Liturgy of Saint Basil
Two of these liturgies are in common use today: the one used in the Byzantine Rite ten times a year, and the one ordinarily used by the Coptic Church.
[3]: 227–8 The Egyptian Greek version contains several prayers (identical with those in the Byzantine liturgy) expressly ascribed to St.
H.Engberding in 1931 suggested that these three versions derives from a lost common source (Ω-BAS) and his conclusions were widely accepted by scholars.
With regards to the supposed lost common source (Ω-BAS) of Byzantine group of versions, Engberding (1931) as well as following scholars as Gabriele Winkler (2005) suggest that the ancient Armenian version (the Liturgy of Saint Gregory the Illuminator) is the one which has better preserved the readings of Ω-BAS.
[3]: 231, 5 While there is no historical evidence that Basil of Caesarea was the author of the older Egyptian version, he visited as laymen Egypt in 356-7,[3]: 220 and it is therefore possible that there he entered in contact with Egyptian texts which he later modified, tuning the liturgical structure and enforcing a more developed theological structure,[6]: 129–30 so giving origin to the other Basilian versions.
A certain reference to a liturgical text which went under the name of Basil is given in a letter of Peter the Deacon, one of the Scythian monks sent to Rome to settle certain dogmatic questions.
Writing about the year 520 to the African bishops in exile in Sardinia, Peter, an Oriental, mentions a Liturgy of Saint Basil, which was known and used throughout the entire East, and even quotes a passage from it.
[9][1] In tracing the history of this liturgy, scholars have been for a long time misdirected by a 16th-century forgery under the name of Proclus, Archbishop of Constantinople (434-446).
This forgery, as has been demonstrated in 1962 by F. J. Leroy, has to be ascribed to Costantin Palaeocapa and it falsely stated that Basil shortened the length of the liturgy for the slothfulness and degeneracy of men.
Basil): The Anaphora proper begins after the kiss of peace and the Symbol of Faith (Nicene Creed).
It starts with the Eucharistic Preface followed by the Sanctus, the silent prayers for which are quite a bit longer in St.
[4] The Egyptian (or Coptic) anaphora of Saint Basil, even if related and using the same Antiochene (or "West Syrian") structure,[12] represents a different group from the Byzantine, West Syrian and Armenian grouping of anaphoras of Saint Basil.
The structure of the Bohairic Coptic version used today in the Coptic Church can be summarized as follow: The 7th-century Sahidic Coptic version found in 1960[2] shows an earlier and more sober[clarification needed] form of the Bohairic text: the manuscript, incomplete in its first part, begins with the Post Sanctus, and is followed by a terse Institution narrative, by a pithy Anamnesis which simply lists the themes and ends with the oblation.
The last part of the offertory resembles an anaphora: after a dialogue, the priest blesses the congregation and proclaims a prayer of thanksgiving, giving thanks to God for his support to us, and asking him for a worthy participation to the liturgy.
Then comes the prayer of covering, said inaudibly by the priest, which has the form of an epiclesis, asking God to show his face on the gifts, and to change them in order that the bread and wine may became the Body and Blood of Christ.
After the Trisagion follows a litany, the recital of a Psalm and the singing of the Alleluia, and finally the proclamation of the Gospel from the doors of the sanctuary.
After the anaphora takes place the consignation,[15] i.e. the moistening of the Lamb with some drops of the consecrated Wine, which is show to the worship of the faithful.
The priest makes a second consignation and puts gently the ispakidon in the chalice (the commixture),[16] then he recites aloud a Confession of faith.
Psalm 150 is sung in the meantime, followed by other hymns and melodies related to the Mysteries, or for any fast or feast being celebrated.
