...a eucharistic prayer, I still maintain that it is impossible to beat that of the Petri 1531 liturgy. How is this for great thanksgiving to God? [You will note how Divine Service 4 in LSB is deeply indebted to this prayer]
Verily it is meet right and blessed that we should in all places give thanks and praise to Thee, holy Lord, almighty Father, everlasting God for all Thy benefits, and especially for that one that Thou didst unto us, when we all by reason of sins were in so bad a case that nought but damnation and eternal death awaited us, and no creature in heaven or earth could help us, then Thou didst send forth Thine only-begotten Son Jesus Christ, who was of the same divine nature as Thyself, didst suffer Him to become a man for our sake, didst lay our sins upon Him, and didst suffer him to undergo death instead of our all dying eternally, and as He hath overcome death and risen again into life, and now dieth nevermore, so likewise shall all they who put their trust therein overcome sins and death and through Him attain to everlasting life, and for our admonition that we should bear in mind and never forget such His benefit, in the night that He was betrayed celebrated a supper, in which He took the bread in His holy hands, gave thanks to His heavenly father, blessed it, brake it, and gave to His disciples, and said : Take ye and eat, this is My body which is given for you, do this in remembrance of Me.
Then the priest lifts it up, lays it down again, and takes the cup, saying :—
Likewise also he took the cup in His holy hands, gave thanks to His heavenly father, blessed it and gave to His disciples and said : Take and drink ye all of this, this is the cup of the new testament in My blood, which for you and for many is shed for the remission of sins ; as oft as ye do this, do this in remembrance of Me.
Then he lifts it up and sets it down again.
Afterwards is read or sung.
Holy, holy, holy, Lord God of Sabaoth, heaven and earth are full of Thy glory, hosanna in the highest, Blessed is He that cometh in the name of the Lord, hosanna in the highest.
I still can't get past the "IF". How can there be any "if" about having an anaphora when "giving thanks" is part of the action that our Lord commanded?
ReplyDeleteAnyway, the prayer you quote is lovely, but in my view it cannot touch the anaphora of St Basil the Great, with its incomparable and magnificent rehearsal of the whole of salvation history. And I will confess that this sometime Episcopalian will always have a soft spot in his heart for the canon of the 1928 Prayer Book. It manages definitively to exclude the mediaeval distortion of the eucharistic sacrifice:
... who made there [viz. on the Cross] (by his one oblation of himself once offered) a full, perfect, and sufficient sacrifice, oblation, and satisfaction, for the sins of the whole world ...
while still being able to say this:
... we earnestly desire thy fatherly goodness, mercifully to accept this our sacrifice of praise and thanksgiving ...
and this:
... although we are unworthy, through our manifold sins, to offer unto thee any sacrifice; yet we beseech thee to accept this our bounden duty and service; not weighing our merits, but pardoning our offences ...
Maybe I love it only because I grew up with it, but to me it is perfectly balanced.
How fitting for Christ the King. I just copied it from your blog, inserted it into Lutheran Service Builder, and will be using it tomorrow.
ReplyDeleteWe start the 1 year Lectionary next week. I wanted to make the switch last year but got flack from the Sunday School, whose curriculum was based on Year B of the 3 year cycle. I gave them a year to get their act together. So here we go..... :-)
Dear Chris,
ReplyDeleteThat there is to be praise and thanksgiving is not up for grabs, and traditional Lutheran liturgy does so in the Preface, the Canticles, and the Communion Hymns. But you know that I agree with you that this particular oddity of Lutheran liturgy (with all its strengths) also carries some rather peculiar weaknesses. Yes, the Anaphora of Basil is an awesome prayer. Did you ever see the version of it that we originally proposed for LSB? It was shot down, but we worked on it a long time.
By the way, I agree with you about the Anglican Prayer - it is classic and wonderful in its careful balance. The old Worship Supplement of the Synod had a similar prayer, nicknamed "Cambridge" suitably enough!
