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The Ordination Prayers in the So-Called Apostolic Tradition

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The Ordination Prayers in the So-Called Apostolic Tradition Vigiliae Christianae (2021) 1-11 Vigiliae Christianae brill.com/vc The Ordination Prayers in the So-Called Apostolic Tradition Paul F. Bradshaw Emeritus Professor of Liturgy, University of Notre Dame, United States [email protected] Abstract The anonymous church order formerly identified as the Apostolic Tradition and attrib- uted to Hippolytus is now regarded by many scholars as a composite work made up of layers of redaction from around the mid-second to mid-fourth centuries. This essay revises the unsatisfactory attempt to discern such strata in its ordination prayers that was made by Eric Segelberg as long ago as 1975, and argues that their earliest forms are among the oldest material in the so-called Apostolic Tradition, belonging to the first half of the second century. Keywords Apostolic Tradition – ordination – bishop – presbyter – deacon In 1966 the leading liturgical scholar E. C. Ratcliff claimed that the ordina- tion prayer for a bishop in the Apostolic Tradition of Hippolytus had “under- gone considerable revision so as to be conformed to the standards and usage of the fourth century,”1 and in a paper published in 1975 Eric Segelberg also argued in detail that all its ordination prayers, but especially the one for a bishop, had been gradually expanded by successive layers of additions rather than being composed completely at one time.2 This thesis, however, did not 1 E. C. Ratcliff, “Apostolic Tradition: Questions concerning the Appointment of a Bishop,” Studia Patristica 8 (1966) 266-270, here at p. 270 n. 13. 2 Eric Segelberg, “The Ordination Prayers in Hippolytus,” Studia Patristica 13 (1975) 397-408; hereafter cited simply as “Segelberg.” © Koninklijke Brill NV, Leiden,- /journals/vc/aop/article-10.1163-15700720-12341418/article-10.1163-15700720-12341418.xml 2021 | doi:10.1163/15700720-12341418 Downloaded from Brill.com09/23/2021 03:33:57PM via free access 2 Bradshaw receive support from others, and indeed I described it as “perhaps not entirely convincing.”3 What now seems surprising to me is that when in 2002 my collaborators and I came to publish our commentary on the supposed Apostolic Tradition, which challenged the belief that it was a third-century work by Hippolytus and argued that it was instead composed of several strata ranging from the mid-second to the early fourth century, we still did not examine the ordination prayers for any such layers, even though we had identified them in the ritual instructions im- mediately preceding, and had done exactly the same in its eucharistic prayer. We repeated the observation that Segelberg’s reconstruction was “not entirely convincing” and stated that it was “difficult to share his conclusions without reservation,” but did not pursue the matter any further.4 Even Alistair Stewart in his contemporaneous commentary, which similarly saw different hands at work in the church order, regarded the prayer for a bishop as stemming from a single hand.5 He has, however, just written an article that substantially sup- ports Segelberg’s position, although with some interesting variations.6 Just because Segelberg’s particular reconstruction of an original text might not be wholly convincing does not mean that there cannot have been any suc- cessive layers of redaction at all, and the prayers therefore warrant further consideration in this regard. One of the constant problems with this sort of scholarship, of course, is that one can easily tend to find what one wants to see, rejecting as secondary material what is not consistent with the picture of church life one has already formed for the period and not permitting the tex- tual evidence to count against it. Segelberg, however, did try to employ some rather more objective criteria in his attempt at stratification. Echoing one of Anton Baumstark’s liturgical laws, he claimed that the earliest liturgical texts tend to employ biblical allusions rather than direct quotations and he added that these were more likely to be drawn more from the Old Testament than the New.7 3 Paul F. Bradshaw, “Ordination,” in Geoffrey Cuming (ed.), Essays on Hippolytus (Grove Liturgical Study 15; Bramcote: Grove Books, 1978) 33-38, here at p. 37. 4 Paul F. Bradshaw, Maxwell E. Johnson, and L Edward Phillips, The Apostolic Tradition: A Commentary (Hermeneia series; Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 2002) 32. 5 Alistair Stewart(-Sykes), Hippolytus: On the Apostolic Tradition (Crestwood, NY: St Vladimir’s Seminary Press, 2001) 62-64. 6 Alistair C. Stewart, “The ordination prayers in Traditio apostolica: the search for a Grundschrift,” St. Vladimir’s Theological Quarterly 64 (2020) 11-24. 