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THE ANAPHORA of the APOSTLES ADDAI and MARI and ITS CHRISTOLOGICAL CHARACTER by Mateusz Rafał POTOCZNY University of Opole - Poland

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THE ANAPHORA of the APOSTLES ADDAI and MARI and ITS CHRISTOLOGICAL CHARACTER by Mateusz Rafał POTOCZNY University of Opole - Poland Parole de l’Orient 45 (2019) 309-324 THE ANAPHORA OF THE APOSTLES ADDAI AND MARI AND ITS CHRISTOLOGICAL CHARACTER BY Mateusz Rafał POTOCZNY University of Opole - Poland INTRODUCTION In the 20th century the East-Syrian Anaphora of the Apostles Addai and Mari was rediscovered and widely elaborated by western scholars and theo- logians. The main fruits of this discovery can be found in the Guidelines for Admission to the Eucharist between the Chaldean Church and the Assyrian Church of the East published in October 26th, 2001. One of the most promi- nent scholars, Robert Taft SJ († 2018), used to call this document the most important ecclesiastical document since Vaticanum II1. Ten years after the issue of Gudelines the Pontifical Oriental Institute in Rome organized the Congress dedicated to the Anaphora of Addai and Mari2. Even if the preparation of both the Gudelines and the Congress was fol- lowed by many studies, it seems justified to go back again and again to the Anaphora which is very often called the “Gem of the Orient”, and to bring out the deep and genuine theology contained in it. In this paper we want to pay attention to the Christological aspects of the Anaphora. To achieve this goal, we will start with a short presentation of the historical development of the text and only afterwards we will try to identify the main Christological components of the Anaphora of Addai and Mari. The analysis will be based on the oldest known texts of the anaphora published by William F. Macomber3, with some additions taken from the ) See Bibliography and abbreviations. 1) TAFT, Messa, p. 129. 2) The acts of the Congress were published in GIRAUDO, The Anaphoral Genesis. It is worth to mention some prominent speakers active during the Congress: Cesare Giraudo, Di- etmar W. Winkler, Sebastian P. Brock, Massimo Pampaloni, Paul Pallath, Bryan D. Spinks, Robert F. Taft, Enrico Mazza, Mar Awa Royel. 3) William F. MACOMBER, “The Oldest Known Text of the Anaphora of the Apostles Pobrano z https://repo.uni.opole.pl / Downloaded from Repository of Opole University 2021-10-01 310 MATEUSZ RAFAŁ POTOCZNY Missale Chaldeorum4 made by Cesare Giraudo5. 1. THE BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY Among historians of the liturgy none would disagree that the Anaphora of the Apostles Addai and Mari is the oldest eucharistic prayer used continu- ously from the early Christian era6. As in the case of the other ancient anaphoras it is impossible to point precisely to the very moment of its redac- tion. Even if the oldest manuscripts date back to the middle Ages, we can state in all probability that this most important and most popular eucharistic prayer of the Church of the East was composed in the first half of the 3rd cen- tury, and most probably the author used an oral tradition transmitted from the apostolic era7. In our times the prayer the Anaphora of the Apostles Addai and Mari is divided into four parts called ܐ ܬܢܗܓ (syr. a prayer of inclining said by the priest with bowed head and in a low voice8), which in turn are preceded by a petition called ܬܦܫܘܟ, and an invocation orate fratres with a diaconal re- sponse. The other parts of the anaphora reveal Christianized elements of the Jewish blessings said during the festival meals. We find here praises for cre- ation, thanksgivings for salvation and different invocations followed by a doxology9. Some scholars claim that such a character of the prayer appears as a result of a Jewish practice, i.e. the Last Supper, and this influenced the prayer of the ancient Christians. To show the connection between the Anaphora and the Jewish rites Anthony Gelston evokes the examples of the birkat ha-mazon and points to its connection with the Syro-oriental eucharis- tic prayers10. But beyond the shadow of a doubt the main characteristic of the Anaph- ora of the Apostles Addai and Mari is the lack of the narratio institutionis – the prayer does not quote directly the words spoken by Jesus during the Last Addai and Mari”, in OCP 32 (1966), pp. 335-371. 4) Missale Chaldaeorum, (Mosul, 1901), pp. 27-36. 5) The English translation used in this study mainly comes from: GELSTON, Addai and Mari, pp. 48-55, with some changes made by myself (what will be marked by * in the proper place). 6) Cf. GIRAUDO, L’anafora, p. 209. 7) YOUSIF, Addai e Mari, p. 10. 8) Jessie PAYNE SMITH, A Compendious Syriac Dictionary, (Clarendon Press, Oxford, 1903), p. 62. 9) YOUSIF, Addai e Mari, p. 10. 