brock, the epiklesis in the antiochene baptismal ordines

8/10/2019 Brock, The Epiklesis in the Antiochene Baptismal Ordines

1/17

EPIKLESIS

IN THE ANTIOCHENE

BAPTISMAL

OR INES

has been

written about the epiklesis,

or

invocation, in

ea:ste:rn eucharistic liturgies,

and

by comparison the epiklesis

baptismal services

has

been somewhat neglected. Epildesis

a

vague

term, for properly it

should

include any invo-

of

the

deity

in the

course

of

the

service -

and

there are

many such invocations; moreover,

even

in the so-called

epiklesis

the invocation need

not

necessarily

be

Father,

and

ask for the sending

of the

Holy Spirit,

ugh this is the pattern that has emerged in, and become

liar

from, the main Greek eucharistic

liturgies that

survive.


2/17

185

P IKLES IS IN

THE

ANTIOCHENE BAPTISMAL ORDINES

service

in normal

use is

attributed

to Jacob of Serugh,

this I employ

th e

edition

in

Assemani, Oodex Liturgicu8

309-50,

I l l ,

pp. 184-7

11

Designated

as

JS.

short

Maronite service is attributed to Basil, and is avail

print only in Latin translation

12.

The

epiklesis is

almost

with that in Sshort.

11 The Bkerke

edition

of

1942

is

no t available

to

me .

12

DENZINGER I,

pp .

358-9.

13

See

referenoe i n not e

7.

though th e Melkites now follow th e

Constantinopolitan

rite

mploy Arabic, th e oldest

surviving

baptismal services

are

in

and belong

to

the genuine

Antiochene liturgical

tradition:

The normal service is

at tr ibuted to

Basil,

symbolized

as B;

his I

quote

from the

edition

in Assemani,

Oodex Liturgicu8

199-237. The prayer of

consecration

of th e water

in

this

ice is

th e

same

as

that

in

S

and

th e

Byzantine

rite,

although

d B

represent two independent

translations

from

th e Greek.

An anonymous sho rt Melkite ordo containing a

numbe r o f

haic features, is a lso available , an d for this I quote from my

ion, in Parole l OrienP3.

Symbolized

as

Mshort.

My

procedure

will be, in

th e

first place, to stud y th e

formal

lIcture

of

the

baptismal

epikleses,

and then to

go

on to

consider

i r actua l con tent

and

their biblical t erms o f reference. In

th e

part

of

this enquiry it

will

be necessary

t o ext end t he horizon

l

compare

th e

structure

of the

baptismal epikleses with that

eucharistic ones in

the

Antiochene tradition, while in

the

second

t wesha ll

need

to look at the writings of

Greek

and Syriac Fathers

the subject of baptism, in part icular

John

Chrysostom, Theo

e of Mopsuestia, Ephrem, Narsai an d Jacob

of

Serugh.

First

of

all , however, I should

say

something about

the

multi

cation

of epikleses in

two

of th e services, T and S. In th e

rse of

th e consecratory prayers

in T

24-38 ,

there

are,

rprisingly, two separate

invocations

to

the

Father,

requesting

consecration of th e water by the H oly Spirit,

although

the

brics recognize

only the

second

as

th e epiklesis.

How this

SEBASTIAN

BROCK

84

SYRIAN ORTHODOX

Five different services are available, three long and

1

The normal service in use is

attributed

to Severos

f ound in a

numbe r o f

slightly different forms 2: as will t

there is considerable variation

in

th e precise

position o f t

klesis

over t he water

in

the

different

texts

3.

For t hi s

ordd

make use of both the printed

editions

an d the

earliest man

which date

from

t he 8 th -H th

century)

4. The long pr

the

consecration

of

th e wa te r in t hi s

service i s a lso found

Byzantine,

Melkite and

Ethiopian rites 5. The ordo

is

lized

as S.

2 One o f t he ear ly

manuscripts

of S,

BM Add .

14518,

a service

which has

many deviations from

th e

norm o f

These

deviations in

fact

provide numerous

points

of

contac

the

Maronite

service. I

quote

from my.

edition

of this s

in preparation

6. Symbolized

as

SD.

3

An abbreviated

service is a lso

at tr ibuted to

Severos, a

this

I

employ

th e Horns

edition

1950 7. Designated

as

4 Another long service, surviving in two early

manuscrip

attributed

to Timothy of

Alexandria. Together

with SIJ

service serves as a

link between

S and t he

Maronite ordo attri

to Jaco b o f

Serugh.

I

quote

from my edition

of the

servi

Le Museon

8.

Symbolized

as

T.

5

A very short

ordo

for use in cases of

emergency,

is attrib

to Philoxenos. Fo r this I quote

from

the edition in Asse

Oodex Liturgicus Il,

pp. 307-8 9.

Designated as Ph 10 .

2

Fo r

deta il s, s ee S tudies

passim.

3 Cp below , pp . 186-8.

4

Fo r

details,

see

referenoe

in

note 1.

English translation

p ra ye r o f oonseoration of

the

water, based

on

th e

earliest

m ~ m L l s O r i p

published in

O.C.P.

37

1971 ,

pp .

317-32.

5

The texts

(apart

from the

Ethiopio)

are

se t

ou t

side by side in

dies ,

pp . 46-51.

6 See provisionally

A 1 emarkable Syriac baptismal

ordo

(BM

Add.

P ar ol e de l O ri en t

2 1971

365-78.

7 Fo r

details of ot,her editions

and

manusoripts,

see A

short

baptismal service in Syriac P ar ol e de l O ri en t

3 1972 pp .

s

Le Mus60n

83 1970 , pp . 357-431.

9

Fo r

further details, see referenoe

in

note 7.

10

A

further short servioe

is

attributed to

Io1,J.annan

ba r Shushan

but

I

have n ot h ad

aooess

to an y manuscript

of

this.


3/17

SEBASTIAN BROCK

187

th e

dragons lurking there; do

thou,

therefore,

0

king

who

lovest mankind,

be

present even

now b y the vis itat ion of thy Holy

Spirit, and sanct ify

fearful,

who

shall with

?

o L o rd , up o n

t h y

c r e a t u r e ,

IN

TH E ANTIOCHENE BAPTISMAL

ORDINES

THE

EPIKLESIS

th ou , L or d o f all,

+

send

thy

Holy

Spirit

and sanctify this

and

17 )

a p p 0 i n t

make)

t

h is

w

a te

r

th e

w

a te

r

e s t ,

etc.

18 .

O

God

the Fathe1 A lm ig ht y, a nd send u po n

us

mercy o n us, P l t th

u po n this water that

is

being sanctified..

...

the arac e

e

y

Spirit etc. 19 .

o L

0

d u

P 0

nth i s wa t e

+

and sanctify

P t ~ e a o : ~ r s h a d o w i n g ;f

thy

Holy

Spirit

20

an d

g

a n t t h t

se who a re b a p t i z e d in

it

may be ch nge

they

may

strip off th e old

man

...

f

d

in

B z

a nd t he sh ort m do in

Goal .

16 This i n t e r p o l a ~ I O n IS oun

d

J th 9t h j l t century manuscript

17

Th e interpolatIOn

IS to

be

foun

m e

S, BM

Add. 4 4 9 ~

,

Shor t e s t in

B.

This epikles is i s

18 The ensumg lIst

IS

longes

m

s

b

m of

th e water.

mediately preceded

y an exorClS , ir e

ra

er

der ived f rom

19 This interpolation, which constItutes

t Pd

Ketween

S

*b an d

Greek Anaphora

of St

Mark (see'b:low),

IS

~ t s ~ r e f S (see p 192f.).

t

an d

I n s ome e

1

IOns

0

in

several early .

m a ~ u s c l l p s,

I rl y manuscripts an d

editions

20

The

interpolatIOn

IS found

m

seve ra e a

(see p. 193).

wa t e r , a n d g r a n t

he

g r a c e

o f rede .m-

on t h e b l e sS I ng

h

J

0 d a n , Make it

ell of immortali ty etc.)

16.

Byz

Thou dids t sanct ify

the st.

of the

Jordan,

sending

tram heaven thy Holy

Spir

thou

didst b reak the he

Original prayer 15

thou didst break th e heads

of

th e

dragons in t he wat er s;

14 Op

Studie8 , pp .

52-9.

I have no t included i n th e followin

the

curious

epiklesis to

be

found i n t he

Oharfet

edition

(1922), which

of

only

from

the

French translation

by G.

