The Confession of the Faith of the Fathers of the Synod of Milan

 

Confession of Faith of St. Mansuetus of Milan and the Synod held in 679, and sent to the Emperor Constantine IV to confirm the Orthodox Faith:

The Confession of the Faith of the Fathers of the Synod of Milan We do profess that we believe the Holy and Indivisible Trinity, that is to say, the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Ghost, One God; so One as to be Three, and so Three as to be One: the Trinity in Distinct and Discrete Persons, to wit, the Father, from Whom are all things; the Son, by Whom are all things; the Holy Ghost, in Whom are all things; yet of One Godhead, One Essence, and One Substance: indeed in Three Subsistences or Persons, that the Father may be Father, the Son be Son, and the Holy Ghost be the Holy Ghost; but in One Nature and One Substance, that One God, and Only, and Supreme, may be believed; not introducing three, as Arius blasphemeth, who preached three gods, one more excellent, another less, and another inferior. But we confess the Holy Trinity in Unity, and the Unity in the Holy Trinity. For when we say the Almighty Father, the very appellation of This Fatherly Name hath respect unto the Person of the Son; and when we say the Eternal Son, it is referred unto the Person of the Eternal Father; and when we name the Holy Ghost, we shew that He Proceedeth from the Person of the Eternal Father. And when we say God the Father Almighty, the Mystery of This Name cannot be made void. For when we say Father, we shew forth the Son; and when we say Son, we declare the Father; and when we say the Eternal Father, we shew forth the Eternal Son. For if we find not the beginning of This Fatherly Name, when He was called Father, it is consequently shewn that neither do we find the beginning of the Begotten. We beseech that reason be given us, when the Father obtained this appellation, that He should be called Father; whether in time, or without time: let some man tell us when first He began to be so called. And if he shall be able to approve this, there shall be no doubt that from that beginning of the fatherly name the Son took His beginning, when the Father was so named. But if he shall fail, yea rather because he doth fail, and cannot prove nor assign the beginning of the fatherly name, when the Father began to be, let him therefore with us confess the Holy Trinity Co-Essential and Consubstantial, neither that the Father was before the Son, nor the Son after the Father, nor the Holy Ghost inferior; because, while the beginning of the Fatherly Name is not found, we know not by what reason a beginning should be ascribed unto the Son. For when we say the Everlasting God the Father, we shew the Everlasting God the Son. Therefore we profess the Holy Trinity in One Nature, and One Essence, and One Substance, and in Three Subsistences, or Persons. Moreover, we believe that the Very Word of God, that is, the Son of the Father, was Begotten without beginning: the Same, One of the Three Subsistences of the Holy Trinity, the Eternal Son, for the Dispensation wrought for us and for our salvation, came down from heaven; the Word of God Incarnate, and made Man within the Virgin’s Womb, Uniting unto Himself the Truth of our Nature from Holy and Glorious Virgin Mary, the Birthgiver of God; Perfect God and Perfect Man in Two Natures, namely of Godhead and Manhood; Consubstantial with God the Father according to the Godhead, and the Selfsame Consubstantial with us according to the Manhood; not divided into two Sons, but One and the Same Son of God and of Man, in the Truth of Two Natures, in One Subsistence or Person, the Union, namely, of Godhead and Manhood having been made; so that out of Two Perfect Natures there are not two Sons, but One and the Same Son of God and of Man, Remaining what He was, He began to be what He was not, when the Son of the Eternal Father without beginning was made the Son of Man. Therefore also Our Lord Jesus Christ is One, having in Himself the Perfection of the Divine Nature and the Perfection of the Human Nature; and He is Indeed Only-Begotten as the Word, as being Born of God the Father, and First-Born among many brethren; for the Son of God was made the Son of Man. Wherefore we also confess Two Nativities of This Same Only-Begotten Word of God: One before the ages, Begotten of the Father Incomparably; but in the last days the Incarnation of This Same from the Holy Glorious Ever-Virgin Mary, the Birthgiver of God. He Who Shone forth from the Father, Beyond Understanding, was Born of the Mother, Super-Rationally; and, being Truly God, was Truly made Man. Therefore we properly and truly confess the Holy and Glorious Mary, ever-Virgin, to be the Birthgiver of God; not because God the Word took beginning from her, but because in the last days the Only-Begotten God the Word, Who was before the ages, was Incarnate of her, and was made Man, and, whereas in His Own He was Invisible, in ours He was made Visible; and whereas He was Impassible God, He disdained not to be Passible Man, and, being Immortal, to be subject unto the laws of death. And that Very God and Lord, Who according to the Flesh was Born in Bethlehem, and was made like unto men, sin excepted, and was Crucified for men under Pontius Pilate, Him do we confess to be God, Him Man, Him the Son of God, Him the Son of Man, Him from Heaven, Him from Earth, Him Impassible, Him Passible. For the True God, Who was Begotten of God the Father Ineffably, Unspeakably, Incomprehensibly, the Very Same in time was Born of Holy Mary the Virgin, the Same Our Lord Jesus Christ, One of the Holy Trinity, to be Glorified Together with the Father and the Holy Ghost. Neither did the Holy Trinity receive the addition of a fourth Person; but we do truly confess that Our Lord Jesus Christ hath Two Natures in One Subsistence of Godhead and Manhood, without confusion, without change. Thus likewise the Rule of Piety instructeth us that He hath Two Natural Wills and Two Natural Operations, as being Perfect God and Perfect Man, One and the Selfsame Our Lord Jesus Christ: the Same Born, the Same Suffered, the Same Crucified, the Same Buried, the Same Rising Again, and Ascending into the Heavens, Sitting at the Right Hand of the Father, and Coming to Judge the quick and the dead; Whose Kingdom shall have no end. https://la.wikisource.org/wiki/Epistola_%28Damianus_Ticinensis%29 [Note: some of the text diverts, interestingly, into an Anti-Arian polemic; since the Monothelites did not embrace Arianism, we might wonder why? the answer, is that, though the Statement was Sent to the Emperor Constantine IV, or appended to a Letter to him, it must be remembered that various portions of the Lombard population in Northern Italy still embraced Arianism, even if many were converting to Orthodoxy; therefore, it makes sense that a Synod held at Milan would want to make a more general statement of Orthodox Doctrine, not just on the question of the Wills and Operations in Christ, but also to further confirm the Doctrine of the Trinity, to give it wider application in Northern Italy.]