10) GELSTON, Addai and Mari, pp. 6-7. Cf. Bawai SORO, The Church of the East. Apostolic and Orthodox, (Adiabene Publications, San Jose, 2007), p. 137. Pobrano z https://repo.uni.opole.pl / Downloaded from Repository of Opole University 2021-10-01 THE ANAPHORA OF … ADDAI AND MARI AND ITS CHRISTOLOGICAL CHARACTER 311 Supper. Even if the Syriac tradition knows other similar cases, for the west- ern faithful it must be shocking, seeing that precisely the narratio institu- tionis for centuries was considered as the proper moment of the transubstan- tiation of the gifts of bread and wine. As we know very well, it was this phe- nomenon which created the main controversy regarding the anaphora, espe- cially among western prelates. In one of his writings Robert Taft recalls a di- alogue between himself and a certain “high-ranking Catholic prelate” who, referring to the Anaphora of Addai and Mari, asked: “But how can there be Mass without the consecration?” Taft says that the answer is that there can- not be - but that does not solve the problem11. A similar question is raised by Peter A. Kwaśniewski, who remembers that many Catholics, based on the arguments of St. Thomas Aquinas, were convinced that the only real form of the Eucharist are the words spoken by Jesus during the Last Supper12. In oth- er words we can hazard a guess that] given such an understanding the Chris- tological quality of any eucharistic prayer would be guaranteed only by the exact words, which working as an embolism, are an essential part of this eu- chological composition. Therefore, it is not surprising that in the course of history many reform- ers tried to come up with some recipes for healing the – in their opinion – invalid […] anaphora. Of course, the healing process had to make out of the ancient Anaphora of Addai and Mari a prayer which meets the requirements of Catholic orthodoxy. In this field special efforts were made by western missionaries who very often forcibly incorporated the narratio institutionis into the Anaphora of Addai and Mari. In the Catholic Chaldean missals (from 1797) and in the Malabar (from 1774) the words of Jesus were added to the text of the anaphora, among the preparatory prayers for the breaking of the bread. The Anglican missionaries put those words at the end of the post- Sanctus13. Obviously, many scholars tried to answer the question why in some ori- ental anaphoras the essential words are lacking. Some of them suggested that this is a result and a proof of Nestorian (hence: heretical) provenance14. The supporters of this theory maintain that the anaphora was shaped by the patri- arch Isho„yahb III († 659) who certainly was convinced that, given the value 11) Cf. TAFT, Messa, p. 128. 12) Cf. Peter A. KWAŚNIEWSKI, Doing and Speaking in the Person of Christ: Eucharis- tic Form in the Anaphora of Addai and Mari, “Nova et Vetera”, English Edition, 4,2 (2006), p. 314. 13) GIRAUDO, L’anafora, p. 209. 14) Cf. TAFT, Messa, pp. 135-136. Pobrano z https://repo.uni.opole.pl / Downloaded from Repository of Opole University 2021-10-01 312 MATEUSZ RAFAŁ POTOCZNY of the epiclesis and of the work of the Spirit, the Words of Institution are in- essential15. In the literature we meet also some hypotheses arising out of the following assumption: because according to the ecclesiastical intuition the eucharistic consecration comes through the recitation of the Words of Insti- tution, it is very likely that also the Anaphora of Addai and Mari must have once had those words in its structure; they disappeared only by ignorance or negligence (Gherardini, Santogrossi, Lang)16. Some others, in turn, claimed that the lack of the narratio institutionis is not a proof of the absence of the words of Jesus in the anaphora – probably they were learned by heart and spoken during the celebration, but they were not written because of the great respect towards their holiness17. Even if such theories were common among the scholars until the first half of the 20th century, they are impossible to verify. On the one hand we cannot entirely exclude them, but on the other no one can prove the theories. Today the common statement is that if the narratio institutionis was present in the Anaphora of Addai and Mari there would be a trace of it. Another weakness of this hypothesis is its apriorism, which assumes that every eu- charistic prayer should include the Words of Institution18. Making a theological evaluation of the Anaphora of Addai and Mari we should remember that the oldest eucharistic prayers had primarily a character of benediction, thanksgiving and petition. The subject of this benediction and thanksgiving was constituted by the salvific events which God accomplished for His people. Within this framework, the other forms gradually took shape. including epiclesis, anamnesis and the remembrance of the Last Supper to- gether with the quotation of the Jesus‟ words. Of course, we do not say that those elements were added from outside: as noted by Cesare Giraudo, the Words of Institution are in the DNA of every anaphora, even if in the begin- ning they may not be clearly articulated.
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