One of the great historical controversies between East and West (thankfully considered today a non-issue by most) dealt with the exact moment of the consecration of the gifts of bread and wine in the Liturgy. The West has always associated that with the repetition of the Lord's words in the Words of Institution: ("This is my Body...This is my Blood"). The East has historically held that the change of the elements was not completed until the Epiclesis when the priest would invoke the Holy Spirit upon the gifts and the people present. This happens after the Words of Institution in the Byzantine liturgy but before the commemoration of the Mother of God (in many parishes this is taken silently while the people sing: "We praise you, we bless you, we thank you, O Lord..."):
Priest (in a low voice): Once again we offer to You this spiritual worship without the shedding of blood, and we ask, pray, and entreat You: send down Your Holy Spirit upon us and upon these gifts here presented. And make this bread the precious Body of Your Christ. (He blesses the holy Bread.)
Deacon (in a low voice): Amen.
Priest (in a low voice): And that which is in this cup the precious Blood of Your Christ. (He blesses the holy Cup.)
Deacon (in a low voice): Amen.
Priest (in a low voice): Changing them by Your Holy Spirit. (He blesses them both.)
Deacon (in a low voice): Amen. Amen. Amen.
Priest (in a low voice): So that they may be to those who partake of them for vigilance of soul, forgiveness of sins, communion of Your Holy Spirit, fulfillment of the kingdom of heaven, confidence before You, and not in judgment or condemnation.
In the traditional Roman Canon of the Mass there is no Epiclesis which sometimes was a cause for concern for Eastern Christians. Some felt that an important part of the Trinitarian nature of the consecration was missing. Orthodox St Nicholas Cabasilas found what he thought was an implicit epiclesis in these words of the Roman Mass:
"Humbly we ask it of thee, God almighty:
bid these things be carried by the hands of thy holy angel up to thy altar on high, into the presence of thy divine majesty.
And may those of us who by taking part in the sacrifice of this altar shall have received the Body and Blood of thy Son, be filled with every grace and heavenly blessing: through the same Christ our Lord. Amen." (Supplices te rogamus...)
However, those Western-Rite Orthodox who have adapted the Roman Canon of the Mass have always added an explicit epiclesis to their liturgical texts.
The new Eucharistic prayers in use in the Roman Rite contain an explicit epiclesis. For example, before the Words of Institution in Eucharistic prayer 2:
"Let your Spirit come upon these gifts to make them holy, so that they may become for us the body and blood of our Lord, Jesus Christ." What is often not noticed is that this is only part of the epiclesis. The prayer of the epiclesis is not just for the change of the gifts but also for the faithful: "send down Your Holy Spirit
upon us and
upon these gifts." Following the Words of Institution, the Memorial Acclamation and the Anamnesis (remembrance of God's saving deeds) Eucharist 2 continues:
"In memory of his death and resurrection, we offer you, Father, this life-giving bread, this saving cup. We thank you for counting us worthy to stand in your presence and serve you.
May all of us who share in the body and blood of Christ be brought together in unity by the Holy Spirit."
The
Catechism of the Catholic Church describes this twofold nature of the Epiclesis:
"The Holy Spirit makes present the mystery of Christ (1104-1109)
"Christian liturgy not only recalls the events that saved us but actualizes them, makes them present. The Paschal mystery of Christ is celebrated, not repeated. It is the celebrations that are repeated, and in each celebration there is an outpouring of the Holy Spirit that makes the unique mystery present.
The Epiclesis ("invocation upon") is the intercession in which the priest begs the Father to send the Holy Spirit, the Sanctifier, so that the offerings may become the body and blood of Christ and that the faithful by receiving them, may themselves become a living offering to God. Together with the Anamnesis, the epiclesis is at the heart of each sacramental celebration, most especially of the Eucharist:
"You ask how the bread becomes the Body of Christ, and the wine . . . the Blood of Christ I shall tell you: the Holy Spirit comes upon them and accomplishes what surpasses every word and thought. . . . Let it be enough for you to understand that it is by the Holy Spirit, just as it was of the Holy Virgin and by the Holy Spirit that the Lord, through and in himself, took flesh. [Here quoting St John Damascene.]
"The Holy Spirit's transforming power in the liturgy hastens the coming of the kingdom and the consummation of the mystery of salvation. While we wait in hope he causes us really to anticipate the fullness of communion with the Holy Trinity. Sent by the Father who hears the epiclesis of the Church, the Spirit gives life to those who accept him and is, even now, the "guarantee" of their inheritance.
In every liturgical action the Holy Spirit is sent in order to bring us into communion with Christ and so to form his Body. The Holy Spirit is like the sap of the Father's vine which bears fruit on its branches. The most intimate cooperation of the Holy Spirit and the Church is achieved in the liturgy. The Spirit who is the Spirit of communion, abides indefectibly in the Church. For this reason the Church is the great sacrament of divine communion which gathers God's scattered children together. Communion with the Holy Trinity and fraternal communion are inseparably the fruit of the Spirit in the liturgy.
The epiclesis is also a prayer for the full effect of the assembly's communion with the mystery of Christ. "The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit" have to remain with us always and bear fruit beyond the Eucharistic celebration.
The Church therefore asks the Father to send the Holy Spirit to make the lives of the faithful a living sacrifice to God by their spiritual transformation into the image of Christ, by concern for the Church's unity, and by taking part in her mission through the witness and service of charity."