KHOURI-SARKIS in

L Orient

1 (1956); this

r e ads tourne-toi,

apparais Seigneur , descends

su r

su r ces eaux

et sanctifie-les . I

know of

no ear ly manu sc ri pt con

th is epiklesis;

su r

nous

indicates that th e source

may

be

a

epiklesis

(see p. 193),

while descends suggests an occidental

fo r

th is phraseo logy is extremely

rare

in

Syriac.

15

Th e

Oonstantinopolitan

m do

is

at this

point bas ed on th e

prayer Mtyo:1

as we

shall

see, these

two

epikleses neatly

exemplify

cally

different

types of epiklesis that

are represented

chene baptismal texts.

The s i tuation

in S

is

considerably more

well

known

that

th e

prayer

of

consecration

in

this

found

in th e

Constantinopolitan rite,

an d

in

th e Melkite

pian services.

Now if

th e different tex ts are set

side b

at

once

becomes apparent that originally an invocation

Holy

Spirit must have been altogether

absent

from

th e

for there is absolutely

no

agreement about t he

position

an

invocation,

and the different texts supply their in

epikleses in a

variety

of

different places 14 .

Moreover,

that

there is great

variation over

the

positioning

of

such

lesis among th e individual

texts

of S indicates that

the

still had no invocation for t he Holy Spir i t when it f irst cam

t rans la ted into Syriac.

The

precise

situation can best be

seen

from

th e

fo

layout

of

th e relevant

parts

of th e

prayer, where the

origin

common to S D th e Ccnstantinopolitan an d EthIOpIan

given in roman type, while

th e

various interpolated epikl

given in

italic. The three passages in th e original fOrIn

prayer

which

can

r easonably be descr ibed

as e-pikleses (

without any mention of the Holy Spirit) are given

in

spaced

ing; these

will be

re ferre d t o below as

S

*a,b,c,.


4/17

189

P IKLES IS IN

THE

ANTIOCHENE BAPTISMAL ORDINES

Cp E.

STOMMEL,

Studien zur Epikle e der romi chen Taujwa erweihe

1950), p.

2lf.

Cp Studie8 , p. 59.

Cp

also

verse 20 ( ~ T C L c p e : t . V O V ) ,

which

is

taken as

a reference

to

Epiphany

usebius

P

23, 968).

On th e

origin

of

'Emcp&ve:Le:t.

as t he nam e of th e

may

originally

b e b ased on Gen iv 4 (acceptance

Abel s

sacrifice);

cp

also Elea zar s p ra ye r i n

II I

Macc

3, 12.

Fo r th e combination of ~ m ~ .. ~ o e ; Xapw,

note

especially

e similar wording in th e p ray er

of

th e consecration of

th e

ater

in

Apostolic Oonstitutions

VII.43.5: K a n ~

OUpetV013

etl.

ay Mov

't o { ) ~ < u p 't o13't o,

~ o e ;

Xapw xctt

MvetfLw

...

S *a is followed by an exorcism o f t he water, L et there

ee from it ... .

An

analogy to this

reversal

of what might

thought to

be

th e logical order is to be

found

in th e Roman

aptismal ordo 5 ; in

both

cases

the

sequence should be attrib-

'I1ted to the conflation of elements of different origin.

S

*b

'AAA? . o u ~ ~ O ' 7 t o ' t e t 't (;)v

a7tav't {.ov V e t ~ E L ~ o v

't o

{ ) ~ < u p 1'o13't o { ) ~ < u p

&Vet7tetuO'E


5/17

191

HE

E P I K L E S I S

IN TH E ANTIOCHENE

B A PT I SM A L O R DI N ES

34, w e n t forth ,

t he v ar ia nt flowed

is

a tt es te d i n

a

mber of early

Syriac writings

32 , and may

well have

been

e

reading of th e

Old Syriac l ost f or

this

verse).

Fo r

th e

gin.

o f th e variant

John vii 38) see below, p. 211f.

.

s ~ ~ e :

al l

texts except Mshort

us e

th e word dafneh,

hich

IS

found

II I

t he P es hi tt a

a t

John xi x 34 ;

Mshort,

how

er, reads setrak, for which s u pp o rt c a n be fo und in a number

passages i n E ph re m

33.

I t is

very

likely that setra was

th e

or d

used in th e

O ld S yr ia c

at John xi x

34, since

this version

ploys

that word i n John xx

25 wh ere

t he P es hi tt a again

dafna),

E.g.

Ephrem

ed. LAMY)

I,

511 ; Oomm.

Diat.

X 12 bu t

no t

XX I 11) ;

Treasures

ed. BEZOLD) p.

255 bu t no t

p. 2 63) ;

J a c o b

of

Serugh

DJAN)

V,

p. 670

5

Note,

however, tha t Didymus uses ~ p p e : u O e : v

in

quotation

o f J oh n

xi x 34

P

3 9, 6 89 ).

E.g.

Ephrem

ed.

LAMY)

I,

53,

109,

477;

cp

also

PAYNE SMITH

The

Syriacus

col. 2603.

ype 3 :

ather

or,

in

one case, Chri st) i s

asked to s e n d th e Holy

an d sanctify th e water in

B,

Ta,

Sshort

an d

some

of th e

lated

epikleses

in S.

T he se d if fe r c on si de ra bl y

in detail

one

another.

Yea, we

request

thee,

Father of mercy an d

God

of al l

mfort,

send

th y

living

Spirit

an d s an ct if y t h is

water,

an d

ay it

become

th e spiritual womb

which gives

rebirth

anew

mankind

who

a re b ap ti ze d in it .

Yea:

cp Sshort, also A.

Thomas

157.

Father .. comfort: 2 Cor i 3

Peshitta),

womb: from

John

iii

4 ;

cp p. 209.

..

thou

didst

sanctify th e

streams

of the Jordan;

do

hou

no w

too,

Lord

God,

se nd o n t hi s w ate r, by means of

is s an ct if ie d o il

of

true

anointing,

th y

d ov e w hi ch i s

beyond

11)

ages, that is, th y living

an d holy

Spirit,

an d

bless

an d

nctify

an d

perfect it and

those

who

are

being baptized

in

an d

make

them

associates

of

th y Christ...

sanctified oil:

B is

u ni qu e a m on g th e

Antiochene

m dines

associating

th e

coming

of

th e Spirit

with

th e pouring of

e

myron on to th e water 34 .

S EB AS TI AN B R OC K

i 32 Old

Syriac an d Peshitta), although in the

th e

Spirit

is

construed

as

a f em in in e.

the

same:

Perhaps derived from th e Greek

St James

.. cxu t o

t o

7tVEufLcx).

According

to Botte 28

phora

ha s

influenced th e wording

of th e eucharistic

e

in the East

S y ri an a n ap h o ra

of

Theodore.

come:

perhaps

from

Acts

i 8

Peshitta),

p.

199 f.

receive power:

Acts i 8

Peshitta) 29 .

ii) JS,

SD,

Tb

an d Mshort: Mshort

pr

Ma y

th y living

Spirit be sent and) ma y rthy

living

an d h o ly S pi ri t om

th e Spirit of

holiness

JS )

come,

0

Lord

om Mshort)

rand

repose

om

JS)

o n th is w at er + an d

drive from

power of the enemy, an d

kindle

it with

his ill vincil)le

an d

bless

J S ;

an d

kindle it with th y invincible

an d sanctify it ,

rand

make it om

JS ) in

th e

likeness

water)

which

flowed from

the thy

Mshort)

side rof

JS ) only-begotten

one

om Mshort) on the thy

be

sent t st dr ): t he

verb

i s f em in in e, w he re as

it come ,

is

masculine;

since

no

other

epiklesis

with

in g l e t th y

Holy

Spirit be sent appears

to

be

likely that tstdr is a

corruption of

tU? ,

d o thou

which

there ar e

parallels elsewhere 30 .

come: see p. 197, 199,

? est and ? epose

:

Isaiah

xi 2

Peshitta,

bu t

verbs

cp p. 200.

kindle:

r ef ere nc e is

to

th e

apocryphal

p op u la r a mo ng

Syriac writers,

that

flames

appeared

Jordan s waters

a t Christ s

baptism 31.

bless:

cp

p.

202.

make

it

:

cp p. 202.

flowed: John xi x

34 Greek

E ~ ~ A E V

=

Pe:shitta

Syriac

no t

extant).

