The Office of Septuagesima: or, Why We Need a Lutheran Breviary
Vertreibung aus dem Paradies, from Ulm Minster (Münster Unserer Lieben Frau), Ulm, c. 1430/31.
Photo: Andrea Gössel, Corpus Vitrearum Deutschland/Freiburg i. Br., CC BY-NC 4.0
While the Lutheran Church is, unquestionably, a liturgical church (at least, according to her symbols), the heritage of the Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod is particularly one of liturgical renewal. The LCMS found her origins in the liturgical and confessional revivals of the early 19th century, and was distinguished at the outset from other American Lutherans by such “papistic” customs as crucifixes, chanting, and (oh, the horror!) lighted altar candles in broad daylight. One wave of liturgical renewal after another, virtually without interruption, has been characteristic of the life of the LCMS, from Friedrich Lochner’s Der Hauptgottesdienst and the English-language work of D.H. Steffens to the the Liturgical Society of St. James and its eventual evolution (and devolution) into the Institute of Liturgical Studies at Valparaiso University. The subsequent decades of the twentieth century were filled with official Synodical publications like Church Music from Concordia Publishing House as well as periodicals from various corners of the LCMS or from the broader American Lutheran context like Una Sancta, Bride of Christ, and, of course, Gottesdienst. But in nearly two centuries of liturgical renewals and rediscoveries, the primary concerns have been almost universally the texts and conduct of the mass, and the Daily Office has gone almost entirely unnoticed.
The instinct to focus on the celebration of the Eucharist above all else is, I think, generally laudable and certainly understandable. It is the very heart of Christian worship, the source from which all else flows, and the end to which all else returns. But the Mass does not stand by itself as an hour or two on Sunday, or even as one hour (or half hour) every day of the week. As one friend recently noted, the nomenclature of Officium Missae so frequently used in the first centuries following the Reformation indicates that the Mass is itself an office. The chief office, without a doubt, but with eight other offices preceding and following it every single day of the year.
Even among those involved in the current liturgical renewals in our Synod, the Daily Office makes, at best, a passing appearance at a conference here or there, and is then largely forgotten until the next gathering. The minor offices of Sext or None may be encountered as an occasional curiosity, but an utter paucity of resources for their praying prevents them from ever taking hold in our midst. Even the forms of “Matins” and Vespers in the Common Service tradition show undue influence from the Book of Common Prayer tradition, perhaps most readily exemplified by the absurdity of saying, “O Lord, open Thou my lips” as night is falling, and the form of Tenebrae (Matins of the Triduum) provided in current and previous service books is virtually unrecognizable as such.
This is not intended simply an appeal to an antique and sepia-toned past in which all was seemingly well, but an introduction to the immensely rich meditation on Holy Scripture and the Christian faith that the Daily Office provides. I have previously written about the connections of the Septuagesima-tide offices with the proper Sunday masses, but below you can see for yourselves the proper texts of Matins for Septuagesima, with commentary provided here and there in brackets. Bear in mind that the seventy days of Septuagesima are inspired by the seventy year Babylonian exile, but remind us of our own exile from Paradise, and this underlies the texts of the office shown below.
[Opening versicles, Venite, Invitatory, are omitted, as well as the psalms with their antiphons throughout]
Lection I (Genesis 1)
In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth. And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters. And God said, Let there be light: and there was light. And God saw the light, that it was good: and God divided the light from the darkness. And God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And the evening and the morning were the first day.
Responsory I
R: In the beginning God made the heaven and the earth, and therein created He man.
After His own image and likeness.
V: And the Lord formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life.
After His own image and likeness.
[From the beginning of the office, we have an interplay between the lections relating the creation account in sequence, and the responsories summarizing in poetic form the events that will follow. In this first instance, the responsory following the beginning of creation points us immediately toward the culmination of this creative work: the creation of man in the image and likeness of God, and it primes us to see the rest of the Genesis 1 text in this light.]
Lection II
And God said, Let there be a firmament in the midst of the waters, and let it divide the waters from the waters. And God made the firmament, and divided the waters which were under the firmament from the waters which were above the firmament: and it was so. And God called the firmament Heaven. And the evening and the morning were the second day.
Responsory II
R: In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth. And the Spirit of the Lord moved upon the face of the waters.
*And God saw every thing that He had made, and behold, it was very good.
