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Those of you who aren’t up on Eastern liturgical music need an abbreviated history run through, so we’ll take care of that first.

Just like in the West, chant began as monophonic — just one voice, or melody. Possibly (and I say “possibly” because although this is the explanation I have always seen and it seems reasonable, I really haven’t seen anything supporting it) anyway, possibly because no instruments other than the human voice were allowed in the East, Byzantine chant developed the ison, which began as a continuous, sustained note, the base note of the tone, or mode, of the chant, ostensibly so the chanter would have a reference pitch and not drift out of tune. At some point, the original ison morphed into moving ison, where the ison or pedal tone “harmonized” with the chant melody. At this point, Eastern chant, which had been monophonic, developed into the most primitive form of homophony (a melody accompanied by chords).

Moving ison did not replace traditional ison. You still hear both.

Saints Cyril and Methodius and their missionaries took Byzantine chant to Slavic Eastern Europe, where it was nativized. Znammeny chant is held up as the original Russian liturgical music. Znammeny is traditional two-voice, chant with ison, though moving ison is more frequently heard than traditional ison.

Before we go on, all Eastern liturgical music is, like Gregorian chant, built around as system of eight tones (the octoechos), roughly corresponding to the eight modes of Gregorian chant. Eastern liturgical music has many different systems of those eight tones, however.

So Westerners out of luck? Stuck with the same old same old? Consider 'Il Canto Ambrosiano':

What we do know for certain is that a sizeable number of the oldest extant Ambrosian chants exhibit characteristics which were later expunged from or modified by the Gregorian repertory. These include: the most extensive melismatic (i.e. originally improvised ornamental passages) in all of Western chant; chant forms which were radically shortened and codified by the Franconians; the most extensive Alleluia formulae; chant formulae which predate the Franconian octoechos (8-mode) system and defy classification; ranges which far exceed the normal Gregorian chant range; melodic patterns which are much more diatonic rather than pentatonic and which can easily be sung to an ison or pedal tone; the distinctively Italianate preference for the iambic (long-short) rhythmic organization.

Sacrificium

The Church of England has all the sacrifice which the Catholic Church has, and she dares not have more. In her Office for the Holy Communion

• she has a sacrificium primitivum, i.e. a sacrifice in which she offers "alms and oblations," primitioe, or first-fruits, of His own gifts, to God, as the Creator and Giver of all;
• she has a sacrificium eucharisticum, i.e. a "sacrifice of praise and thanksgiving;"
• she has a sacrificium votivum, in which the communicant presents himself, his "soul and body to be a reasonable sacrifice to God," and in which the Church offers herself, which is "Christ's mystical body," to God;
• a sacrificium commemorativum, commemorative of the death and sacrifice of Christ;
• a sacrificium representativum, which represents and pleads His meritorious sufferings to God;
• a sacrificium impetrativum, which implores the benefits of Christ's death from Him;
• and she has a sacrificium applicativum, which applies them to the worthy receiver.
• But she has no sacrificium defectivum, in which the cup is denied to the lay communicant;
• nor, on the other hand, has she a sacrificium suppletivum, to make up any supposed defects in the One great sacrifice offered once for all for the sins of the world, upon the cross, by Him Who "remaineth a Priest for ever after the order of Melchizedek."

Regiment

"... I'm not sure to which Regiment I belong. The crack one – the Roman one – has expensive uniforms which I can't afford – but which I think I ought to belong to but can't quite manage – the other one, which I have loved, seems to have lost its colonel or something and although full of wise and good nice and friendly men – well, it's a bit of a rabble, and it's so easy to get lost (as in my present plight) when you are semi free to make your own attacks – cutting your own barbed wire and throwing your own rather damp bombs. More fun, but not such good sense."

-- Alec Guiness

Better

53. The “common prayer” or “prayer of the faithful” is to be restored after the gospel and homily, especially on Sundays and holidays of obligation. By this prayer -- in which the people are to take part -- intercession will be made for holy Church, for the civil authorities, for those oppressed by various needs, for all mankind, and for the salvation of the entire world.

The common prayer -- of those Apostolick days -- well, ... we have had it for almost 500 years now. We don't -- or shouldn't -- have to worry about "the literary, theological, and spiritual quality of the petitions". And true genius was to make this no part of the Liturgy of the Word, nor to embed it within the Consecration, but rather to make it part and parcel of the Offertory.

Still working on the English Rite. Here is my proposal for the "restored" Anglican Offertory -- no Romanisms, deeply scriptural, division of labour, "work" for all, etc.

*****

The Offertory

¶ Then the Priest shall return to the Holy Table and begin the Offertory, saying one or more of these Sentences following, as he thinketh most convenient.

Offertory Sentences

Melchizedek king of Salem brought forth bread and wine: and he was the priest of the most high God.

