Posted on 08/20/2014 2:14:15 AM PDT by markomalley
As you may know, the Catholic Faith was illegal in the Roman Empire prior to 313 AD, when the Emperor Constantine issued the Edict of Milan permitting the Christian Faith to flourish publicly. Prior to that time, Church buildings as we know them today were rare—Mass was usually celebrated in houses.
Now be careful here; these “houses” were usually rather sizable, with a central courtyard or large room that permitted something a little more formal than Mass “around the dining room table.” I remember being taught (incorrectly) that these early Masses were informal, emphasized a relaxed, communal quality, and were celebrated facing the people. Well, it turns out that really isn’t true. People didn’t just sit around a table or sit in circle—not at all. They sat or stood formally, and everyone faced in one direction: east.
In the drawing (to the right) you can see the layout of an ancient house church (actually more often called a Domus Dei (House of God)) drawn based on an excavated 3rd century house church in Dura-Europos (located in what is now today’s Syria). Click on the diagram for a clearer view. The assembly room is to the left and a priest or bishop is depicted conducting a liturgy (facing east) at an altar against the east wall. A baptistery is on the right and a deacon is depicted guarding the entrance door. The lonely-looking deacon in the back of the assembly hall is there to “preserve good order,” as you will read below. The photograph below shows the baptistery of the Dura-Europos house church.
What is remarkable about these early liturgies is how formal they were despite the fact that they were conducted under less-than-ideal circumstances. The following text is from the Didiscalia, a document written in about 250 AD. Among other things, it gives rather elaborate details about the celebration of the early Catholic Mass in these “house liturgies.” I have included an excerpt here and interspersed my own comments in RED. You will find that there are some rather humorous remarks in this ancient text toward the end.
Now, in your gatherings, in the holy Church, convene yourselves modestly in places of the brethren, as you will, in a manner pleasing and ordered with care. [So these "house liturgies" were NOT informal Masses. Good order and careful attention to detail were essential.] Let the place of the priests be separated in a part of the house that faces east. [So even in these early house Masses, the sanctuary (the place where the clergy ministered) was an area distinct from where the laity gathered. People were not all just gathered around a dining room table.] In the midst of them is placed the bishop’s chair, and with him let the priests be seated. Likewise, and in another section let the lay men be seated facing east. [Prayer was conducted facing east, not facing the people.] For thus it is proper: that the priests sit with the bishop in a part of the house to the east and after them the lay men and the lay women, [Notice that men and women sat in separate sections. This was traditional in many churches until rather recently, say the last 150 years.] and when you stand to pray, the ecclesial leaders rise first, and after them the lay men, and again, then the women. Now, you ought to face to east to pray for, as you know, scripture has it, Give praise to God who ascends above the highest heavens to the east. [Again, note that Mass was NOT celebrated facing the people as some suppose of the early Church. Everyone was to face to the east, both clergy and laypeople. Everyone faced in the same direction. The text cites Scripture as the reason for this. God is to the east, the origin of the light.]
Now, of the deacons, one always stands by the Eucharistic oblations and the others stand outside the door watching those who enter [Remember, this was a time of persecution and the early Christians were careful to allow only baptized and bona fide members to enter the Sacred Mysteries. No one was permitted to enter the Sacred Liturgy until after having been baptized. This was called the disciplina arcanis, or "discipline of the secret." Deacons guarded the door to maintain this discipline.] and afterwards, when you offer let them together minister in the church. [Once the door was locked and the Mass began, it would seem that the deacons took their place in the sanctuary. However it also appears that one deacon remained outside the sanctuary to maintain "good order" among the laity.] And if there is one to be found who is not sitting in his place let the deacon who is within, rebuke him, and make him to rise and sit in his fitting place … also, in the church the young ones ought to sit separately, if there is a place, if not let them stand. Those of more advanced age should sit separately; the boys should sit separately or their fathers and mothers should take them and stand; and let the young girls sit separately, if there is really not a place, let them stand behind the women; let the young who are married and have little children stand separately, the older women and widows should sit separately. [This may all seem a bit complicated, but the bottom line is that seating was according to sex and age: the men on one side, the women on the other, older folks to the front, younger ones to the back. Also, those caring for young children were to stand in a separate area. See? Even in the old days there was a "cry room!"] And a deacon should see that each one who enters gets to his place, and that none of these sits in an inappropriate place. Likewise, the deacon ought to see that there are none who whisper or sleep or laugh or nod off. [Wait a minute! Do you mean to tell me that some of the early Christians did such things? Say it isn't so! Today, ushers do this preserving of good order, but the need remains.] For in the Church it is necessary to have discipline, sober vigilance, and attentive ear to the Word of the Lord. [Well that is said pretty plainly—and the advice is still needed.]
Not sun worship, but to the Resurrection of Christ and a new day.
The entire Mass was there — well almost all of it.
Thanks for the ping to an interesting piece of church history.
I have seen a couple of prayer sessions in Muslim Indonesia. Not many, cause, lets face it. It’s disrespectful to be a looky-loo while people are praying. They still face east, even though Mecca is behind them and a lot closer if they face west.
One off or is it habit? I know a lot of people here have experience in the far East. Anyone got an answer? Because this obsession with sunrise comes from somewhere.
You reminded me of one of my favorite verses there.
There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under the heavens:
A time to be born and a time to die, a time to plant and a time to uproot,
A time to kill and a time to heal,a time to tear down and a time to build,
A time to weep and a time to laugh, a time to mourn and a time to dance,
A time to scatter stones and a time to gather them, a time to embrace and a time to refrain from embracing,
A time to search and a time to give up, a time to keep and a time to throw away, a time to tear and a time to mend,
A time to be silent and a time to speak, 8a time to love and a time to hate,
A time for war and a time for peace.
