RITES
81
RITES
the Father by whom all things were made in Heaven
and in Earth, visible and invisible; who for us men and
our salvation came down from Heaven, was incarnate
and was made man and perfectly begotten through
the Holy Ghost of the most Holy Virgin Mary; he
assumed from her body, soul, and mind, and all that
in man is, truly and not figuratively;" and "we be-
lieve also in the Holy Ghost, not created, all perfect,
who proceedeth from the Father (and the Son),
who spake in the Law, in the Prophets and the Holy
Gospel, who descended into the Jordan, who preached
Him who was sent, and who dwelt in the Saints," and
after concluding in the ordinary form adds the sen-
tence pronounced by the First Council of Nicsea:
"Those who say there was a time when the Son was
not, or when the Holy Ghost was not; or that they
were created out of nothing; or that the Son of God
and the Holy Ghost are of another substance or that
they are mutable; the Catholic and Apostolic church
condemns." Then the Confession of St. Gregory is
intoned aloud, and the Little Ektene sung. The kiss
of peace is here given to the clergy. The deacon at
its close dismi.sscs the catechumens, and the choir
sings the Hymn of the Great Entrance, when the bread
and wine are solemnly brought to the altar. "The
Body of our Lord and the Blood of our Redeemer are
to be before us. The Heavenly Powers invisible
sing and proclaim with uninterrupted voice, Holy,
Holy, Holy, Lord God of Hosts."
Here the curtains are drawn, and the prie.st takes off his crown (or the bishop his mitre). The priest incenses the holy gifts and again washes his hands, repeating Psalm xxvi as before. After the Saluta- tion is sung, the catechumens are dismissed, and the Anaphora or Canon begins. The Preface is said secretly, only the concluding part being intoned to which the choir responds with the Sanctus. The prayer before consecration follows, with a comparison of the Old and the New Law, not found in either Greek or Roman Rite: "Holy, Holy, Holy; Thou art in truth most Holy; who is there who can dare to describe by words thy bounties which flow down upon us without measure? For Thou didst protect and console our forefathers, when they had fallen in sin, by means of the prophets, the Law, the priesthood, and the offering of bullocks, showing forth that which was to come. And when at length He came. Thou didst tear in pieces the register of our sins, and didst bestow on us Thine Only Begotten Son, the debtor and the debt, the victim and the anointed, the Lamb and Bread of Heaven, the Priest and the Oblation, for He is the distributor and is always distributed amongst us, without being exhausted. Being made man truly and not apparently, and by union without confusion. He was incarnate in the womb of the Virgin Mary, Mother of God, and journeyed through all the passions of human life, sin only excepted, and of His own free will walked to the cross, whereby He gave life to the world and wrought salvation for us." Then follow the actual words of consecration, which are intoned aloud. Then follow the Offering and the Epiklesis, which differs slightly in the Gregorian and Cathohc form; the Gregorian is: "whereby Thou wilt make the bread when blessed truly the body of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ;" and the Catholic form: "whereby Thou hast made the bread when blessed truly the Body of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ." As there is actually no blessing or con- secration after the Epiklesis the Cathohc form repre- sents the correct belief. Then come the prayers for the living and the dead, and an intoning by the deacons of the Commemoration of the Saints, in which nearly all the Armenian saints are mentioned. Then the deacon intones aloud the Ascription of Praise of Bishop Chosroes the Great in thanksgiving for the Sacrament of the Altar. After this comes a long Ektene or Litany, and then the Our Father is sung XHL— 6
by the choir. The celebrant then elevates the con-
secrated Host, saying " Holy things for Holy Persons,"
and when the choir responds, he continues: "Let ua
taste in holiness the holy and honourable Body and
Blood of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ who came
down from heaven and is now distributed among us. "
Then the choir sings antiphons in honour of the sacri-
fice of the Body and Blood, and the small curtain is
drawn. The priest kisses the sacred Victim, saying
"I confess and I believe that Thou art Christ, the
Son of God, who has borne the sins of the world."
The Host is divided into three parts, one of which is
placed in the chaUce. The choir sing the communion
hymns as appointed ; the priest and the clergy receive
the Communion first, and then the choir and people.
The little curtain is withdrawn when the Communion
is given, and the great curtains are drawn back when
the people come up for Communion.
After Communion, the priest puts on his crown (or the bishop his mitre), and the great curtains are again drawn. Thanksgiving prayers are said behind them, after which the great curtains are withdrawn once more, and the priest holding the book of gospels says the great prayer of peace, and blesses the people. Then the deacon proclaims "Orthi" (stand up) and the celebrant reads the Last Gospel, which is nearly always invariable, being the Gospel of St. John,i, 1 sqq.: "In the beginning was the Word, etc."; the only exception is from Easter to the eve of Pentecost, when they use the Gospel of St. John, xxi, 15-20: "So when they had dined, etc." Then the prayer for peace and the "Kyrie Eleison" (thrice) are said, the final benediction is given, and the priest retires from the altar. Whilst Psalm xxxiv is recited or sung by the people, the blessed bread is distributed. The Catholic Armenians confine this latter rite to high festivals only. The chief editions of the Gregorian Armenian Missals are those printed at Constantinople (1823, 1844), Jemsalem (1841, 1873, and 1884), and Etschmiadzin (1873); the chief Catholic Armenian editions are those of Venice (1808, 1874, 1895), Trieste (1808), and Vienna (1858, 1884).
Armenian Catholics. — Armenians had come to the United States in small numbers prior to 1895. In that and the following year the Turkish massacres took place throughout Armenia and Asia Minor, and large numbers of Armenians emigrated to America. Among them were many Armenian Catholics, al- though these were not sufficiently numerous to organ- ize any religious communities like their Gregorian brethren. In 1898 Mgr Stephan Azarian (Stephen X), then Catholic Patriarch of Cilicia of the Arme- nians, who resided in Constantinople, entered into negotiations with Cardinal Ledochowski, Prefect of the Congregation of the Propaganda, and through him obtained the consent of Archbishop Corrigan of New York and Archbishop Williams of Boston for priests of the Armenian Rite to labour in their re- spective pro\'inces for the Armenian Cathohcs who had come to this country. He sent as the first Ar- menian missionary the Very Reverend Archpriest Mardiros Mighirian, who had been educated at the Propaganda and the Armenian College, and arrived in the United States on Ascension Day, 11 May, 1899. He at first went to Boston where he assembled a small congregation of Armenian Catholics, and later pro- ceeded to New York to look after the spiritual welfare of the Cathohc Armenians in Manhattan and Brook- IjTi. He also established a mission station in Worces- ter, Massachusetts. In New York and Brooklyn the Cathohcs of the Armenian Rite are (Uvdded into those who speak Armenian and those who, coming from places outside of the historic Armenia, speak the Arabic language. At present this missionary is stationed at St. Stephen's church in East Twenty- eighth Street, since large numbers of Armenians live in that vicinity, but has another congregation under
