The Eucharistic Prayer, or the Consecration Prayer, in the Divine Liturgy of the Orthodox Churches, the Mass of the Roman Church and the Order for Holy Communion of the Anglican Churches is addressed to the Father and to the Father alone – in the Name of Christ Jesus, the Son, and with the Holy Spirit.
In fact there are canons passed by Synods in North Africa (Hippo and Carthage) from the late fourth century which require that “at the altar prayer shall always be addressed to the Father.”
This makes good sense when one recalls the belief of the ancient church as to the nature of the Eucharist. It was seen as a sacrificial presentation of Christ, once for all sacrificed at Calvary, to the Father in heaven. Logic and piety required that the Prayer be addressed to the Father almighty, the Father of the only-begotten Son, who received his crucified and resurrected Son into heaven to reign with him in glory.
But what about other prayer within the Service? Is it legitimate to address Jesus Christ directly anywhere other than in the Eucharistic Prayer? Or is he to be only seen in his role as the One Mediator?
The answer of the Church through space and time seems to be “Yes, but only rarely!”
In the Sarum Missal, used widely in the medieval Church of England, three Collects were addressed to the Lord Jesus Christ, and all in Advent, the season which focuses upon the Coming of Christ in both humility and glory. The First, Third and Fourth of these Latin Prayers are brief and each one addressed to the Incarnate Son of God. In The Book of Common Prayer (1662) there are also only three, this time St. Stephen’s Day, the Third Sunday in Advent, and the First Sunday in Lent.
Now it is obvious that if a national Church specifically addressed Jesus Christ in Prayer in the Collect before the Epistle and Gospel then that Church is clearly declaring the full Deity of the Lord Jesus, for prayer is addressed to God. And, we may recall that are other places in the Service where he is also addressed as God – e.g., in the “Christ have mercy” in the Kyrie.
All revelation and salvation to mankind is from the Father through the Son and by the Holy Ghost; all praise and prayer from the elect of God rises to the Father through the Son and with the Holy Spirit. This action of the Blessed, Holy and Undivided Trinity of the Father, the Son and the Holy Ghost in coming to us in order to raise us to Himself underlies and gives saving power to the whole redemptive drama of the Eucharist. And it underlines that normally all prayer from thanksgiving to confession of sins is to be addressed to the Father through the One Mediator, the Lord Jesus Christ. This said, both the Lord Jesus Christ and the Holy Ghost are Persons within the Holy Trinity and eacn One possesses wholly the same, identical deity as does the Father (see the Nicene Creed and the Athanasian Creed). And thus each One may be addressed in prayer as God on occasion and where the context suggests or requires -- e.g., in the invocation of the Holy Ghost to descend upon candidates for ordination.
In the week of December 11th the Collect at the Order for Holy Communion in The Book of Common Prayer is addressed to the Lord Jesus Christ and fits naturally into the themes of Advent.
O Lord Jesu Christ, who at thy first coming didst send thy messenger to prepare thy way before thee; Grant that the ministers and stewards of thy mysteries may likewise so prepare and make ready thy way, by turning the hearts of the disobedient to the wisdom of the just, that at they second coming to judge the world we may be found an acceptable people in thy sight, who livest and reignest with the Father and the Holy Spirit, ever one God, world without end. Amen.
Let us pray for the Clergy that they will at this Season truly be “ministers and stewards” of the mysteries of the Gospel of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.
The Rev'd Dr. Peter Toon MA., D.Phil (Oxford)
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