A Brief History of Christian Liturgy
by David Greatrix
In the current era of Liturgical reform and "modernization", the use of the historic liturgy of the Christian Church has become synonymous with conservatism. This is due, in large measure, to the fact that the current form of the liturgy, with a few minor changes, has been in use since the sixth century. Therefore, advocates of radical reform often make appeals to worship in a "new" and "fresh" manner. However, liturgy and worship are not interchangeable ideas. Corporate worship is the activity that includes repentance to the Triune God, His forgiveness of our sins through confession and absolution, the Gospel, baptism, and the Lord’s Supper and our response of prayer, praise, and thanksgiving. Liturgy is the form which that group follows when they are worshipping. Not everyone who participates in the liturgy is worshipping, as worship also incorporates a faith response on the part of the worshiper. One can almost be certain that Cain and Abel used the same form, or liturgy, when offering up their sacrifices in Genesis 4. However, Abel’s sacrifice was accepted by God while Cain’s was refused because of the difference in their motivations and attitudes. The historic liturgy, which has been used by the Church for almost 1400 years, is the form for worship that is most appropriate for engendering the correct attitude in the worshiper.
Origins
The word "liturgy" itself is taken from the Greek word leitourgia, which can best be translated as "public work at private expense". In Ancient Greece, the taxation system did not work as well as the government had hoped, and public projects were often under-funded. In order to ensure the completion of a specific project, a wealthy private citizen would endow the government with enough funds in exchange for public recognition of his donation, a practice that still survives today. The word leitourgia became associated with worship practices when the Old Testament was translated from Hebrew into Greek, in a translation called the Septuagint. The only Greek word that the translators could use to refer to worship practices in the temple was orgia, which was a reference to the practices at pagan temples, and has the same connotations in Greek that it has today in English. The word leitourgia was substituted because corporate worship is a public activity that we all participate in individually.
The full Christian Liturgy, as we have it today, is one service that can be divided into two sections, the service of the Word, and the service of the Lord’s Supper. The two liturgies in The Lutheran Hymnal are in reality the same service. However, the first service, "page 5", is only the service of the Word and is an abbreviation of the second, "page 15", which is both sections. The service of the Word ultimately has its roots in the practices of Jewish Synagogue worship. The heart of Synagogue worship is readings taken from Scripture, one from the Law and one from the Prophets, followed by commentary on them by one of the rabbis (teachers). This practice can be found in Luke 4:16, when Jesus reads from the Prophets, and then comments on it, saying that the prophecy has been fulfilled in front of the congregation. This practice is also very similar to the current liturgy, in which the service of the Word centers around Scripture readings, one each from the Old Testament, the Epistles, and the Gospels, and the commentary on them applying law and Gospel in the sermon.
Ordinary and Propers
The Liturgy can further be divided into the parts that are the same every week, called "the ordinary", and the parts that change weekly, called "the propers" because they are proper to that Sunday. The ordinary includes the Kyrie, the Gloria in Excelsis, the Creed, the Sanctus, the Agnus Dei, and, in the Lutheran Rite, the Offertory and Nunc Dimittis. The propers include the introit, the collect, the gradual, the Scripture lessons, the prayers, and the preface to the Sanctus. Many of these names are in different languages, and will be explained below in the order in which they occur in the service.
Invocation
The Lutheran service begins with an Invocation of the Triune God, In The Name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost, which is followed by an Amen, Latin for "so be it", by the congregation. This is done because of Jesus’ statement in Matt. 18:20, For where two or three are gathered in my name, there am I in the midst of them. This is followed by the general Confession and Absolution of Sins, sometimes labeled as confiteor (Latin for I confess) a uniquely Lutheran part of the service. This begins with a series of sentences and responses between the pastor and the congregation which are reminders that God alone is the source of forgiveness, rather than we ourselves. The Confession and Absolution which follows are taken from the prayers of Catholic Priests used in the Middle Ages during their personal preparations prior to the service of the Eucharist. Luther incorporated these into the public service after the reformation.
Introit
The Introit, which is Latin for "entrance" or "beginning", is the point at which the traditional Roman service began. Prior to the fifth century, the service began with the priests filing into the church in silence. Pope Celestine I decreed that a psalm, which he called the introit, should be sung by the choir at this point. Pope Gregory the Great, who held that office from 590-604, was in large measure responsible not only for the standardization of the liturgy, but also for the standardization and codification of Roman Chant, which has been called Gregorian Chant, in his honor, ever since. Pope Gregory altered the form of the introit into the form that is still in use today. The introit begins with an antiphon, which is usually one verse of a psalm that summarizes or sets the theme of what follows. This is followed by part or all of a psalm, usually different than the one from which the antiphon is taken. Following that is the Gloria Patri, which is Latin for the first two words of Glory be to the Father and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit. As it was in the beginning, is now, and will be forever. Amen. The introit concludes a repetition of the antiphon.
