The Ethiopic Liturgy: the Ordo Communis and the Anaphora of the Apostles (Mercer translation)

The Ethiopic Liturgy: the Ordo Communis and the Anaphora of the Apostles (Mercer translation)

continued

The Inclination

1 ¶ The deacon shall say Standing, bow down your head the while. ¶ The assistant shall turn around; while he comes in, he shall open the door of the prince ¶ The priest shall say Lord, who knowest the heart which is hidden and which is manifest, before thee thy people have bowed down their head, and unto thee have subdued the hardness of heart and flesh; behold from heaven thy dwelling place; bless thou men and women; incline thine ear unto them and hearken unto their prayer; stablish them with thy right hand, protect and succour them from evil affliction, be a guardian to them, be to our body and to ourselves the faith and fear of thy name, through thine only Son, world without end. ¶ The deacon shall say Worship the Lord with fear. ¶ The people shall say Before thee, O Lord, we worship and thee we glorify.

2 ¶ The priest shall say the prayer of penitence 3 O Lord God, Father Almighty, eternal, it is thou who healest our soul and our body and our spirit, because thou saidst by the mouth of thine only Son, our Lord and our God and our Saviour Jesus Christ, which thou spakest to our father Peter. Thou art a rock, I will build it for mine holy Church, and unto thee I will give the keys of the kingdom of heaven; what thou hast bound on earth shall be bound in heaven, and what thou hast loosed on earth shall be loosed in heaven; let all thy servants and thine handmaids, according to their several names, be loosed and absolved by the Holy Ghost and by the mouth of my humility, me, thy sinful and guilty servant, and let them be loosed and set free out of the mouth of the Holy Trinity, the Father and the Son and the Holy Ghost, and out of the mouth of me also thy sinful and guilty servant, O merciful [one] and clement and lover of man, Lord our God, who takest away the sin of the world and receive the penitence of thy servants and thine handmaids and make to arise upon them the light of everlasting life, and forgive them, O Lord, their sins, for thou art good and a lover of man. O Lord our God, clement, long-suffering and plenteous in mercy and righteous, forgive my sins and all those of thy servants, and deliver them from all transgression and curse, if we have transgressed against thee, O Lord, whether in our word or in our deed or in our thought, pardon and forgive, be propitious and remit, for thou art good and a lover of man. O Lord our God, forgive us, free us, loose us, and remove from us, and all thy people, loose them and us from sin committed against thee; loose us.

4 ¶ And then he shall turn his face towards the people and sign them three times, and shall make mention of those who are with him. And again he shall say Remember, O Lord, the sacred father archpope, abba Matthew, and our blessed pope, abba Peter; O our God, preserve in righteousness their memory to us for many years and long days. Remember our king, Menilek, and the representative of our king, Takla Häimänöt, and loose him from all the chains of sin which he hath committed wittingly or unwittingly; subdue his adversaries and enemies under his feet shortly. Remember, O Lord, archpopes, popes, bishops, presbyters and deacons and subdeacons, anagnosts, and singers, men and women, adults and children and all Christian people, and confirm them in the faith of Christ. Remember, O Lord, and loose all those who are asleep and resting in the right faith, lay their souls in the bosom of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob; and us also deliver from every transgression and curse, and from all apostasy and from all error, and from mingling with heresy and pollution. Give us, O Lord, wisdom and strength of understanding and knowledge, that we may depart and flee for evermore from every work of Satan, the tempter; grant us, O Lord, to do thy good pleasure at all times, and write our names in the book of life in heaven with all the righteous and martyrs, through Jesus Christ our Lord, through whom to thee with him and with the Holy Ghost be glory and dominion, both now and ever and world without end. Amen.

The Manual Acts

¶ The deacon shall say Give we heed. ¶ The priest shall say Holiness to the holies. ¶ The priest shall say One is the holy Father, one is the holy Son, one is the Holy Ghost. ¶ The priest shall say The Lord be with you all. ¶ The people shall say With thy spirit. ¶ The priest shall say Lord have mercy on us, Christ, three times; with a low voice forty-two times, the same. ¶ And then the deacon shall dip in the blood and shall make the sign, and with the blood he shall make the sign on the body and again he shall sign on the blood ¶ The deacon shall say Prayer. Ye who are in penitence bow down your head. ¶ The priest shall say Lord, our God, upon those who are in penitence have mercy upon them, according to the multitude of thy mercy blot out their sins guard them and keep them from all evil; redeem in peace their souls. Cutting short their former conversation, join them with thine holy Church; through grace and through the loving-kindness of this thine only Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom to thee with him and with the Holy Ghost be glory and dominion, both now and ever and world without end. Amen.

