Epiclesis

The essence of the epiclosis lies in praying to God for the offering of bread and wine to the Body and Blood of Christ . At the same time, the variants of the epiclese text in various rites are very different. Epicleses are divided into descending and ascending . In the descending epicleses, prayer contains a petition for the descent of the Holy Spirit upon the Gifts and their consecration. In the ascending epicleses, prayer is addressed to God the Father or the Holy Trinity and contains a request to accept the Gifts as a sacrifice, emphasizing the sacrificial moment of the Eucharist ^[1] . The rising epiclesis is also called implicit , since there is no open call to the action of the Holy Spirit on the Gifts, it is only implied.

Descending epiclesis is characteristic of the Byzantine and Armenian rites , ascending - for Western liturgical rites and individual eastern anaphora.

The location of epicleses in anaphora of various types is variable. In the liturgies of the Western Syriac , Byzantine and Armenian rituals (type of anaphora - PSAEJ, where P is the preference , S- Sanctus , A- anamnesis , E-epiclesis, J- intercession ), it is located between anamnesis and intercession. In the Alexandrian ( Coptic ) Anaphoras (PJSAE type) and East Syrian (Chaldean) Anaphoras (PSAJE type) epiclesis closes the Eucharistic prayer. The structure of the traditional Roman anaphor is described by the formula PSEJAJ, that is, the epiclesis is located immediately after Sanctus and precedes the first intercession and anamnesis .

The traditional Roman canon, now called the first Eucharistic prayer in the Roman Catholic Church , contains an ascending epiclesis, without invoking the Holy Spirit upon the Gifts, addressed to God the Father. This circumstance served as a pretext for hot disputes after the Great Schism with the Orthodox polemicists, who considered the prayer for the Spirit to descend upon the Gifts to be an anaphora ^[2] . The Catholic medieval polemicists, in turn, advanced the thesis about the low significance of the epiclese with the mention of the Holy Spirit for the Eucharist and its late origin ^[2] .

The question of epikleze did not appear in the dogmatic disputes that accompanied the Great Schism of the Christian Church. The controversy about the epiclesis acquired a fundamental character since the Ferraro-Florence Cathedral ^[2] . The question of the moment of transubstantiation (epiclesis or setting words) that went during this period is also connected with the question of epiclesis. At present, the generally accepted both in the East ^[2] and in the West ^[3] is the opinion that it is impossible to single out a specific moment of transubstantiation and the value of the anaphora in its totality.

Alexandrian-Roman anaphora, including the ancient Roman canon, has a characteristic feature - they contain two epiclosis. In the Roman canon, the first and main one follows after Sanctus, then after the secret-setting words and the anamnesis, there is another prayer for accepting gifts as a sacrifice, followed by a second epiclesis, also called “communion epiclesis,” which calls on God's blessing for the meeting ^[3] . Both epiclesis of the Roman canon are ascending. A number of researchers point to the existence of certain signs that the descending epiclesis existed in the initial period of development of the Western liturgy ^[2] , but the sacramental of Pope Gelasius (the end of the 5th century) already contains two ascending epiclosis.

Epiclesis of the Roman canon:

Epiclesis of communion in the Roman canon:

The reforms that took place in the Catholic Church after the Second Vatican Council , introduced three more Eucharistic prayers (conventionally referred to as II, III, and IV) to the Latin liturgy. In these three prayers, there are also two epiclesis, the main and the sacrament, but, unlike the Roman canon, both contain the mention of the Holy Spirit. The main epiclesis is located in the traditional western place after the Sanctus and before the secret words, the second completes the anamnesis and precedes the intercession.

II Eucharistic prayer: Epiclesis : "Truly holy, O Lord, Source of all holiness. Therefore, we pray Thee: sanctify these gifts by the power of Your Spirit, that they become for us the Body and Blood of our Lord Jesus Christ"

Epiclesis of communion : "Humbly we pray that the Holy Spirit will unite us, the recipients of the Body and Blood of Christ" ^[5]

Byzantine rite

In the Byzantine rite , the liturgy of St. John Chrysostom and the liturgy of St. Basil the Great are used . These liturgies are distinguished by the texts of the prayers of the liturgy of the faithful, including epiclosis. The epiclosis of the liturgy of St. Basil the Great is much longer, in Church Slavonic, its beginning sounds like, “For God's sake, Vladyko the Most Holy, and we are sinful, and unbecoming of Your Slave, thank you to serve Your Holy Altar,” while the Epiclese of the Liturgy of John Zlatoust Ty this verbal and bloodless service. "

In the Byzantine rite, the second part of the epiclosis has the character of a dialogue, between the exclamations of the priest follow the exclamations of the deacon.

