Friday, December 24, 2021

Greek Credo in 11th Century Pontifical of Emperor Henry III


There is an 11th Century Pontifical that is connected with the Emperor Henry III; it seems to have probably been made for the Archbishop of Salzburg.  It is of the Romano-German type; and derives from a the same stream as the mid-11th century Winchester Pontifical that was copied from a Continental type.  

Like that Pontifical, it gives the Credo in Greek and then in Latin, in the section that contains the giving of the Catechumenate with the various Expositions; also like the Winchester Pontifical, the Greek Credo has musical notation, while the Latin has no musical notation; also, curiously, the chanted Greek Credo has no Filioque interpolation in its text, while the Latin Credo has the lamentable Filioque addition in its text.  

The Greek text is transliterated into Latin letters, and the section regarding the Holy Ghost reads as follows:

"Ke is to Pneumato Agion to Kirion ke ho opion to ek thu Patros ek porreugemenon to sin Patri ke Io sin proskinumenon ke sin doxa ho menon to lalisan diaton Prophiton."

[And in the Holy Ghost, the Lord and Life-Giver, from the Father Proceeding, with the Father and the Son worshipped and glorified, Who spake through the Prophets.]


It can be found on page 102r of the manuscript. 


Of course, like many transliterated Latin text of the Greek Credo from the Medieval period, the pronunciation is often different than how one would pronounce the Greek today, and such; but, one can see this same issue in the Old Gelasian Sacramentary with its transliteration of the Greek Credo in Latin; the dropping and adding of certain consonants, etc, in places we wouldn't expect.  

Nevertheless, there still was a lively consciousness, I would argue, that even where the Latin interpolated Credo was beginning to be used, that the Greek Credo must be preserved unaltered.  Perhaps because there was some realization that peace must be maintained with the Eastern Church, as well as a conservative adherence to tradition, even while deviant innovation was creeping into the Latin Credo text.   But, one sees this preservation of the Greek Credo [and even un-interpolated Latin Credo] still in place in the 11th century (such as the Mainz text).  

 

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