THE HISTORY OF THE EKTENIA

Essentially the ektenia is a titanic, supplicatory prayer of the entire congregation, the ecclesia, voiced through the deacon or

priest, and united to the prayers of the celebrant. " I desire there­fore, first of all, that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanks­givings be made for all men : for kings and for all that are in high station : that we may lead a quiet and a peaceable life in all piety and chastity," wrote Paul to Timothy (I Tim. 2:1-2). In the Great Ektenia, there are intercessions for the rulers of the country, for those in high governmental offices, etc. Undoubtedly, St. Paul taught the people those very things which he asks Timothy to do. Just as surely, Timothy listened to the voice of Paul. This may well be the original form of the ektenia.

The petition "eleison," or the more formal "Kyrie eleison," directed at any one of the gods, can be traced to pre-Christian times and, hence, must have been very familiar to the early converts. 1

Pre-Christian Jews were also familiar with this petition as addressed to the true God, for Holy Scriptures abound in examples of its use (e.g., Pss. 6:3; 40:5, II). With proper changes, it was only natural that the Christians should adopt such practices in their own prayers.

All this, of course, does not prove that some form of titanic, supplicatory prayer was used in the very early Christian liturgical services, although it probably was. A careful study of Oement's letter to the recalcitrant Corinthians suggests such a possibility (see above, pp. 35-36). Hints of it appear also in Justin's Apology when he tells of saying " earnest prayers in common for ourselves, for the newly baptized, and for all others all over the world. " • Ultimately, this great Prayer of Intercession can be traced

1 How strongly this habit must have been entrenched among the people is witnessed by a fifth century Alexandrian preacher denouncing the practice of many Christians who had kept bowing to the rising sun and crying out, i>.bjaov Tjµiic; ("Have mercy on us "). Cf. DOlger, Sol salutis, Gebet und Gesang im chris­tlichen Altertum [Miinster im W., 1920], pp. 61-63.

• Justin, First Apology, chap. 65.

to the Jewish Liturgy. 3 In the early evolution of this type of prayer in the Christian assemblies, the petitions were probably made by the celebrant (the bishop, or the priest as his substitute), while the laity's part may have been limited to a moment of silent prayer after each pennon. It is not known precisely when the congregation began expressing its union with the celebrant by saying " Amen, " or " Kyrie eleison." It was probably very early. ' The actual content of these early supplications is also unknown, but from the fourth century on, many references indicate a surprising similarity.

In the Egyptian Church, for example, astonishing resemblances appear in the various prayers (22-30) of Sarapion's Eucho/ogion (c. A.D. 353-360 ), especially in the "Prayer for the People" (27) : In that petitions are prayers for the well-being of the faithful, the peace of the state, the tranquillity of the Church, the slaves, the poor, the aged, travelers, the sick, etc.; we can say the same of the prayer for the bishop and the various members of the Church (25), which included priests, deacons, subdeacons, lectors, etc. These, we must remember, were the bishop's prayers. While the bishop prayed, the deacon made similar petitions. 5

• Cf. A. Baumstark, Comparative Liturgy (Westminster, Md., 1958), p. 45 . • Cf. ibid., pp. 45-46. • Another set of Alexandrian intercessions or slightly revised versions of them,

which may even antedate the Euchologion of Sarapion are still used at several points in the Liturgy of the Coptic Rite :

" Deacon : Pray for the peace of the One Holy Catholic and Apostolic Orthodox Church of God. The people bow deeply and say : Lord, have mercy.

"Celebrant : We pray and beseech thy goodness, 0 Lover of mankind : remember, 0 Lord, the peace of thine only Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church which is from one end of the world to the other : bless all the peoples and all the lands : the peace that is from heaven grant in all our hearts, but also graciously bestow upon us the peace of this life. The emperor, the armies, the magistrates, the councillors, the people, our neighbors, our comings-in and our goings-out, order them all in thy peace. 0 King of peace, grant us peace, for thou hast given us all things : possess us, 0 God, for beside thee we know none other : we make mention of thy holy name. Let all our souls live through thy Holy Spirit, and let not the death of sin have dominion over us or over all thy people; through thine only-begotten Son, Jesus Christ, by whom glory and might be unto thee in the Holy Spirit now and throughout all ages.

" Deacon : Pray for our Patriarch, the Pope, and Father N-, Lord Archbishop of the great city of Alexandria. The people bow deeply and say : Lord, have mercy.

" Celebrant : We pray and beseech thy goodness, 0 Lover of mankind : remember, 0 Lord, our Patriarch, our honored Father N--. Preserve him to us in safety many years in peaceful times, fulfilling that holy pontificate which thou thyself hast committed unto him according to thy holy and blessed will,

From the Church at Jerusalem, c. A.D. 390, Etheria tells how one of the deacons would read a list of petitions and " as he spoke each of the names, a crowd of boys stood there and answered him each time, ' Kyrie eleison, ' as we say, ' Lord, have mercy .... ' " • If this was done at Vespers, more cogent reasons would have dictated the same at the Eucharistic Liturgy.

