Tuesday, July 19, 2016

Didascalia Apostolorum

Via Msgr. Pope at the National Catholic Register, an excerpt from the Didascalia Apostolorum, written about AD 230, probably by a bishop:

Pretty damning evidence against those who still hold on to the thoroughly-debunked scholarship from the 60s and 70s about how in the early Church the liturgy consisted of Mass facing the people:

Now, in your gatherings, in the holy Church, convene yourselves modestly in places of the brethren, as you will, in a manner pleasing and ordered with care. Let the place of the priests be separated in a part of the house that faces east. In the midst of them is placed the bishop’s chair, and with him let the priests be seated. Likewise, and in another section let the laymen be seated facing east. For thus it is proper: that the priests sit with the bishop in a part of the house to the east and after them the lay men and the lay women…Now, you ought to face east to pray, for, as you know, scripture has it, Give praise to God who ascends above the highest heavens to the east… And if there is one to be found who is not sitting in his place let the deacon who is within, rebuke him, and make him to rise and sit in his fitting place… Likewise, the deacon ought to see that there are none who whisper or sleep or laugh or nod off. For in the Church it is necessary to have discipline, sober vigilance, and attentive ear to the Word of the Lord.

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