7 Segelberg, 397. For Baumstark’s law, see Anton Baumstark, Comparative Liturgy (London: Mowbray, 1958) 59. - /journals/vc/aop/article-10.1163-15700720-12341418/article-10.1163-15700720-12341418.xmlVigiliae Christianae (2021) 1-11 Downloaded from Brill.com09/23/2021 03:33:57PM via free access The Ordination Prayers in the So-Called Apostolic Tradition 3 In the accompanying translations of the prayers, Segelberg’s divisions have generally been adopted. The Greek text in the Epitome of the Apostolic Constitutions,8 which seems to be the closest of the versions to the missing Greek original, has been chosen as the basis for the translation of the prayer for a bishop; for the presbyter the Latin version has been used (rather than the Greek Apostolic Constitutions/Epitome version adopted by Segelberg); and for the deacon the Latin version again as far as the lacuna in the middle, when one is forced to turn to the Ethiopic. 1 The Prayer for a Bishop Segelberg rightly regarded I:c-e as a later addition to the prayer, as it consists of three biblical quotations that could function as generic introductions to a prayer in any context and have no specific connection to ordination. To these I would also add I:b. Not only is it of the same character as the others, but the fact that it is also used in the prayers for presbyters and deacons does not strengthen the case for it belonging to the earliest stratum9 but rather sug- gests that it was inserted as part of a harmonizing process when versions of the three individual prayers were first brought together. Segelberg then plausibly suggested that the whole of part II, with the ex- ception of the first word “you” (which serves to resume the sequence after the interruption of I:b-e), belonged to the earliest stratum.10 We should note, however, that II:d-e are almost the only lines of the prayer that are completely missing from the version in the Canons of Hippolytus.11 Even where the lines of this prayer later diverge sharply from the Apostolic Tradition, enough signs are left to show that the compiler was aware of them. So, was this a deliber- ate omission by its compiler, not wishing to include a sacerdotal dimension to episcopal ministry, or did the earlier version of the Apostolic Tradition that lay before him not yet have those lines, and even perhaps had something like its phrase “authorities and powers” found in the Canons of Hippolytus in line II:c rather than “rulers and priests”? We shall return to this question later. Part III is, as Segelberg observed, rather more complex. He rejected III:a as another resumptive phrase like “you” in II:a that was not part of the oldest 8 For this see F. X. Funk, Didascalia et Constitutiones Apostolorum (Paderborn: Schoeningh, 1905; reprinted Turin: Bottega d’Erasmo, 1979) II, 78-79. 9 Pace Segelberg, 397, but cf. p. 398, where he appears to include it among the additions. 10 Segelberg, 398. 11 English translation in Bradshaw, Johnson, and Phillips, Apostolic Tradition, 51. Vigiliae Christianae (2021)- /journals/vc/aop/article-10.1163-15700720-12341418/article-10.1163-15700720-12341418.xml 1-11 Downloaded from Brill.com09/23/2021 03:33:57PM via free access 4 Bradshaw I a) God b) and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, (2 Cor 1:3; 11:31; Col 1:3; 1 Peter 1:3) c) the father of mercies and the God of all comfort, (2 Cor 1:3) d) dwelling on high and looking on that which is lowly, (LXX Ps 112:5-6) e) knowing all things before their creation, (Dan 13:42; Sus 35) II a) you giving [the] rules of [the] church through the word of your grace, (“word of his grace”: Acts 20:32) b) having foreordained from the beginning a righteous race from Abraham, c) having appointed rulers and priests, d) and not leaving your sanctuary without a ministry, e) having been pleased from the creation of the world to be glorified in those whom you chose; (some similarities to Eph 1:4-6) III a) and now b) pour forth the power from you of the spirit of leadership (LXX 50:14) c) which you gave through your beloved servant Jesus Christ to your holy apostles d) who established the church in every place as your sanctuary to the unceasing glory and praise of your name. e) Knower of the hearts of all, (Acts 1:24) f) grant g) to this your servant whom you have chosen for the episcopate IV a) [to shepherd] your holy [flock] (some similarity to Acts 20:28) b) and to serve as high-priest for you blamelessly night and day, c) unceasingly to propitiate your countenance, d) and to offer to you the gifts of your holy church; e) and f) in the high-priestly spirit g) to have authority to forgive sins according to your command (allusion to John 20:23) h) to give lots according to your bidding i) to loose every bond according to the authority that you gave to the apostles (allusion to Matthew 18:18) j) and to please you in gentleness and a pure heart, offering you a sweet- smelling savour; (? allusion to Ephesians 5:2) V a) through your servant Jesus Christ our Lord b) with whom [be] glory, power, honor to you, with the Holy Spirit, now and always and to the ages of ages.
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