The Consignation and Communion

1 ¶ The deacon shall say Stand up for prayer. ¶ The people shall say Lord have mercy upon us. ¶ The priest shall say Peace be to you all. ¶ The people shall say With thy spirit. ¶ The priest shall say This is the body, holy, true, of our Lord and of our Saviour and our God, Jesus Christ, which is given for life and for salvation, unto those who partake of it in faith. ¶ The people shall say Amen. ¶ The priest shall say This is the blood, precious, true, of our Lord and God and our Saviour Jesus Christ, which is given for life and for salvation and for remission of sin unto those who receive it in faith. ¶ The people shall say Amen. ¶ The priest shall say For this is the body and blood of Emmanuel, our very God. ¶ The people shall say Amen.

2 ¶ The priest shall say I believe, I believe, I believe, and confess to the last, that this is the body and blood of our Lord and our God and our Saviour Jesus Christ in truth, which he took of the lady of us all, the holy and pure Virgin Mary, and made it one with his godhead without mixture and confusion without division or alteration; and he verily confessed with a good testimony in the days of Pontius Pilate, and he gave it up for our sake on the tree of the holy cross of his own sole will for the life of us all. ¶ The people shall say Amen. ¶ The priest shall say I believe, I believe, I believe, that his godhead was not divided from his manhood one hour nor for the twinkling of an eye, but he gave it up for our sake, for life and for salvation and for remission of sin unto those who partake of it in faith.

3 ¶ The people shall say Amen. ¶ The priest shall say I believe, I believe, I believe, that this is true, that this is the body and blood of our Lord and our God and our Saviour Jesus Christ in truth, to whom are fitting honour and glory and adoration, to the Holy Trinity, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost, co-equal at all times both now and ever and world without end. Amen.

Prayer after placing the oblation

4 ¶ They shall all say 5 Truly, my Lord Jesus Christ, it in no wise beseemeth thee to come into my polluted soul, for I have stirred thee to anger and done evil in thy sight, and have polluted my soul and my body and I have done no good at all. But for the sake of thy being made and thy becoming man for my salvation, for the sake of thy precious cross and for the sake of thy life-giving death and resurrection on the third day, I pray thee and beseech thee that thou wouldst purge me from all sin and curse; when I have received thine holy mystery let it not be unto me for judgment nor for nodding, but only have mercy upon me and be propitious unto me, and grant me remission for sin and life eternal through the petition of holy Mary, of John the Baptist, and all the saints and angels, and all the martyrs and good witnesses world without end. Behold thy Son, the oblation which is well pleasing to thee, because for my sake thy Son died and, because of this, pardon my sin by certain of thy works. Behold the pure blood which was poured out for my sake upon Golgotha, let it cry aloud in my stead. This blood—speaking—shall be a healing of my sin by certain of thy works; receive my petition for my sake and for the sake of him, thy beloved, who received the spear and the nails. He suffered that he might be well pleasing unto thee.

6 After I was saved, Satan returned and pierced me through with his darts. Grant me, O Lord, thy mercy, for he who summoneth to judgment is mighty and for this sin he may slay me. But avenge me of the audacious one, who is insatiable even for my life. Thou, Lord, king and Saviour, bind up my wound which they gave his holy body (in the Keddāsē of the Lord), the body of our Lord and our God and our Saviour Jesus Christ which is of the Holy Ghost, to hallow body, soul and spirit, (and in the Keddāsē of the Apostles) the bread of life which came down from heaven, the body of Christ, (in the Keddāsē of the Elders) the holy body of Emmanuel our very God, which he took of the lady of us all. 7 ¶ And he who receiveth shall say Amen. ¶ Shall say this prayer; when he receives this in his mouth he shall say Holy, Holy, Holy, Trinity ineffable, grant me that I receive unto life this body and blood without condemnation. Grant me that I bring forth fruit well-pleasing unto thee, to the end that I may appear in thy glory and live unto thee doing thy will, with confession calling upon thee, Father, and calling upon thy kingdom; hallowed be thy name with me; for mighty art thou, praised and glorious, and thine is the glory, world without end.