Genesis xiv. 18

Give alms of thy goods, and never turn thy face from any poor man; and then the face of the Lord shall not be turned away from thee.

Tobit iv. 7

and et cetera

¶ Then shall the Deacon say,

LET us present our offerings to the Lord with reverence and godly fear.

¶ The Church-wardens, or other fit persons appointed for that purpose, shall receive the Alms for the Poor, and other Offerings of the People, in a decent Basin to be provided by the Parish; and reverently bring it to the Deacon, who shall humbly present and place it upon the Holy Table.

¶ And when the Alms and Oblations are being received and presented, there shall be sung the Offertory chant. Following that, here may also be sung a motet, a hymn, or both, as required.

Offertory Chant

(e.g.)

(Psalm 89. 12, 15) The heavens are thine, the earth also is thine; thou hast laid the foundation of the round world, and all that therein is: Righteousness and equity are the habitation of thy seat.

¶ And the Priest shall then offer, and shall place upon the Holy Table, the Bread and the Wine.

Offertory Prayer

BLESSED be thou, Lord God of Israel, our Father, for ever and ever. Thine, O Lord, is the greatness, and the power, and the glory, and the victory, and the majesty: for all that is in the heaven and in the earth is thine; thine is the kingdom, O Lord, and thou art exalted as head above all. Now therefore, our God, we thank thee, and praise thy glorious name. For all things come of thee, and of thine own have we given thee. Amen.

1 Chronicles xxix. 11-14

The Prayers of the People

¶ Then shall the Deacon say,

LET us pray for the whole state of Christ’s church.

Silence.

¶ Then shall the Priest say,

ALMIGHTY and everliving GOD, which by thy holy Apostle hast taught us to make prayers and supplications, and to give thanks for all men: We humbly beseech thee most mercifully to accept our alms and oblations, and to receive these our prayers, which we offer unto thy divine Majesty, beseeching thee to inspire continually the universal church with the spirit of truth, unity, and concord: And grant that all they that do confess thy holy name, may agree in the truth of thy holy word, and live in unity and godly love.

¶ Then shall the Deacon say,

Let us remember those who bear the burdens of authority, especially Christian Kings and Rulers.

Silence.

¶ Then shall the Priest say [and so forth],

We beseech thee also to save and defend all Christian kings, princes, and governours: aid them with the armour of thy Spirit, that in all things they may seek thy honour and glory, and that under them thy people may joyfully serve thee in all quietness and godly fear.

D: Let us remember our Fathers in God, and the sacred ministers of the holy Church.

P: Give grace, O heavenly father, to all Bishops, Pastors, and Curates, that they may both by their life and doctrine set forth thy true and lively word, and rightly and duly administer thy holy Sacraments.

D: Let us remember one another, and our fellow members in Christ’s Body.

P: And to all thy people give thy heavenly grace, that with meek heart and due reverence they may hear and receive thy holy word, truly serving thee in holiness and righteousness all the days of their life.

D: Let us remember those who travel, and those in any special affliction or distress.

P: And we most humbly beseech thee of thy goodness, O Lord, to comfort and succour all them, which in this transitory life be in trouble, sorrow, need, sickness, or any other adversity.

D: Let us remember those who have gone before us, especially the glorious saints of God.

P: And here we do give unto thee most high praise, and hearty thanks, for the wonderful grace and virtue, declared in all thy saints, from the beginning of the world: And chiefly in the glorious and most blessed virgin Mary, mother of thy son Jesus Christ, our Lord and God, and in the holy Patriarchs, Prophets, Apostles, Martyrs and Confessors, whose examples, O Lord, and steadfastness in thy faith, and keeping thy holy commandments, grant us to follow.

D: Let us remember the faithful departed.

P: We commend unto thy mercy, O Lord, all other thy servants, which are departed hence from us, with the sign of faith, and now do rest in the sleep of peace: Grant unto them, we beseech thee, thy mercy, and everlasting peace, and that, at the day of the general resurrection, we and all they which be of the mystical body of thy son, may altogether be set on his right hand, and hear that his most joyful voice: Come unto me, O ye that be blessed of my father, and possess the kingdom, which is prepared for you from the beginning of the world:

Grant all this, O father, for Jesus Christ’s sake, our only mediator and advocate. Amen.

The Collect Post Nomina

O almighty and eternal God, who hast bestowed on us the paschal mysteries in the token of the covenant of man’s redemption, give us the will to show forth in our lives that which we profess with our lips; through Jesus Christ, Thy Son, our Lord, who lives and reigns with Thee and the Holy Ghost, ever one God, world without end. Amen.

Rite, not Right

Because an infant is unable to make a profession of faith, the Anglican understanding of Christian initiation requires that this profession is made on behalf of the infant by parents and godparents who thereby undertake to raise the child in the fullness of the faith—the “full stature of Christ.” Baptism is a rite of the church not a civil right of the individual and parents. It is certainly not some kind of medieval amulet against ill fortune for babies.