The verb

flowed indicates

epiklesis

o r ig i na te d i n

a Syriac,

and not

a Greek,

m il ie u, f or w hi le

t he P es hi tt a

follows

th e Greek

text

28

B.

BOTTE,

L epiclese dans les l itur gies syriennes orientales

Erudiri

6 19 54 ), pp . 48-72.

290p

SD

3 5 ; Jacob

of

Serugh

ed. BEDJAN)

IV, p. 707;

Jerusalem,

Oat.

Myst.

11, 3 :

o{ TW

xo:l t o

b mpXtO t ov

t OU t O ~ A O : t o V

m J ~ A 1 J , : i e :

190


6/17


7/17

195

PIKLESIS

IN

THE

ANTIOOHENE

BAPTISMAL ORDINES

bless ... seal the

same

three

verbs

are also

found

in the

o f the anaphora

of

Theodore.

rayer

over

the

oil of

anointing

is also

found in

JS,

with

following epiklesis

45 :

May

th y power

come, 0

Lord,

from the uppermost heights,

may

it

rest

in

this

oil,

and may the

mysteries

of

th y

Christ

in it, and may it

be

...

power

cp A

Thomas

27, Come,

power

of grace, which

from on high ; an d especially

121,

quoted

below

46.

imprinted cp Studies , p.

35

note 4.

epiklesis

of this

type occurs in

JS in

a prayer

the

candidates

May th y living and

holy Spir it

come and rest and repose

the he ad

of this

th y servant

...

rest .. repose: cp p. 200.

should

be

added

that

the

various

epikleses,

over

the

oil

the candidate,

in

the Acts

of Thomas

take on this

form;

particular the epiklesis

over

the oil 48 in

121 (ed.

Wright,

291) is

in

part

identical

with that

in

JS:

May th y

power come

an d r es t upon thi s

oil ...

The

epildeses in the

Acts

of

Thomas are

all

addressed

Christ.

ASSEMANI I l

p. 330.

,

Power

features

i n Narsa i s

description

of t he bapt ismal epiklesis

:NGANA, I, p. 345

13

.

Lluvoq LL


8/17

50 ASSEMANI

Ill ,

p. 213.

51 Horns

e di ti on p .

32 ; ASSEMANI

ll

p.

212f.

52

Horns

e di ti on p .

23.

4) Type 4: Se,

Ph;

Scand.

In all

th e

short

services

th e

epiklesis IS

addressed

to

the Father.

197

WITH THE EUCHARISTIC EPIKLESES

EPIKLES IS IN THE

ANTIOCHENE

BAPTISMAL ORDINES

have

seen that, while th e full serVIces

always

address

esis to

th e

Father, all

the shor t

services

address

it to Christ.

first may seem surprising, bu t it

readIly

becomes

under-

le

in the light o f the tradition that C hr is t s an ct if ie d a ll

al

water

53

at

his

baptism

see below, p. 20 4f):

it

is

thus

tural that Christ should be asked

to

send his Spirit

ta

reac

his original sanctification.

What

is

interesting

is

that

s s ti ll

addressed

in Mshort) when

it

is

hi s

death, no t his

, which is

primarily l inked w ith

th e

baptismal water;

and

Tb,

which

employ the

same epiklesis

as Mshort, alter

dress

to

the

Fathe r, i n conformity

wit h t he norm

of l at er

BRIGHTMAN,

Liturgies Eastern

and

Western,

I, p.

341.

See especially Jacob of

Serugh

ed. BEDJAN)

I,

p.

188 f or

this

idea.

See t he t ex ts

laid

o ut in Studies

,

p. 50.

E.g. Euchologion

of

Serapion ed. BRIGHTMAN, p. 106).

K. GAMBER,

Die Ohristus-Epiklese in der altgallischer Liturgie,

9 1 96 6) , pp . 375-82 (with references) ; also 1 0 1 96 7) , pp .

is

very

likely that S * wa s also o rIg inal ly

addressed to

no t

the

Father,

an d th e interpolated epiklesis in the

By-

ei

rite

would appear

t o ret ain

this

original address, since it

aced by O U x X

IopMvE oc

PE L pOC ~ Y [ I l . j I l . ; where the

subjeot

sanably

only

be

Christ,

although in

S

an added

sentence

the

Father

th e subject of

this

verb 54 .

e e uc ha ri st ic anaphoras

provide

no exact parallel to

this

to

Christ,

although

one

might

compare th e early epikleses,

sed to the

Father, which ask for

th e

sending of

th e Logos,

Spirit 55. If, however, one considers th e epikleses

addressed

ist

in

the short bap ti smal services

with those in

th e

Acts

mas,

a remarkable

fact emerges:

side by side with

the

re

fo r C hr is t s

power

to come e.g.

121), we find that

~ s i o n

C hr is t h im se lf i s

asked to

come, e.g.

27 :

Come, holy

name of

th e Messiah ...

157 : Yea, L or d, come

and

abide in

this

oil

..

,

ype of invocation, where Christ was addressed in th e imper

was

evidently

o nc e f ai rl y w id es pr ea d, f or

it

has left traces

old Gallican

liturgy 56, as

well as

in

a

shor t prayer

common

Greek

anaphoras

of

John

Chrysostom an d Basil

:

e e EL

TO YL XO'OC('

j[LiXc;

SEBASTIAN BROCK

1)

Type

1 :

S *abc

2)

Type

2:

I

JS SD

Tb

Mshort

;

loll

JSoll,

cand.

3)

Type

3:

a)

introduced

by

imperfect:

Mshort

Scand.

b)

introduced

by

imperative:

Bcand.

Scand. Spriest.

4) Type 4:

The only epiklesis of this type is found in the final part

consecration prayer common to Sand B:

in

S th e epikl

over

th e candIdate, while in B it is over th e water see

p. 191.). The text of S here is t ra nsl ate d on p. 188.

Such are the

epikleses

in th e Antiochene

The following

table

gives

an

overall picture of

their

according

to

types; those over th e

water

are

listed

first.

pleased: cp E U ~ Q } . ~ O Y l C ;

in

th e epiklesis of

in Apost Oonst.

ove1 shadow:

cp p. 202f.

ii)

Like I an d

JS,

B has a

prayer

said

over

th e oil

of

this

has

the following epiklesis 50 :

V\ e

call

upon th y great

...

name, that

thou

fearful

Spirit

or

Spirit

of might ) upon this

oil

and

so

that it may be ..

perfect: cp. p. 202.

Hi The

following epiklesis occurs

in

a

prayer

for th e

to be found

in

both Sand B with

certain variations

them) 51 :

Send

th y Holy

Spirit

upon h im .. so that, filled

heavenly gifts,

he may

...

iv)

In the

course ofthe

priest s

prayer for

himself

in

is found

52 :

Send

upon

me th y Holy Spi ri t

and

strengthen

196


9/17

199

l HE EPIKLESIS IN T HE ANTIOCHENE BAPTISMAL ORDINES

y there come an d corresponding

to the

Greek anaphora

I} is

found

in all

three

East Syrian,

an d in

some

West Sy

anaphoras, and

that

type 3 (b) subdivides into two classes,

he Greek

anaphoras

: t he vas t major it y follow th e

pattern

anaphoras

o f J ames

65 an d

Mark, whi le only a very small

prcvide th e

pattern

which we have in the

anaphora

of

ihrysostom

an d

in

th e

Syriac

baptismal

epikleses

o f t yp e

Curiously, enough, among thi s minor ity there figure pro

ly

th e

anaphoras of T imothy an d Severos 66 , precisely the

chs to whom the

two Syr ian Orthodox bapti smal

services

ributed, although it should

be

noted that,

beyond

the coin-

in

structure, there

is l i tt le agreement in phraseology.

hraseology

come

/send

e have just seen

that

the oriental eucharistic an d

baptismal

ses divide up into two

main

types, thoE e introduced

by

,

come

hose

introduced

by

send .

The forme r

is

th e

only

one

found in t he E as t Syrian epikleses (of

whatever

kind), bu t

ot confined

to

them, since it is

found

in t he Greek anaphora

a sil

an d i n sever al Wes t Syr ia n anaphor as, a s

well as

in

cer

baptismal epikleses of Wes t Syr ia n origin, whether Syrian

()dox, Melkite or Maronite (where

it

is th e only type represent-

The latter, introduced by

send

is the norm of the Greek

West Syrian

anaphoras

as well as th e

West

Syrian

baptismal

eses, with the

exception of th e

Maronite ordo.

word or two

might

be

added

about

th e

biblical sources

e verbs come an d

send .

