June 29: The Feasts of Saints Peter and Paul

DIGNUM et justum est: omnipotens Pater nos tibi ingentes agere gratias: pro multiplici Apostolorum Petri et Pauli gloria: quam eis per diversas munerum distributiones larga satis pietate donasti. Quos et unigeniti tui discipulos: et fecisti esse magistros. Qui ob Evangelii predicationem cum celorum preficiantur in regnis: carcerum clauduntur angustiis. Potestatem accipiunt solvendi: et ferri vinculis alligantur. Sanitatem donant: et egritudines portant. Demonibus imperant: et ab hominibus flagellantur. Mortes fugant: et fugiunt persequentes. Super mare ambulant: et labore desudant. Montes verbo transferrant: et propriis victum manibus querunt. Judicaturi Angelos: in questionem mittuntur. Cum Deo vivunt: in mundo periclitantur. Postremo Christus eis serviens pedes lavat: el facies eorum blasfemantium manus alapis collapbizat. Nihil sustinentibus pene defuit ad tolerantiam: nihil superantibus victorie non adfuit ad coronam. Si recurramus: quot ad testificandam fidei veritatem erumnarum pertulerint in tormentis frequenter suis: superfuere Martyribus. Si in mirabilibus: hoc per Christum fecere: quod Christus. Si in passionibus: hoc sustinuerunt illi necessitate mortali: quod ille voluntate moriendi. Isti ejus viribus: ille suis. Probantes doctrine auctoritatem similitudine: non equalitate doctoris. Implevit Petrus suo tempore: quod promiserat ante tempus. Posuit animam suam pro illo: quem se non crediderat negaturum. Quia ad ardue sponsionis celeritatem nimia charitate preventus non intellexit servum pro Domino dare non posse: quod pro servo ante Dominus non dedisset. Similiter non renuit crucifigi: sed equaliter non presumpsit appendi. Obiit ille rectus: iste subjectus. Ille ut majestatem ascendentis sublimitate proferret: iste ut fragilitatem descendentis humilitate monstraret.
Nec Paulus affectu minor meminit: quemsibi arrogaverat dicens: Mihi vivere Christus est: et mori lucrum. Gaudet insanientis ictibus percussoris: domitas jugo Christo offerre cervices: et pro corporis sui capite: dare corporis sui caput. Diviserunt sibi passionis Dominice vestimentum duo milites Dei: unus in patibulo: alter in gladio. Petrus in transfixione: Paulus in sanguine. His igitur dispari mortis genere: non dispari moriendi amore perfunctis. Exultet in eorum doctrinis Ecclesia Catholica: in exis religiositas universa: in memoriis Urbs Romana: in patrociniis omnis anima christiana. Неc autem omnia tu Domine operaris: qui a Prophetis demonstraris: ab Angelis adoraris: et in omni seculo Apostolorum lumine declararis. Cui merito omnes Angeli et Archangeli non cessant clamare quotidie ita dicentes:

Sanctus, Sanctus, Sanctus
Dominus Deus Sabaoth:
Pleni sunt celi et terra gloria majestatis tue:
Osanna filio David.
Benedictus qui venit in nomine Domini:
Osanna in excelsis.
Agyos, Agyos, Agyos, Kyrie o Theos.

- The Inlatio of the Feast, from the Missale Mixtum (Mozarabic Rite)

Oratio Jeremiae Prophetae

A piece of Mozarabic Chant: the Prayer of Jeremiah the Prophet (Lamentations 5:1-11).

The Minor, Trivial Biblical Stuff, Part 4: The Upper-Room

And He said to them, "Behold, when you have entered into the city, there shall meet you a man, carrying a jar of water. Follow him to the house that he enters, and you shall say to the householder of the house, 'The Teacher says to you, "Where is the guest-room where I may eat the Passover with my disciples?"' And he shall show you a large upper-room, furnished; there make ready."

-Luke 22:10-12

The Last Supper, one of the most important events in the life of Christ wherein He instituted the Eucharist, was held in an anagaion (anything that is above ground; traditionally rendered and understood as "upper-'room'"). Now we wonder: what could this upper-room be? First, let's check how houses looked like in the 1st century.

First and foremost, we must remember that one traditional candidate for the site, known as the Cenacle, as it stands today, only reached its present form around the medieval period (there is still some debate as to exactly when), after experiencing numerous cycles of destruction and reconstruction. So, it's rather unlikely that Jesus and His disciples held their last meal in a wide, spacious Gothic room such as this - supposing that this is the actual site. The area would have looked totally different in the 1st century AD.

From Youtube: Coptic Liturgy

From Youtube: a Coptic Orthodox liturgy celebrated in English by Fr. Mauritius Anba Bishoy at the El-Samaeyeen Cathedral, Sharm El-Sheikh, Egypt. The thick accents (as well as the microphones!) might be a distraction to some, but these give a fairly good impression of the divine liturgy of the Coptic Church.