V: Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the host of them.
*And God saw every thing that He had made, and behold, it was very good.
Lection III
And God said, Let the waters under the heaven be gathered together unto one place, and let the dry land appear: and it was so. And God called the dry land Earth; and the gathering together of the waters called he Seas: and God saw that it was good. And God said, Let the earth bring forth grass, the herb yielding seed, and the fruit tree yielding fruit after his kind, whose seed is in itself, upon the earth.
Responsory III
R: The Lord formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life.
*And man became a living being.
V: In the beginning God made the heaven and the earth, and therein created He man.
*And man became a living being.
Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Ghost.
*And man became a living being.
[The responsory draws the connection once again between the text of the lection, with its creation of all living things from the dust of the ground, and the approaching creation of man from that same dust.]
Lection IV
And it was so. And the earth brought forth grass, and herb yielding seed after his kind, and the tree yielding fruit, whose seed was in itself, after his kind: and God saw that it was good. And the evening and the morning were the third day.
Responsory IV
R: The Lord took the man, and put him in paradise.
*To dress it and to keep it.
V: The Lord formed man of the dust of the ground and put him in paradise.
*To dress it and to keep it.
[Even as the lection relates the creation of the grass and herbs and trees, the responsory reminds us that all of this is being created for the sake of man, so that he might tend and keep it.]
Lection V
And God said, Let there be lights in the firmament of the heaven to divide the day from the night; and let them be for signs, and for seasons, and for days, and years: and let them be for lights in the firmament of the heaven to give light upon the earth: and it was so.
Responsory V
R: The Lord God said, It is not good that the man should be alone.
*I will make him an help meet for him.
V: For Adam there was not found an help meet for him, said God.
*I will make him an help meet for him.
[In the fifth lection and responsory, God speaks in parallel of the lights of the heavens that order time and give light to the earth even as He speaks of the creation of Eve, who will stand alongside Adam in the duty of ordering and governing all creation.]
Lection VI
And God made two great lights; the greater light to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the night: he made the stars also. And God set them in the firmament of the heaven to give light upon the earth, and to rule over the day and over the night, and to divide the light from the darkness: and God saw that it was good. And the evening and the morning were the fourth day.
Responsory VI
R: And the Lord caused a deep sleep to fall upon Adam, and He took one of his ribs. And the rib, which the Lord had taken from Adam, made he a woman, and brought her unto Adam to see what he would call her.
*And he called her name Woman, because she was taken out of Man.
V: This is now bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh.
*And he called her name Woman, because she was taken out of Man.
Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Ghost.
*And he called her name Woman, because she was taken out of Man.
[The creation of the sun and moon in the lection is now followed by the creation of Eve from the side of Adam. Even as the moon gains its light from the sun, so also Eve receives her life from Adam, and even as the sun and moon are created that they might rule the day and night (luminare majus, ut praeesset diei: et luminare minus, ut praeesset nocti), so also Adam and Eve are later tasked with having dominion — the same Latin verb — over the fish and fowl and cattle, over the earth and all things that move upon the face of the earth (praesit piscibus maris, et volatilibus caeli, et bestiis, universaeque terrae, omnique reptili, quod movetur in terra). The creation account, then, is being retold entirely in light of its preparation for the creation of man.]
Lection VII
At that time, Jesus spoke to His disciples, saying: The kingdom of heaven is like unto a man that is an householder, which went out early in the morning to hire labourers into his vineyard. And when he had agreed with the labourers for a penny a day, he sent them into his vineyard. And he went out about the third hour, and saw others standing idle in the marketplace, and said unto them; Go ye also into the vineyard, and whatsoever is right I will give you. And they went their way. Again he went out about the sixth and ninth hour, and did likewise. And about the eleventh hour he went out, and found others standing idle, and saith unto them, Why stand ye here all the day idle? They say unto him, Because no man hath hired us. He saith unto them, Go ye also into the vineyard; and whatsoever is right, that shall ye receive. So when even was come, the lord of the vineyard saith unto his steward, Call the labourers, and give them their hire, beginning from the last unto the first. And when they came that were hired about the eleventh hour, they received every man a penny. But when the first came, they supposed that they should have received more; and they likewise received every man a penny. And when they had received it, they murmured against the goodman of the house, saying, These last have wrought but one hour, and thou hast made them equal unto us, which have borne the burden and heat of the day. But he answered one of them, and said, Friend, I do thee no wrong: didst not thou agree with me for a penny? Take that thine is, and go thy way: I will give unto this last, even as unto thee. Is it not lawful for me to do what I will with mine own? Is thine eye evil, because I am good? So the last shall be first, and the first last: for many be called, but few chosen.