Mass Proper Chants for Epiphany

 Mass Proper Chants for Epiphany and throughout its Octave; the only difference between the Feast Day of Epiphany itself and the days within the Octave, including the Sunday within the Octave and the Octave Day itself, are that tropes are use on the Feast Day of Epiphany itself. 

Introit

Gradual

Alleluia

Offertory with Verses

Communion Antiphon with Psalm verse and Gloria Patri

Ninth Sunday after Trinity Mass Chant Propers

 Mass Chant Propers for the Ninth Sunday after Trinity.

Example of Alleluia with verse:

Eighth Sunday after Trinity Mass Proper Chants

 Mass Proper Chants for Eighth Sunday after Trinity in pdf via google drive. 

Example of Offertory with verses:

Western Rite Orthodox Epistle Tone

This is the common Western Rite Orthodox Epistle Tone;  various examples of the beginning, whether it is from Romans, Galatians, or cases of the Prophets, like Isaias; the reading example is from Ecclesiasticus 31:

Images from Late 10th Century Sacramentary of Bishop Warmund of Ivrea

 Here are some of the images you can find via google images from the Sacramentary of Warmund, Bishop of Ivrea, circa 1000 AD.  Ivrea is in the extreme north-western part of modern Italy.  The first image is the Coronation of a King by a Bishop, the second is the Consecration of a Bishop by a Metropolitan with other Bishops participating, and the third is the Consecration of Christ on Holy Thursday by a Bishop. 