About the same time or a little before (c. A.D. 370), we meet the fully developed litanic form in the Antiochene Church, as offered by the compiler of the Apostolic Constitutions in Book VIII, along with a wealth of rubrical prescriptions. One such rubric is : "At each of these petitions which the deacon pronounces, the people should say, Kyrie eleison, especially the children" (see above, p. 111). The petitions themselves referred to a series of classes ( catechumens, those possessed of evil spirits, those in the last stages of preparation for baptism, the penitents, etc.). Over each class, the deacon pro­claimed a lengthy series of petitions to which the people responded, " Kyrie eleison," and the bishop imparted his blessing in the form of a prayer. Although the compiler may have expanded the series, he has preserved faithfully the Antiochene practice : direct evidence for this is found in Chrysostom's homilies preached in Antioch (see above, pp. 109-121). The same may be said for the "prayers of the faithful, the intercessory petitions for the world at large," etc., as even a cursory study of these sources will reveal. No less astonishing is the resemblance between these fourth-century forms and the present ektenias in the various Byzantine liturgical services. 7 It is under­stood, of course, that the position of these litanic forms was not at

rightly distributing the word of truth, feeding thy people in holiness and right­eousness; and with him, all the orthodox bishops and presbyters and deacons, and all the fullness of thine One Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church. Bestow on him with us peace and safety from all quarters; and his prayer which he maketh on our behalf and on behalf of all thy people-and ours as well on his behalf, do thou accept on thy spiritual altar in heaven for a sweet-smelling savor. And all his enemies visible and invisible do thou bruise and humble shortly under his feet, but himself do thou keep in peace and righteousness in thy holy Church.

" Deacon : Pray for this holy ecclesia and our meetings. The people bow deeply and say : Lord, have mercy; etc. "

• Aetheriae peregrinatio, chap. 24 (CSEL, XXXIX, 72). 7 The student of the Liturgy will also want to include the petitions mentioned

by Basil (A.D. 379) in his letters: Epist., 155 (PG 32, 612); Epist., 97 (PG 32, 493); Epist., 148, 2 to end (PG 32, 581 AB); etc.

the beginning of the service, but after the lessons just before the various dismissals ending the Liturgy of the Catechumens.

By the eighth century, not only were all the ektenias of the Byzan­tine-Armenian Liturgy of St. John Chrysostom substantially the same as they are today in the Byzantine Liturgy, but also nearly all their petitions or supplications, as regard their text, their order and their division. 8 The only difference of any importance is in the ektenia that now follows the Gospel reading. 9 The Byzantine system may have been imposed upon Armenia during the military occupation between A.D. 630 and 693.

Why was this titanic prayer, originally found at the closing of the synaxis, shifted to different parts of the Divine Liturgy? What is now called the enarksis (£va.p~t~) was originally a separate prayer service, akin to one of the canonical hours. Performed in the narthex of the church, it consisted in the veneration of the images of Christ, of the Mother of God, and of the saints adorning the church doors. It is essentially titanic, consisting in a threefold ektenia and a three­fold antiphon. It may have been performed occasionally before the Liturgy of the Catechumens (probably while the people were waiting for the entrance of the bishop). By the seventh century, it had become a habit, so much so that it came to be seen as an actual part of the Liturgy. 10 The modified position of the other ektenias is probably due to other but similar reasons.

Some authors hold that when the Eucharistic Prayer and later most of the celebrant's prayers began to be recited silently, and when the veil screen (iconostas) was set up-excluding the laity from their traditionally intimate participation in the divine services-the ektenias began to be recited because the people had nothing else to do. 11 Others explain that the celebrant, occupied with his own part

•Cf. Catergian-Dasian, Die Liturgien bei den Armeniem, TU (Wien, 1897), pp. 182 ff.; also G. Aucher, La versione armena de/la liturgia di S. Giovanni Cris­ostom, XPYCOCTOMIKA, pp. 373 ff.

•Cf. Catergian-Dasian, op. cit., pp. 189-190; Aucher, op. cit., pp. 380-381. 10 In the early eighth century Armenian version of Chrysostom's Liturgy, the

whole enarksis is considered part of the Divine Liturgy. Cf. Aucher, op. cit., pp. 373-377.

11 E.g., Dom Gregory Dix in his otherwise superb book, Shape of the Liturgy (London : Dacre Press, 1960), pp. 482-483.

of the Liturgy, let the deacon conduct what was going on outside the sanctuary. The priest could then prepare himself for the sacrifice with silent prayers, etc. 12

It should be clear, however, even to the student uninitiated into the intricacies of the Byzantine Liturgy, that the silent recitation of the Eucharistic Prayer had nothing to do with bringing in the ektenias as if they were to occupy the attention of the congregation while the liturgical action, the Eucharist proper, proceeded apart from them behind the screen. The reason is that no ektenia occurs during the Byzantine Eucharistic Prayer, or for that matter during any priestly action in the course of the whole Divine Liturgy! In fact, the people sing enough responses to keep them busy during any liturgical service, without resorting to the ektenia. As for the veil, and later, the screen, they created little if any difficulty for the celebrant. In fact, without a deacon, he can do his part and also intone the ektenias.

The popularity of the ektenias can be explained to a great extent on merely psychological grounds. Their petitions are vivid expres­sions of the people's ordinary needs; their content is all-inclusive; their language, brief, and concrete. By repeating the words mentally or whispering them after the deacon, the uninitiated could pray for their uncomplicated needs in words they understood. The ektenias put them in the midst of a fundamental evangelical atmosphere because the petitions are full of the evangelical spirit. The invariable responses were suited to the uneducated who constituted the mass of the converts after the fourth century. Even today, theJirst things a visitor learns at any Byzantine service are these short,~changing responses of the people : Hospody, pomyluj, Kupte: eAb)crov, " Lord, have mercy. "

As services became longer, an attempt for more brevity was made by having the celebrant pray some of his prayers silently while the deacon was still repeating with the people the ektenias originally intended as introductions to these same prayers.