Liturgy of Jerusalem

The Rite of Jerusalem is that of Antioch. That is to say, the 
Liturgy that became famous as the use of the patriarchical church 
of Antioch, that through the influence of that Church spread 
throughout Syria and Asia Minor, and was the starting point of the 
development of the Byzantine rite, is itself originally the local 
liturgy, not of Antioch, but of Jerusalem. It is no other than the 
famous liturgy of St. James. That it was actually composed by St. 
James the Less, as first Bishop of Jerusalem, is not now believed 
by any one; but two forms in it show that it was originally used 
as local rite of the city of Jerusalem. There is a reference to 
the Cross among the prayers for catechumens--"Lift up the horn of 
the Christians by the power of the venerable and life-giving 
cross"--that is always supposed to be a reference to St. Helena's 
invention of the True Cross at Jerusalem in the early fourth 
century. If so, this would also give an approximate date, at any 
rate for that prayer. A much clearer local allusion is in the 
Intercession, after the Epiklesis: "We offer to thee, O Lord, for 
thy holy places which thou hast glorified by the divine appearance 
of thy Christ and by the coming of thy Holy Spirit" (these are the 
various sanctuaries of Palestine) "especially for holy and 
glorious Sion, mother of all Churches" (Sion, in Christian 
language, is always the local Church of Jerusalem. See JERUSALEM 
II) "and for thy holy Catholic and Apostolic Church throughout the 
whole world" (kata pasan ten oikoumenen, which always may mean, 
"throughout the whole Empire"). This reference, then, the only one 
to any local Church in the whole liturgy -- the fact that the 
Intercession, in which they pray for every kind of person and 
cause, begins with a prayer for the Church of Jerusalem, is a sure 
index of the place of origin. 

We have further evidence in the catechetical discourses of St. 
Cyril of Jerusalem. These were held about the year 347 or 348 in 
the Church of the Holy Sepulchre; it is obvious that they describe 
the liturgy known to his hearers there. Probst has examined the 
discourses from this point of view ("Liturgie des IV 
Jahrhunderts", Muster, 1893, 82-106) and describes the liturgy 
that can be deduced from them. Allowing for certain reticences, 
especially in the earlier instructions given to catechumens (the 
disciplina arcani), and for certain slight differences, such as 
time always brings about in a living rite, it is evident that 
Cyril's liturgy is the one we know as that of St. James. As an 
obvious example one may quote Cyril's description of the beginning 
of the Anaphora (corresponding to our Preface). He mentions the 
celebrant's versicle, "Let us give thanks to the Lord", and the 
answer of the people, "Meet and just". He then continues : "After 
this we remember the sky, the earth and the sea, the sun and the 
moon, the stars and all creation both rational and irrational, the 
angels, archangels, powers, mights, dominations, principalities, 
thrones, the many-eyed Cherubim who also say those words of David: 
Praise the Lord with me . We remember also the Seraphim, whom 
Isaias saw in spirit standing around the throne of God, who with 
two wings cover their faces, with two their feet and with two fly; 
who say: Holy, holy, holy Lord of Sabaoth. We also say these 
divine words of the Seraphim, so as to take part in the hymns of 
the heavenly host" ("Catech. Myst.", V, 6). This is an exact 
description of the beginning of the Anaphora in the Liturgy of St. 
James. 

We have, then, certain evidence that our St. James's Liturgy is 
the original local rite of Jerusalem. A further question as to its 
origin leads to that of its relation to the famous liturgy in the 
eighth book of the Apostolic Constitutions. That the two are 
related is obvious. (The question is discussed in ANTIOCHENE 
LITURGY.) It seems also obvious that the Apostolic Constitution 
rite is the older; St. James must be considered a later, enlarged, 
and expanded form of it. But the liturgy of the Apostolic 
Constitutions is not Palestinan, but Antiochene. The compiler was 
an Antiochene Syrian; he describes the rite he knew in the north, 
at Antioch. (This, too, is shown in the same article.) The St. 
James's Rite, then, is an a adaptation of the other (not 
necessarily of the very one we have in the Apostolic 
Constitutions, but of the old Syrian rite, of which the Apostolic 
Constitutions give us one version) made for local use at 
Jerusalem. Then it spread throughout the patriarcate. It must 
always be remembered that, till the Council of Ephesus (431), 
Jerusalem belonged to the Patriarchate of Antioch. So this liturgy 
came to Antioch and there displaced the older rite of the 
Apostolic Constitutions. Adopted unchanged at Antioch (the local 
allusion to "holy and glorious Sion" was left unaltered), it 
imposed itself with new authority as the use of the patriarchical 
Church. The earliest notices of an Antiochene Rite that we possess 
show that it is this one of St. James. There is no external 
evidence that the Apostolic Constitution rite was ever used 
anywhere; it is only from the work itself that we deduce that it 
is Syrian and Antiochene. Under its new name of Liturgy of 
Antioch, St. James's Rite was used throughout Syria, Palestine, 
and Asia Minor. When Jerusalem became a patriarchate it kept the 
same use. 

The Liturgy of St. James exists in Greek and Syriac. It was 
probably at first used indifferently in either language, in Greek 
in the Hellenized cities, in Syriac in the country. Of the 
relation of these two versions we can say with certainty that the 
present Greek form is the older. The existing Syriac liturgy is a 
translation from the Greek. There is good reason to suppose that 
at Jerusalem, as everywhere else, the primitive liturgical 
language was Greek. The schismatical Monophysite Churches formed 
in the fifth and sixth centuries in Syria kept St. James's Rite in 
Syriac. The Orthodox used it in Greek till it was supplanted by 
the daughter-rite of Constantinople about the twelfth century. At 
present the old Rite of Jerusalem is used, in Syriac, by the 
Jacobites and Uniat Syrians, also in a modified form in Syriac by 
the Maronites. The Greek version has been restored among the 
Orthodox at Jerusalem for one day in the year -- 31 December. 

ADRIAN FORTESCUE 
Transcribed by Joseph P. Thomas 

In memory of Fr. Thomas Thottumkal