 

The Lichfield Angel

 Stone relief carving of an Angel, made originally in the 8th or 9th century for the new coffin in which the relics of the 7th century Anglo-Saxon Bishop, St. Chad of Lichfield, were to be borne.  Some of the original colour can be seen, since there were all painted.  This is often known as the "Lichfield Angel."

1039 Freising Pontifical and the Filioque

 In the 1039 Pontifical of Freising, from Germany, in the section for Baptism, which follows the Old Roman Ordo of apportioning out the Catechumenate, especially in the last week of Lent, we have noticeable items like the tradition [giving] of the Our Father and Symbol. 

https://usuarium.elte.hu/book/838/view

In the section for the giving of the Symbol of Faith [i.e. the Credo in Unum Deum], it gives, like in the Gelasian Sacramentary, the Symbol to be recited in Greek and Latin.  

In the Symbol in Greek (transliterated into Latin letters), we have chant notation above the words; the text is given absent the infamous "Filioque" addition.

However, only a page or two later, when the Symbol is recited in Latin, the notorious addition of "Filioque" is lamentably found in the Latin text.

This, as we have noted in previous posts, is different than in the Pontifical of Poitiers, which gives the Greek and Latin text of the Symbol absent the "Filioque", as well as in the 1025 Subiaco Missal, which similarly gives the Greek and Latin text of the Symbol unaltered as well. 

I speculate that that a certain high degree of importance was attached to the Greek text of the Symbol in Latin books, as you will often find chant notation attached to the Greek Symbol over against the Latin in the Catechumenate; this gives a certain degree of added solemnity, and, even in the 11th century as the "Filioque" addition found its place more and more in different books in the Latin West, more often than not the Greek text was always preserved in Latin books free from corruption. 

St. John Maximovitch (+1966) Celebrating Gallican Rite Mass

 "Never, never, never let anyone tell you that, in order to be Orthodox, you must also be eastern. The West was Orthodox for a thousand years, and her venerable liturgy is far older than any of her heresies."--St. John Maximovitch

Gloria Patri for Introit and Assorted Responsory Verses

 The Gloria Patri in different tones as sung for the Introit; also, assorted Responsory Verses and Gloria Patri's in different tones; I uploaded them to google drive; all in English. 

Gloria Patri for Introit

Responsory Verses

The Error of the Missiological Argument for Western Orthodoxy

 

One of the problems with trying to gauge, judge, and conform the Western Orthodox rite and practice by even Pre-Vatican II standards would be the immense issues then present liturgically in the Pre-Vatican II Latin liturgical usages called commonly the "Tridentine Rite".  Of course, these weren't as absolutely insane as what came in the 1960s and then was solidified after 1969 by the Vatican. 

In short, the argument that brings forth the Pre-Vatican II Latin liturgical rite as a standard in conjunction with missiological arguments for Western Orthodoxy falls into the trap of making the Vatican the determiner of what is and what is not allowed; Western Orthodoxy simply is not allowed to live and make its own judgments by its own Fathers and Saints in concord with the general Consensus Patrum of the Ecumenical Councils and Canons and how they were historically understood.  

First and Second Corporals

What we mean by the “First” and “Second” Corporals can be easily explained in this picture. The First Corporal is the cloth upon which the Chalice and Paten sit; the Second Corporal [sometimes called the “Sindon Veil”] is that which cover over them. Sometimes in the much later period [ 16^th and 17^th centuries], the Second Corporal in parts of Europe became a stiff board with a cloth cover [often referred to as a ‘pall’]. The rubrics one sees in later books about the Deacon lifting up the pall off a Chalice, etc., corresponds to the older rubrics in older books about the Deacon uncovering the Chalice [for example, the Second Corporal / Pall is removed at the very end of the Canon of the Mass by the Deacon, in order for the “Per Ipsum”].

