General and Introductory Materials
Part 2 History of the Liturgy

Chapter d22 Origins of Christian Liturgy

Preliminary Questions

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Bibliography

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Primitive Ecclesiology

Acts (20:17-25) Declares the elders (presbyteroi) who lead the Jewish-Christian churches, and the bishops (episcopi) of the Gentile-Christian Churches were identical in authority.  Presbyters and bishops alike are successors of the apostles. 

As late as the third century, the laying on of hands was only way of entering into the circle of leaders.  Suffering for the faith (martyria) also demonstrated one's possession of the spirit.

New Testament references to presbyters and bishops leading local churches are always in the plural.  It is only at the beginning of the second century that Ignatius of Antioch refers to a single bishop serving as pastor of a local church, assisted by presbyters and deacons.  Over time, this new structure, the so-called “monarchial episcopate”, spread to all the churches throughout the Roman Empire.  (Ronald Modras, “In His Own Footsteps: Benedict XVI: from Professor to Pontiff,”  Commonweal, April 21, 2006, p.14.)

Language   "While much of the Roman Empire, probably through the third century, used Greek as its primary language, the language of the empire shifted to Latin.  The early translations were most likely translated by an interpreter as the Greek was being read. Translating the text of the scriptures was also a practice of the Jewish culture, as well.   ...  When Hebrew was replaced by Aramaic or Greek an interpreter was appointed to translate the original text, sentence for sentence, into the vernacular.  This practice was not limited to the Synagogue.  Egeria relates an identical custom connected with the Church in Jerusalem of the fourth century.  We find also a reader employed both in the Synagogue and the Church; in both cases he is considered a member of the lower clergy."  (Eric Werner, The Sacred Bridge:  The Interdependence of Liturgy and Music in Synagogue and Church during the First Millennium, New York: Da Capo Press, 1979,  p 53.)

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To Think About

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