§ 96. THE SACKLFICE OF THE EUCHARIST. 509
believers to the commemoration of the atoning deatli, the contmunio sacrar.ienti, and not to the immolatio sacrijiGii.
6. The sacrifice is efficacious for the whole body of the chm-ch, including its departed members, in procuring the gifts which are implored in the prayers of the service.
All the old liturgies proceed under a conviction of the unbroken communion of saints, and contain commemorations and intercessions for the departed fathers and brethren, who are conceived to be, not in purgatory, but in communion with God and in a condition of progressive holiness and blessedness, looki]]g forward in pious longing to the great day of consummation.
These prayers for an increase of bliss, which appeared afterwards very inappropriate, form the transition from the original simple commemoration of the departed saints, including the patriarchs, prophets and apostles, to intercessions fcr the suffering souls in purgatory, as ased in the Roman church ever since the sixth century.* In the liturgy of Chrysostom. still in use in the Greek and Russian church, the commemoration of the departed reads : "And further we ofi*er to thee this reasonable service on behalf of those who have departed in the faith, our ancestors, Fathers, Patriarchs, Prophets, Apostles, Preachers, Evangelists, Martyrs, Confessors, Yirgins, and every just spirit made perfect in the faith. . . . Especially the most holy, undefiled, excellently laudable, glorious Lady, the Mother
of God and Ever- Virgin Mary the holy John the Prophet,
Forerunner and Baptist, the holy, glorious and all-celebrated Apostles, and all thy Saints, through whose prayers look upon us, O God. And remember all those that are departed in the hope of the resurrection to eternal life, and give them rest where the light of Thy countenance shines upon them."
' Neale has collected in an appendix to his English edition of the old liturgies (The Liturgies of S. Mark, S. James, etc., Lond. 1859, p. 216 ff.) the finest liturgical prayers of the ancient church for the departed saints, and deduces from them the positions, "(1) that prayers for the dead, and more especially the oblation of the blessed E\icharist for them, have been from the begirming the practice of the Universal Church. (2) And /his without any idea of a purgatory of pain, or of any stata from which the departed soul has to be delivered as from one of misery." The seo oud point needs (luaUfication.
510 THIRD PEKIOD. A.D. 311-590.
Cyril of Jerusalem, in iiis fifth and last niystagcgic Gatechesis, which is devoted to the consideration of the eiicliaristic eacrifice and the liturgical service of God, gives the followmg description of the eucharistic intercessions for the departed : " When the s])iritnal sacrifice, the unbloody service of God, is performed, we pray to God over this atoning sacrifice for tho universal jjcace of the church, for the welfare of tiie world, for the emperoi', for soldiers and prisoners, for the sick and afflicted, for all the poor and needy. Then we connncraorate also those who 6lec[), the patriarchs, prophets, apostles, martyrs, that God through their prayers and their intercessions may receive our prayer ; and in general we pray for all who have gone fi*om us, since we believe that it is of the greatest help to those souls for whom the prayer is offered, while the holy sacrifice, exciting a holy awe, lies before us." '
This is clearly an approach to the later idea of purgatory in the Latin church. Even St. Augustine, with TertuUian, teaches ])lainly, as an old tradition, that the eucharistic sacrifice, the intercessions or suffragia and alms, of the living are of benefit to the departed believers, so that the Lord deals more mercifully with them than their sins deserve.^ His noble mother, Monica, when dying, told him he might bury her body where he pleased, and should give himself no concern for it, only she begged of him that he would remember her soul at the altar of the Lord.*
With this is connected the idea of a repentance and purification in the intermediate state between death and resurrection, which likewise Augustine derives from Matt. xii. 32, and 1 Cor. iii. 15, yet mainly as a mere opinion." Fi-om these and
' Ttjs h.yia.% koI cppiKuOeaTixTris TrpoKfiu.ivr]s 3n(ria5, Catech. xxiii. 8.
' Serm. 172, 2 (0pp. torn. v. 1196): "Oratiouibus sanctas ecclesiae, et sacrificio Balutari, et cleemosynis, qu;e pro eoruni spiritibus erogantur, non est dubitandum mortuos adjuvari, ut cum eis misericordius agatur a Doinino." He expressly limits this effect, however, to those who have departed in the faith.
* Confess. L ix. 2*7 : " Tantum illud vos rogo, ut ad Domini altare memineritis mei, ubi fueritis." TertuUian considers it the duty of a devout widow to pray for the Boul of her husband, and to offer a sacrifice on the anniversary of his death ; De monogam. c TO • comp. De corona, c. 2 : " Oblationes \)to defuuctis pro natalitiii annud. die facimus."
* De civit. Dei, xxl 24, and elsewhere. The passages of Augustine and the othei