However, in the way that the 7^th century Ordo Romanus Primus envisions things, the First and Second Corporal are not separate objects, but, rather, one large piece of cloth, upon which the Chalice and Paten set, and which also is large enough to fold over the Gifts.

Angel Carries St. Ambrose to Heaven

 

An Angel carries St. Ambrose to Heaven.

[from the circa 840 AD Altar antependium in Milan]

Usage of Incense as described in the "Lost Work" of Amalarius of Metz

 

Amalarius of Metz, was a Bishop and liturgical commentator on the various Western Orthodoxritual ordines; he lived in the late 700s and mid 800s, reposing around 850. Dumbarton Oaks has published an English translation of his most well-know work in two volumes; however, here we are concerned with the "Lost Work" of Amalarius.

Amalarius is probably most famous [and controversial in his own lifetime] for his heavy allegorical interpretations of all rites and customs. However, for our purposes, it is not the allegorical interpretation that is of interest, but, the fact that he records the actual rites and customs, with good detail.

The Henry Bradshaw Society, most well-known for publishing early Western liturgical texts, has recently published the text, "A Lost Work by Amalarius of Metz: Interpolations in Salisbury, Cathedral Library, MS 154", as Volume 2 of their Subsidia series. It is from this we shall be taken excerpts.

Bishop Ulrich of Imola's "Apology (Defense) of the Married Clergy)

 

Apology of the married clergy

a real letter from XI century

by Ulrich, Bishop of Imola

________________________________

ABOUT THE AUTHOR AND THE LETTER

We know very few things concerning the author of this letter-apology. Ulrich was bishop of Imola (near Ravenna, Italy) from 1053 to 1074, year of his death. In AD 1059 the bishop wrote this letter to Pope Nicholas II, in order to defend his married clergy from the new pro-celibate reforms in the breast of the Roman Church. The epistle's style is redundant and rethoric, typical of some Patristics. In the letter many public people are called to remembrance but without their name, perhaps to not scandalize the Pope, or maybe for they were already well known to the corrispondent.

ULRICH - BY GOD'S GRACE BISHOP OF IMOLA

TO HIS HOLYNESS NICHOLAS THE SECOND, POPE OF OLD ROME

Me, Ulrich, bishop by name, son in love but servant in fear, to the guardian of the Roman See.

As I Had found no sense of the measure, oh father and lord, in your decrees on the continence of clerics, which had recently come to me, fear and sadness troubled me a single feeling. Fear, since it is written: "the opinion of those who command, both right and wrong, must be respected" (St. Gregory the Great, Homily in Evang., II 26,6). In fact, I was worried for those who find it difficult to stick to the Scriptures, because they, who barely obey a just prescription, once they have transgressed the unjust - an oppressive, indeed intolerable disposition of their pastor - would no longer feel bound from the commandments. I was sad and in pain as I thought how much the members needed their head, invalidated by such a large body. What is more serious, what is more worthy of the compassion of the whole Church than you, bishop of the highest See, which is called to herd everyone, you have lost the sense of moderation (1)? And not just from this you have deviated, when you wanted to force the clerics to abandon the marriage with a certain violence, while you should have only exhorted them. Is it not, in the judgment of all the masters of the faith, violence that compels us to obey arbitrary decisions, taken against the gospel rule and the teaching of the Holy Spirit? Since there are plenty of examples of the Old and New Testaments in favor of moderation, you know, after all, and I beg your paternity of not bothering to have anyone mentioned in these pages.

Filioque in St. Isidore of Seville's "Etymologiae"

 http://www.thelatinlibrary.com/isidore/7.shtml

One interesting argument used by von Zoernikav, is that, in many manuscripts of St. Isidore of Seville's "Etymologiae", in Book VII, Ch. 3, "De Spiritu Sancto", there is an incongruence at the very beginning.