Kyrie
The next portion of the liturgy is the first part of the ordinary of the service, the Kyrie, an abbreviation of the Greek phrase, Kyrie eleison, which can be translated as "Lord, have mercy." For the first three centuries of the Christian Church, the official language of the Church was Greek, rather than Latin, as Greek was the language in which the New Testament was written. This phrase, Lord have mercy, was originally a response of the congregation to a petition offered up by the priest. As time passed, it was combined with the phrase Christe eleison (Christ have mercy), and it became a separate part of the service. Pope Gregory the Great, in order to call attention to the doctrine of the Trinity, altered the form so that it was a threefold combination of three phrases: three Kyrie Eleisons, three Christe Eleisons, and three Kyrie Eleisons. The present form in the Lutheran service is one of each phrase with the words "upon us" following, which were added by Bishop Kramner, an Anglican bishop who was responsible for many other reforms within the Anglican Church.
Gloria in Excelsis
The Kyrie is followed immediately by the Gloria in Excelsis, which is an amplification of the song of the Angels at the incarnation of Jesus in Luke 2:14. The title is the first part of the text of this canticle in Latin, and can be translated as "Glory in the Highest". The singing of this canticle designates a shift in the mood of the service, as it moves from recognition of our sin and the need for forgiveness, to the glorification of God because of His deliverance. The Gloria was originally sung only by the Bishop except on the celebration of Easter, when the rest of the clergy would join him. The current practice of the celebrant singing Glory be to God on High, and the congregation responding with the rest of the canticle, dates from the eleventh century, a practice which eventually stopped, until it was revived during the reformation. Luther, in accordance with his desires to involve the congregation to a greater extent in the worship service, reinstituted the congregational singing of this canticle, but had them sing in German while the priests sang in Latin.
Collect
The Collect, which is a brief but significant prayer that is related to the theme of the lessons, follows directly after the Gloria. These short prayers, which are only one sentence long, have been in use for over 1500 years and follow a fairly rigid five-part form. The parts are: an invocation, identifying to whom the prayer is addressed, most often, God the Father; the basis for the petition that is about to be offered; the petition; the purpose for, or what may be accomplished by, the petition; and finally a Doxological conclusion, occasionally abbreviated, which in its full form is: through Jesus Christ, Your Son, our Lord, who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. This form is followed in the majority of collects, but on occasion, parts are omitted, most often the basis for the petition or the purpose for the petition. There are two different theories as to how the collect received its name, the first of which is from the Latin phrase ecclesia collectia, or "the church gathered". The second theory comes from the early church in Gaul (France), where the collect would be offered after the congregation participated in silent prayer. The priest would then "collect" the prayers of the people and send them to God.
The Scripture Lessons
At this point in the service there is a change in focus and in attitude. Prior to this, the church has collectively been speaking to God, first asking forgiveness for sins, and then glorifying God in the Gloria. Now, God will speak to His church through His Holy Word, which is read at this point. The practice of the early church was to have three lessons, one each from the Old Testament, the Epistles, and the Gospels. However, this practice fell out of favor in the Middle Ages, and the lessons were reduced in number to two by eliminating the Old Testament lesson. However, in the latter half of this century, the practice of having an Old Testament lesson has been revived. The lessons are chosen so that they are unified according to theme. They are also separated by various responses by the congregation. Following the Old Testament lesson is the Gradual, which is usually a verse from a Psalm, and serves to link the Old Testament lesson to the Epistle. The name is derived from the fact that the Gradual used to be read from the step of the altar called the gradus. Following the Epistle lesson, the congregation most often chants an alleluia, or a series of alleluias, which is in preparation for the Gospel lesson.
The Gospel lesson is taken from one of the four Gospels in the New Testament, and is always centered around Jesus. The reading of this lesson used to have a great deal more imagery associated with it than there is today. In the Middle ages, the rising of the sun was always associated with and seen as a symbol of the Resurrection of Jesus Christ. Since the sun rises in the east, and since Christ has said that He will return from the East, the traditional church in the Middle Ages faced towards the East. Therefore, there was a North and South end of the altar. Since the South was associated with light (longer days) and warmth, it was a metaphor for the life lived in grace. Thus, the North was associated with darkness (shorter days) and cold, and was a metaphor for the kingdom of the Evil One. Thus, the Gospel lesson was read from the North end of the altar, as a symbol of it being read where it was needed the most. It was also read with more ceremony than today, with the Gospel lessons being bound in a separate volume that was covered with purple cloth (the color of royalty), illuminated with gold script, and occasionally bound with expensive jewels. Today, in the Lutheran liturgy, the Gospel lesson is surrounded by sentences and responses between the pastor and the congregation. These greet and recognize Jesus Christ, the Word, as being physically present in the reading of the Gospel.
