Yesterday, we looked at the Byzantine Rite’s liturgical reading on the first Sunday of Lent (tomorrow on the Gregorian calendar, next Sunday on the Julian) of the Synodikon of Orthodoxy, a decree of the Seventh Ecumenical Council that anathematizes the iconoclasts and various other heretics. Since the post-Conciliar Rite adopted into itself so many oriental customs wholly extraneous to the Roman Rite, well might one wonder why this custom was not among them.
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| The frontispiece of a Byzantine Catholic Rite archieratikon, the liturgy book containing the bishop’s parts of the major liturgies, printed at Supraśl, Poland in 1716. |
Wonder no longer. With a decree issued on Tuesday, the Sacred Congregation for Rites has finally closed this gap, promulgating a set of liturgical anathemas that admirably reflect the most exciting new developments in ecclesiology and liturgical theology. NLM is very honored to be the medium by which the Sacred Congregation has chosen to divulge these, while we wait for the official Latin text of the decree, which will be titled Ludens feci, to be officially published in the Acta Sanctae Sedis.
The very first encyclical letter of the current pontificate warned the Church against the temptation to self-referentiality, and as more recent events have shown us, the best possible way to combat this temptation is for the Church to spend four years talking to itself about itself. This will explain the fact that these anathemas are all, as it were, inward-looking, a part of the necessary process of self-reflection by which the Church will shake itself free of that temptation. In the finest tradition of the post-Conciliar liturgy, these anathemas may be adapted to local realities, but never, of course, to local ideas, and indeed, the careful reader will immediately note that it is only ideas that are anathematized, and not realities. Of course, we cannot but admit that we were very surprised to see where some of these ideas that are now being anathematized come from, but such is the way of the god of surprises.
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| The beginning of the Synodikon of Orthodoxy in that same edition. |
It is foreseen that the text will be re-written continually, year by year, as the process of liturgical inculturation initiated by the Council continues to bear ever more mature fruits which even the Council itself never envisioned.
Rubrics for the proclamation of the new anathemas.
1. Following the Byzantine tradition, these anathemas may be proclaimed on the first Sunday of Lent, but also on any other Sunday of Lent, or a Sunday of another season, or on any other day. The authority to determine another appropriate day for their proclamation rests with the local bishops’ conferences, which, however, are strictly forbidden from making any such determination without the approval of the Sacred Congregation for Rites, to be requested in writing.
2. As in the Byzantine tradition, the ordinary minister of the anathemas is the deacon, but if there is no deacon, they may be proclaimed by a lay person, who, for this occasion only, may also wear a dalmatic if one is available. Whether worn by a deacon or a lay person, the color of the dalmatic may be violet, since the traditional day for their proclamation is the first Sunday of Lent, in which the liturgical color is violet, in order to symbolize in a more profound and meaningful way that the season is Lent. However, it may also be white, to symbolize the purity of intention with which the Church proclaims them; red, to symbolize the fervor with which She proclaims them; or green, to symbolize the flourishing of the Faith that comes from proclaiming them. The authority to determine the liturgical color for the proclamation of the anathemas rests with the local bishops’ conferences, which, however, are strictly forbidden from making any such determination without the approval of the Sacred Congregation for Rites, to be requested in writing.
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| Copes for the proclamation of the anathemas at the cathedral of Namur in Belgium. The authority to determine the use of a cope rather than a dalmatic for their proclamation rests with the local bishops’ conferences, which, however, are strictly forbidden from making any such determination without the approval of the Sacred Congregation for Rites, to be requested in writing. (Photo courtesy of Liturgical Arts Journal.) |
3. The anathemas are to be proclaimed from the same pulpit from which the Scriptural readings, general intercessions, sermons, and announcements are proclaimed. But they may also be proclaimed during a procession, after the Mass, before the Mass, or in a separate “service of the Word” to be held apart from the Eucharistic celebration, if local pastoral realities determine this to be useful. The authority to determine another appropriate occasion for their proclamation rests with the local bishops’ conferences, which, however, are strictly forbidden from making any such determination without the approval of the Sacred Congregation for Rites, to be requested in writing.
4. In keeping with the Byzantine tradition, the response of the people to the anathemas may be “Anathema, anathema, anathema.” However, other responses more appropriate to local pastoral realities may be used instead, such as a verse from Scripture. A brief period of meditation may also follow the proclamation of each anathema, in place of a vocal response. The authority to determine another appropriate response rests with the local bishops’ conferences, which, however, are strictly forbidden from making any such determination without the approval of the Sacred Congregation for Rites, to be requested in writing.
The anathemas.
1. If anyone shall say that the bishops of the Catholic Church “have the sacred right and the duty before the Lord to make laws for their subjects, to pass judgment on them and to moderate everything pertaining to the ordering of worship and the apostolate”, let him be anathema.
2. If anyone shall say that the bishops of the Catholic Church are “(not) to be regarded as vicars of the Roman Pontiffs, for they exercise an authority that is proper to them, and are quite correctly called ‘prelates,’ heads of the people whom they govern”, let him be anathema.
3. If anyone shall say that it is “up to the bishop, as moderator, promoter, and guardian of the liturgical life of the Church of which he is the principle of unity, to regulate the liturgical celebrations, to authorize in his churches, as local Ordinaries, the use of the Missale Romanum of 1962, applying the norms of the motu proprio ‘Traditionis custodes’, and to determine case by case the reality of the groups which celebrate with this Missale Romanum”, let him be anathema.
4. If anyone shall say that authority over the liturgy in a diocese resides with the local bishops rather than with the Roman Curia, let him be anathema.
5. If anyone shall say that “there must be no innovations (made to the liturgy) unless the good of the Church genuinely and certainly requires them; and care must be taken that any new forms adopted should in some way grow organically from forms already existing”, let him be anathema.
6. If anyone shall say that “the use of the Latin language is to be preserved in the Latin rites” or that “Gregorian chant, being especially suited to the Roman liturgy, should have the chief place in liturgical services”, let him be anathema.
7. If anyone shall say that “that holy Mother Church holds all lawfully acknowledged rites to be of equal right and dignity”, or “that she wishes to preserve them in the future and to foster them in every way”, let him be anathema.
8. If anyone shall say that “What earlier generations held as sacred, remains sacred and great for us too, and it cannot be all of a sudden entirely forbidden or even considered harmful”, let him be anathema.
9. If anyone shall say that the Holy See should “guarantee respect for the rightful aspirations of all those Catholic faithful who feel attached to some previous liturgical and disciplinary forms of the Latin tradition”, let him be anathema.
10. If anyone shall broaden his tent to include those who love the traditional Roman Rite, show them mercy, accompany them, dialogue with them, or listen to them, let him be anathema.
(NLM editor’s note: this is the place where, in keeping with the spirit of the Byzantine Synodikon of Orthodoxy, there should be a commendation of the inventors of the post-Conciliar Rite, as the Synodikon commemorates the defenders of the orthodox faith. But of course, despite the magnificence of their achievements, the Holy See has traditionally drawn a veil of humility over them. If thou seekest their monument, look around...)
