partly from the Catholic Office with rnanv moflifications and very considerably re^lucwl. The i-'piscopal Church in Scotlanrl has a Prayer-bofjk, formed in lt)37 and revised in 1764, which ifl more nearly akin to the first Prayer-bf)ok of Edward VI and in decidedly more High-C^hurch in tone. In 1789 the Protestant Episcopal Church of

America accepted a book based on the English one of 1662, but taking some features from the Scotch ser- vices. The Anghcan service-books are now the least removed from Cathohc Uturgies of those used by any Protestant body. But this is saying very Uttle. The Non-jurors in the eighteenth century produced a number of curious liturgies which in many ways go back to Catholic principles, but have the fault common to all Protestant services of being conscious and arti- ficial arrangements of elements selected from the old rites, instead of natural developments (Overton, "The Non-jurors", London, 1902, ch. vi). The Irvingites have a not very successful service-book of this type. Many Methodist s use the Anglican book ; the other later sects have for the most part nothing but loose arrange- ments of hymns, readings, extempore praj'crs, and a sermon that can hardly be called rites in any sense. V. Liturgical Language. — The language of any Church or rite, as distinct from the vulgar tongue, is that used in the official services and may or may not be the common language. I^or instance the Rumanian Church uses liturgically the ordinary language of the country, while Latin is used by the Latin Church for her Liturgy without regard to the mother tongue of the clergy or congregation. There are many cases of an intermediate state between these extremes, in which the liturgical language is an older form of the vulgar tongue, sometimes easily, sometimes hardly at all, understood by people who have not studied it specially. Language is not rite. Theoretically any rite may exist in any language. Thus the Armenian, Coptic, and East S>Tian Rites are celebrated always in one language, the Byzantine Rite is used in a great number of tongues, and in other rites one language sometimes enormously preponderates but is not used exclusively. This is determined by church discipUne. The Roman Liturgy is generally celebrated in Latin. The reason why a liturgical language began to be used and is still retained must be distinguished in liturgical science from certain theological or mystic considera- tions by which its use may be explained or justified. Each liturgical language was first chosen because it was the natural language of the people. But languages change and the Faith spreads into countries where other tongues are spoken. Then either the authori- ties are of a more practical mind and simph' translate the prayers into the new language, or the conservative instinct, always strong in religion, retains for the liturgy an older language no longer used in common life. The Jews showed this instinct, when, though Hebrew was a dead language after the Captivity, they continued to use it in the Temple and the synagogues in the time of Christ, and still retain it in their ser- vices. The Moslem, also conservative, reads the Koran in classical Arabic, whether he be Turk, Persian, or Afghan. The translation of the church service is complicated by the difficulty of determining when the language in whit-h it is written, as Latin in the West and Hellenistic Greek in the East, has ceased to be the vulgar tongue. Though the Byzantine services were translated into the common language of the Slavonic peo])le that they might he understood, this form of the language fChurfh-Slavonic) is no longer spoken, but is gradually becoming as unintelligible as the original Greek. Protestants make a great point of using languages "understanded of the people", yet (he language of Luther's Bible and the Anglican Prayer- book is already archaic.

History. — When Christianity appeared Hellenistic Greek was the common language spoken around the Mediterranean. St. Paul writes to people in Greece, Asia Minor, and Italy in Greek. When the parent rites were finally written down in the fourth and fifth centuries Eastern liturgical language had slightly changed. The Greek of these liturgies (Apost. Const. VIII, St. James, St. Mark, the Byzantine Liturgy) was that of the Fathers of the time, strongly