John,
Delightful! Especially the move to the historic series. Just think of the historic hymns waiting for you!!!
Chris,
ReplyDeleteIf you don't recall seeing it before, it's here:
http://weedon.blogspot.com/2007/01/speaking-of-basil.html
Of course, the 1928 Episcopalian Prayer of Consecration, which was in all respects, save for the removal of the Prayer of Humble Access from its odd, but traditionally Anglican, position between the Preface/Sanctus and the Prayer of Consecration itself, is a modification and slight "toning downwards" of the 1764 Scottish Communion office's Prayer of Consecration, here:
ReplyDeleteALL glory be to thee, Almighty God, our heavenly Father, for that thou of thy tender mercy didst give thy only Son Jesus Christ to suffer death upon the cross for our redemption; who (by his own oblation of himself once offered) made a full, perfect, and sufficient sacrifice, oblation, and satisfaction, for the sins of the whole world, and did institute, and in his holy gospel command us to continue a perpetual memorial of that his precious death and sacrifice until his coining again. For in (a) the night that he was betrayed, (a) he took bread; and when he had given thanks, (b) he brake it, and gave it to his disciples saying, Take, eat, (c) THIS IS MY BODY, which is given for you: DO this in remembrance of me. Likewise after supper (d) he took the cup; and when he had given thanks, he gave it to them, saying, Drink ye all of this, for (e) THIS IS MY BLOOD, of the New Testament, which is shed for you and for many, for the remission of sins: DO this as oft as ye shall drink it in remembrance of me.
WHerefore, O Lord, and heavenly Father, according to the institution of thy dearly beloved Son our Saviour Jesus Christ, we thy humble servants do celebrate and make here before thy divine majesty, with these thy holy gifts, WHICH WE NOW OFFER UNTO THEE, the memorial thy Son hath commanded us to make; having in remembrance his blessed passion, and precious death, his mighty resurrection, and glorious ascension; rendering unto thee most hearty thanks for the innumerable benefits procured unto us by the same.And we most humbly beseech thee, O merciful Father, to hear us, and of thy almighty goodness vouchsafe to bless and sanctify, with thy word and holy Spirit, these thy gifts and creatures of bread and wine, that they may become the body and blood of thy most dearly beloved Son. And we earnestly desire thy fatherly goodness, mercifully to accept this our sacrifice of praise and thanks giving, most humbly beseeching thee to grant, that by the merits and death of thy Son Jesus Christ, and through faith in his blood, we (and all thy whole church) may obtain remission of our sins, and all other benefits of his passion. And here we humbly offer and present unto thee, O Lord, ourselves, our souls and bodies, to be a reasonable, holy and lively sacrifice unto thee, beseeching thee, that whosoever shall be partakers of this holy Communion, may worthily receive the most precious body and blood of thy Son Jesus Christ, and be filled with thy grace and heavenly benediction, and made one body with bun, that he may dwell in them, and they in him. And although we are unworthy, through our manifold sins, to offer unto thee any sacrifice; yet we beseech thee to accept this our bounden duty and service, not weighing our merits, but pardoning our offences, through Jesus [Christ] our Lord: by whom, and with whom, in the unity of the Holy Ghost, all honour and glory be unto thee, O Father Almighty, world without end. Amen.
Note:
ReplyDelete1. this (1764): "who (by his own oblation of himself once offered) made a full, perfect, and sufficient sacrifice, oblation, and satisfaction for the sins of the whole world"
instead of: "who made there (by his one oblation of himself once offered) a full, perfect, and sufficient sacrifice, oblation, and satisfaction, for the sins of the whole world" (1928, 1789, 1662)
2. this (1764): "And we most humbly beseech thee, O merciful Father, to hear us, and of thy almighty goodness vouchsafe to bless and sanctify, with thy word and holy Spirit, these thy gifts and creatures of bread and wine, that they may become the body and blood of thy most dearly beloved Son."
instead of: "AND we most humbly beseech thee, O merciful Father, to hear us; and, of thy almighty goodness, vouchsafe to bless and sanctify, with thy Word and Holy Spirit, these thy gifts and creatures of bread and wine; that we, receiving them according to thy Son our Saviour Jesus Christ’s holy institution, in remembrance of his death and passion, may be partakers of his most blessed Body and Blood." (1928, 1789; adapted from 1662, where it precedes the Words of Institution)
Dr. Tighe,
ReplyDeleteThe Scottish doesn't strike me as much different from the original 1549 Prayer Book (which many regard as Lutheranizing, no?).
