John Francis Goggin

“ The early Christians appear to have communicated frequently, even every day, especially during a period of persecution. The greatest reverence was shown to the Sacred Species, so the faithful strove to be free from all stain of grievous sin, and deemed it a serious fault to allow any of the consecrated elements to fall to the ground.
Baptism, as the initiatory rite of Christianity, is mentioned frequently by the early writers; Tertullian wrote a special treatise on this sacrament, describing the preparation required for it, and the ceremonies accompanying it. ”

“ In the beginning great liberty was allowed the individual celebrant to improvise the prayers of the liturgy, provided that he adhered to the strict form in essentials and followed the theme demanded, but at a later date the Church felt the need of a set of formularies and fixed ceremonies, lest dogmatic errors should find expression in the liturgy and thus corrupt the faith of the people. ”

“ It was only natural that the Edessans should regard Addeus and Maris as the authors of their liturgy, since they already regarded these men as the founders of their Church. The Nestorians attribute the final redaction of the text of the Liturgy of Addeus and Maris to their patriarch Jesuyab III, who lived about the beginning of the seventh century. After the condemnation of Nestorianism, the Nestorians retreated into the Persian kingdom, and penetrated even into India and China, founding churches and introducing their liturgy wherever the Syriac language was used. ”

“ Possibly the vigil of Easter was observed so solemnly on account of the tradition that the Lord would return to judge the world on the feast of Easter, and the early Christians hoped He would find them watching. Easter in Tertullian's time was followed by a period of fifty days' rejoicing until Pentecost, which was considered as the close of the Easter season rather than as a solemn feast with a special significance. In the third century Lent, as a period of forty days' fasting, was unknown in Africa. Of the greater immovable feasts the earlier writers appear to know nothing ”

“ The faithful were taught not to mourn for their dead, but to rejoice that the souls of the departed were already living with God and enjoying peace and refreshing happiness after their earthly trials and labours. ”

“ The early Christians had a great devotion towards the martyrs and confessors of the faith, carefully preserved and venerated their relics, made pilgrimages to their tombs, and sought to be buried as near as possible to the relics of the martyrs, and hence the anniversaries of the local saints were celebrated with great solemnity. Thus the calendar of the African Church in the ante-Nicene period was rather restricted, and contained but a comparatively small number of feast days. ”

“ The greater Apodeipnon is said during Lent, the little Apodeipnon during the rest of the year. The latter is composed of a doxology, troparion, the trisagion, the Lord's Prayer, the Kyrie Eleison repeated twelve times, and invitatory versicles, and Psalms 50, 69, and 162, which are followed by the greater doxology, the Creed, the trisagion, the Lord's Prayer, the troparion proper to the feast, the Kyrie Eleison repeated forty times, several invocations, and the long prayers of dismissal. ”

“ Although good historical evidence concerning the foundation of the Church of Edessa is wanting, still it is quite certain that Christianity was introduced there at a very early date, since towards the end of the second century the king was a Christian, and a bishop (Palouth) of the see was consecrated by Serapion of Antioch (190–203) . ”

“ The bishop prayed for the penitents, and the bishop and priests imposed hands upon them as a sign of absolution and restoration into the communion of the Church. Although Tertullian in these words wished to throw ridicule on what he deemed excessive laxity at Rome, still he describes faithfully rites which seem to have been in use in the Church of Africa also, since elsewhere in his writings he mentions doing penance in sack-cloth and ashes, of weeping for sins, and of asking the forgiveness of the faithful. ”

“ The deacon then invites all who have received Communion to give thanks, and the priest recites aloud a prayer of thanksgiving and one of petition. Mass is concluded with a blessing pronounced by the priest over the people. The chief characteristic in this, as in the other Nestorian liturgies, is the position of the general intercession or memento. It occurs, not after the epiclesis as in the Syrian liturgies, but immediately before it. It seems to be a continuation of the anamnesis. Of minor differences, it might be noted that the Nestorians use one large veil to cover paten and chalice ”

“ Tertullian also states that the neophyte was signed with the sign of the cross, that he received the imposition of hands with the invocation of the Holy Ghost, and that the newly baptized Christian then partook of his first holy communion. Tertullian explains many of these ceremonies in his treatise on the Resurrection (viii) . "The flesh indeed is washed in order that the soul may be cleansed; the flesh is anointed, that the soul may be consecrated; the flesh is signed (with the sign of the cross) that the soul too may be fortified ”

“ Unfortunately his antiphonary and also his "Embolis" have not been preserved.
Amalarius seems to have had a strong liking for liturgical studies, a liking which was stimulated and fostered by his master Alcuin. His travels to the East gave him considerable information concerning the Oriental rites, but his stay in Rome appears to have imbued him with a deep love for the Roman liturgy and to have greatly influenced his liturgical work. There he made a special study of rubrics and Roman customs ”

“ Among other liturgical ceremonies the early writers often allude to the rites accompanying the burial of the dead, and particularly the entombment of the bodies of the martyrs and confessors. From the earliest times the Christians showed great reverence to the bodies of the faithful, embalmed them with incense and spices, and buried them carefully in distinctively Christian cemeteries. ”

“ There are eight modes, four primary and four secondary. As the Greeks rarely used texts set to musical notation, they learned by heart the words and music of some standard hymn or canticle, and this served as a model for other hymns of the same rhythm. ”

“ The festivals of local martyrs seem to have taken precedence over what are now regarded as the greatest feasts of the Church, and their anniversaries were celebrated long before the great immovable feasts were introduced. ”

“ When Agobard was restored to his see, both he and Florus attacked the writings of Amalarius and succeeded in having him censured at a synod held at Kiersy in 838 for his opinion concerning the signification of the parts of the divided Host at Mass. Finally Amalarius was involved in the theological controversies on predestination raised by Gottschalk. ”

“ The Little Vespers, which are recited before sunset, consist of the invitatory versicles, Psalms 103 and 140, several stichoi and similar stichera, a short hymn, and a psalm, some similar stichera and stichoi, the Nunc dimittis, the trisagion, and the apolytikion. ”

“ Joining the parts together he says a prayer referring to the ceremonies just completed, cleaves with his thumb the Host where it was dipped in the chalice, signs his forehead with his thumb, and recites a prayer of praise to Christ and to the Trinity. After kissing the altar, he invokes a blessing upon all—"The grace of Our Lord" etc., as quoted above. ”