The text in many printed editions states:

"Spiritus Sanctus ideo praedicatur Deus, quia ex Patre Filioque Procedit, et Substantiam Eius habet."

http://www.thelatinlibrary.com/isidore/7.shtml

However, in much later manuscripts and texts, scribes attempt to replace "eius" with "eorum". The reason is obvious, the text as above literally states:

"And so the Holy Ghost is proclaimed God, for from the Father 'and Son' He Proceeds, and He has His Substance,"

Von Zoernikav's argument is that the original text simply read: "Spiritus Sanctus ideo praedicatur Deus, quia ex Patre Procedit, et Substantiam Eius Habet."

Later text try to say "eorum" or "et substantiam eorum habet", that is, "and He has Their Substance."

"Eius" is genitive singular, while "eorum" is genitive plural. We have seen things like this before; an interpolation enters the manuscript, and this corruption does not fit with the rest of the text. We see something similar in "Inter Personarum" in St. Isidore's "Liber Differentiis", where it is clear from earlier and late mansucripts that the "Filioque" was interpolated into the texts.

Of course, one would have to have access to the absolute earliest manuscripts, which can be an issue with the Etymologies.

Psalm 42 and the Preparation of the Priest

The use of Psalm 42 "Judica me" in the Preparation of the Priest can be found in different ancient liturgical books, especially of the 10th century.  One example would be Cod. Sang. 339, which is kept in the library of St. Gallen Monastery in Switzerland.  

Cod. Sang. 339, in many ways, reminds me of a similar Ordo Missae that was in the possession of Sigebert, Bishop of Minden [+1035], and a few others.  Let us give the directions as found in Cod. Sang. 339 for Psalm 42.  On page 182 we have the following directions given after the Priest has vested in the Sacristy and washed his hands:

"Post quam ecclesiam intrat dicat: 'Introibo ad Altare Dei" cum Psalmo "Iudica me Deus et discerne..." deinde Confiteor et dicat 'Converte nos Deus salutaris' 'Dignare' 'Miserere nostri Domine' 'Fiat misericordia tua...' 'Domine exaudi..' 'Aufer a nobis Domine quesumus iniquitates nostras ut ad sancta sanctorum puris mereamur mentibus introire. Per..' " 

Some of the text is abbreviated for the convenience of the Priest.  But, in English, the above would read as:

"After which he enters the Church, he says: 'I shall go to the Altar of God..' with Psalm "Judge me, O God, and discern..[Psalm 42], then the Confiteor and he says: 'Turn us back, O God of [our] salvation,' 'Do Thou deign,' 'Have mercy on us, O Lord,' 'Let Thy Mercy...' 'O Lord, hear..' 'Take away from us, O Lord, we beg, our iniquities that into the Holy of Holies with pure minds we may be worthy to enter. Through..."  

Cod. Sang. 354 on page 8 also has similar instructions for the saying of Psalm 42 as the Priest enters the Church and before Confiteor before the Altar.  

 Migne's PL prints a 10th century Mass Ordo which has directions in a similar vein, although, Psalm 42 is placed AFTER "Aufer a nobis", thus:

"Et dum pervenerit ad Altare imponat per se Antiphonum: 'Introibo ad Altare Dei, ad Dominum, qui laetificat juventum mean' cum Psalmo: 'Judica me Deus et discerne causam meam de gente'" 

Which is:

"And when he arrives at the Altar he imposes on himself the Antiphon: 'I shall go to the Altar of God, to the Lord, who giveth gladness to mine youth,' with the Psalm: 'Judge me, O God, and discern my cause from the nation..."

Of course, in this, we can note the influence of possible older Vetus Latina text where "Dominum" is given instead of "Deum" for the Antiphon.   After Psalm 42 follow additional verses and responses, and additional prayers before the kissing of the Altar and Gospel book.  

However, it can be said that Psalm 42, whether said as the Priest left the Sacristy, or while the Priest was directly before the Sanctuary, or was even entering the Sanctuary preparing to kiss the Altar, was being used.