1 THE CANONICAL MASS OF THE ENGLISH ORTHODOX Raymond Winch Third Edition 2007 CONTENTS Editor’s Preface ..........................................................................................................................................................................2 Author’s Preface to the 1988 edition ......................................................................................................................................3 HISTORICAL FOUNDATIONS ............................................................................................................................................7 CANONICAL AUTHORITY................................................................................................................................................10 THE PRESENT SITUATION...............................................................................................................................................11 THE COMPOSITION OF THE MASS...............................................................................................................................13 The Text or Form of Words...............................................................................................................................................13 The Ceremonial....................................................................................................................................................................15 On the Order here given .....................................................................................................................................................16 SOME ASPECTS OF THE ROMAN MASS.....................................................................................................................16 Prayers addressed to God the Father................................................................................................................................16 The Saints..............................................................................................................................................................................17 Epiclesis .................................................................................................................................................................................17 Intercession...........................................................................................................................................................................18 Naming the Bishop..............................................................................................................................................................19 The Limited Penitential Emphasis ....................................................................................................................................19 The Spirit of the Ceremonial..............................................................................................................................................20 ON THE CELEBRATION OF MASS - I............................................................................................................................21 The Arrangement of the Church........................................................................................................................................21 The Books .............................................................................................................................................................................23 The Bread and the wine ......................................................................................................................................................23 The Frumentum and the Sancta.........................................................................................................................................24 The Vessels ...........................................................................................................................................................................24 Vestments..............................................................................................................................................................................25 Posture ...................................................................................................................................................................................26 Music......................................................................................................................................................................................26 The Language.......................................................................................................................................................................26 The Occasion of Celebration .............................................................................................................................................26 The Divine Office ................................................................................................................................................................27 Notes on the Example Text ................................................................................................................................................27 The Text of the Prayers of the Faithful................................................................................................................................38 ON THE CELEBRATION OF MASS - II..........................................................................................................................39 Celebration with more or fewer Ministers.......................................................................................................................39 The Bishop's Mass...............................................................................................................................................................40 THE LATER DEVELOPMENT OF THE ROMAN MASS............................................................................................41 ADDENDUM ...........................................................................................................................................................................44 SELECT BIBLIOGRAPHY ..................................................................................................................................................46 GLOSSARY..............................................................................................................................................................................46 Appendix I – The Gregorian Club.........................................................................................................................................49 Appendix II – The Lyons Rite ...............................................................................................................................................50 Appendix III – The Latin text of the Roman Canon ..........................................................................................................51 2 Editor’s Preface I was inspired to compile a new edition of this work of the late Dr. Raymond Winch, sitting on a shelf in my library since my university days, by a recent posting on a Western Orthodox e-mail list asking about it. It has been my privilege to know Dr. Winch in the late 1980’s in Oxford during the time I was a theological student at Fribourg University. He was an academic liturgical scholar with a doctorate in philosophy and many years experience in school and university teaching. He was also a devout Christian layman who recited the daily Benedictine Office and attended Liturgy in a local eastern Orthodox church in Oxford. He stood out by his gentle manners and courtesy, never judging and always ready to listen. I have even heard Dr. Winch referred to as the “new Joseph Overbeck”! Having spoken with him about this work and many other subjects, I was aware that he put in many hours of work and research from the wealth of manuscripts and published books in the various university and college libraries of Oxford. Thus, it would be sad to see this work and its author forgotten. Needless to say, the ideas expressed in this booklet never came to fruition in any recognised Orthodox Church. Practical western-rite Orthodoxy remains something of an American phenomenon and many opportunities for it in England have been lost. It is to be found in the Antiochian Patriarchate and the Russian Church outside Russia. Both of these ecclesial bodies also have outposts in Australia, but there are no western rite liturgies celebrated in England or elsewhere in Europe, at least not in any canonical Church. General information about this movement can be found on the Internet and various published books and articles. Getting to the ‘bottom line’ very briefly, two approaches thus prevail in the Orthodox context: (i) adopting contemporary (1950’s) Anglican and Roman Catholic liturgical norms with ‘corrections’ (addition of an epiclesis and taking the filioque out of the Creed), (ii) attempting to restore the liturgical rites and ceremonies of the early eleventh century. The Canonical Mass of the English Orthodox clearly finds its place in the latter approach. The idea of restoring the Roman rite to its status quo of the 7th century is an interesting one, though it is not something that would tempt me as a priest to apply in a pastoral setting! The underlying idea in an Orthodox context