Liturgies Eastern and Western (Hammond)

erroneous doctrine was formulated, the language of the Church was less rigidly exact^1, and expressions might be used which

^1 This lack of philosophical precision in doctrinal statements during the earlier ages of the Church, and its true significance, must be constantly kept in mind by students of theology regarding many questions of formal doctrine. Two groups of people take their stand on this fact: one argues that more strictly defined doctrines are not true because (as they claim) they are not "primitive" original: "not primitive," meaning not from the earliest era of the Church; the other says that insisting on these definitions is unkind, because they are not as inclusive. To understand the actual situation, we would apply—with the necessary changes original: "mutatis mutandis"—the remarks of Canon Liddon in his Bampton Lectures, No. vii (especially pp. 630-644, 1867 edition).

We draw special attention to this point here in case any of our readers have come across a pamphlet titled The Primitive Doctrine of the Eucharistic Sacrifice. The author, who calls himself "Clericus Cantabrigiensis" Latin: "a Cambridge clergyman", discovers a spectacular "mare's nest" an "imaginary discovery" or a confusing mess in the well-known fact that in many places in the Ancient Liturgies, both Eastern and Western, the Sacrifice in the Holy Eucharist is said to be offered to Christ. We would have thought that every beginner original: "tyro" in liturgical studies was aware of this. There are two explanations to be found in the writings of the Church Fathers which perfectly illustrate Canon Liddon’s remarks. The first is the earlier and less precise explanation; the other is later and more philosophical, but entirely consistent with the first. In fact, it is only a "translation of the language of one intellectual period into the language of another." One typical quotation will suffice for each. For the first, see Epiphanius, Against Heresies original: "Epiph. adv. Haer.", book 55, section 4. Speaking of the one eternal and continuous Priesthood and Sacrifice of Christ, which replaced the Mosaic sacrifices of the Old Testament, he expresses the early Christian way of thinking. This mindset was fixed so completely on Christ that it saw Him as supreme everywhere—to see Him as "all and in all," to use Saint Paul’s phrase: "He is the sacrifice, He is the victim, He is the priest, He is the altar, He is God, He is man, He is king, He is high priest, He is the sheep, He is the lamb, becoming all things in all for our sake" original: "Αὐτὸς ἱερεῖον, αὐτὸς θύμα, αὐτὸς ἱερεύς, αὐτὸς θυσιαστήριον, αὐτὸς Θεός, αὐτὸς ἄνθρωπος, αὐτὸς βασιλεύς, αὐτὸς ἀρχιερεύς, αὐτὸς πρόβατον, αὐτὸς ἄρνιον, τὰ πάντα ἐν πᾶσιν ὑπὲρ ἡμῶν γενόμενος.". This strikingly illustrates the language of the Liturgy of Saint Chrysostom itself (see below, p. 101): "For You are the one who offers and the one who is offered, the one who receives and the one who is distributed, Christ our God..." original: "Σὺ γὰρ εἶ ὁ προσφέρων καὶ προσφερόμενος, καὶ προσδεχόμενος καὶ διαδιδόμενος, Χριστὲ ὁ Θεὸς ἡμῶν...". This is part of a prayer found in the Barberini manuscript term: "codex"; an ancient book-style manuscript from the 8th century, and it is therefore not a recent addition. The author "Clericus Cantabrigiensis" does not seem to have noticed these four very significant present-tense descriptions. (Compare also Origen, Against Celsus, viii. 13.) The second, and simple, explanation is that the Sacrifice is "offered to the whole Trinity, and therefore to the Son." See Fulgentius, To Monimus, book ii, chapter 5: "The faithful... should know that every service of honor and saving sacrifice is offered by the Catholic Church equally to the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit—that is, to the Holy Trinity" original: "Fideles ... scire debent omne cujuslibet honorificentiae et sacrificii salutaris obsequium et Patri et Filio et Spiritui sancto, hoc est sanctae Trinitati, ab ecclesia Catholica pariter exhiberi.". Chapters 3–5 contain an elaborate explanation by Fulgentius on this very point. The objection raised by Clericus Cantabrigiensis, that the sacrifice being...