P.S. I do also dearly love the prayer that King John III assigned following the Consecration:
ReplyDeleteTherefore we also remember, o Lord God, this blessed command and the same thy son our Lord Jesus Christ's holy passion and death, his resurrection and ascension. And this thy son thou hast in thy boundless mercy sent and given unto us, that he might be an offering for our sins, and by his one offering on the cross pay the price of our redemption, fulfil thy justice and make perfect such an offering as might serve for the welfare of all the elect unto the end of the world. The same thy Son, the same offering, which is a pure, holy and undefiled offering, set before us for our reconciliation, our shield, defence, and covering against thy wrath, against the terror of sins and of death, we take and receive with faith and offer before thy glorious majesty with our humble supplications. For these thy great benefits we give thee fervent thanks with heart and mouth, yet not as our bounden duty is but according to our power.
And we humbly beseech thee through the same thy son, whom thou in thy Godly and secret counsel hast set before us as our only mediator, that thou wilt vouchsafe to look upon us and our prayers with mercy and pitying eye, suffer them to come to thy heavenly altar before thy Divine majesty and be pleasing unto thee, that all we who are partakers at this altar of the blessed and holy food and drink, the holy bread of eternal life and the Cup of eternal salvation, which is the holy body and precious blood of thy Son, may also be fulfilled with all heavenly benediction and grace.
We pray thee likewise, o Lord God, that thou wilt vouchsafe to grant us poor sinful men who trust in thy manifold mercies, that we may be received among thy holy Apostles, Martyrs and all thy saints, in the number of whom suffer us to be, not of our merit, but of thy compassion, who forgivest our sins and failings. Through the same Jesus Christ our Lord.
By whom thou, o Lord, dost ever create, sanctify, quicken, bless and grant us every good thing. Through him, with him, and in him be all honour, glory and praise unto thee almighty God Father and to the holy Spirit, from everlasting to everlasting. Amen.
Let us pray.
As our Lord Jesus Christ himself hath taught us, saying thus : Our Father
Well, except that this:
ReplyDelete"we thy humble servants do celebrate and make here before thy divine majesty, with these thy holy gifts, WHICH WE NOW OFFER UNTO THEE, the memorial thy Son hath commanded us to make; ..."
has absolutely no counterpart in 1549 (altgough it may originally have done so; Thomas Thirlby, as a bishop and a member of the committee that produced the 1549 book, spoke against it in the debate over it in the House of Lords, claiming that there was in the Consecration Prayer "oblation, which is now omitted" -- and earned arrest and removal from his bishopric for his pains.
It was one of Dix's most "outrageous" assertions, in the eyes of many of his fellow-Anglicans, that the eucharistic doctrine taught in the 1459 rite was as Zwinglian as that in that of 1552 -- although the "shape" of the first rite was as "traditional" as possible, whereas the latter rejected the traditional "shape." Now, however, Prof. Diarmaid MacCulloch -- an Anglican whose theological views are as far distant from Dix's as is possible to imagine -- says much the samething in his monumental *Thomas Cranmer: A Life* (1996). The one difference is that MacC makes Cranmer's views to be identical with those of Zwingli's successor as "antistes" in Zurich, Heinrich Bullinger, although he admits uncertainty about whether the differences between the views of Zwingli and Bullinger are substantive, or merely verbal -- and, in any case, is very clear that they all three held views on the Eucharist considerably "lower" than those of Calvin.