The General Instruction of the Roman Missal (Fourth Edition, 27 March 1975) explains how the epiclesis is understood in the Roman liturgy:
"55. The chief elements making up the eucharistic prayer are these:
"c. Epiclesis: in special invocations the Church calls on God's power and asks that the gifts offered by human hands be consecrated, that
is, become Christ's body and blood, and that the victim to be received in communion be the source of salvation for those who will partake."
This pattern of the two part epiclesis in the Roman liturgy can be found in the other Eucharistic prayers:
Prayer 3
And so, Father, we bring you these gifts.
We ask you to make them holy by the power of your Spirit, that they may become the body and blood of your Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, at whose command we celebrate this eucharist.
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Father, calling to mind the death your Son endured for our salvation, his glorious resurrection and ascension into heaven, and ready to greet him when he comes again, we offer you in thanksgiving this holy and living sacrifice. Look with favor on your Church's offering, and see the Victim whose death has reconciled us to yourself.
Grant that we, who are nourished by his body and blood, may be filled with his Holy Spirit, and become one body, one spirit in Christ. Prayer 4
And that we might live no longer for ourselves but for him, he sent the Holy Spirit from you, Father, as his first gift to those who believe, to complete his work on earth and bring us the fullness of grace.
Father may this Holy Spirit sanctify these offerings. Let them become the body and blood of Jesus Christ our Lord as we celebrate the great mystery which he left us as an everlasting covenant.
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Father, we now celebrate this memorial of our redemption. We recall Christ's death, his descent among the dead, his resurrection, and his ascension to your right hand; and looking forward to his coming in glory, we offer you his body and blood, the acceptable sacrifice which brings salvation to the whole world. Lord, look upon this sacrifice which you have given to your Church;
and by your Holy Spirit, gather all who share this one bread and one cup into the one body of Christ, a living sacrifice of praise. Prayer Reconciliation II
Therefore we celebrate the reconciliation Christ has gained for us.
We ask you to sanctify these gifts by the power of your Spirit, as we now fulfill your Son's command.
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Lord our God, your Son has entrusted to us this pledge of his love. We celebrate the memory of this death and resurrection and bring you the gift you have given us, the sacrifice of reconciliation. Therefore, we ask you, Father, to accept us, together with your Son.
Fill us with his Spirit through our sharing in this meal. May he take away all that divides us.
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So it would be inaccurate to describe the Roman Epiclesis as only occurring before the Words of Institution. In the revised Roman liturgy it is placed both
before and after Christ's words. One could even say the Epiclesis is not
completed in the new Roman liturgy until after the Words of Institution.
Sometimes we may tend to think of the epiclesis as only pertaining to the gifts but it also pertains to us. Fr Lev Gillet (A Monk of the Eastern Church) reminds us in his brilliant commentary on the Divine Liturgy:
"Where will the Spirit be sent? `Upon these gifts here offered.' The transformation of the bread and wine into the Body and Blood of Christ is not some work of priestly magic. The text of the liturgy declares: `Making the change by Thy Holy Spirit.' This change, which is the response God offers to our prayer, is not an end in itself. It is accomplished `that they might be for those who partake for the purification of soul, for the forgiveness of sins,' and also `for the communion of Thy Holy Spirit.' All is accomplished by the Spirit and in the Spirit.
"There is one other very important point to note. The priest requests: `Send down Thy Holy Spirit upon us and upon these Gifts...' He does not ask that the Spirit come first upon the Gifts, but that He come in the first instance upon us. This is the moment of Pentecost in the eucharistic liturgy. The Spirit descends into our hearts before He descends upon the material elements of bread and wine, the objects of offering and consecration. Do we really perceive the significance of this inner, immaterial Pentecost? Do we, in this moment, truly experience the presence and power of the Spirit given to us? Even those who will not communicate sacramentally can, if they turn towards God with all their heart, receive in this moment the gift of the Holy Spirit. Certain barriers or hindrances may prohibit our access to the sacrament; but the Spirit moves where He wills, and nothing can limit Him who is Love without limit." (
Serve the Lord with Gladness, pp. 50-51.)
For the most part, debates as to the exact timing of the consecration are a thing of the past. The liturgical tradition of the East climaxes the consecration at the epiclesis. The Western liturgical tradition emphasizes the words of Christ in the Words of Christ but also now explicitly recognizes the epiclesis both before and afterwards. In a recent decree regarding a liturgy used in the Assyrian Church of the East, Rome recognized the validity of the eucharistic consecration in a liturgy (The Liturgy of the Apostles Addai and Mari) which contains an epiclesis but no Words of Institution:
http://www.ewtn.com/library/CURIA/PCCUASCH.HTM From the Roman perspective there could be no way to pinpoint the "moment of consecration" in this Assyrian anaphora. The Assyrians, however, consider the epiclesis the most holy moment.
Perhaps this could be a model for Eastern Catholics who sometimes have downplayed the epiclesis. There is no need to resurrect the old debate as to exactly when the consecration occurs. But, certainly we can recognize that in the Byzantine liturgy the epiclesis is the climax of the eucharistic prayer and that we should recognize that climax in our attitude and response (a profound bow or a sign of the cross). For we are acknowledging not only the profound mystery of the Eucharist but we are also asking for the Spirit to transform us in this great Gift.
Dave Ignatius DTBrown@aol.com
[ 12-08-2001: Message edited by: DTBrown ]