RELIGIOUS ENCYCLOPEDIA
Pericope
was a prophet for whom was besought at ordination the Holy Ghost, and the prophetical gift (Apostolic Constitutions, viii. 22). Augustine declares (Sermon clxx., chap. 1) that the g. Effects lections hang together because all proof Use of ceed from one mouth, not that of the Latin in minister, but of him who fills the Worship, reader's mouth. The lection so highly valued in the early Church became in the Middle Ages worthless to the congregation because it was in Latin. Then came the demand for the sermon in a tongue intelligible to the worshipers, and later this became a fixed custom. It is a question, however, how far in the early part of the Middle Ages the lection was made understandable to the people. Walafrid (q.v.) indicates (De exordio, vii.) that this was done among the Goths, and /Eneas Sylvius reports (Historia Bohemica, chap, xiii.) a like practise among the Slavs which seems to deal with the lections. John VIII. directed in 880 that the Gospel be read in Latin and afterward translated. Lingard (History and Antiquities of the Anglo-Saxon Church, i. 307, London, 184.5) reports the rendering of epistle, Gospel, and sermon in the vernacular, and this is confirmed by the Evangelarium of Cuthbert (ed. W. W. Skeat, Oxford, 1871- 1887), in which the Latin text is accompanied by an Anglo-Saxon interpretation, which may have been meant to assist in making the lesson intelligible to the people. According to Harduin (Concilia, vi. 1, p. 783) it was desired of priests that they be able to read well the epistle and Gospel and to give the sense. The second item here refers to the sermon, which was then in part the rendering of the pericopes into the vernacular or the paraphrasing of them. Many preachers prefixed an interpretation of the pericope. After the rise of printing came the "plenaries " (see Plenary), the forerunners of which were in England manuscripts containing the Gospels and epistles for the church year. The printed plenaries (cf. J. Alzog, Die deutschen Plenarien, Freiburg, 1874) contained much more matter, e.g., translation of the liturgy, sermon, epistle, and Gospel, aiming to give to those unskilled in Latin knowledge of the service (cf. preface to the plenary printed at Basel, 1516). But the Church held fast to the reading of the pericopes in Latin. The Hussite delegates to Basel in vain sought permission to use in the vernacular the Gospel, epistle, and Apostles' Creed.
The fact that demand for the use of the vernacular came from the opponents was more influential with the later papal theologians than the interest in instructing the people. So Clichtoveus (Propugnaculum ecclesice contra Lulheranos, book i., chap. 4, 1526) gives expression to the fear io. Roman that the laity would wrest Scripture to Catholics their own hurt, though that the lections and Early be made intelligible is not forbidden. Lutherans. This was the tenor of the conclusions of the Council of Trent, but the lectionary was re\ ised. Hence, in spite of their common origin, the Evangelical pericope system and the Roman do not coincide, though the differences are not great, some lections having fallen out of the Evangelical system because the observances at which
they were read have lapsed, because transpositions have been made, additions have been interpolated, or new sections substituted. When Luther first took up the improvement of the church service, for the sake of scholars he desired to retain the Latin mass and consequently the Latin lections, though later he was not unwilling to permit the use of other languages in worship; for the congregation he wished the lection in the vernacular. Probably his Bible translation was made with this in view, though direct proof of it is not forthcoming. He was also aware of the defects of the existing pericopes. In the Formula missce Luther distinguishes between the selections for the Gospel and the epistle, regarding the former as much better chosen than the latter. In fact the epistle is usually chosen from the hortatory portion of the book from which it is taken. From this Luther proceeded to express the necessity for reform, and pronounced judgments upon individual lections showing the erroneous views of the authority which had chosen them, in other cases, however, admitting the suitability of the readings. Accordingly, numerous instances can be pointed out in which the choice of the Reformer has" resulted in a betterment of the selection read. In some cases, while the lection was retained, new sections were added to those already in use. It can be alleged that a new choice altogether would have been better in some of these instances, such as that between Easter and Whitsuntide the significance of the period might be noted and instruction given respecting the resurrection from the dead by using I Cor. xv.
In order rightly to understand Luther's position with regard to pericopes and the system, distinction must be made between lections and sermon texts. So far as the existing pericopes served ii. Luther's as selections for reading, he would Position; its have set them aside or at least rad- Conse- ically revised them, though as a ser-
quences. monic basis he retained them — with improvements, though he was not a decided advocate of the prescribed text pericopes. As early as 1523 he had no objection to the preacher using in the morning the usual Gospel and in the afternoon the epistle, but thought that the preacher might use one or two books which seemed to him most useful. Indeed, in the Deutsche Messe of 1526 he disclaimed criticism of particular matters of this sort. Preaching along the lines of the pericopes he recognized as having its own rights; but as he himself preached a great number of sermons in series, it is clear that he preferred to expound books in successive sermons rather than to preach on the pericopes. If the lectionary, from which the Sunday and festival pericopes were only in small part taken, had been used, at least by the clergy, in its completeness (supposing that they performed their duty conscientiously), then it was as a whole completely lost by a singular proposal by means of which Luther would introduce a sort of serial readings while avoiding monotony. For week-days he set a series of readings for worship: on Monday and Tuesday the catechism, on Wednesday the Gospel of Matthew, on Saturday the Gospel of John, on Thursday and Friday the daily lections for the week
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