THE NEW SCHAFF-HER20G
Meaning of the Term (§ 1).
Scripture Reading in the Early Church
(§ 2). Series of Lections not Fixed (§ 3). Indications of the Liturgies (§ 4). Early Eastern and Western Lection-
aries (§5). The Comes as a Lectionary (§ 6).
PERICOPE, pe-ric'o-pe.
Early Western Pericope System (§ 7). Evidences of Orderly Planning (§ 8). Effects of Use of Latin in Worship
(§9). Roman Catholics and Early Lutherans
(§ 10). Luther's Position; its Consequences
(§ ID-
Anglican System (§ 12).
Defense and Attack on the Continent
(§ 13). Historical Conclusions (§ 14). German Revisions (§ 15). Theory of the Pericope (§ 16). Suggestions for a Lectionary (§ 17). The Anglican Readings (§ 18).
Pericope, a word not found in Biblical Greek, means in ordinary Greek a short passage. Justin Martyr cites as pericopes Isa. xlii. 5-13; Jer. xi.
19, and other like short sections (Try-
i. Meaning pho, chaps, lxv., lxxii., etc.). Clement
of the of Alexandria (Strom., III., iv., VII.,
Term. xiv.) so uses the word; Origen (Horn.
xix. on Jer. xx. 1-6) applies the word to a selection of Scripture read in worship by appointment, and further divides the whole text into pericopes, so that a Scriptural lesson may have several pericopes. Later teachers of the Church use the word in the sense of a passage or selection of Scripture. But among neither Greeks nor Latins did the word become a liturgical term; even yet the Greeks call the prescribed lessons from Scripture anagnoseis or anagnosmata, the Latins lectiones epistolce et evangelica. The use of " pericope " to denominate set Scriptural lessons — the " epistle and Gospel " of the early Church — is (German) Protestant and dates from the sixteenth century (cf. the work of Brenz, Pericopce evangeliorum expositce, 1566). In theological literature the word has its general signification, only in the modern period has it the sense of prescribed Scriptural lessons.
The development of what " pericope " stands for depends upon the lectionaries, and these upon the practise of reading Scripture in the early Church.
In the uncertainty which attaches to 2. Scripture the early history of liturgies and lee- Reading in tionaries (see Evangeliarium; Litttrthe Early gics), one must depend upon incidental Church, notices. I Tim. iv. 13 refers not to
Timothy's private reading, but to his activity for the congregation in the reading of the Scriptures (of the Old Testament). Col. iv. 16 and Rev. i. 3 refer to other passages which are to be authoritative for the community. A passage in the liturgy of James mentions the reading forth of holy words of the old covenant and the prophets, but speaks of the exposition of the incarnation, the passion, etc., during divine worship. Here there is a distinction between reading before the congregation and instruction; the Old Testament is read, the New is set forth. But Justin Martyr (7 Apol., Ixvii.) speaks of reading also from the New Testament at divine worship on Sunday, using the words " memoirs of the apostles or the writings of the prophets." Tertullian's expression (Hcer., xxxvi.): " (The Church) unites the law and the prophets in one volume with the writings of evangelists and apostles," makes in the same direction as showing an authoritative source of Christian teaching. From the practises involved in the foregoing the custom of reading from the Old and the New Testament de-
veloped. From the East there is the testimony of Cyril of Jerusalem (" Catechetical Lectures," iv. 35; the Scriptures " which we read openly in the Church "), Apostolic Constitutions (VIII., v. 5), and Basil (Horn. xiii. on Baptism); and for the West Ambrose (Epist., xxii. 2) and Augustine (Sermon xxix. 1) — all of these implying the reading of Scripture at divine service. Heaping up of testimony is unnecessary. Probably in Justin's time the church at Rome had its prescribed readings from both Testaments; the later Roman Church had its " epistle and Gospel." But custom varied, even in the same church (cf. Augustine, Sermon xlv.). A completed and fixed system of lessons one may not yet assume (cf. Justin's expression, " as long as time permits," / Apol., Ixvii., showing that definite length was not yet prescribed). On the other hand, Chrysostom (" On Lazarus," iii. 1; and also his Horn, on John x. 1) urges his hearers to read in advance the selections which will be read before them at worship; and his Horn. lvii. 1 further implies a fixed series of lessons recurring year after year. The fact that in certain seasons of the year definite Biblical books furnished the readings in divine service is established. In some ecclesiastical districts during Quadragesima Genesis was the book read (cf. Chrysostom in his seventh " pillar homily "); it is probable that the homilies of Basil on the Hexaemeron were delivered in the fasting-season, when daily sermons were delivered. Possibly Genesis was chosen because in some parts of the Greek Church the church-year began in spring. Another book which served as the basis for selections in the fasting-season was Job (cf. Origen on Job, at the beginning; Ambrose, Epist. ad Marcellum, xx. 19; possibly here belongs the beginning of the homily ascribed to Chrysostom, which implies a yearly return to that book as the source of lections). A third book used in this way was Jonah (Ambrose, Epist. ad Marcellum, xx. 25: "according to custom, the lesson will be from Jonah "; in a Gallican lectionary given by Mabillon Jonah i. is the reading for Holy Saturday; in the Mozarabic Liturgy [q.v.J the entire book is so set). In some communities it was the practise between Easter and Whitsuntide to read from the Acts, a practise to which Augustine testifies (Tract. 6 on John xviii.).
But the reading of such books was not so definitely settled as to prescribe fast-fixed excerpts. In this respect the sixty-seven homilies of Chrysostom on Genesis are instructive. The first thirtytwo deal with Gen. i.-xii.; in the thirty-third the author says that the series has been interrupted by the coming of the celebration (of passion week), and then follow the thirty-five other homilies on selected portions of the book. That is to say, the