Our family gathered this past weekend in San Antonio Texas for the baptism of Katharine’s and my granddaughter Elliott. The baptism took place at St. Georges Maronite Catholic Church. I knew very little about the Maronite Church, also known as the Eastern Catholics. They are a much older church than the Roman Catholics. They are in communion with the Pope, but not under his authority. They were founded by the monastic patriarch Maron in the Third century C.E. in the environs of current day Lebanon and parts east. So it is today mostly comprised of Lebanese members. Corey, our son James’ wife’s mother’s family is Lebanese. Their family actually gave the baptismal font when the new (1983) church was built, so that made the occasion all the more special.
It was a beautiful service, most prayers chanted; beautiful Middle Eastern sounding music. The service felt more Eastern Orthodox than Roman Catholic. I was fascinated by the liturgy. The Maronite church uses the most ancient liturgy we know about. Its form is documented in the Didiche, a second century C.E. Jewish/Christian document which outlines liturgical practice as well as moral behavior befitting communities of faith.(It even admonishes the faithful not to kneel for prayer during the whole of Easter!) The liturgical form for the Eucharist is called the Syriac Rite. It uses imagery of Mary the mother of God often. In one prayer Mary’s very womb is said to be the source from which all life flows. Sadly centuries of patriarchy dispensed with such rich feminine language. Even today, though a good deal of the service is in English, the Eucharistic prayer and some of the other prayers, and the Creed as well are said or chanted in Aramaic. When it came time for the Eucharistic prayer in the service, the Deacon of the Mass announced that it would be sung in the language that Jesus spoke….that sent chills down my spine. I talk about the koine Greek a lot, which is the language in which scripture was written, and the language of the academy of the early centuries of Christianity, but Jesus, and those with whom he lived, spoke Aramaic. To hear the words of institution and consecration in the very language Jesus spoke was nothing short of thrilling.
Over the last several decades some highly capable scholars of the Episcopal Church studied in careful detail the Syriac Rite as it is presented in the Didiche. From that study, the Standing Liturgical Commission of the Episcopal Church has developed supplemental Eucharistic rites authorized for use in the Episcopal Church. There are three of them which capture quite beautifully the ethos and a good deal of the actual language of the Syriac rite. For the past several years we have been using them in Advent and other high feasts of the church. Advent begins this Sunday and we will use one of these Eucharistic prayers. Listen closely, pay attention to the imagery. You may not hear the language Jesus spoke, but you will surely get a glimpse of the beauty and passion he evoked in his early followers, the words of the early church, our ancient mother in any language.
