What is meant by liturgy, worship and ritual
Karl Barth writes: ‘Christian service of God is the most important,
the most urgently needed, and the most glorious activity
that can take place on earth.’ (1938). : 190.
Introduction
Liturgy is in tandem, event and ritual. The Greek word leitourgia comprises the noun ergon = ‘work’ and the adjective litos = ‘belonging to the people’. As an ancient Greek word, it had no religious value. It was something carried out in favour of the people, and even included for example, the kitting out of a ship. Literally leitourgia means ‘work of the people’. In practice however it meant, services performed for the good of the people, whether by prosperous citizenry or by entire cities. Later becoming any public service, and from the 2nd century it included cultic service also.
LXX the Septuagint (the Greek translation of the Old Testament, dating from 250-150 B.C.) uses the expression for the service given by the priests’ and Levites in the temple. In the New Testament it is employed in the gospels, the letters to the Eucharist and public worship. Liturgia – public cult; public prayer; public worship; priests and God. The postapostolic period used leitourgia to mean both service of God and service of the community. Through time though, the Greek speaking East reserved the word for the celebration of the Eucharist; and it kept this meaning in the East since then. The word was at first unfamiliar in the West and in its place numerous Latin expressions were used for the activity of worship; these have survived down to our times in inherited prayers. The word liturgy, (liturgia) was in the 16th century established in the West, primarily by way of the influence of humanists, and was embraced even by the Churches of the Reformation in the 17th and 18th centuries; in its Western use it incorporated all Christian worship. Its wide-ranging meaning in the 1917 Code of Canon Law, assured that the Apostolic See alone could order the sacred liturgy and approve liturgical books (Can. 1257). It is worth noting the two senses of the word liturgy in table 1.
Table I. Two senses of the word liturgy
Liturgy came to define the church’s authorized, or unathorized community and communal ritual of worship, including the Eucharist. Baptism and other sacred acts. Liturgy also became a considerable reason for convention. Bevans, (2009) implies here, not the participation in liturgy (more an experience of the traditional process or active tradition), but the assemblage of liturgical texts and instructions typifying the maxim of lex orandi, lex credendi, the law of prayer is the law of belief. An adage accredited to the fifth century theologian Prosper of Aquitane (390-455), meaning we may best know what the Christian faith includes by observing the way they pray. The liturgy is a kind of theologia prima or basic level theology. Full of what Adam Nichols identifies as ‘implicit theology’. ‘The texts of a wide variety of liturgies are all grist for the theologian’s mill. However the greater the agreement of these liturgies on a particular point, the stronger their evidential value for theology. If we think of a Christian liturgy as a sign system pointing to the truth of tradition. It is where the signals flash most brightly that we can best follow them.
Accounts of Vatican II, in the Constitution on the Liturgy, with decades in extensive attempts at achieving a precise appreciation, and practice of the liturgy, led in the final words of Article 7, to the most valuable declarations of the council: ‘Rightly then the liturgy is considered as an exercise of the priestly office of Jesus Christ. In the liturgy by means of signs perceptible to the senses, human sanctification is signified and brought about in ways proper to each of these signs; in the liturgy the whole public worship is performed by the Mystical Body of Jesus Christ, that is, by the Head and its members. ‘From this it follows that every liturgical celebration, because it is an action of Christ the Priest and of his Body which is the Church, is a sacred action surpassing all others; no other action of the Church can equal its effectiveness by the same title and to the same degree.
Meditation on the nature of liturgy clarifies the two essential agents of Christian worship as being Christ and the Church. Office holders with numerous liturgical actions reserved exclusively to them, through the sacrament of orders are ‘bishops’, ‘priests’ and ‘deacons’. The laity also through universal priesthood of baptism and confirmation, are active agents in the liturgy. Below is a liturgy timeline up to the reform of Vatican II.
