INTRODUCTION.

CHAPTER I.

THE FAMILIES OF LITURGIES¹, AND THEIR CHARACTERISTICS.

original: "Without denying that the term may properly bear a wider signification we use ‘Liturgy’ throughout as the name of the Eucharistic service." — While "liturgy" can refer to any public worship service, the author uses it here specifically to mean the service of the Eucharist, also known as Holy Communion or the Mass.

The meaning of "Ancient Liturgies."

Under the term "Ancient Liturgies," we include all liturgies that can trace their descent directly from a known early form. It is true that those currently in use—such as the Roman Liturgy and the present liturgies of Saint Chrysostom Saint John Chrysostom (c. 347–407 AD) was an influential Archbishop of Constantinople; the liturgy named after him is the most celebrated divine liturgy in the Byzantine Rite. or of Armenia—have undergone modifications from time to time. Some of these changes are known through direct evidence, while others are inferred by scholars. However, these modifications have not altered their essential forms, which remain much as they were 1,200 or perhaps nearly 1,400 years ago. Therefore, such liturgies have a clear right to be called "ancient."

As long as we keep in mind that modifications have occurred—especially if we can generally trace the overall direction of their development—no harm comes from studying liturgies currently in use alongside those no longer practiced. In fact, there are distinct advantages to doing so. The greater wealth of rubrics original: "rubrics" — from the Latin 'ruber' (red); these are the instructions for the conduct of a service, traditionally printed in red ink to distinguish them from the spoken text. in a living rite allows the corresponding services to be understood much better than is possible with older liturgies, where the instructions are much more sparse. Furthermore, we are on solid ground: it is possible to prove that these living liturgies represent the essential features of their ancestral traditions. It is not as certain that we could exactly reconstruct the original forms themselves. If such a reconstruction ever becomes possible, it will require a great deal of preliminary critical research that has not yet been completed.