A number o f passages speak

e Holy Spirit coming

gPXEcr CltL) 67,

notably Isaiah xxxii 15

68,

Mark

iii 16

(and

parallels),

Acts

xix

6

69

and t he

famous

64 Approximately one-third o f t he

fifty

that I have been

able

to

exa

, a lthough in several

of

these it is combined with

s end

; th e

com

ion tsdr + n t (cp Mshort,

above p.

190), however , seems

to be

con

to

that

of

.Jacob

Baradaeus (Cambr.

Add.

2887 f.

l2 7

b

-8

a

. (Besides

naphoras

in

print, I have

consulted

th e

extensive

collection to

be

found

ambr idge Add.

2887).

65 This

is of course

only to be

expected, in

view

o f t he

great influence

exercised

on

th e Syriac

anaphoras.

A S

I, p. 22, 68f .

B Note that i n e ve ry case

th e

Spirit

comes

upon people, no t

objects.

68

But no t in th e Peshitta.

89 Acts i 8

should

perhaps

be

added, for, although

th e

Greek h as t he

pound ~ 7 t e : A e : 6 c r e : t O G ~ it i s p os si bl e that

th e

phraseo logy arose

in

a

SEBASTIAN BROCK

Cp below,

note

71.

Note

also

th e

imperative

in

one

o f t he

e

in

th e service

of

blessing

the Epiphany

water (ed. BUDGE, in .JOHN

QUESS OF

BUTE,

The Bless ing of the Water on the Eve of

Epiphany

(

1901), pp . 73=93) : d o thou, lover ofmankind,

come

even nowthro

overshadowing

of

th y Holy

Spirit an d

bless t h is wa te r... . also

of

Serugh

(ed. BED.TAN IV , p. 52

9

69 Cp (for th e eucharist) O. CULLMANN The

Ohristology

of

t

Testament (London, 1963), p. 209ff.

60 I

is

an exception, in

that

th e

water

is

t he subjec t

o f t he

ne:x:

81 Type 3(a) follows no regula r pa tt ern in this

respect.

82 The onl y

exception

is

th e

anaphora in Apostolic Oonstitutions,

belongs

to typ e 3(a).

63 The epikleses in the service for th e blessing

of

th e

Epiphany

have a related

construction:

th e imperative sanctify is prefaced,

send

th y

Holy

Spirit

bu t b y through th e

overshadowing

of th y

Spirit

(as

Se);

cp Bu dg e in

op. cit ., pp .

73= 93 , 7 6= 98 , 86.

This usage

has

it s roots in the New Testament phrase

our

Lord, come.

58.

I t would appear that

at

and bap ti sm Christ was simply

asked

to come an d

Lv v L I i d

two

events

of his earthly life

59 .

2 Oonstruction

In

th e

epikleses

of type

2

the

Holy Spi ri t

is

gram

th e sanctifier ( may th y

Holy Spi ri t

come .. and

may

h

fy .. )

60 , bu t

in those

of

type 3 (b) 61,

it

is

t he Fat he r

ot

who is

always

th e sanctifier (

send

th y Holy

Spirit

.. and\13

(imperative) ... ) . I f one compares this

state

of affairs wi

in

the Greek an d Syriac eucharistic epikleses, some in t

facts emerge.

Among

th e

Greek

anaphoras

only

that

of Basil corr

to our type 2 an d there the subject of the verb sanctify is

th e Spirit sA dv xod y ~ c r ~ ). All the other

anaphoras belong

to

ou r t ype 3 (b) 62,

being

introduced

imperative s end ;

the ensuing construction, however,

always th e

same:

only in the

anaphora

of

John

Chrysost

we find

send

followed by another

imperative 1to[ y)crov),

i

words, with the Father still th e

subject

o f t he

verb;

in t

phoras of James an d Mark,

by

way o f contrast, a final cIa.

sues, an d

th e

subject

of

th e

verb

sanctify is

th e Holy

Thus

our baptismal

epikleses o f type 3 (b) - those

introdu

th e imperative send

- correspond

in

contruction

to

the e

in

th e

anaphora

of

John Chrysostom 63.

I f

one

turns

to th e eucharistic epikleses in th e Syria

pho ra s one

wil l f ind that the pattern

of

ou r type 2 (intr

198


10/17

201

PIKLESIS

IN T HE ANTIOCHENE BAPTISMAL

ORDINES

an exact

parallel is

only to be

found

in

the

anaphora of

77 ,

out of the

fifty-odd anaphoras

that

I

have

exa

the second nes1 e

w-nettnilJ)

is

familiar from

the East

anal=,hc)ra of Nestorius,

th e

Maronite known

as

the

Sha1 1 a1 ,

Wes t Syr ian

attributed to

Diosko1 oS

(I)

78 .

The

phra

would

appear to

derive flOm

I sa iah x i 2

(on

the

gifts

of

for

th e

Peshitta

here

has t he se

two

verbs,

although

rse

order

79,

bu t what

is signif icant is

that the

Syriac

is

ly

version to

render

a single

Hebrew verb by two

words.

sanctify etc.

variety

of

verbs,

or

combinations of verbs, are

employed

ote

what th e

Spirit

(or

the Father)

does

to the baptismal

thus

we

have appo int , b le s s , s anc ti fy , make an d

a)

appoint

his occurs

only

in

S

*a , an d in

B

th e word

is

a lt ered to the

explicit

make 80 .

In

the Greek anaphoras v i X a d ~ i X L

is

led

to

that

of

Basil

8\

while

among

the

Syriac

ones

it

is

a

in that

of the

XII

Apostles (I),

as

well

as in

a

few others

82.

(b)

sanctify

As

might be expected, the word

occurs

in most of the

epi

s 83, but

usually in

conjuution with other verbs, and t he closest

llel

to th e

use

of

this

verb

alone, as we find

in Sac and Ta,

aI S to be th e Syriac anaphora of Mark

84.

n p.

96.

I, p. 280f.

No

variants.

Likewise l a te r in

th e prayer,

at

th e

point of B s inte rpola ted epiklesis

188).

Fo r parallels to this a l terat ion, s e e

Studies

, p. 59, note

3.

The

anaphora

in

Apostolic Oonstitutions ha s

&;7t o po:(vc.>,

which may

be a

rendering

of Aramaic bw y = 3 e : l x v U f L ~ '

An in teresting parallel

to

S *a is

provided by th e

end of

t he b ap

epildesis in the Euchologion of Serapion (ed. BRIGHTMAN,

J.T.S.

1900), p. 262) :

xo:l

6l is a ls o emp lo

3

Compare,

however, 7t efL7t c.>

in

vVisdom

ix

17

a nd J oh n xi v

26.

4 Note also that Didymos quo tes

Ps

xlii 3 an d cxlvii 7 (both

~ a 7 t O C l ' t e A A c .

in a bapt ismal context P 39, 705 ).

5 In some

West

Syrian

anaphoras these

sometimes follow

th e

,

send

: this

is

t ypica l of

th e

fusion, that

occurs in many of these anlapllO

of

th e

tw o

main types

of epiklesis.

Cp

Acts of Thomas

121,

and perhaps Narsai

(ed.

MINGANA)

I ,

p.

variant

to

th e Lord s prayer, Luke xi

2 : EA


11/17

203

PIKLESIS IN THE ANTIOCHENE BAPTISMAL ORDINES

Cambridge Add. 2887, f.

4 1a; cp

also th e epikleses

in

th e blessing

Epiphany water, which, however, reverse th e

order:

b y th e over

... sanctify ... (references

in

note 63).

EmqJoL t ij(j(xV is sometimes rendered,

more

literally,

by

th e participle

Fo r rabbef/rubbafa which a lso serve as render ings of emqJOL t ijcrcx.v

West Syrian anaphoras,

see

p. 209.

Again

in

Acts

v 15.

also

represents crx I)v6w

in John

i

14

(subject

~ c p m 1 ( j ) / - ~ c r ~ c . ,

are

no t

found

in biblical Greek. While

~ t t h a

is

probably

inspired

by the

Greek,

E : m c p o ~ 1 ( j )

itself

may

lly have been a rendering

of

agen which is biblical, for

el S (among other words) ~ m c r x ~ ~ e ~ v 9 in Luke i 35 9 (Old

and Peshitta),

and

clearly soon became a technical term

e activity

of

th e

Holy

Spi ri t, for in Acts x 44 and xi 15

it used to render

~ m 7 t L 7 t 1 ( j )

in

the

phrase ~ 7 t e 7 t e c r e v 1

7tveutLo:

in th e a nap hor a o f

Xystos

91,

although

the

word

magna-

is quite frequently found in

the

West Syrian eucharistic

based

ultimately

on

~ m c p m 1 ~ c r o : v in the Greek anaphora

whose construction they imitate

( x O : 1 7 t e [ L ~ o v

..

