Liturgy of Saint James

Overview

The Liturgy of Saint James is based on the traditions of the ancient rite of the Early Christian Church at Jerusalem, as the Mystagogic Catecheses of St Cyril of Jerusalem imply. Forming the historical basis of the Liturgy of Antioch, it is still the principal liturgy of the Syriac Orthodox Church, in Syriac and, in the ancient Indian Orthodox Church, in translations into Malayalam, Hindi and English.

The Liturgy is associated with the name of James the Just, brother of Jesus and chief among the Jewish Christians at Jerusalem. Saint James was martyred at the hands of a mob incensed at his preaching about Jesus and his "transgression of the Law" - an accusation made by the Jewish High Priest of the time, Ananias.

The historic Christian liturgies are divided between Eastern and Western usages. Among the Eastern liturgies, the Liturgy of Saint James is one of the Antiochene group of liturgies, those ascribed to Saint James, to Saint Basil, and to Saint John Chrysostom. Other Eastern liturgies include the Assyrian or Chaldean rites, as well as the Armenian and Maronite rites. The Byzantine liturgies attributed to Saint John Chrysostom and Saint Basil are the ones most widely used today by all Orthodox Christians in communion with Constantinople.

The Liturgy of Saint James as it presently exists has been brought into conformity with developed Trinitarian Christianity and Eastern Orthodoxy.

Manuscript tradition

The Liturgy of Saint James is considered to be the oldest surviving liturgy developed for general use in the Church. Its date of composition is traditionally very early and is widely accepted to ca. AD 60, close to the time of composition of Saint Paul's Epistle to the Romans.

In the 4th century, Saint Basil considerably shortened the Liturgy due to its extreme length, chiefly as a result of a long list of prayers for the Saints. John Chrysostom, further revised the liturgy a few years later. It is in this edited form that the Liturgy survives today.

The only critical edition is the one published by Dom B.-Charles Mercier in the Patrologia Orientalis, vol. 26 (1950).

Use

Many Western Christians, to their surprise, would know a small portion of the Liturgy through the hymn, Let all Mortal Flesh keep Silence. The tune to which it is sung in English today, however, is certainly not part of the original composition and is a French carol melody, Picardy, which first appeared in The English Hymnal in 1906.

Except on the feast day of Saint James (October 23) and the first Sunday after Christmas, and then almost exclusively celebrated in Jerusalem, the Liturgy of Saint James is not regularly celebrated in the Eastern Orthodox Church. In its Syrian form, the Liturgy is still used in the Syriac Orthodox Church, both in a Syriac translation and in Malayalam and English by the Syrian Orthodox Church of India.

The Liturgy

The Liturgy of Saint James is very long indeed, taking some hours to complete in full. A reproduction of the text for the Liturgy canalso be found at The Divine Liturgy of Saint James (Transcription).

External links

• "Liturgy of Saint James": brief introduction and e-text as translated by Archimandrite Ephrem
• Catholic Encyclopedia: "Liturgy of Jerusalem"

Further reading

• L. H. Dalmais, Eastern Liturgies (1960)