Liturgy of St James

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The Liturgy of Saint James is the oldest complete form of the Divine Liturgy still in use among the Christian churches.

It is based on the traditions of the ancient rite of the Early Christian Church of Jerusalem, as the Mystagogic Catecheses of St Cyril of Jerusalem imply. Forming the historical basis of the Liturgy of Antioch, it is still the principal liturgy of the Syriac Orthodox Church and Syrian Catholic Church in communion with Rome in Syriac and, in the Indian Orthodox Church, the Syro-Malankara Catholic Church, and the Mar Thoma Church in translations into Malayalam, Hindi and English.

The Liturgy is associated with the name of James the Just, "brother" of Jesus and patriarch among the Jewish Christians at Jerusalem. Saint James was martyred at the hands of a mob incensed at his preaching about Jesus and his "transgression of the Law" - an accusation made by the Jewish High Priest of the time, Ananias.

The historic Christian liturgies are divided between Eastern and Western usages. Among the Eastern liturgies, the Liturgy of Saint James is one of the Antiochene group of liturgies, those ascribed to Saint James, to Saint Basil, and to Saint John Chrysostom. Other Eastern liturgies include the Assyrian or Chaldean rites, as well as the Armenian and Maronite rites. The Byzantine liturgies attributed to Saint John Chrysostom and Saint Basil are the ones most widely used today by all Orthodox Christians in communion with Constantinople and by the Eastern Catholic Churches in communion with the Holy See.

The Liturgy of Saint James as it presently exists has been brought into conformity with developed Trinitarian Christianity and Eastern Orthodoxy.

Contents

[edit] Manuscript tradition

The Liturgy of Saint James is considered to be the oldest surviving liturgy developed for general use in the Church. Its date of composition is still disputed with some authorities proposing an early date, perhaps ca. AD 60, close to the time of composition of Saint Paul's Epistle to the Romans, while most authorities propose a IV century date, being this anaphora a developed from an ancient Egyptian form of the Basilean anaphoric family united with the anaphora described in The Catechisms of St. Cyril of Jerusalem[1].

The earliest manuscript is the ninth-century codex, Vaticanus graecus 2282, which had been in liturgical use at Damascus, in the diocese of Antioch.

The only critical edition is the one published by Dom B.-Charles Mercier in the Patrologia Orientalis, vol. 26 (1950).

[edit] Use

Many Western Christians, to their surprise, would know a small portion of the Liturgy through the hymn, Let all Mortal Flesh keep Silence. The tune to which it is sung in English today, however, is certainly not part of the original composition and is a French carol melody, Picardy, which first appeared in The English Hymnal in 1906.

The Liturgy of St. James is commonly celebrated on the feast day of Saint James (October 23) and the first Sunday after Christmas, and then almost exclusively celebrated on a Daily basis in Jerusalem, in the Eastern Orthodox Church and the Byzantine Catholic Churches. In its Syrian form, the Liturgy is still used in the Syriac and Indian Churches - Catholic and Orthodox - both in a Syriac translation and in Malayalam and English.

[edit] The Liturgy

The Liturgy of Saint James is very long indeed, taking some hours to complete in full. A reproduction of the text for the Liturgy can also be found at The Divine Liturgy of Saint James. The Malankara Mar Thoma Church uses a revised edition of the St. James Liturgy of the Holy Qurbana.

[edit] Further reading

  • L. H. Dalmais, Eastern Liturgies (1960)

[edit] References

  1. ^ John Witvliet The Anaphora of St. James in ed. F. Bradshaw Essays on Early Eastern Eucharistic Prayers, 1997

[edit] See also

[edit] External links

Christianity Portal
Oriental Orthodoxy Portal
Eastern Christianity Portal