Cyril of Jerusalem · Mystagogical Lectures

Mystagogical Lectures · Part 3

19. After this the Priest says, "Holy things to holy men." Holy are the gifts presented, having received the visitation of the Holy Ghost; holy are ye also, having been deemed worthy of the Holy Ghost; the holy things therefore correspond to the holy persons. Then ye say, "One is Holy, One is the Lord, Jesus Christ." For One is truly holy, by nature holy; we too are holy, but not by nature, only by participation, and discipline, and prayer.

20. After this ye hear the chanter inviting you with a sacred melody to the communion of the Holy Mysteries, and saying, O taste and see that the Lord is good. Trust not the judgment to thy bodily palate no, but to faith unfaltering; for they who taste are bidden to taste, not bread and wine, but the anti-typical Body and Blood of Christ.

21. In approaching therefore, come not with thy wrists extended, or thy fingers spread; but make thy left hand a throne for the right, as for that which is to receive a King. And having hollowed thy palm, receive the Body of Christ, saying over it, Amen. So then after having carefully hallowed thine eyes by the touch of the Holy Body, partake of it; giving heed lest thou lose any portion thereof; for whatever thou losest, is evidently a loss to thee as it were from one of thine own members. For tell me, if any one gave thee grains of gold, wouldest thou not hold them with all carefulness, being on thy guard against losing any of them, and suffering loss? Wilt thou not then much more carefully keep watch, that not a crumb fall from thee of what is more precious than gold and precious stones?

22. Then after thou hast partaken of the Body of Christ, draw near also to the Cup of His Blood; not stretching forth thine hands, but bending, and saying with an air of worship and reverence, Amen, hallow thyself by partaking also of the Blood of Christ. And while the moisture is still upon thy lips, touch it with thine hands, and hallow thine eyes and brow and the other organs of sense. Then wait for the prayer, and give thanks unto God, who hath accounted thee worthy of so great mysteries.

23. Hold fast these traditions undefiled and, keep yourselves free from offence. Sever not yourselves from the Communion; deprive not yourselves, through the pollution of sins, of these Holy and Spiritual Mysteries. And the God of peace sanctify you wholly; and may your spirit, and soul, and body be preserved entire without blame at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ:--To whom be glory and honour and might, with the Father and the Holy Spirit, now and ever, and world without end. Amen.

Notes

  1. 2512. Compare Waterland on this passage, c. X. p 688.
  2. 2513. Apost. Const. VIII. c. xiii: "Let the Bishop speak thus to the people: Holy things for holy persons. And let the people answer: There is One that is holy; there is one Lord, one Jesus Christ, blessed for ever, to the glory of God the Father." The Liturgies of St. James and of Constantinople have nearly the same words: in the Liturgy of St. Mark the answer of the people is: One Father holy, one Son holy, one Spirit holy, in the unity of the Holy Spirit.
  3. 2514. Ps. xxxiv. 9. In the Apostolic Constitutions the "Sancta Sanctis" and its response are immediately followed by the "Gloria in excelsis," and the "Hosanna." Then the Clergy partake, and there follows a direction that this Psalm xxxiv. is to be said while all the rest are partaking. In the Liturgy of Constantinople there is the direction: "The Choir sings the communion antiphon (to koinonikon) of the day or the saint."
  4. 2515. For me epitrepete, probably an itacism, we should read me epitrepetai, as a question, the propriety of the change being indicated by the answer ouchi. "Is the judgment of this entrusted to the bodily palate? No, but, &c."
  5. 2516. antitupou somatos, "the antitypical Body," not "the antitype of the Body," which would require tou somatos. Cf. Cat. xxi. § 1, note 6.
  6. 2517. Cat. xviii. 32: "with what reverence and order you must go from Baptism to the Holy Altar of God."
  7. 2518. Cyril appears to be the earliest authority for thus placing the hands in the form of a Cross. A similar direction is given in the 101st Canon of the Trullan Council (692), and by Joh. Damasc. (De Fid. Orthod. iv. 14). Dict. Chr. Ant. "Communion." That the communicant was to receive the Bread in his own hands is clear from the language of Cyril and other Fathers. Cf. Clem. Alex. Strom. I. c. i. § 5: "Some after dividing the Eucharist according to custom allow each of the laity himself to take his part." See the passage of Origen quoted in the next note, and Tertull. Cor. Mil. c. iii. "The Sacrament of the Eucharist, which the Lord commanded both (to be taken) at meal-times and by all, we take even in assemblies before dawn, and from the hand of none but the presidents."
  8. 2519. Origen. Hom. xiii. in Exod. § 3: "I wish to admonish you by examples from your own religion: ye, who have been accustomed to attend the Sacred Mysteries, know how, when you receive the Body of the Lord, you guard it with all care and reverence, that no little part of it fall down, no portion of the consecrated gift slip away. For you believe yourselves guilty, and rightly so believe, if any part thereof fall through carelessness."
  9. 2520. kupton, not kneeling, but standing in a bowing posture. Cf. Bingham, XV. c. 5, § 3.
  10. 2521. Apost. Const. VIII. c. 13: "Let the Bishop give the Oblation (prosphoran) saying, The Body of Christ. And let him that receiveth say, Amen. And let the Deacon hold the Cup, and when he delivers it say, The Blood of Christ, the Cup of Life. And let him that drinketh say, Amen."
  11. 2522. Cat. xxi. 3, note 8.
  12. 2523. In the Liturgy of St. James, after all have communicated, "The Deacons and the People say: Fill our mouths with Thy praise, O Lord, and fill our lips with joy, that we may sing of Thy glory, of Thy greatness, all the day. And again: We render thanks to Thee, Christ our God, that Thou hast accounted us worthy to partake of Thy Body and Blood, &c."
  13. 2524. 1 Thess. v. 23.