John O'brien

A History of the Mass and Its Ceremonies in the Eastern and Western Church John O'brien

This historic book may have numerous typos, missing text or index. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. 1881. Not illustrated. Excerpt: ... A BRIEF DISSERTATION Principal Liturgies in use in the East and West at the Present Day. Fob the better understanding of the matter treated of in the following pages we deem it well to give the reader a brief account of the Liturgies in use in the Eastern and Western Church at the present day. To give anything like a full history of the various Eastern Liturgies would, indeed, be a very laborious undertaking, and, we have serious reasons to fear, a very unsuccessful one also, for their name is legion--the Jacobites alone using as many as forty. We shall, therefore, wholly confine ourselves to such as are in general and daily use, and leave the rest to be treated of by those writers who make pure Liturgy the burden of their writing. It would not be very bold to assert that the only living Liturgies in free circulation throughout the East at the present day are those of St. John Chrysostom and St. Basil the Great. Both of these are used now in their entirety, such as they were when they came from the hands of the great men whose names they bear; and this can be said of none of the other Eastern Liturgies. The Liturgy of St. Basil is very often called the Cffisarean Office, from the fact that its author was Bishop of Caesarea, in Cappadocia. It is the parent of the Armeno-Gregorian Rite. The Liturgy of St. Chrysostom is usually inscribed "the Divine Liturgy of our Holy Father among the Saints, John of the Golden Mouth." From this many of the later forms in use among the Nestorians are derived. The Liturgy of St. James, first Bishop of Jerusalem, is very frequently spoken of in connection with the Maronites and Syrians, but it is a well-known fact that the living Liturgies of both these peoples have little more of St. James's in them than a few shreds. The Maronites...