An Interesting Assertion…
Johann Gerhard, in his great Locus on the Church (vol. xxv, p. 323), provides a quotation that seems to be attributed both to Polydorus Virgilius and to Platina, both renaissance scholars. It records “the origin and progress of the Mass.” It reads:
Sixtus ordered that in the celebration “Holy, holy, holy Lord God of Sabaoth” be sung. At first these were unadorned and everything was treated simply. When Peter had consecrated, he had used the prayer “Our Father.” Bishop James of Jerusalem added to these mysteries. So did Basil. Others did the same. Celestine added the Introit to the Mass; Gregory, the Kyrie Eleison; Telesphorus, the Gloria in Excelsis; Gelasius I, the collects; Jerome, the Epistle and the Gospel. The Alleluia was taken from the church of Jerusalem; the Creed, from the Council of Nicaea. Pelagius invented the commemoration of the dead; Leo III, the incense; Innocent I, the kiss of piece. Sergius instituted the singing of the Agnus Dei, etc.
The fascinating sentence in there to me is the third: “When Peter had consecrated, he had used the prayer ‘Our Father.’” Unless I am completely missing the meaning, this seems a reference to the (in?)famous statement of Pope St. Gregory the Great, defending some changes he had made in the liturgy at Rome, and of which he was accused of “easternizing”, a statement which has puzzled people for many a year:
But the Lord's Prayer we say immediately after the prayer for this reason, that it was the custom of the apostles to consecrate the host of oblation to that same prayer only. And it seemed to me very unsuitable that we should say over the oblation a prayer which a scholastic had composed, and should not say the very prayer which our Redeemer composed over His body and blood. But also the Lord's Prayer among the Greeks is said by all the people, but with us by the priest alone.—(Book 9, Letter 12, to John, Bishop of Syracuse) [Orationem vero Dominicam idcirco mox post precem dicimus, quia mos apostolorum fuit or ad ipsam solummodo orationem oblatlonis hostiam consecarent Et valde mihi inconveniens visum est ut precem quam scholasticus composuerat super oblationem diceremus, et ipsam traditionem (Qy. for orationnem?) quam Redemptor noster composuit super ejus corpus et sanguinem non diceremus.]
Martin Chemnitz, among others, certainly read Pope St. Gregory to be saying precisely that the Our Father stood as the only prayer next to the Words of the Testament in apostolic liturgy, and though modern scholars have tended to insist that there must be other ways to understand Gregory’s words, it appears that maybe Platina and Polydorus actually concurred with Chemnitz’ understanding of Gregory. That would be interesting indeed. (By the way, the most compelling argument of modern scholars is to read Gregory as saying that the Apostolic practice of Rome was not to use another prayer before or after the Canon, but just the prayer of consecration, however, since in the meantime a prayer has been added before—the offertory prayer— it seemed fitting to him to include also the Lord’s own prayer to be offered over the oblation, though not recited in the manner of the Greeks). It is just striking to me that such a read was not apparent to any of the medieval or renaissance commentators! All of which leads me to observe…
Many moons ago I was quite an advocate for a “full Eucharistic prayer” (see my article in Through the Church the Song Goes On, see pp. 57ff.; or Timothy Quill’s The Impact of the Liturgical Movement on American Lutheranism, see pp. 204ff.). But in the many, many years that I have been privileged to worship and serve at St. Paul’s Lutheran Church in Hamel, IL, my appreciation for the old Lutheran form of allowing but the Our Father to stand next to the Words of the Lord’s Testament has deepened and grown. And particularly when the pastor chants both, with the congregation chiming in on the doxology after the Our Father, the simplicity and beauty of our rite is simply incomparable. Yes, there is room for thanksgiving and praise; that is why we have the Preface and Proper Preface and Sanctus. But then all words from our lips cease, and in the silence we hear only HIS Words, the words that came from our Savior’s divine lips: the prayer He taught us to pray with Him and the promise of His Testament. I would contend that having these gems at the center, our Mass lacks nothing at all. For these convey to us all the Gospel joy our hearts could ever hold. They will be our delight in eternity as they are in time: Our Father…Our Lord Jesus Christ…
