I always loved this liturgy even though its not celebrated as often as it should be... The Liturgy of Saint James, The Brother of the Lord: (The Antiochian-Jerusalem Greek St. James Liturgy) (The Divine Liturgy of St James, which was until recently only celebrated on the island of Zakynthos on his feast on 23 October and in Jerusalem on the Sunday after Christmas, is today celebrated in an increasing number of Orthodox churches. It was the ancient rite of Jerusalem, as the Mystagogic Catecheses of St Cyril of Jerusalem imply. It is still, in its Syrian form, the principal liturgy of the Syrian Oriental Church, both in Syriac and, in the ancient Syrian Orthodox Church of India, in Malayalam and English.) This is a very ancient Liturgy existing in a Greek and Syriac form. It is traditionally ascribed to St. James, the Lord’s brother and first bishop of Jerusalem. It bears many common elements with the Liturgy known to St. Cyril, bishop of Jerusalem who died about the year 386, and contains an apparent reference to the discovery of the Cross of Christ in Jerusalem in the year 326. It was mostly used in the Syriac, Armenian, and Georgian speaking provinces of the Church. The fact that the Syrian Jacobites, separated from Orthodoxy in 451, as well as by the Orthodox themselves used it, proves that the Liturgy cannot have been composed later than the middle of the 5th century. It is celebrated in the Orthodox Church on the anniversary of the death of St. James (October 23) and at Jerusalem on the Sunday after The Nativity. The Liturgy of St. James is an important specimen of liturgical antiquity reflecting the liturgical practices of the 4th century, if not earlier. There is little doubt that the rite of St. Cyril of Jerusalem was describing in the famous Catechetical Sermon was the Liturgy of St. James in the form of that time. But around the 13th to 14th century this Liturgy was phased out in favor of the Byzantine Rite that included, the other three Liturgies of St. John Chrysostom, St. Basil, and the Presanctified. The Divine Liturgy of Saint James is celebrated twice/once each year on his Feast-Days, October 23rd, and the Sunday after The Nativity (and “Rumored” sometimes DAILY in Jerusalem, Palestine)., It is the most ancient Liturgy of the Church and was the basis for the Liturgy of Saint Basil which we serve 10 times a year (The 5 Sundays of Lent, except Palm Sunday, Saint Basils Feast-day, Nativity, Theophany, Holy Thursday and Saturday) and Later of Saint John Chrysostom (Daily, Sunday, and Festal outside of Sunday) which is served most frequently., The Saint James liturgy could be found in a Jerusalem and a Zakynthos Rubric, which differs a little from the Jerusalem Rubric. No rules at all as to when this Liturgy is or is not to be celebrated. The edition printed by the Patriarchate of Jerusalem gives rubrics for a much more frequent celebration. The 1938 Vladimirova edition in Slavonic, there is also an older, pre-Niconian Slavonic version from the Serbian Hilandar Monastery on Mt. Athos. There are similarities between the Liturgy of St. James and the Roman Mass.
Posted on: Wed, 23 Oct 2013 02:17:54 +0000
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