8 Of our fathers the apostles, we believe in one God, maker of all creation, our Lord and our God and our Saviour Jesus Christ, for he was not created like as we have already said, but he existed in all times without beginning and without end; and in him was the light which goes not out and no one is able to approach it. He was not with others, he did not add to himself, but he was one alone who inhabited eternity, for he was not known of him who does not know, alone but real to those who know him in reading and in prophecy, for he is almighty and powerful and over all creation; one God, the Father of our Lord and our Saviour Jesus Christ, who was brought forth before the creation of the world. There is one who is equal with him, the creator of the universe, and of the offices and orders to which he had favour. He became man in the last days and took up flesh of Mary, the Virgin, without the seed of man, and he was nurtured with man without sin and crime and without fraud in his mouth. Then he suffered and died in body; he rose again on the third day and ascended into heaven and sat on the right hand of the power, and he sent to us the Paraclete who came forth from the Father; and he who is with the Father and the Son shall free us forever.

9 We say, therefore, that the Lord brought forth all good creation, spirit, life, body, and that which is good in all. We say that the marriage is pure and undefiled and not unclean, for God created them Adam and Eve, that they might multiply people. We say, therefore, that he is our body and soul, for he did not die and did not repudiate the body; for we believe that we take all their deeds upon us, and all creation; but the law was perverted by impure words. Again, we believe that the just dead shall be raised, and sinners and transgressors shall be punished according to their deeds. Again, we believe that Christ was not nurtured of woman and was not mated; but it was the Word of God which became man in righteousness, and he alone joined man with God, a high-priesthood of his Father. He was not circumcised, as were the Jews. We believe that he came to fulfil scripture, the prophets, and all which promised his coming to the people; Jesus Christ who sprang from the Jews, from the Branch of Isaiah, the power of the blood of his shoulder, to him be honour and praise and power, both now and ever and world without end.

10 ¶ And after the prayer, he who hath received shall eat. The assistant priest shall say while he administereth This is the cup of life which came down from heaven, the precious blood of Christ. ¶ And then here, he who administereth shall say this prayer silently, the power of blood being in his mouth O my Lord and my God, behold I have received thy pure body and thy precious blood for the forgiveness of my sins and for the remission of my error besides, and, O lover of man, fill my mouth with thy praise, for thou art praised; for our salvation is in this thy name for ever and ever. ¶ Again To thee, my God Jesus Christ, who hast given to all of us equality one with another on account of certain of thy deeds, we praise thee and beseech thee that we may be in thy flock, and number us with thy sheep and accept us now and do not remember against us our error of the past; we are thankful for the grace which thou hast given us and for thy help, for thou hast been with us.

11 ¶ The deacon shall say Pray ye for us, and for all Christians who bid us make mention of them in the peace, and in the love of Jesus Christ; praise ye and sing. ¶ Then they shall sing ¶ The priest shall say as he goeth out Those whom thou hast called, Lord, and whom thou hast sanctified make partakers in thy calling and keep them in thy strength and confirm them in thy love and keep them in thy praise in thine eternal kingdom from all; the good deed has united us with thine only Son. ¶ And after the people have received Lord, eternal light of life, thou hast given us, O Lord, thy servants and thine handmaids, strength and protection during the days and nights past, keeping [us] in peace; bless on the day that now is, and on those that shall come hereafter.

