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The Antiochene Liturgy, A Brief History

© Michelle Powell-Smith

While last week's article provided a brief introduction to the early history of the liturgy, this week's article and those to come in the next few weeks will deal with specific types of liturgies.

The family of Antiochene liturgies begins with the liturgy of the Apostolic Constitutions, which claims to be written by St. Clement of Rome. The eighth and final book of the set contains a complete liturgy. The text actually dates to the late fourth or early fifth century, and was certainly written by a Syrian Christian. The liturgy described in the eighth book of the Apostolic Constitutions is that of late fourth or early fifth century Antioch. The fact that this liturgy is Antiochene is proven by the precedence of Antioch, the celebration of Christmas (kept from 375 on in Antioch, but not elsewhere until 430), and by the dating of Holy Week and Easter.

The liturgy from the Apostolic Constitutions includes both the Mass of the Catechumens and the Mass of the Faithful. The Mass of the Catechumens consists of both Old and New Testament readings and a litany for the catechumens. The bishop then says a collect for the catechumens and they are dismissed by the deacon. The energumens, illuminadi, and penitents are dismissed thereafter. The Mass of the Faithful includes a significantly longer litany, followed by a collect and Offertory. The deacons and subdeacons stand at the doors to ensure that no one enters and heretics, catechumens and non-believers are again warned to leave. The Eucharist is blessed and shared among the faithful. Several more prayers and litanies remembering the suffering of Christ follow and the mass ends.

The oldest of the Antiochene is the Greek Liturgy of St. James. This is the original Antiochene liturgy, and the one on which all others are based. While the oldest manuscript containing the liturgy dates to the tenth century, St. Jerome knew of this liturgy in 420, and it appears that the liturgy used by St. John Chrysostom in the late fourth century was very similar to this one as well. In all its basic parts the Greek Liturgy of St. James is like that of the Apostolic Constitutions. In the form it now exists in, we see a more complex service than that described in the Apostolic Constitutions. It is rapidly becoming more like later Byzantine services. The priests pray silently while the congregation is involved in other prayers or litanies, a feature common to Byzantine church services. The Syriac liturgy developed sometime after 451, and is, save for language, much like the Greek Liturgy of St. James.