Under the Anglican concept of “lex orandi, lex credendi” (the rule of prayer is the rule of faith) the public worship of the church is the teaching of the church. When a same sex couple (or an unmarried couple) present their child for baptism they are required to answer publicly the following question:

“Do you renounce all sinful desires that draw you from the love of God?

I renounce them.”

This question and answer, as well as others in the baptismal covenant, unavoidably present the question of what the church’s teaching on sex outside traditional marriage really is. If the same sex or unmarried couple answers this question affirmatively, they and the officiant are publicly proclaiming that the teaching of the church does not consider their relationship sinful. Under the lex orandi standard, that is the teaching of the church.

Um, oops?

Post scriptum: Lest I be misunderstood, I have no desire to deny baptism to anyone and would think that the practical problem could be solved by sufficiently strong Godparents, drawn from within the congregation in question.

My objection is in the title of the post and, so, is closely related to the following line of thought: "... the new, thinner view of baptism, buttressed now by an ideological notion of baptism as an instrument of social legitimation for gay couples, seems to have made it morally inexcusable even to suggest that the church has an obligation to discern whether the child’s parents or sponsors properly understand and consent to the teaching of the church on behalf of the child, or whether there is a reasonable expectation that the child himself will be raised into a proper understanding of this faith and practice. This is deeply unfortunate ...."

The Return of the King

Aliturgical

Dom Germain Morin has shown that at Capua, in the sixth century, and also in Spain, Mass was celebrated during Lent only on the Wednesday and the Friday. It is probable that a similar rule, but including the Monday also, obtained in England in the days of Bede or even later (see "Revue Benedictine", 1891, VIII, 529). At Rome we also know that down to the time of Pope Gregory II (715-731), the liturgy was not celebrated on Thursdays. In the East, Canon xlix of the Council of Laodicea (365?), laid it down "that it is not lawful to offer bread in Lent except on the Saturday and the Lord's day", while the Council of Constantinople (in Trullo), in 692, speaks explicity of the liturgy of the presanctified and appoints it to be celebrated on all days of Lent, except the Saturday, the Sunday, and the feast of the Annunciation.

*****

Prior to the first part of the eighth century, the church of Rome shared the custom of Byzantium and Milan in abstaining from the celebration of Mass on a regular basis during Lent; all of the Thursdays of Lent were “aliturgical”, (with the obvious exception of Holy Thursday,) as were the Saturday before the first Sunday of Lent, and the Saturday before Palm Sunday. (The term aliturgical refers, of course, only to the Eucharistic liturgy, not to the Divine Office.) The Würzburg Lectionary, the oldest surviving lectionary of the Roman Rite, represents the Roman tradition of the mid-seventh century, and contains the oldest list of Lenten Stations; in it, we find no stations or readings appointed for these days.

The original pattern shines through, even with the overlay.

Why did this change?

The collection of papal biographies called the Liber Pontificalis tells us that Pope St. Gregory II (715-731) changed this custom, “establish(ing) that on Thursday in the Lenten season there should be a fast and the solemn celebration of Mass, which the blessed Pope Melchiades (311-314) had prohibited.” Under Melchiades himself, it is also noted that “the blessed Gregory (the Great) in arranging the offices (i.e. liturgies) left Thursday within Lent empty.” This is the reason why even in the Missal of St. Pius V, the masses of the Thursdays of Lent have no proper chant parts, borrowing their introits, graduals, offertories and communions from other masses; the respect for the tradition codified by Gregory the Great was such that it was deemed better not to add new pieces to the established repertoire. The two formerly aliturgical Saturdays, on the other hand, simply repeat the Gregorian propers from the previous day, indicating that their masses were added by a different Pope.

The question naturally arises, however, as to why the Pope felt the need to change the long-standing tradition. The answer seems to be in the controversies between the Popes of that era and the Byzantine Emperors over the Quinisext Synod.

The distinct and condensed formula of the Agnus Dei itself, however, was not apparently introduced into the Mass until the year 687, when Pope Sergius I decreed that during the fraction of the Host both clergy and people should sing the Agnus Dei: "Hic statuit ut tempore confractionis dominici corporis Agnus Dei, qui tollis peccata mundi, miserere nobis, a clero et a populo decantetur" (Liber Pontificalis, ed. Duchesne, I, 381, note 42). Duchesne, accepting the view of Sergius's reason propounded by Cardinal Bona, says: "il n'est pas defendu de voir, dans ce décret de Sergius, une protestation contre le canon 82 du concile in Trullo, qui proscrivit la representation symbolique du Sauveur sous forme d'agneau".

Oh Byzantium! Up yours!