St. Gregory the Great: Homily 11 on the Gospels
The reading from the holy Gospel requires an expanded discourse by way of explanation, but I wish to treat it briefly, if I can, so that you may not feel burdened by a lengthy development and extended commentary.
Responsory VII
R: As the Lord walked in paradise in the cool of the day, He cried out and said: Adam, where art thou? O Lord, I heard Thy voice
*And I hid myself.
V: O Lord, I have heard Thy speech and was afraid, I considered Thy works and trembled.
*And I hid myself.
[In the third nocturne of the Sunday office, the attention shifts from the book of Holy Scripture being read during the season to the proper Gospel of the day and a patristic homily on the same. On Septuagesima Sunday, the Gospel in question is the parable of the householder calling laborers into his vineyard, which is followed in the responsory by the voice of God calling out to Adam, “Where art thou?” as Adam hides himself in shame. It draws together these two narratives, showing that God’s call for laborers into His vineyard is nothing less than a call back to paradise itself, to that joyful labor assigned to our first parents. It shows the persistent loving-kindness of God — that even as Adam fled from the voice of God, and God came seeking him nonetheless, so also He continues to go out into the world, calling in His people hour after hour, until the day of this world draws to its close.]
Lection VIII (Gregory, continued)
The kingdom of heaven is said to be like a householder who hired workmen to cultivate his vineyard. Who can we better take to be the householder than our Creator, who rules over those He created, and governs His elect in the world in the same way as a master does those subject to Him in is house? He has a vineyard, that is to say the universal Church, which has brought forth many saints as so many branches, from righteous Abel up to the last of the elect who will be born at the end of the world.
Responsory VIII
R: In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, said the Lord to Adam, And when thou hast worked the earth
*It shall not bear its fruits, but thorns and thistles shall it bring forth to thee.
V: For because thou hast obeyed the voice of thy wife rather than mine, cursed is the ground for thy sake.
*It shall not bear its fruits, but thorns and thistles shall it bring forth to thee.
[The labor in this new vineyard is, however, more difficult than the labor in paradise. The work of the kingdom of God is not easy, and sometimes the work may seem fruitless and empty. Note also that the text of the responsory makes explicit what could be missed in Genesis 3: Adam’s sin is listening to the voice of his wife instead of the voice of God, that same voice which calls in the laborers to the vineyard in the Gospel for the day.]
Lection IX
The householder hired workmen to cultivate his vineyard, in the morning, and at the third, sixth, ninth and eleventh hours, since preachers do not cease to preach for the the instruction of the faithful from the beginning of this world up to its end.
Responsory IX
R: Where is Abel thy brother? said the Lord to Cain. I know not, Lord, am I my brother’s keeper? And He said to him, What hast thou done?
*Behold, the voice of thy brother Abel’s blood crieth unto me from the ground.
V: Cursed is the ground for thy sake, which hath opened her mouth to receive thy brother’s blood from thy hand.
*Behold, the voice of thy brother Abel’s blood crieth unto me from the ground.
Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Ghost.
*Behold, the voice of thy brother Abel’s blood crieth unto me from the ground.
R: Behold, Adam is become as one of us, to know good and evil.
*See, lest he take of the tree of life and live for ever.
V: Cherubim and a flaming sword turned every which way to keep the way of the tree of life.
*See, lest he take of the tree of life and live for ever.
Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Ghost.
*See, lest he take of the tree of life and live for ever.
[The lections conclude with murderous Cain, the first true fruit of Adam’s sin, the thorn brought forth from the dust of the ground, and the exile from Paradise. The Te Deum which would ordinarily follow is conspicuously absent beginning on Septuagesima Sunday, and is not sung again in the Sunday office until Easter.]
I hope this begins to show the profound richness of the Daily Office, and the immense gift that it is to the Church. I should note once again that this is simply one office from one day of the entire liturgical year. If you are interested in volunteering to aid in the preparation of The Lutheran Breviary and making the Daily Office readily available in English, you can sign up here.