After this is said "Our Father," accompanied by a short litany....The bishop then pronounces his benediction on the people.
The deacon awakes the attention of the faithful and the bishop cries aloud, "Holy things for holy persons." And the people answer, "There is one only holy, one only Lord Jesus Christ, to the glory of God the Father," etc.
No doubt at this moment took place the fraction of the bread, a ceremony which the documents of the fourth century do not mention in express terms.
The communion then follows. The bishop receives first, then the priests, the deacons, the sub-deacons, the readers, the singers, the ascetics, the deaconesses, the virgins, the widows, the little children, and last of all the people.
The bishop places the consecrated bread in the right hand, which is open, and supported by the left; the deacon holds the chalice--they drink out of it directly. To each communicant the bishop says, "The Body of Christ"; and the deacon says, "The Blood of Christ, the Cup of life," to which the answer is made, "Amen."
During the communion the singers execute Psalm XXXIII. [XXXIV. Heb. numbering] Benedicam Dominum, in which the words "O, taste and see how gracious the Lord is," have a special suitability.
When the communion is done, the deacon gives the sign for prayer, which the bishop offers in the name of all; then all bow to receive his blessing. Finally the deacon dismisses the congregation, saying, "Go in peace." [193]
[183] J. M. Neale. Essays on Liturgiology.
[184] Acts ij. 42.
[185] Pierre Le Brun. Explic. Tom. II., Diss. j. p. II., et seqq.
[186] Probst. Liturgie der drei ersten Christichen Jarhunderten.
[187] Apolog. Cap. LXVII.
[188] I venture to draw the reader's attention to the rest of this article as containing information not readily found elsewhere.
[189] The ms. from which this was printed was found in a library in Arezzo. Silvia was a lady of rank, living in the times of Theodosius, who made a pilgrimage to Jerusalem and the Holy Places from Meridian Gaul. To us the chief interest of her book lies in the account she gives of the services. The following is the title, S. Silviæ Aquittanæ peregrinatio ad loca Sancta. It will be found in the Biblioteca dell' Accademia storica giuridica. Tom. IV. Rome, 1887, and again in the Studi e Documenti di storia e dir itto, April-September, 1888, and the liturgical parts in an appendix to Duchesne. Of the other books the best edition is Adolf Harnack's.
[190] Bingham, Antiquities, XIII. 6.
[191] Hammond. The Ancient Liturgy of Antioch (Oxford, 1879).
[192] The reader will, of course, recognize the foregoing as a piece of "Higher Criticism," and need not be told that it rests upon no foundation more secure than probable guess-work.
[193] An interesting and instructive book has recently been published on this subject by F. E. Warren, F.S.A., entitled The Liturgy and Ritual of the Ante-Nicene Church, in which all the theories from Vitringa to Bickell are carefully considered. The book is one of the S. P. C. K. series, "Side-lights of Church History."
Canon XX.
It is not right for a deacon to sit in the presence of a presbyter, unless he be bidden by the presbyter to sit down. Likewise the deacons shall have worship of the subdeacons and all the [inferior] clergy.
Notes.
Ancient Epitome of Canon XX.
A deacon shall not sit down unless bidden.
This is another canon to curb the ambition of Levites who wish to take upon themselves the honours of the priesthood also. Spiritual Cores seem to have been common in early times among the deacons and this is but one of many canons on the subject. Compare Canon XVIII of the Council of Nice. Van Espen points out that in the Apostolic Constitutions (Lib. II., cap. lvij), occurs the following passage, "Let the seat for the bishop be set in the midst, and on each side of him let the presbyters sit, and let the deacons stand, having their loins girded."
Van Espen.
Here it should be noted, by the way, that in this canon there is presented a hierarchy consisting of bishops, presbyters, and deacons and other inferior ministers, each with their mutual subordination one to the other.
This canon is found in the Corpus Juris Canonici, Gratian's Decretum, Pars I., Dist. xciii., c. xv., in Dionysius's version.