LITURGY AND FATHERS OF THE CHURCH

Liturgy can be defined as the whole public worship performed by the mystical body of Jesus Christ, that is, by the Head and his members. The name “Fathers” initially implied those who took part in the first ecumenical council of the church. Later, it was extended to those who testified and defended the catholic faith as defined by the council. But from the 5^th century, the name was given to all ecclesiastical writers whether Bishops or not who have been acknowledged as witnesses to the true faith. Yet, after the council of Trent, the name was used for those writers who were conspicuous for their antiquity, orthodoxy, holiness of life and approval by the church. They also include all the Christian writers of the first five to eight centuries i.e. the patristic age.

In the preceding paragraphs, we shall be considering the connections between the liturgy and the fathers of the church. In doing this, we shall examine the testimonies attesting to the development of the liturgy in the patristic age, the link between the liturgy and daily life, the patristic fathers as exegesis. Again, we shall evaluate the liturgy as an action of the community. Furthermore, we shall consider the piety of the patristic fathers and their influence on liturgy.

Privileged Testimony of the Fathers

The witnesses of the church fathers can be considered either historical or theological testimonies. Historically, they furnish us with information on the spread of Christianity in and around Mediterranean area, the history of growing number of communities, the gradual Christianisation of Roman provinces and surrounding regions and the origin and evolution of liturgical life. Consequently, this historical evidence enables us to have an idea of the organisation of liturgical celebrations. Theologically, through their testimonies, we can see that our dialogue with God is apostolic i.e. based on apostolic tradition which is handed down by sacred scripture.

Liturgy as a Source of Christian Life

Early church liturgy has a connection with the daily life of Christians and exceeded mere cult. In living out the liturgy, they were inspired by an interest in asceticism and spirituality. In the writings of the Fathers which are mostly homilies or partly sermons delivered in liturgical assemblies, the existential dimension of the early Christian liturgy is revealed. Let us note here that these fathers are Pastors and heads of communities who were anxious to arouse and nourish the faith of the souls entrusted to them.

            This link between the liturgical celebration and daily life is also seen in the feast day sermons which end with exhortations in relation to the faith. Therefore, for the fathers of the church, liturgical prayer must be prolonged through daily good works. Thus, liturgy became the principal source of life of faith and the clothing without which faith would remain naked.

Liturgy as an expression and norm of right belief

Another link between liturgy and daily life of a Christian is faith. Faith presents liturgy as not only an expression but also as a norm of authentic Christian belief. For the fathers, faith is an attitude towards God, a continuous orientation to eternal life and an acceptance of the Word of God. Its content is that, it should be sound and correct. This is evident in the context of baptismal profession of faith which later became an integral part of baptismal rite. Thus, some church fathers viewed the legitimacy of baptism based on the profession of faith while others see that profession of faith constitute theological criterion that makes it a liturgical rite.

Liturgy and Patristic Exegesis

Christian liturgy took shape in apostolic communities and its foundation and developments are essentially biblical. As the biblical texts are read in the liturgy, various interpretations were given and one of them is called “actualization” which has the intention to actualize the sacred texts by bringing them into daily lives of their hearers. Another is “typological” interpretation which presents a prefiguration of the Old Testament in the New Testament showing a similarity between the two. Other interpretations tried to relate the biblical texts in the practical manner of the liturgy by presenting them as an encounter with Christ in the liturgy.

            Patristic exegesis can be traced to Jesus himself who presented himself as one sent from heaven as a representation of the God of Israel. It also has apostolic origin in the person of Paul who employed exegesis in his biblical explanations and viewed biblical accounts in the light of Christ. The fathers followed suit in this practice.

Liturgy as action of the Community

The church makes the liturgy and the liturgy makes the church. The celebration of the liturgy is a collective participation of the community; hence the church was seen as the body of Christ, the city of God and the communion of saints. There was an objective piety i.e. the common expression of faith in songs, prayers, scriptures.

Liturgy and patristic piety

The fathers followed the Trinitarian path of Paul and John in the scriptures that the early church started their liturgical celebrations with the Trinitarian invocation. The piety became Christocentric after the council of Nicaea and Christ became the focus of their faith and piety. Besides, there was imperial enculturation resulting to the use of terms from the political matrix to express their faith in Christ.

From the foregoing, we can deduce that it is only those who get in touch with the first fathers of the Christian faith that can be fully assured of the apostolic authenticity of their dialogue with the God of Israel, the father of Jesus Christ and source of the spiritual life experienced in the liturgy. Though they are dissenters to paganism, they help us understand the testimony of those who are considered as authentic witnesses of faith and Christian life.