~ m c p o ~ -

; ; , , , , ~ , I ' < { , 9

dealing with

the content

of the baptismal epikleses we

inevitably

be concerned

to

a certain

extent, at

least,

with

questions

of the

significance

and

meaning

of

baptism,

as

stood

in

the Syriac liturgical tradition; these issues, however,

e discussed

only

in so far

as

they

are rai sed by

th e wording

epikleses themselves.

e have already seen in passing, in th e course o f o ur discus

of

the

formal

s truc tu re o f the

epikleses that

there

are wide

i:mces

between

the individual baptismal epikleses in their

gical

terms of reference;

we

have, in

fact, as many as eight

rent sets of reference within the epikleses themselves:

The

Jordan

water s are seen as being react ivated in the font.

(S *a).

The baptii mal

water

is

t he water

of

rest '

(Ps

xxii

(xxiii) 2).

(S *b),

Baptism

is a

representation

of the death and resurrection

of Christ

(Rom

vi

5). (S

*e).

Christ s

baptism

is a

t ype o f ou r

own resurrection. (I) .

SEBASTIAN BROCK

02

(c)

' bl es s and sanct ify'

This occurs in JS and Sshort; cp

B

'Bless ' is

eucharistic epikleses

and

is

to

be found

only

in

( e u A o ' Y ~ c r o : ~

.. ' Y ~ c r o : ~ .. . v o : a e ~ ~ o : ~ )

85 and the three

East

phoras,

of

which that of Addai

and

Mari provide

an

to

the

pair in JS 86 an d Sshort

87.

H, in it s interpolated

has ins er ted these two ver bs

before'

perfect

..

and

make

found at

that p oi nt in the original

prayer. The

bination, apart from th e verb 'bless', is identical with

anaphora of

Mark, an d

the Syriac

one

of Ignatius

ba r

(d) 'sanctify

and

make'

Found in SD

Tb

and

Mshort.

This

combination

is

th e C:-reek anaphora of

~ m e s

and as a

result it

is fairly

as

mIght

be expec ted, I n th e Syriac anaphoras 89, which

model their epikleses on this.

The

only

two

epikleses which are

no t

Included

in

categories

are

I and Ph , for whose phraseo logy here no

can be adduced

from

the eucharistic anaphoras.

(iv) 'overshadow(ing)'

Se

is

the only baptismal

epiklesis

to

employ

the

noun

utha

'overshadowing' 90 , a nd th e phraseology of Se here,

tIfy by the overshadowing

of

th y

Holy

Spirit ' , is closely.

B is

interesting

that b less

has

been

dropped from th e

translation (Cambridge Add. 2887,

f.

78b).

B

seems

likely that in

this

respect

JS has preserved

an

o l d ~

of

wordmg than

have

Mshort

SD

an d Tb (all

of

which

have sancti

make

).

The

combination

bless

an d

sanctify

also

occurs

in

a

few

? p i k l e s e ~ in th e service for th e

blessing

of

th e

Epiphany

water,

ed .

m op. c ~ t . , p. 7 6= 98 , 86.

BB Cambr idge Add. 2887,

f.

145

8

;

cp Anaphora o f

Moshe ba r

where gmar

is used

instead

of samli

(Cambridge Add. 2917

f. 558.

B9 Although. it , do:s not occur

in t he

Syriac

a na phor a o f S t

Ja m

n p. 150).

ThJs

mdICates that t he a ut ho rs o f

th e

West

Syrian

an

sometimes

made

direct

use

o f t he

Greek James

90 With th e possible exception of th e short Maronite ordo : Den

~ r a n s l a t e s word?

introducing

th e epiklesis

by

... et pe r advent

~ l l a p s u m

spIrItus tu sancti

sanctificasti et mundas ti e am sc. aqua

?anis}

... , but iD; th e a lmost ident ical epiklesis in

Sshort

only ad

IS found

- both m th e

printed editions

an d

in

th e earliest

mantis

(BM Add. 14495 an d 17128, o f t he lOt h/ 11 th centur ie s) . Outs ide

n o ~ ~

a nd t he verb

occur

onl y i n

JS

ASSEMANI

n

p.

344)

an d

S


12/17

205

P][Kl,ES.[S IN

THE ANTIOCHENE

BAPTISMAL ORDlNES

me,

or

similar, ideas can be

found in

a

numbe r o f

writers

patristic period, and

there

is no doubt a polem ic al

note in

e Jacob of Serugh who emphasize that the role o f the Holy

at Christ s

baptism

was simply to bear

testimony 99

it h

these

preliminaries we may turn to the

t erms of

refer-

be

found in

th e different epikleses.

t o p rovi de an exact parallelism between Chris t s

Christian baptism it

is stated that

it

was the

Holy

C hr is t, w ho s an ct if ie d th e Jo rda n waters. Thus, in

h Q . , . , ~ r hymns, ascribed t o Ephrem, we find (Vr.l) :

descended from on high

sanctified the

water

by her hovering,

reference seems to be to th e J ordan

as

well as

to bap

ate r

in

general.

e

frequently,

however, th e

Holy

Spirit is s een

as

cooper-

th Christ in the sanctification of

t he Jordan

water. Thus

Greek

baptismal liturgy

we

have

\ \

Christ) XIXL a IopMVELIX p E ~ p l X ~ y l M I X < ; ouplXv6 EV XIX-

tfLo/

lX

,,0

YL6v

l QU

tVEUfLlX

97

at the end of th e consecratory prayer in S th e proce ss is

a

step

further, an d

it

is t he Fat he r w ho s en ds

th e Holy

a.nd sanctifies

the Jordan:

Thou the F at her ) di ds t send thy Holy Spirit

in

t he form

Of

a dove

and

didst sanctify

the

streams of

the

river

Jordan 9S.

18-19: Ambrose asks

why

th e

Holy Spirit

came down

after

Christ s

, whereas

in

Christian

baptism th e font is

consecrated s

by

th e

t of

th e

Spirit) before baptism.

Hi s

answer is tha t th e order of even ts

ist s baptism was in tended to show tha t Christ sanctif ied th e

water

f

This

part of

th e

prayer

is derived from th e service of th e blessing

Epiphany water, and t he s ame idea (wi th s li gh tl y different wording)

d

i n the

Syriac

versions of

tha t service ed. BUDGE,

in op. cit.

p.

73=

93).

ar e

also

th e

introduction to

th e

epiklesis in the short

Syrian

Ortho

an d

Maronites

se rv ices: (Chris t ) who didst

sanctify th e

Jordan s

by th y descent into it and by th e

coming

of th y Holy Spiri t .

See

206.

Homs edit ion , p.

39.

SEBASTIAN BROCK

04

5)

The

baptismal water represents th e primeval water

Traces of this in JS

and

SD).

6) The

baptismal water

represents a

spiritual womb

iii 4). Ta).

7)

The

baptismal water is pre figure d in the water

of

Bethesda (John v 4,7). Ph).

8)

The baptismal

wate.c is th e

water which

flows

of

Christ (John

xix

34).

Mshort,

JS , SD,

Tb).

Before we discuss these one

by

one, however, it

ful to consider briefly certain basic questions that

O H J U J U

in mind: What is th e relationship of Christian

baptism

baptism,

a nd to his death?

What

was th e role

of

th e

at Christ s baptism,

and

how is it related to his r ole in the

tion

of the baptismal water?

Already in the Gospels and Acts we find

traces

of a

of opinion about

th e

origins of Christian

baptism,

and it s

ship to Christ s

own

bap tism on t he

one

hand, and

his de

th e

other.

In

John

iv 2, for example, we hear that

Jesus

di

baptised during

his earthly ministry, while elsewhere, in A

Christian baptism

is

regarded

as

having

taken

it s origin.

i

events of Pentecost ,

and

this

a lo ne i s compatible

with

the P

(and possibly the

Johannine)

view of the links

between

C

dea th and Christian baptism

95.

We

can

find

traces

of

thes

opposing vie ws, an d sometimes attempts

to synthesize

embodied in the

baptismal

epikleses themselves,

in

so

fa r

of these emphasize the relationship between

th e

baptismal

a nd the Jordan s

water,

while others

are primari ly

concerne

link it

with Christ s

death.