Creed
The confession of one of the three ecumenical creeds, the Apostles’, Nicene, or Athanasian, follows the reading of the lessons. The word creed is an "Anglicization" of the Latin word credo which means I, or we, believe. The Nicene Creed was written by the Council of Nicea in AD 325 and was the first Creed to achieve the form that is used today. This Creed has always been associated with the Sacrament of the Lord’s Supper, and is found in the Liturgy for that service in The Lutheran Hymnal. The Apostles’ Creed, which was not written by the Apostles, developed much more slowly and has always been associated with the Sacrament of Baptism. This Creed, which was confessed by those that were about to be baptized, achieved its final form by the middle of the eighth century. Named after Athanasius, the Athanasian Creed was most likely not completed by him, as he died in AD 375. It was probably written between AD 450 and AD 600. The Athanasian Creed was intended to clearly define the concept of the Trinity in order to counteract the Arian heresy, which sought to deny the divinity of Christ. The sermon follows the confession of the Creed, and is most often based on one of the three lessons for the day.
Offertory
In the Lutheran Liturgy, the sermon is followed by the Offertory, which is taken directly from Psalm 51, David’s great psalm of repentance after his adulterous affair with Bathsheba, and the murder of her husband Uriah. This plea, sung by the entire congregation, is a preparation for the next section of the liturgy, the service of the Lord’s Supper. In the early Christian Church, this was the point of the service in which the catechumens (those not eligible to receive the Lord’s Supper) were excused from the church service.
Preface to Holy Communion
V. The Lord be with you.
R. And also with you.
V. Lift up your hearts.
R. We lift them up unto the Lord.
V. Let us give thanks unto the Lord, our God.
R. It is meet and right so to do.
Thus begins the liturgy of the Lord’s Supper in The Lutheran Hymnal. This particular exchange between the pastor and the congregation incorporates a traditional Jewish greeting that can be found in Ruth 2:4, Joshua 6:12, among others, and is the traditional opening of the seder, the Jewish Passover feast. This feast also involves the sharing of a glass of wine (the cup of blessing) and unleavened bread (in memory of the bread that the nation of Israel ate in fleeing from the Pharaoh and his host). This is the same meal that Jesus celebrated with His disciples in the upper room when He instituted the sacrament of the Lord’s Supper. In utilizing much of the imagery and substance of Old Testament practice, Christ is fulfilling the ‘figures’ that are presented there. Many, if not all of the events in the Old Testament are earthly shadows of events in the New Testament. Israel’s physical deliverance from slavery is a figure, or shadow, of the world’s spiritual deliverance from the slavery of sin through Christ’s great work. Luther, in his polemic On the Papacy in Rome (LW 39:77,78), goes into a lengthy discussion of the OT figures and the NT fulfillment of these figures in Christ. To quote: And so on throughout the Old Testament: whatever references it makes to physical, visible things mean in the New Testament spiritual and invisible things which cannot be seen but which are possessed in faith alone.
Sanctus
The word Sanctus is Latin for "Holy". The text of this canticle is a combination of the song of the seraphim: Holy, holy, holy, Lord God of Sabaoth. Heaven and Earth are full of Thy Glory which is taken from Isaiah 6:3, and the song of the crowd at Jesus’ triumphal entry into Jerusalem on Palm Sunday, Hosanna, hosanna, hosanna in the highest. Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord, found in Matthew 21:9. The word hosanna, which is repeated many times in this canticle, can be translated as "Save now!" The Sanctus is followed immediately by the Lord’s Prayer, Matt 6:9-13, and Luke 11:2-4, and the Words of Institution, which are the words that Christ spoke when He first instituted the Lord’s Supper, and are taken from 1 Corinthians 11:23-26.
Agnus Dei
This is followed by the Agnus Dei, Latin for "Lamb of God", a communion hymn based on John 1:29 that was first introduced around the year AD 700 by Pope Sergius I.
Nunc Dimittis
After the Distribution of the Lord’s Supper, it is the Lutheran practice, and the practice of the Roman Church in Spain, to sing the Nunc Dimittis, or "Now let us depart". This is the song of Simeon in Luke 2:29-32, and is sung after Simeon sees the Savior shortly after His birth. The beginning of this canticle, Lord now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace, is taken from the formula for the manumission, or freeing, of a slave. This idea is carried over into the current usage, as Jesus Christ, our Lord, frees us from the slavery of our sins by His suffering and death on the cross.
Benediction
The final portion of the service is the Benediction, or blessing, the most common form of which is found in Numbers 6:24-26.
Bergendoff, Conrad (ed.) Luther’s Works Fortress Press: New York. 1958
Coxe, A. Cleveland The Ante Nicene Fathers. Charles Scribner’s Sons: New York.
1925
Fisher, George Park History of the Christian Church. Charles Scribner’s Sons:
New York 1889
Schaff, Phillip History of the Christian Church. Charles Scribner’s Sons: New
York: 1910
Senn, Frank C. Christian Liturgy. Fortress Press: Minneapolis: 1997