The use of 6 a./x-r)i> ;us a name for our Lord in Rev 3'^ is striking and peculiar. The attempt, how- ever, to explain it by reference to 2 Co !'•"' is not satisfactory. The curious expression ' the God of Amen ' (E V ' the God of truth ') in Is Bo'o is not sufiiciently a parallel to afford an explanation, for the Amen in this case is not a personal name, but the EV furnishes a satisfactory equivalent in the renderin<j ' truth.' Suv.l y, liowiv.r, tliere need be little difficulty about thr use ot urh a term as a designation of Jesus. ( 'niisiilirhiL; the wealth of descriptive epithets applied t.) Him in the NT and other early Christian writings, anil also the termin- ology favoured by the autlior of the Apocalypse, we must feel that this use of Amen, if bold, is not unnatural or unapt, so suggestive as the term is of truth and rirmne.ss. Another but very ditterent use of Amen as a proper name may be mentioned. Among certain of the Gnostics d/x-fip figured as the name of an angel (Hippolytus, Philosophtmiena, ccxviii. 79, ccciv. 45).
i. Allien in liturgical tise.—{a) Jewish.— In the Persian period Amen was in use as ' the responsory of the people to the doxology of the Priests and tlie Lcvites' (see Neh 8«, 1 Ch 16'°, Ps 106*). In the time of Christ it had become an established and familiar formula of the synagogue worship in particular, the resjjonse used in the Temple being a longer form : ' lilessed be the Name of the glory of His kingdom for ever and ever !' In still later times a formula of response was used which was aijparently a combination of the synagogue Amen with the Temple responsory : ' Amen : praised be the great Name for ever and ever !' In the syna- gogue service the Amen was said by the people in response to the reader's doxology. (In the gi'eat synagogue of Alexandria the attendant used to signal the congregation with a Hag when to give the response). Amen was also the responsory to the priestly blessing.
Responsive Amen at the end of prayers was evidently an old custom among the Jews. In later times they are said to have discouraged this, because Amen at the end of every prayer had become the habit of Christians. The use of Amen in this connexion was thus considerably restricted ;
as to be followed by the Amen.
The Rabbis in their liturgical exactness rigor- ously determined the sense of Amen, and, among other things, enjoined that every doxology, on whatever occasion, must be followed by this re- sponse. Curious sayings were current among them, emphasizing the signilicance and value of Amen. Should, Cf/., the inhabitants of hell ex- claim ' Amen ! ' when the holy Name of God is praised, it will secure their release (Yalk. ii. 296 to Is 26-).
(b) Christian. — This use of Amen was un- doubtedly borrowed by the Christians from the Jewish synagogue, as, indeed, other liturgical fea- tures were. St. Paul's words in 1 Co 14'" are of special interest here. The reader is so to recite his prayers that the ignorant should have the boon of answering the Amen to the doxology. The idiioTTjs (Bi'"in) for whom he pleads is similarly considered by the Rabbis, and they give the same instruction. It cannot be maintained that the term evxapitrria used here by St. Paul has that special and, so to speak, technical sense which it afterwards acquires as applied to the Lord's Supper, and that so ' the Amen ' (t6 d/i^c) intended is specilically the response connected with the observance of that institution. At the same time, the whole reference clearly indicates that Amen as a responsory in Christian worship was already a regiilar and familiar usage.
It is, however, in connexion with the Eucharist, in the special sense of the term, that the Fathers particularly mention the res[ionsive Amen, and
Martyr {Apol. 2), Tertullian (rfc Snectacul. 25), Dionysius of Alexandria {ap. Euseb. HE), and Chrysostom (Hoiii. oo in 1 Cor.) make such refer- ence. This prayer, of course, was at first said aloud, so as to be heard by all ; but in the course of time (after the 8th cent.) the custom grew for the officiating minister to say it solto voce. Even then, such importance wms attached to the re- sponse of the people th:it the priest was requii-ed to say the closing \viiriN ('w.iiiil without end') aloud, so that then lliu 'Auiiii' might be said. This in the West: in the Greek Church it was similarly required that the words of the institution should be said aloud, though the first part of the prayer was said inaudibly, so that the people might hear them and maKe their response. A writer of the 9th cent. (Florus Magister), referring to this usage, says : ' Amen, which is responded by the whole church, means It is trtic. This, therefore, the faithful respond at the consecration of so great a mystery, as also in every prayer duly said, and by resjioniiing declare assent. A similar use of Amen at the end of the Exhortation (which is not a prayer), commencing the second part of the eucharistio service (see Book of Common Prayer), and at the end of the corresponding 'Preface' in the old Galilean Liturgy, may also be pointed out.