Trivia: the beginning of part 1 (below) shows the priest choosing the Lamb that would be used in the Liturgy among the loaves of bread offered and inspecting the wine as the choir repeatedly sings Kyrie Eleison (it is actually sung 41 times: the reason usually given for this is because Christ was scourged with 39 lashes, and then crowned with thorns and pierced with a spear - yielding 41).



Here are the other videos: Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5, Part 6, Part 7, Part 8, Part 9, Part 10, and Part 11.

Crédimus in unum Deum...

Fidem, quam corde crédimus, ore autem dicámus:Crédimus in unum Deum Patrem omnipoténtem, factórem caeli et terrae, visibílium ómnium et invisibílium Conditórem.

Et in unum Dóminum nostrum Jesum Christum, Fílium Dei Unigénitum, et ex Patre natum ante ómnia sæcula; Deum ex Deo, Lumen ex Lúmine. Deum verum ex Deo vero; natum non factum, Omoúsion Patri, hoc est, ejúsdem cum Patre substántiae; per quem ómnia facta sunt, quae in caelo, et quae in terra.
Qui propter nos hómines, et propter nostram salútem, descendit de caelis, et incarnátus est de Spíritu Sancto ex María Vírgine, et homo factus est. Passus sub Póntio Piláto, sepúltus, tértia die resurréxit, ascéndit ad caelos, sedet ad déxteram Dei Patris omnipoténtis. Inde ventúrus est judicáre vivos et mórtuos, cujus regni non erit finis.

Et in Spíritum Sanctum, Dóminum vivificatórem, et ex Patre et Fílio procedéntem. Cum Patre et Fílio adorándum et conglorificándum; qui locútus est per prophétas.
Et unam, sanctam, Cathólicam et Apostólicam Ecclésiam.
Confitémur unum baptísma in remissiónem peccatórum.
Expectámus resurrectiónem mortuórum, et vitam ventúri saeculi.
Amen.

Thus is the Creed in the Mozarabic Rite of Spain. One interesting thing that you'll notice first here is that the Mozarabic Creed was, and is recited in the first-person plural (Crédimus...confitémur...expectamus, 'We believe...we confess...we await') as was the case with the Coptic, Ethiopian, Chaldean, and Armenian liturgies. This is in contrast to other Eastern and Western rites where the pronoun is changed to the singular (Credo...confiteor...expecto). In this respect this version preserves the form adopted by the First Councils of Nicaea and Constantinople, which was in the plural.

Now this, of course predated ICEL's changing of the Roman version from the singular to the plural during translation of the text. ;)

The Minor, Trivial Biblical Stuff, Part 3: 'Mount' Calvary

We read the following from John's Gospel:

And they took Jesus and led Him away, and carrying the cross by Himself, He went out to the place called Place of a Skull (which is called in Hebrew 'Golgotha'), where they crucified Him, and with Him two others: on this side and on that side, but in the middle Jesus.

- John 19:16b-18

Nowadays, it is common to assume that the Golgotha of the Gospels was a sort of hill located a good distance from the hustle-and-bustle of Jerusalem (hence the common appellation: ‘Mount Calvary’). Many artists and filmmakers have followed suit: sometimes to the extent of showing it as a very high and steep ridge, as Mel Gibson does in his famous film The Passion of the Christ. There are even hymns entitled There is a Green Hill Far Away or On Golgotha's Hill Christ the Son.

Close reading of the Gospel accounts themselves however do not say anything about the location, whether it was a hill – or for that matter, that the ‘Skull Place’ was an elevated area at all; they all just say something to the effect that it was a “place (Greek topos) called ‘Skull’.” This may be one of the cases where popular conception can color our reading of the Scriptures.

The Triduum as it was in the Church of Rome: Holy Thursday from the Gelasian Sacramentary, Part 2

(Part 1 here)

RECONCILIATIO POENITENTIS AD MORTEM.

Deus misericors, Deus clemens, qui secundum multitudinem miserationum tuarum peccata poenitentium deles, et praeteritorum criminum culpas venia remissionis evacuas, respice super hunc famulum tuum et remissionem sibi omnium peccatorum tota cordis confessione poscentem deprecatus exaudi. Renova in eo, piissime Pater, quicquid terrena fragilitate corruptum est vel quicquid diabolica fraude violatum est: in unitatem corporis ecclesiae tuae membrum, perfecta remissione restitue: miserere, Domine gemituum, miserere lacrimarum, et non habentem fiduciam, nisi in tua misericordia, ad sacramentum reconciliationis admitte: Per.
Maiestatem tuam, Domine, supplices deprecamur, ut huic famulo tuo, longo squalore poenitentiae macerato, miserationis tuae veniam largire digneris, ut nuptiale veste recepta, ad regalem mensam unde eiectus fuerat mereatur intrare. Per.