Historical and explanatory remarks about the Liturgy of the Eucharist

History

The Liturgy used in this Diocese is part of a long tradition of Celtic Christian liturgy reaching back before the earliest historical records. The Liturgy we use is clearly in the school of the Stowe Missal, a book containing the text of the Mass and other liturgical documents dating to the 8th century. (For a complete copy of this original text in the original Latin, with copious notes, see the sadly out-of-print The Liturgy and Ritual of the Celtic Church, by F. E. Warren; for a literal English translation, go to Celtic Orthodox Christian Resources.) The Stowe Missal appears to have been composed by an Irish monk, and represents a mingling of native Irish, Eastern, and continental (what would now be called Roman Catholic) influences. It is important to note that, unlike the various Eastern Orthodox Churches and the Roman Church of the last several hundred years, the ancient Celtic Church never had such a thing as a standard liturgy used everywhere by all people. This type of standardization of practice simply did not exist anywhere in the world as it does now, and especially not in a tribal culture's Church, particularly since that Church had no centralized hierarchical structure. Beyond the level of the local church and monastary, and groups of allied monasteries, each group followed the customs of their immediate locality and the guidance of the Holy Spirit within the context of the traditions of the Church.

Since our liturgy is in this tradition, it is not a simple translation of the older Stowe Missal service, but a continuing and somewhat developed member of that tradition. The parts of it which are the same, or nearly the same, as prayers in the Stowe Missal were translated from the Latin in the early 1980s by a team of poets and theologians. The confession of sin is a purely modern addition. The precise ordering of the elements of the service, for the most part familiar to western Christians, though with a few peculiarities, is very old, and comes to us through the process of oral tradition. (i. e. This is how our ancestors in the faith did things, and how we do now.) The various propers, a sample of which are available on this web site, are a mixture of old and new, based on Roman, Eastern and native sources.

Some practical and rubrical observations

Of first importance, it must be understood that we use two altars in our churches. One is at the west end, and is called the Jerusalem Altar. The other, corresponding the usual one altar in most churches, is at the east end and is called the Heavenly Altar. The people are in two groups facing each other across the aisle that runs between the Altars. The Liturgy of the Holy Eucharist (also called the Mass or Comna) uses both Altars. The prayer services of the Daily Office (the hourly prayers throughout the day), on the other hand, are centered exclusively on the Jerusalem Altar.

The Jerusalem Altar represents for us our earth-bound human condition. The Mass begins with prayers for deliverance from scary flood waters. Similarly, our human life is filled with prayers entreating God to deliver us from the chaos, confusion, sin, disease, death, isolation which are our daily realities. The Jerusalem shows us how and where we meet God: not on the mountain top, not in the courts of Heaven, but in the nitty-gritty of real life.

The Jerusalem Altar also represents for us the pre-Christ revelation of God to the Israelites. The liturgies which focus on this Altar are filled with prayer and Scripture reading. Here we join our ancestors in the faith, the children of Abraham, in humbly approaching the throne of God in prayer and in receiving his self-revelation through the words of the Bible. A single candle, representing the revelation of God's one-ness to the Jews, or a seven branch menorah, representing the worship of the Temple and the physical creation, gives light, both literal and symbolic, on the meaning of the Jerusalem Altar.

The Jerusalem Altar also represents the earthly life of Jesus. After beseaching God's mercy in the chaos of our lives, and hearing his kind words to us, the Chalice is prepared. This symbolizes Jesus' conception and birth, when the divine and human are mingled in a godly order. The Chalice, representing the inner spiritual reality of Jesus' identity as the God-Human, is then covered up with the veil, but the bread, his outer visible life, is placed on top, visible to all.

At the offertory, the veiled Chalice is carried to the Heavenly Altar and the entire focus shifts with it. The Heavenly Altar represents for us several things. It shows us God on his throne in this Kingdom. This is our goal, the terminus of our journey, though not the starting point. It also represents Calvary and the sacrifice of Jesus, with the tomb of his death and descent to hell. And when the bread and wine, which become for us the Body and Blood of our crucified Savior, are held aloft as a sign of victory, the joy of the people reminds us that this Altar represents the Resurrection of the Lord from the tomb.

You can return to the Liturgy page or read the text of the Mass [part 1] [part 2]