This b rings us to

a

second

point: where th e prime

in t

is in Christ s baptism, no t his death,

th e

sanctifier

of

the

will originally have been Christ himself, not the Holy Spir

it

will be r ec alled that in th e Gospels th e

Holy

Spirit appears

Christ s ascent

from

t he Jordan.

Once an epiklesis of the

Spiri t over th e baptismal water

ha d

become established prac

however, there arose a

certain

amount of speculation about

precise role

of

th e

Holy Spirit at

Christ s

baptism 96,

and

oIl.

95

L at er o n

ye t other views

about

th e origin

of

Christian baptism

found.

Thus Afrahat Dem. XII, 10) places it on t h e paschal night ,

th e washing of th e

disciples

feet;

Solomon

of Bosra

Book

of

the Bee

BUDGE 43 p . 1 05 )) a t t ribu tes the same

view

to

Basil.


13/17

207

P IKLESI S IN

THE ANTIOCHENE

BAPTISMAL

ORDINES

given baptismal

connotations

first by Origen,

after

given a s imilar

interpretation

in particular by

Eusebius,

Hesychius of

Jerusalem,

and, in the

Antiochene

area,

107 . is very likely that

th e description

of

the candida

eep

found

in

mos t o f t h e Antiochene baptismal

services,

ves f rom

this

Psalm lOB.

me

idea

is reflected

in an onitha in

th e same service 112 :

ptism

is a

representation

of

the

d ea th a nd

resurrection

Chris t (8 *0 .

s

Pauline theme

lies

behind

th e

third

of

th e

vestigial epic

S

*,

where

Romans vi

5 is specifically

quoted, in ccnjunc

h

Ephesians

iv 22 an d Colossians iii 10.

is remarkable

e Pauline

teaching

on b rpt ism

as a

burial

with

Christ

has

little

impression

on th e Antiochene baptismal texts 109 ,

words

be buried , burial

are

in

fact

never found

in

lthough

th e

idea

receives a little

more prominence

in

homi

commentaries on th e

baptismal

service 110.

ist s

baptism

is a

type

of

ou r

own resurrection

(I).

;8

curious

reversal of

th e

Pa

uline

view

of

th e

parallelism

11 our baptism and Christ s dea th and

resurrection

is

found

consecratory prayer of I , whose

relevant

sections read 111 :

... our Lord Jesus Christ, who, by

t he type

of his baptism,

ignified

the

resurrection from

the

dead,

and

commanded us

hat

in

the

mystery of his baptism

we

should make a new

and

piritual

birth

for those

that

believe.

See

.T.

DANIELOU

in Richesses et deficiences des

anciens

psautiers

latins

ea Bibl ica Latina 13 (1959)), pp. 1 95 -6 ;

cp .

1923, 197-201; also

EN, Da s

BUd d es G ut en

Hirten

in den altch1 istlichen Baptisterien

i...

(MUnster, 1939), p. 231f.

For t he Gnostic interpretation

given

UGLe

see

P.

VIELHAUER,

in

Beiheft 30 zur Z N W (1964), pp . 281-99.

Thus QUASTEN, att. cit. pp . 23942.

Thus

reflecting th e absence

of

th e theme

from second

century

wrIters;

BENOIT,

Le

bapteme au 2e siecle (Paris, 1953) p. 227.

sE.g. Afr ahat Dem

XII,10; Chrysostom

PG

59, 151; Theodore

Oat. XIV,5;

Narsai

(ed. MINGANA I , pp .

345-6;

.Tacob of Serugh

EDJAN) I, p. 181,

an d

regularly in th e

later

commentators.

Note

Oonst. VII,43.

70.

The sty le o f th is p ray er suggests to me

a

Greek

origin.

66.

SEBASTIAN BROCK

The

men tion o f r iv er s a nd

fountains

here

suggests

tradition was

especially popular

in communities which

ing water

- i.e.

rivers or

springs - for

b ap tism. Suc h

well attes ted, in par ticu lar for th e second century 103,

clearly known in

th e

Syrian

area,

since

it

is mentioned

in

mentine Recognitions

10 4

the Acts of Thomas

105

an d

mentum Domini

106 .

In this

connection it is

interesting

that th e tradition

is

very much

alive

i n t he

services for

the

o f th e

Epiphany

waters.

(2)

The bap ti smal water

becomes th e

water

of

rest

Psalm xxii

(xxiii),

with i ts p ic tu re of th e Lord as

the

was

frequently employed

in a baptismal

con text in ear ly

ar t

an d

literature. The 1Sawp .vomodlO E:wc; of verse 2

10 0 Ep Ephes XVII I. 2: . .. .. E ~ O : 7 t ' t t G . - 1 ) lvo: ' t i jJ 7t . eL '1'0

The s en se of ' t ijJ 7t . eL is ambiguous,

an d

need no t necessarily

Passion (as LIGHTFOOT, ad. lac.

assumes).

101

Horns

edition,

p.

35.

102 Cp a ls o

I, p.

60 : (Christ wa s

baptized) t ha t h e m ight

water .

103

E.g.

Didache VII, 13; see T . K la us er ,

Taufe t

Wasser , in Pisciculi Studien ... J Dolger dar-geboten... (MUnster,

pp .

15764.

10 4 PG 1, 1329; 2, 29.

105

49 an d (Greek only) 121; c on tr as t 27 , 134.

106 Ed . RAHMANI, p. 126.

206

1 The Jordan waters

are

reactivated in

In this

(vestigial) epiklesis

t he F at he r

is

asked

baptismal

water t he

blessing

of t he

Jordan

in

sanctification that t he Jordan

received

by

Christ s

deI3ce:rl.

Originally

thi s p rayer

was

probably addressed

to

th e

Father.

The tradition

that

Christ

actually

sanctified

his baptism is a very ear ly one, although no t

for

it

i s f ir st

attested in the

writings

o f Ig na tiu s of

In

th e

Antiochene baptismal m dines it

is

referred

to

on

of occasions,

mostly

in

poetic

texts, as, fo r

example,

mediately before the

consecratory prayer in

S

10 1 :

John mixed the baptismal water, but Christ

by

descending

and

being baptized

in

it... is he who h

fied all rivers

and

fountains 102.


14/17

There

do

not

appear

to be any traces

of this

idea

in

th e

tiochene services.

209

PIE:LESIS IN THE ANTIOCHENE BAPTISMAL ORDINES

Holy

Spirit: Mary:

Christ s

Incarnation:

Holy

Spirit:

ptismal water: the reborn Christian.

baptismal water represents a spiritual womb Ta).

origin

of th e motif

is

probably to

be f ound

in

Nicode

believing question

in John

iii 4 'Can a man

enter

his

womb

118

a s ec on d

time an d be born again?

.

The same

is

to b e f ound

elsewhere

in the

course

of

T 119,

as

well

me

of the other

Antiochene

ordines

12

0,

and reference

to

s on bapt ism in

Ephrem

121 and Philoxenos 122 indicate that

soon gained

much

richer connotations,

t hanks to

th e paral

awn between th e

Incarnation an d

the Christian's

baptism.

vided

the

schema :

ral;l;ef f rom Gen i 2 i s sti ll employed elsewhere

of

th e

ovement in

some

of th e baptismal

ordines

116, although

rather more common in the West Syrian anaphoras,

finding a plac e

in

th e consecratory epiklesis itself 117.

See

E. BECK,

Le

Rapt me chez S.

Ephrem,

L 01 ient

Syrien

1 1 95 6) ,

f

3Apud

Dionysios ba r Salibi, Oomm. Gospels (ed.

A.

VASCHALDE

res Syri 49)

II , p. 304 (tr.

p. 2.46) ; French

translation

E.

P. Sl

op. cit. [ no te 3 9] , p. 217.

Cp Timothy ,

pp .

419-20.

Cp

Jacob

of

Serugh, e d. B ED JA N)

IV ,

p. 703.

his

fur ther f rame of

reference is speci fi call y

i nt ended in

t some o f th e Antiochene liturgical texts is suggested by the

t between the 'womb of

th e water'

and the 'womb of

) be found

in

Mshort, JS , SD and Tb 123, where the missing

the

chain

of thought

i s M ar y,

the

New

Eve 124.

is a ls o

e

that this

parallelism is implicit

in th e

use

of th e verb

agen

T

13 xi

and 53 ;

JS ASSEMANI

H,

pp .