Essential reading

Of all the features of that wonderful human structure, the Roman Empire, the most striking, and also the most essential, was its Mediterranean character. Although in the East it was Greek, and in the West, Latin, its Mediterranean character gave it a unity which impressed itself upon the provinces as a whole. The inland sea, in the full sense of the term Mare nostrum, was the vehicle of ideas, and religions, and merchandise. The provinces of the North — Belgium, Britain, Germany, Raetia, Noricum, Pannonia — were merely outlying ramparts against barbarism. Life was concentrated on the shores of the great lake. Without it Rome could not have been supplied with African wheat. It was more beneficent than ever now that it could be navigated in perfect security, since piracy had long disappeared. On the roads that led thither from all the provinces the traffic of these provinces converged upon the sea. As one travelled away from it civilization became more rarefied. The last great city of the North was Lyons. Treves owed its greatness only to its rank of temporary capital. All the other cities of importance — Carthage, Alexandria, Naples, Antioch — were on or near the sea ...

In the 7th century the ancient Roman Empire had actually become an Empire of the East; the Empire of Charles was an Empire of the West.

In reality, each of the two Empires ignored the other.

And in conformity with the direction followed by history, the centre of this Empire was in the North, to which the new centre of gravity of Europe had shifted. With the Frankish kingdom — but it was the Austrasian-Germanic Frankish kingdom — the Middle Ages had their beginning. After the period during which the Mediterranean unity subsisted — from the 5th to the 8th century — the rupture of that unity had displaced the axis of the world.

Germanism began to play its part in history. Hitherto the Roman tradition had been uninterrupted. Now an original Romano-Germanic civilization was about to develop.

Gustatory

Father Z opineth:

How about our Protestant friends who, sadly, do not have access to this beautiful fount of mercy which is the Sacrament of Penance? How are their sins forgiven? Are their sins forgiven?

Bluntly put, we don’t know.

And so, "by this we see how the papacy maketh all sin unpardonable, which hath not the priest’s absolution; except peradventure in some extraordinary case, where albeit absolution be not had, yet it must be desired ... They bind all men, upon pain of everlasting condemnation and death, to make confession to their ghostly fathers of every great offence they know, and can remember that they have committed against God."

What then shall we do?

It standeth with us in the Church of England, as touching public confession, thus:

First, seeing day by day we in our Church begin our public prayers to Almighty God with public acknowledgment of our sins, in which confession every man prostrate as it were before his glorious Majesty crieth guilty against himself; and the minister with one sentence pronounceth universally all clear, whose acknowledgment so made hath proceeded from a true penitent mind; what reason is there every man should not under the general terms of confession represent to himself his own particulars whatsoever, and adjoining thereunto that affection which a contrite spirit worketh, embrace to as full effect the words of divine Grace, as if the same were severally and particularly uttered with addition of prayers, imposition of hands, or all the ceremonies and solemnities that might be used for the strengthening of men’s affiance in God’s peculiar mercy towards them? Such complements are helps to support our weakness, and not causes that serve to procure or produce his gifts. If with us there be “truth in the inward parts,” as David speaketh, the difference of general and particular forms in confession and absolution is not so material, that any man’s safety or ghostly good should depend upon it.

And for private confession and absolution it standeth thus with us:

The minister’s power to absolve is publicly taught and professed, the Church not denied to have authority either of abridging or enlarging the use and exercise of that power, upon the people no such necessity imposed of opening their transgressions unto men, as if remission of sins otherwise were impossible; neither any such opinion had of the thing itself, as though it were either unlawful or unprofitable, saving only for these inconveniences, which the world hath by experience observed in it heretofore. And in regard thereof, the Church of England hitherto hath thought it the safer way to refer men’s hidden crimes unto God and themselves only; howbeit, not without special caution for the admonition of such as come to the holy Sacrament, and for the comfort of such as are ready to depart the world.

And the power of the keys?

Our Lord and Saviour in the sixteenth of St. Matthew’s Gospel giveth his Apostles regiment in general over God’s Church. For they that have the keys of the kingdom of heaven are thereby signified to be stewards of the house of God, under whom they guide, command, judge, and correct his family. The souls of men are God’s treasure, committed to the trust and fidelity of such as must render a strict account for the very least which is under their custody. God hath not invested them with power to make a revenue thereof, but to use it for the good of them whom Jesus Christ hath most dearly bought.

And because their office herein consisteth of sundry functions, some belonging to doctrine, some to discipline, all contained in the name of the Keys; they have for matters of discipline, as well litigious as criminal, their courts and consistories erected by the heavenly authority of his most sacred voice, who hath said, Dic Ecclesiæ, Tell the Church: against rebellious and contumacious persons which refuse to obey their sentence, armed they are with power to eject such out of the Church, to deprive them of the honours, rights, and privileges of Christian men, to make them as heathen and publicans, with whom society was hateful.

That is all.