Worship Table 2: Liturgy Timeline to Reform of Vat II
Scripture fails in offering the slightest definition of worship. If significant bible terms for worship are studied in a range of contexts it becomes apparent the principal ideas fall to ‘homage, service and reverence’. Worship as an act of adoring and praising God, so ascribing worth to Him as the one deserving of homage and service. The church as worshiping community (1 Pet 2:5), articulates its worship corporately and publicly (liturgically) through prayer; psalms, hymns and spiritual songs; through reading and exposition of scripture; by means of observance of the sacraments; and via the individual person and corporate living in holiness and service. When significant biblical language for worship is looked at in a range of contexts, central models are homage, service and reverence. In the Old Testament, ideally worship is directed at the sanctuary appointed by God. Following the rituals laid down by God, and facilitated by the priesthood he has ordained. Except this cultic action is neither dedicatory or celebratory to the Lord save if it leads to obedience and praise in every sphere of life. In the New Testament, the same language of worship is utilised in a changed way to depict Christ’s work and the reply that pleases Him. Jesus as Son of God and high priest of the new covenant fulfils and replaces the whole system of approach to God that was at the heart of the old covenant. His incarnation, death, resurrection and ascension make possible an engagement with God in spirit and in truth, which culminates in the unceasing worship of the new creation 8. Ritual, the cult of the true God took time to evolve into a fully developed form; and had to be continually reasserted. It was deepened through difficulties and crises, thanks to the outstanding persons who broadcast the divine message in ways faithful to its original revelation. There were still Temple rituals going on in the time of Jesus and the apostles, however these came to an end with the destruction of the temple by the Romans in 70 C.E., at the end of the Jewish-Roman war described by the historian Flavious Josephus. In the interim, Christianity was born.
Rites
The Holy Father’s titles are plentiful, amongst these includes ‘Bishop of Rome’, ‘Vicar of the universal Church’ etc. However as bishop of Rome he is head of the Latin or Roman rite, the largest rite in the Church, founded by St. Peter in Rome circa 42A.D. The current Eucharistic liturgy was handed down comparatively intact from circa the 4th century. This was the liturgy used in Rome. After the Council of Trent (1526-1570) only the Roman liturgy could be used, with exemption for liturgical practices which were more than 200 years old. A ‘rite’ is an ecclesiastical tradition about how the sacraments are to be celebrated. As Patriarch of the West, i.e., West of Jerusalem, the Pope is vicar of other liturgical rites pre-dating the Council of Trent as outlined below. As ‘Vicar of the universal Church’, the Pope is shepherd of the rites of the East. The eastern rites having a separate code of canon law, and are completely equal in dignity with the rites of the West. All of these eastern ritual churches come under the jurisdiction of the Pope through the congregation for the Oriental Churches, one of the offices of the Roman Curia.
Latin Liturgical Rites Western (Latin) tradition
Defunct Rites below:
Main Eastern Catholic Churches
The rites are administered by either a Patriarch, A major Archbishop, a metropolitan, or by some other arrangement. Churches using the Byzantine liturgy include the:
All the rites of the Catholic Church bear equal dignity and are equally valid. Attendance at another rite fulfils the Sunday obligation. The Catholic Church is beyond doubt, universal for it unites so many diverse rites, whose members share a common faith.
Conclusion
Liturgy isn’t principally a human activity, but a continuance of the redemption which God accomplished in Jesus Christ through the Holy Spirit. ‘To accomplish so great a work, Christ is always present in his Church, especially in its liturgical celebrations’ Article 7. Initiative in the liturgy belongs to God; that in it the history of salvation is being continued; i.e., the chief agent and primary actor in the liturgy is Christ the high priest. The purpose of the liturgy – is the sanctification of human beings. As a sacrament and a word, ‘Liturgy’ has consequently, a primarily descending = (katabatic) structure.
So liturgy is the joint action of Jesus Christ, and his Church for our salvation and the glorification of the heavenly Father. I.e., a conversation between God and us. Liturgy therefore is not a one-way street but a holy exchange a sacrum commerciuum. Consequently, liturgy is an essential expression of the Church’s life; a basic function – others being the proclamation of the faith martyria and the service of assistance to others diakonia. The Constitution on the Liturgy assigns it the chief place of all, for it expresses it as ‘the summit toward which the activity of the Church is directed’ and the font from which all the church’s power flows’ (Art. 10).
At the core of its wide variety of manifestations, the liturgical heart; the Eucharist depicts the paschal mystery of Christ, and so brings salvation for it is the basis and fountainhead of all liturgy, other parts drawing life from the Eucharist to a greater or lesser extent, and are measured and crowned by it. They are like concentric circles around it. Table 2: Time signs and instruments of God’s grace.
Table 2. Time signs and instruments of God’s grace.