3 15, 3 25,

342).

is

und in the

commentators,

e. g Moshe ba r Kepha see note 34).

E.

g.

th e

Syriac John Oh1 ysostom (A S

I,

p. 170),

X

Apostles

anaphora, S I, p.

246),

0Y1 il (A S

I,

p.

342f),

Jacob

of

Serugh

naphora,

S H, p . 20f )

etc.

karsa

in th e Old

Syriac

a nd Pesh it ta (a s T

3 5, 4 3.

I,

p. 70, 74

(both

uba);

B

(Assemani

I

p.

230: this

prayer

is

nded version of one found in

I,

p. 74 ) ;

JS

(Assemani

H,

pp . 338,

);

S

(Horns

ed it ion , pp .

31, 46).

SD

31, 32, 36, 41. is very

9n

in

Syriac writers , e.

g.

Narsai (ed. MINGANA) I, p.

348

etc.

; Jacob

gh (ed. BEDJAN) I, p. 607 etc. For west er n u se

see

LUNDBERG,

SEBASTIAN BROCE:

Thy bapti sm wit h wat er has sanct ified

claimed our resurrection.

113

De Rap t. IV ,

1-3.

114

E. g.

Ephrem H.

Epiph.

(ed.

LAMY)

VHI,16.

115

See

T. J

ANSMA

Some 1 emarks on the Sy1 0-hexaplaric

P (J ,{M,1W

Vetus Testamentum 20 1970), pp .

16-24,

fo r

details

(cp

also

in P. O. XXII.

4, p. 108).

5) The bapti smal water represents th e primeval wate

in

JS

an d

SD).

Al though t hi s i de a

is

no t present in th e

epiklesis

does occur in

th e

consecration

prayer

common to JS

an d evidently it

once played a more

prominent

part

in

t

chene ordines than

it

does

in th e surviving texts. Thi

in JS and SD is

in

fact th e only place in th e Antiochen

where speci fi c reference i s

made to

th e

activity of th e Ho

over th e primeval

waters,

although, as

we

shall

see,

there

a

of such a r ef er en ce in

other

texts too.

The

Spirit ' of Genesis i 2 is

already brought into

co

with Christian baptism by

TertuIlian

113, while

in

th e Syr

th e

same point

is

often made

114.

According

to

this

piece

logy baptism is seen as th e New Creation,

an d

once it had

established it will have encouraged th e assignment of a mor

role of

th e Ho ly

Spirit

in the

course

of th e

consecration.

baptismal

water.

In

t he fourth

and fifth cent uries, however, when

the

school

of

e xe ge si s d ev el op ed a h os til e

attitude

to typolo

exegete

par

excellence Theodore

of

Mopsuestia, denied that

i 2 referred

to the Holy Spiri t

at all.

This

literal

interp

of

Ge ne sis i 2 w hi ch is e ar li er

found in Ephrem)

not

only

de rigueu1

among East Syrian

exegetes, bu t

it

also gai ne

adherents among th e Syrian

Orthodox,

such as J acob o f

Ser

In

the

light

of

this

it

is

not

surprising

to

find

no

direc

ences

to the activity of th e Holy Spi ri t i n

Genesis

i.

2

outs

an d SD, no r

is

it

surprising

that

we

should have in these t ,

nes an

ensuing epiklesis

which

provides a completely differ

of

references t o

John xix

34),

which

were

entirely

accept

th e

views of

th e

Antiochene exegetical school.

Not

al l t ra ce s o f th e old typology, however,

208


15/17

211

IE E PIK LE SIS IN THE ANTIOCHENE

BAPTISMAL

ORDINES

of Serugh

it is

Chr is t who

stirs th e

baptismaJ water;

iklesis

of

Ph it is his

spirit,

for

th e prayer

is

addressed

and

no t

to

th e Father.

1 e can be no doubt

that

the

epildesis

in

Ph wa s

composed

which thought

exactly

as Jacob of Serugh d id 132.

is

ble, too, t ha t i t is

Jacob of Serugh who

is th e

Syriac

writer

ought appears

to

be closest

t o our

final

fr ame o f

reference :

e baptismal water

is

t he wat er which

flows

from th e

side

Christ

MshOlt, JS, SD an d

Tb).

have already seen that explicit

r ef er en ce i s

made to

John

in the

closely

related

epikleses

to be found in Mshort, JS,

Tb

;

i n t he

first

of

these it

i s Chris t

w ho is

addressed,

while

ther three

th e request for th e Spirit

is

made to

the Fathe r.

likely

that

th e

address

direct

to Chr is t i s the

older

133.

e also

noticed

that

the variant

flowed ,

in

place

of

went

indicates

that

this

epiklesis originated

in

a Syriac, and

ek,

speaking area

134,

The purpose

of this variant

i s c l ea rl y

John xix 34 with

a c hr is to lo gi ca l

interpretation of

th e

own passage John vii

37-8, where

th e

verb flow ( p ~ ( U

jrda)

135.

though

a

numbe r o f Antiochene wri ters connect th e water

1

xix

34 with

baptism

136, it i s in teres ting that Theodore

no reference

at

all to th e passage

in his baptismal

homilies,

e

same

is true of Narsai

in

hi s two memre

on

baptism;

Nar

lence is

particularly significant

in that

at

one

point

th e

t

cries

ou t

for

such

a

reference to be made 137.

would

I have come across no e xamp le of this

in te rpre ta t ion of

.Tohn V

writings

of

Philoxenos himself.

Cp

above,

pp . 197.

See p. 190.

On this see especial ly H.

RARNER,

Flurnina de ventre OhTisti, Biblica

1),

pp .

269-302, 367-403,

an d

M.

E.

BOIsMARD,

De son vent1 e coule-

fieuves d eau Revue biblique 6 5 1 95 8) , pp . 527-46.

The

connec-

tween

th e tw o passages is very

obvious

in

.Tacob

of

Serugh

(ed.

BED

V, p. 608 (end): R ivers of

living

water flow

over

th e earth from

tain

which th e spear 1 urnba) p ie rc ed ope n on Golgotha .

Ephrem

(ed.

LAMY

I, col. 53 ;

Afrahat Dern.

XII .8 ; Chrysostom

IH , 16-17 (ed. WENGER,

S

50, pp . 1 60 - 1) ; Theodore of

Mopsuestia

John

ad lac. Fo r

it s us e i n wes te rn baptismal texts, see Lundberg,

note

3,

land

p.

232.

According

to

CULLMANN

o p. cit.

[ no te 1 28 ],

SEBASTIAN BROCK

That

m ig ht y one, who was b or n

of

thee sc.

the

a d iv in e w ay , will

stir nzi ) the

fountain,

so that the

m ay be healed

in it.

or 131

125 See

a bove , p .

203.

126

See

LAMPE,

A Patristic Lexicon

s.v.

12 7

There

a re , however ,

some

parallels in Ethiopic an d Latin

texts, see LUNDBERG

p.

25,

an d

ATCRLEY pp . 1 06 , 1 64 .

12 8

The connect ion

is already made in Tertullian D e R ap t.

may

possibly

already

h av e b ee n i n

t he m in d

of th e evangel i st h i

O.

CULLMANN, Les sam ernents dans l evangile johannique

pp . 55-7).

12 9

Ed .

BEDJAN,

IV ,

pp .

701-24,

esp.

702-8.

P.

7) The

baptismal

water i s p re fi gu re d

in

th e

water

of

Bethesda

(Ph).

The

episode

of th e

healing

of the paralyt ic i n John

infrequently taken as

a

type

for

Christian

baptism,

larity o f t he interpretation

is

shown

by

the very lrE,ql;len

Greek writers, of X O A U [ L ~ ~ P C (John

v

2) in

th e sense

o f

water

or font 126 ; in the Syr iac New Testament

actually

rendered

ma muditha in

both the Old

Syriac

That this s hould be the

biblical episode

referred to in

eprkleslS is,

however,

a

little

surprising

127, bu t th e

the word

nzi in

Ph makes th e allusion certain.

Early

Syriac wri ters

make

no

special

use

of the

John v in connection

with baptism

128, but if

one turns

of

Serugh s homily on

th e

healing

ofthe

paralytic in

this

o ne f in ds ,

in the

opening

pages

of

the

homily,

what

is

commentary on

th e

thought

behind th e epiklesis

in

quotations must suffice to illustrate

this 13 0 :

T he S on

of

God descended

and

stirred

azi ah) the

water, so

that

it might give healing

birth to

a ll k in ds

creatures every

day:

a new creation has begun,

from our Lord.