Pardon my density, but how is that a correction? Have I said anywhere we should not be grateful for sun, moon, stars, rocks, flowers, popcorn, whatever? But none of those are a proper object of worship, nor should they or anything else be given power to influence the form of worship, other than what has already been prescribed for New Covenant believers by God Himself in His word.
Peace,
SR
None of what you describe is being worship, rather, to thank and praise the ONE who gives such blessings. :)
Thank-you for making my day with that reflection.
Public worship is, of course, instructed by God under the new covenant. I did not mean to suggest otherwise.
Many, however, reach back to the old covenant to find physical aspects and accoutrements of worship, which are not only obsoleted by the replacement of that covenant, but were also no more than “a copy and a shadow” of the better things to come under the new covenant.
The author of Hebrews demonstrates the inferiority of those things, expecting his readers to look beyond the impressiveness of grand architecture, beautiful ephods, elaborate furnishings, intricate rituals, and such like (from the days when that’s all we had), and see instead what wondrous and marvelous things those pointed to.
The Hebrews, for instance, needed to understand that the sacrificial system was a shadow, a copy, a dim representation of the perfect sacrifice of Jesus.
Once they understood the superiority of the new covenant and the heavenly things they had received and would receive, they would no longer desire those old, inferior, physical things which merely pointed to the wonderful things to come - things which Christ has brought and yet will bring to His disciples.
I hope I’ve explained that well enough - even if you disagree. If I haven’t, please let me know and I’ll try again.
Mathew 7
21 Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven.
22 Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works?
23 And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity.
John 14
15 If ye love me, keep my commandments.
Mathew 22
36 Master, which is the great commandment in the law?
37 Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind.
38 This is the first and great commandment.
39 And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.
40 On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.
I believe the only way it is possible to worship God is in trying to live as he told us.
He must be talking about those who brought about the massive (no pun intended) liturgical changes in the Vatican II era and just before it. In other words, calls to follow "antiquity" were false. It's also interesting that in their desire to be more in line with "antiquity" they didn't change the seating arrangements so that the lay folk were segregated by sex.
I'm shocked. /s
But there's no rupture between "liturgical prayer" and "Christ's sacrifice". The sacrifice of the New Covenant Liturgy IS the perfect sacrifice of Jesus. That is, what He did on Calvary once and for all, perfectly sufficient, perfectly tanscendant present in the New Testament Liturgy.
This liturgy among, amazingly, the Gentiles (that is, a New Testament liturgy in the New Testament Church) is one of the culminating prophecies of OT Scripture:
(Malachi 1:11)
" 'For from the rising of the sun, even to its going down,
My name shall be great among the Gentiles;
In every place incense shall be offered to My name,
And a pure oblation (offering);
For My name shall be great among the nations,'
Says the LORD of hosts."
That's what you find in the public Christian worship in the Gentile nations today: incense and a pure offering (the ONLY pure offering). This is no inferior thing. This is the Liturgy of the Eucharist. As foretold by the Prophets.
Our Lord is smacking us hard in that one.
For every good, there is a bad. For every bad there is a good.
It is what it is, right?
Monsignore= Msgr. Bravissimo= Hurrah! Caro+dear! Che cazzo fai?= By golly, what can you be thinking off? And yours a very polite and lady-like translation, too!
I hope you will accept my apology for my ever-shorter temper. It struck me odd that the good Monsignor found time for rather quaint ecclesiastical quasi-historical rumination while our Brothers in Christ are being crucified in the desert and their wives and daughters raped, tortured, and sold into to slavery.
It also strikes me odd that our American hierarchy is rather enthusiastically enabling the cruelty of the Obama administration in encouraging young Catholics from Central America to ride freight cars through the length of a corrupt and venal, officially anti-clerical Mexico, where they face brutality of every sort, rape, and murder. This, while they also maintain a diplomatic reticence over the anti-Christian massacres in Iraq, and before that in the Sudan.
I suggest that a letter be read from every Catholic pulpit this very Sunday expressing outrage at the pro-islamic policies of this administration that have led to this state of affairs and demanding that the faithful inundate the WH with their letters demanding relief and support for our fellow Christians.
This has, IMNVHO, gone quite far enough.
Again, I couldn’t agree more that we give thanks to God for all his bounty toward us. I think you must have misunderstood me. My objection has been to use the passage from Ezekiel as justification for directional praying. No such thing is taught in Scripture. The fact that one church has been found that did pray toward the east doesn’t have normative meaning to Christians. Rather, it suggests pagan influence. Only what God has required of us can be regarded as authorized worship. I still don’t get what you’re getting at. No need to overwork the point. I’m trying to understand you. Some days that works better for me than others. :)
Peace,
SR
Pardon the brief reply...
The prayers of Christians are incense (Rev. 5), and their pure sacrifical offering is praise to God, doing good, etc. (Heb. 13).
It drives me crazy that y’all inevitably and almost always lean upon psuedepigrapha. The Didiscalia purports to be written authoritatively by the apostles themselves (similar in kind to the Didache), but was later found to be a mid second century forgery with no pedigree whatsoever.
Using such a thing as a defense promoting church order (and especially east-facing worship, which is expressly called an abomination) is highly dubious, to say the least. I find this reliance upon texts with a proven malodorous provenance to be an astonishment. *No one* should be using this as a guide to anything.
The word “worship” is also used in a more specific sense to describe the activities saints engage in, in the assembly of the local church
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