Alexandrian liturgical rites
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Alexandrian Rite |
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The Alexandrian rites are a collection of
The Alexandrian rite's
The Alexandrian rites are sub-grouped into two rites: the Coptic Rite and the Ge'ez Rite[citation needed].
Sub-groups
Coptic
The Coptic Rite is native to Egypt and traditionally uses the Coptic language with a few phrases in Greek. It is used in the Coptic Orthodox Church and the Coptic Catholic Church. Arabic and a number of other modern languages (including English) are also used.[1]
Ge'ez
The Ge'ez Rite is native to
Divine Liturgy
The main Eucharistic liturgy used by the Coptic Churches is known as the Liturgy of Saint Basil.[2] The term Liturgies of Saint Basil in a Coptic context means not only the sole anaphora with or without the related prayers, but also the general order of the Divine Liturgy in this rite.[3]
The term Liturgy of Saint Basil may refer also to the whole Eucharistic Liturgy which in the Coptic Churches has the following structure:[4][5]
Offertory
It begins with the dressing of the priest with vestments and the preparation of the altar, along with prayers of worthiness for the celebrant. At this point is chanted the appropriate hour of the Canonical hours, followed by the washing of the hands with its prayer of worthiness, and by the proclamation of the Nicene Creed.
Then takes place the elaborate rite of the choosing of the Lamb: while the congregation sing 41 times the
The last part of the offertory resembles an anaphora: after a dialogue, the priest blesses the congregation and proclaims a prayer of thanksgiving, giving thanks to God for his support to humanity, and asking him for a worthy participation to the liturgy. Then comes the prayer of covering, said inaudibly by the priest, which has the form of an epiclesis, asking God to show his face on the gifts, and to change them in order that the bread and wine may became the Body and Blood of Christ. This text might come from an ancient anaphora or simply be a later High Middle Ages creation.[6] The paten and the ark with inside the chalice are here covered with a veil.
Liturgy of the Catechumens
In the
It begins with a
The reading from the
After these readings, the
Liturgy of the Faithful
The Liturgy of the Faithful is the core of the Divine Liturgy, where are placed the proper
It begins with the prayer of the Veil,
Anaphora
The Anaphora is conducted.
The Coptic
The structure of the Bohairic Coptic version used today in the Coptic Churches can be summarized as follow:
- Anaphora:
- the Opening Dialogue
- the Christby whom all things were made.
- the Pre-Sanctus, praising the Father on his throne of glory and worshiped by the hosts, so introducing –
- the Sanctus, conducted without the Benedictus,
- the Post-Sanctus, recalling the whole history of Passion, Resurrection of Christ up to the Last Judgment,
- the Institution narrative,
- the Passion, Resurrection and Second Comingof Christ,
- the Oblation, offering to the Father the Eucharistic gifts,
- the Epiclesis, asking the Holy Spirit to come and to sanctify and manifest the gifts as the Most Holy. The Holy Spirit is then asked to make the bread the Body and the chalice the Blood of Christ,
- the Saint Basil. Then the diptychsare read, followed by the prayers for the dead,
- a prayer for the fruit of the Communion and the final doxology.
- the
The 7th-century Sahidic Coptic version found in 1960[9] shows an earlier and more sober form of the Bohairic text: the manuscript, incomplete in its first part, begins with the Post Sanctus, and is followed by a terse Institution narrative, by a pithy Anamnesis which simply lists the themes and ends with the oblation. The next Epiclesis consists only of the prayer to the Holy Spirit to come and manifest the gifts, without any explicit request to change the gifts in the Body and Blood of Christ. The intercessions are shorter and only Mary is named among the saints.[8]: 112
After the Anaphora
After the anaphora takes place the consignation,[6] i.e. the moistening of the Lamb with some drops of the consecrated Wine, which is show to the worship of the faithful. The Fraction of the consecrated Lamb ensues, during which the priest says a prayer which varies according to the Coptic calendar. All of the congregation stands and prays with open hands the Lord's Prayer.
To be prepared for partaking of the Eucharist, the faithful bow while the celebrant says in low voice the prayer of submission, then the priest and the participants offer each other a wish of peace and the priest inaudibly prays the Father for the forgiveness of sins (The Absolution to the Father).
The Elevation is similar to that in the Byzantine Rite, with the celebrant who raises the portion of the Lamb engraved with a cross (the ispadikon) crying: "The holy things for the holy ones". The priest makes a second consignation and puts gently the ispakidon in the chalice (the commixture),[10] then he recites aloud a Confession of faith. The partaking of the Eucharist follows, first the Body of Christ given to the celebrants, to the deacons and to the faithful who approach the sanctuary without shoes and then the Blood of Christ in the same order. Psalm 150 is sung in the meantime. The distribution of the Eucharist ends with a blessing with the Paten.
The dismissal rites include The Prayer of Laying the Hands and the final blessing.
Notes
References
- ^ "Eastern and Oriental Catholic Directory: Alexandrian Rite". Archived from the original on 2017-10-14. Retrieved 2017-01-31.
- ^ ISBN 9780195138863.
- ISBN 002897025X.
- ^ Sleman, Abraam (ed.). "St. Basil Liturgy Reference Book" (PDF). CopticChurch.net. Archived from the original (PDF) on 5 March 2012. Retrieved 27 May 2012.
- ^ Malaty, Tadrous Y. (1973). Christ in the Eucharist. OrthodoxEbooks. p. 119.[permanent dead link]
- ^ ISBN 9781444333619.
- ISBN 9780814661192.
- ^ ISBN 978-0814661536.
- ^ J.Doresse and E. Lanne, Un témoin archaique de la liturgie copte de S.Basile, Louvain, 1960
- ^ "The Fraction in The Coptic Orthodox Liturgy". britishorthodox.org. Archived from the original on 9 March 2012. Retrieved 9 June 2012.
Bibliography
- Rev. George William Horner (1902). The service for the consecration of a church and altar according to the Coptic rite; edited with translations from a Coptic and Arabic manuscript of A.D. 1307. London: Harrison and Sons. p. 630. Archived from the original on November 22, 2018. Retrieved November 22, 2018. (printers in ordinary to Her Majesty; here printers for the Bishop of Salisbury)