Epiclesis of the Liturgy of John Chrysostom:

• Priest : “We also bring Ty this wordless and bloodless service, and we ask, and we pray, and with the help of our deed, send down the Holy Spirit to us, and to the present Baptism ^[6] , and to create the blessing of the Bread This Honor of the Body of the Christ, Christ the Body of Christ, ⁶ "
• Deacon : “Amen. Bless, Vladyka, the holy Chalice. "
• Priest : "And even in the Bowl of This, the honest Blood of Thy Christ."
• Deacon : “Amen. Bless, lord, wallpaper. "
• Priest : “Having sold Your Spirit to Your Saints.”
• Deacon : “Amen. Amen. Amen. " ^[7]

Epiclesis of the Liturgy of Basil the Great:

• Priesthood : "God, I am the Lord, I am the Lord, I am the Lord." they are blessedly, and the devotee is brought to him by the hand of God. He is the master of the world. The gifts shall shine, and bless me, and sanctify, and show ^{[6] the} bread of Heaven This is the Honest Body of the Lord and God and the Spa of our Jesus Christ.
• Deacon : “Amen. Bless, Vladyka, the holy Chalice. "
• Priest : “And to the cup of the cup of water, the very honest blood of the Lord and God and our Jesus Christ.”
• Deacon : "Amen."
• Priest : "Izlyannuyu for the Life of the World."
• Deacon : “Amen. Bless, Lord, wallpaper. ”
• Priest : “Thou shalt preserve with your Holy Spirit.”
• Deacon : “Amen. Amen. Amen. " ^[8]

Features of epiclese in the "Slavic tradition"

During the 14th - 15th centuries, as a polemic response to the Catholic viewpoint on the transubstantiation of the Gifts at the time of the introduction words, the troparion of the third hour is entered into the text of the epiclese in various Orthodox servants . It is not possible to reliably establish the exact time and the author of this revision, the Greek Churches soon abandoned this innovation, but in the Russian Church from the 16th century, the custom of reading an epiclese with the troparion of the third hour is firmly established ^[2] . Since Russian printed liturgical books supplanted Venetian on the Balkan Peninsula ^[9] , the troparion of the third hour became part of the epiclesis in other Slavic Orthodox Churches ( Bulgarian , Serbian , Polish , Czech lands and Slovakia ), as well as in the Romanian Church (as it was used by Cyrillic until the XIX century , and in this sense was part of the Slavic tradition) and the American (Church, a subsidiary to the Russian). In the Churches of the Greek tradition, including the Albanian , the epiclesis is read without this troparion ^[2] .

Troparion text:

Priest : Lord, the Most Holy One of Your Holy Spirit in the third hour by the Apostle of you, low to the Holy One, Togo, the Good One, do not take it away from us, but renew us praying Ty.

Deacon : Create a pure heart in me, O God, and renew the spirit of rights in my womb
Priest : Lord, the Iez of the Most Holy Thy Spirit ...
Deacon : Do not reject me from the face of yours and your Holy Spirit do not turn them away from me.

Priest : Lord, the Iez of the Most Holy Thy Thy Spirit ... ^[7]

Other Oriental Rites

In eastern liturgical rites, there are ascending epiclosis. The most ancient pattern of the ascending epiclosis is contained in the Syrian monument of the third century, known as Testamentum, and this epiclosis is not addressed to God the Father, but to the Holy Trinity:

In the later Syrian liturgy of the Apostle James, there is already an epiclesis of a developed, descending type with a dialogue between the priest and the people characteristic of the Byzantine and Antioch liturgies.

The epiclosis of the ancient liturgy of the Coptic rite - the liturgy of the Apostle Mark belongs to the Alexandrian tradition and is similar in structure to the Roman one. As in the Roman canon, after Sanctus, the first epiclesis follows, and the second follows the anamnesis. In contrast to the Roman canon in the Alexandrian tradition, the second epiclesis is more developed, contains both an ascending and a descending epiclesis, first there is a prayer to God the Father for receiving the Gifts, then a request for the Holy Spirit to be sent:

In the Chaldean liturgy of the apostles Thaddeus and Mary, there is a descending epiclesis, but its unusualness is that although it contains a prayer from the consecration of the gifts, it does not mention their presentation:

• Kunzler, Michael. Church Liturgy = Die Liturgie der Kirche. - Christian Russia, 2001. - T. 2. - ISBN 5-94270-013-3 .
• Arranz M. Eucharist of East and West. // M., 1999
• Ulyanov O. G. Metropolitan Cyprian and the third hour troparion // XI Annual PSTBI Theological Conference . M., 2001. S. 98-101.
• Assumption ND Anafora (Experience of historical and liturgical analysis). // Theological Works , № 13, M., 1975

• V. Alymov. Lectures on historical liturgy
• Cyprian (Kern) , Archimandrite. Eucharist. Πίκλησις (Prayer for the calling of the Holy Spirit)
• Yu. M. Kiseleva. The emergence and development of an epiclesis in the Eucharistic prayer of the Church
• Epiklesis // Catholic Encyclopedia (English)