The Thanksgiving after Communion

1 ¶ The deacon shall say Let us give thanks unto the Lord, after taking of his holy thing, that what we have received may be medicine for the soul's life, let us ask and entreat while we praise the Lord our God. ¶ The people shall say My mouth shall speak the praise of the Lord, and all my flesh shall give thanks unto his holy name for ever and ever. ¶ The people shall say Our Father who art in heaven, lead us not, O Lord, into temptation. ¶ The deacon shall say We have received of his holy body, and this is the blood of Christ. ¶ The priest shall say as before three times ¶ The deacon shall say And let us give thanks unto him who maketh us meet to communicate in the precious and holy mystery. ¶ The priest shall say, whoever is a 'Esel let him say

2 I exalt thee, O God my king, and I will praise thy name for ever and ever. ¶ The priest shall say to every 'Esel who is at the feast of our Lady or at the nine feasts of our Lord or at the Ehud feast ¶ The priest shall say going around, breathing And again we beseech thee, Lord Almighty, Father of the Lord and our Saviour Jesus Christ; we give thee thanks for that thou hast granted us to take of thine holy mystery. Let it not be unto guilt nor unto judgment but unto renewing of soul and body and spirit, through thine only Son, through whom to thee with him and with the Holy Ghost be glory and dominion, both now and ever and world without end. Amen. Praise and reverence to the Holy Ghost; peace and life may he give us, bringing over the incense and censing, Hallelujah, Hallelujah. Blessed, holy be the Church with us in full, as it was and shall be with us.

3 ¶ The priest shall say Hallelujah, Hallelujah, Our Father who art in heaven. Hallowed, be thy name; medicine to us for our sin, lead us not into temptation, O Lord, deliver us from the day of evil and free us from all temptation. ¶ The priest shall say while filling it and cleansing it and giving thanks

The Final Inclination

1 Imposition of hands. Lord, light of life unquenchable, look upon thy servants and thine handmaids, and sow in their hearts the fear of thy name; in blessing bear fruit, and number them for that which in thine own name hath been given unto them, even thy body and thy blood. And let that which dwells over them be upon those who have bowed down their heads before thee, thy people, men and women, adults and children, virgins and monks. And us also here unite, protect and succour and strengthen with the strength of thy holy angels; and from every evil work turn us away; in every good work join us with thine only Son; through whom to thee with him and with the Holy Ghost be glory and dominion, both now and ever and world without end. Amen. ¶ The assistant shall say And keep them in the right faith, in glory and honour all the days of their life, and endue them with love and peace, which is exalted above all understanding and above all wisdom.

2 By the intercession and by the supplication which the Lady of us all, the holy Mother of God and the immaculate Mary, maketh on our behalf, and by the four luminaries, Michael and Gabriel, Raphael and Suriel, and by the four incorporeal creatures, and the twenty-four priests of heaven, and our holy fathers of exalted memory, the chief of the fathers, Isaac, and Jacob and St. John the Baptist, and by the one hundred and forty-four thousand babes, and our fathers, the elders, the apostles; the seventy-two disciples, and St. Mark the Evangelist, apostles and martyrs, the three hundred and eighteen Orthodox who were at Nicea, the one hundred and fifty bishops in the province of Constantinople, the two hundred Ephesians, holy children, St. Stephen, the head of deacons and first martyr, St. George and St. Theodore the illuminator, and St. Mercury and St. Mennas and St. Auwetos, and St. Mermehnäm and St. Kirkös, and St. Theodore and St. Manādelēwōs, and St. Claudius and St. Philotheus, and St. Basilides, and St. Victor, and St. Abli and St. Esderos, and holy abba Nob, virgin and martyr singular, Eleazar, the warrior, and all the martyrs, and the chief of the fathers, the elect father of Abib and righteous father Anthony and our holy fathers the three Macarii, and our father abba John Hedīr, and our father abba Besōi, and our father abba John Kamā, and righteous abba Būl, and our father abba Pachomius, and our father abba Barsūmā, and our father abba Sinōdā, and our father St. Arsenius, and St.

3 Theodore, son of Pachomius, and our father abba Agtōn, and our father Palmān, our father abba Kīrōs, and our fathers abba Sanael, Gedmāwī, and our Roman fathers, Maximus and Demetrius, the strong and holy abba Moses the black, forty-nine martyrs and all those who wear the cross, righteous and warriors, martyrs and the elect, angels and the angel of this blessed day; their blessing, and the intercessions of their long-suffering and the grace of their help, world without end. Amen. 4 O peaceful king of peace, Jesus Christ thy peace, give us and confirm unto us our meekness, and forgive us our sins and make us worthy that we may go out and come into our homes in peace.