210

for th e

t he Spi ri t s a ct iv it y over th e water,

for

th e

and Peshi tt a

employ this

verb to render b t ( j x , . ~ ( U in

The power

of

th e

highest

shall

overshadow thee

)

125.


16/17

213

P IK LE SI S IN THE ANTIOCHENE BAPTISMAL ORDINES

of w hi ch we r ec ei ve th e

purification

w hi ch i s g iv en

h

the holy blood...

142.

t e mer ges from . th is survey of the

Antiochene baptismal

1

From th e structural point of

view

th e

differentiation

epikleses

using the verb send

an d

those

using

come

me

to be of

basic

impo rt an ce . Here it

is

interesting

that

bution of these two main t yp es

to a

certain

extent

cuts

e

boundaries of

ecclesiastical

allegiance:

while

send

exclusively

in

West Syrian and, of course, Greek)

texts,

which is

th e norm

of

t he Eas t Syrian

texts,

i s a ls o

attested

West Syr ian

ones as well

as

in

th e

Greek

anaphora

of

d is

actually th e only type

to

be found in JS.

it s ee ms c le ar

that

requests to

send

th e

Holy

Spirit

mpara tive ly late int roduct ion in consecratory

epikleses,

regular only in

the

5th century ;

this

certainly seems to

se

with

th e

baptismal

epikleses, seeing

that the

original

the

consecration

prayer common to

S

Band Byz

con

reference to

the Holy Spirit at

all

143.

Use

of th e verb

however, would appear to be

of much greater ant iqui ty ,

we

should

recognize

three

different

stages of development.

test s tage the Father

is

addressed

and

the request

is

made

~ p r t may

come ;

this

is

th e form

that we

normally

h in

the

surviving

epikleses of

this type.

The

short baptis

ices, h owev er, w hi ch b ei ng less frequently used) have

many

archaic

features,

indicate that the

baptismal

epik-

originally

addressed to

Christ.

Thus

we

have the inter

stage, where C hrist is

requested

that

his

Spirit

may

t hi s is attested

in

Mshort and in some

of

th e epikleses in

of Thomas.

The

earliest

stage is represented only in

f

the other

epikleses

to

be found in th e cts

of Thomas

ist is

addressed

with

th e

imperative

come . In the

he

eucharistic

l i turgy this

usage can reasonably be taken

a the Didache to th e New Testament

itself,

and t he litur

ase

marana tha quoted by Paul.

One can of course only

about i ts

possible use

in

th e

primitive baptismal liturgy,

is th e original

reading so E ;

for

th e m any

variants here,

hse,crai;ion

,

p.

326.

SEBASTIAN BROCK

13 8 Ed .

BEDJAN I, pp . 153-67.

13 9

P. 162.

14 0

Ed . BEZOLD,

p.

255; compare

p.

263, where

a

robe

0

mentioned place of bap ti sm: for this, see my Aspe ct s of G

in Syriac (forthcoming), note

114. Anothe r n ic e

piece of my

found

in J ac ob o f

Serugh

(ed.

BEDJAN ,

V.

p.

670),

where

th e

thief is also baptized in th e water (mixed with th e blood) fro

of

Christ.

141 Hence

th e

f requent reversa l

of the

Gospel s word

I

should

also

add that the

water

from th e

side

of

C

a

baptismal

role

in

a

quaint

piece

of

Christian

y t ~ o q

found in

th e

Gave of Treasures. The anonymous

WrIter

how,

at

th e crucifixion, th e blood and

water

flowed

side

of

Christ, an d

came

down

into

t he mou th cf Ada

buried

immediately beneath

the

cross),

and they

constitut

mal water

for him, and he

was

baptized

140 . Note

water and the blood are men tioned to geth er i n J acob

and t he

Gave of Treasures

where th e

image

of c ou rs e c

avoid

this)

: usually in

patristic tradition

th e

water

al

ferred

to

baptism

as in

our

epikleses), while th e blood

as

a reference,

e ithe r to t he eucha ris t, o r to martyrdom

opening

of the

consecration

pr aye r i n

S

E, h ow ev er

has th e

blood

o f J ohn XIX 34 in

mind

in one passage,

find

mention

of

water

w hi ch i s s an ct if ie d

through

invo

rather appear that

East

Syrian writers

go ou t

of their

making use of

John

xix

34 in a

baptismal

context.

The

only

Syriac

writer

known

to m e, b es ide

really

emphasizes

th e

baptismal

reference i n J ohn

of

Serugh, in

hi s

homily

on

t he three bap ti sms

138.

is

worth

quoting

at

some

length 139

:

Ch ri st came a nd op ened u p b ap ti sm

by

his cross,

so

that

it s ho ul d be a m ot he r o f l ife for the world

in

p

water

and blood for t he fashioning o f s pi ri tu al b a

flowed forth for it, a nd b ap ti sm b eca me the mothe

No previous baptism i.e. of Moses o r o f J o hn ) ever ga

only

the

baptism which was opened up

by the

Son of

it gives

birth to

children spiritually

with the

water

and

and, in stead of a soul,

the

H ol y S pi ri t is b re at he d


17/17

215

Sebastian

BRO O K

E P IK L ES I S I N TH E ANTI OCHENE

BAPTISMAL

ORDINES

might

be

different

if there

were

available

comparative

other parts of the Antiochene baptismal services

as

is

something

for th e

future.

S E B AS T IA N B R O C K

14 4 Th e

ensuing

v e r s

s a n c t i f y

e tc . w il l b e l at er features.

14 5

Theodore died

428) s ti l l u se s

c o m e : see

note

44. T

of course, t ha t

th e

u sa ge w as no t confined to

th e

Syriac-speal

an d

h el ps e x pl ai n h ow it

came to

b e p r es e r ve d

in th e Greek

a

Basil.

146 E.g.

W.

MACOMBER,

The Maronit e and

Chaldean

1 ) e j s ~ n M

phora of the postles c p 37 (1971),

pp . 55-84.

bu t this would cert ainl y

fit in well

with

th e

early

Antid

tion

that

C hri st sanct if i ed

the Jordan by his baptis

simply asked

to come an d reactivate

it at

each

baptism

I

would accordingly

suggest

that

in th e Syriac-sp

ches

an

epiklesis, using th e v e r come , is

of

very

quity 1 4 4 ,

an d t ha t i t

was once th e norm

over

th e entire

by

these

churches. F ro m t he e ar ly 5t h century

onwar

Greek influence

le d

t o t he partial

replacement,

i n t he m

area 145,

o f t hi s type of epiklesis

by

one

using

th e v

S a n d

:8,

as

might

be expect ed,

have suffered m o st i n) ;

although co me does survive in a qala in S Homs editi

JS, on th e o t he r h an d, proves to be th e most conserva,

th e

W es t S yr ia n b ap ti sm al m dines

a nd t hi s

conforms

th e picture that is emerging from t he s tu dy of otherp

Maronite

litmgical

tradition

as well

1 4 6 .

T he W es t S yr ia n b ap ti sm al epikleses, where send

adopted, follow (as we have seen) th e construction fo

Greek anaphora

of

John Oln ysostom, employing

t w o

send sanctify (eto.)

against th e practice

o f t he

va s

of W e st Syria n a naphora s,

where a f ina l c lause

f o l l o w s . \ ~ .

ative s end

. Indeed, th e

independence of

th e West S

tismal an d eucharistic

epikleses is rather

remarkable,

from rather

rare

coincidences of phraseology, th e singl

instanoe

of interaction is

provided b y

th e

interpolatio

texts of S

of

th e epiklesis

from th e Greek

anaphora of

is h ard t o draw an y conclusions from th e seco

ou r

study,

o f t he c on te nt o f th e epikleses,

f or h er e it is:

v a ri e ty o f terms of reference that most

impresses

one.

a wi der r ea di ng o f t h e r el ev an t p at ri st ic sources

than

m

t hr ow u p

more

parallels th an

those

I have

adduced,

s uo h p ar al el ls often serve very nicely to illustrate th

behind

th e

different epikleses, in

th e

absence

of

an y

dir

tions I

would

regard it as unwise

to

use th is so rt of m

an y attempt

to

fix the a pproxImate da te

o f t h e

texts of

th

a t a ny ra te on th e basis of

th e

evidence of th e epikle

214

brock, the epiklesis in the antiochene baptismal ordines

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