The Dismissal

1 ¶ The deacon shall say Bow down your heads before the Lord our God, that by the hand of the acting priest he may bless us. ¶ The people shall say Amen. The Lord bless us and be propitious unto us. ¶ The priest shall say while he blesses with the sign of the cross ¶ The priest shall say O Lord save thy people and bless thine heritage, govern them and lift them up for ever, and keep thine holy Church which thou has purchased and ransomed with the precious blood of thine only Son, our Lord and our God and our Saviour Jesus Christ, which thou hast called [to be] a congregation for kings and for princes, for a pure generation and for a holy people; ye who are come and who are assembled in the true holy Church, who have fed upon the blessed body and precious blood of our Lord Jesus Christ, which is medicine for your sins which ye have committed wittingly or unwittingly, in charity which is transitory have mercy upon you, and in the future be ye crucified in this his body, the body divine, and in this his blood, the blood of law; and the oblation of Jesus Christ the Son of the God of Sabaoth, begotten of Mary, Immaculate in virginity, pure for ever and ever.

2 And after the cold water, I pray and beseech thee, O my Lord and my God, look upon those who love thy flock, and accept thy soul, which is thy sheep, for that thou hast given us thy body, the righteous food which in truth is a portion of eternal life. And again we pray thee and beseech thee, O my Lord, that it will not leave and will not afflict my soul and my body, which is the body and blood which thou didst take up and which gave me life and gave me health, and which placed me in fear of thee, and which teacheth me thy love that I may pray to thee all days of my life, and its praise which likewise, O my Lord, is sweet to my soul, even refined, that it be to thee sacrifice; and make my heart to live and remain and be full of the Holy Ghost, for thy body and thy blood will raise up him, who confesses and receives thee from the hand of thy priesthood and consumes thee, for to thee be glory for ever and ever. Amen.

3 ¶ The priest shall say ¶ And after he had finished doing it he gave his blessing, and while blessing with his fingers, absolving the people by the power of his hand, he blessed their eyes; and when he had blessed the presbyters, he placed his hand upon Peter and upon the others. Partake of the Lord who will place you in his everlasting kingdom; and in wisdom may the Lord bless and behold and illuminate the eyes of thine heart, and in truth may the Lord bless and make his face to shine upon thee, and likewise women. ¶ The priest shall say The Lord be with you all. ¶ The people shall say With thy spirit. Amen. The Lord give us a blessing of peace and be propitious upon us, his servants. Remission be unto us, who have received thy body and thy blood. Suffer us through the spirit to tread upon all the power of the enemy. The blessing of thine holy hand which is full of mercy, even that we all hope for. From every evil work turn us away; in every good work join us. Blessed be he who hath given us his holy body and his precious blood. We have taken of grace and we have found life by the power of the cross of Jesus Christ. Unto thee, Lord, we give thanks, after taking of the grace which is from the Holy Ghost.

4 ¶ The deacon shall say Depart in peace. ¶ The priest shall say while he places the εὐλογία Lord, our God and our creator, who hast given his good food, whose body it is, to all, who hast given a blessing to his creatures who honour thy holy name; extend thy holy right hand in which are days and in which is time, and bless this bread to me, and may it be thy blessing and thy goodness to me; again, may it be to all who receive it redemption and medicine to our souls, strength and might to our body for the remission of sin, the bread which thou hast given us, may it be for thanksgiving to thee; and that we may praise thy kingdom, thrice holy Father, and Son and Holy Ghost. O Lord, may thy blessing, thine own, be upon this bread, and upon him who gives and upon those who minister, in thy glorious fear, to the Father and the Son and the Holy Ghost, both now and ever and world without end. Amen.

5 ¶ And after the oblation is received, it is not fitting that he break it with his hands or feet, but he shall take off his robes and sacred adornments, and shall genuflect, and shall spit, and shall pour out the blood, having cut the fingernails and his head having been shaved in the right manner, and he shall be girded like a man and shall come among us eating and drinking, but he shall not stand and associate with women, and he shall not lightly esteem this receiving of the oblation. The whole order of the Ḳeddāsē of the Apostles and chiefs and of the ancient fathers is ended in the peace of the Lord. May their prayers and their blessings and the gift of their association be with us and with his scribe Walda George for ever and ever. Amen and Amen. So be it. So be it. Ḳeddāsē. Lord.