The Imam of the Christians by Philip Wood

Author:Philip Wood [Wood, Philip]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9780691212791
Publisher: PrincetonUP
Published: 2021-02-18T00:00:00+00:00

Exegesis of the Liturgy

The concern that Yohannan showed for the minutiae of the liturgy and the ability of the patriarchs to influence the laity through exclusion from communion are good indications of the liturgy’s importance. It was not mere verbiage that could be altered at will. Two Jacobite intellectuals, Moses bar Kepha and John of Dara, both near contemporaries of Dionysius, wrote extensively on the liturgy and on its relationship to scripture and to Christian society.24 Their commentaries provide illuminative insights into why the conduct of the liturgy was of such importance. It goes without saying that their commentaries do not reflect what the laity thought about the liturgy, though some ideas might have been disseminated more broadly through sermons or informal discussion. Rather, their writings sketch a social and theological ideal and tell us how one section of the Jacobite higher clergy conceived of their own roles vis-à-vis one another, the laity and God.

Moses bar Kepha wrote three commentaries on the liturgy, in which he dealt with the three sacraments of the Eucharist,25 baptism and the consecration of the myron, respectively. John of Dara was a friend of Dionysius of Tel-Mahre and is mentioned in the dedication of the latter’s history. Like Moses, John wrote a general commentary on the Eucharist, On Oblation, and a quartet of works of symbolic theology.26 Both of these authors tend to accumulate typologies that describe the significance of liturgical objects and rituals.27 Thus oil is used in baptism because the baptized person is like a wrestler, venturing out to fight Satan in life.28 The altar is the Tree of Life, which had been withheld from Adam in the garden of Eden but is now given to humankind in the form of Christ and His sacrifice.29 The myron is composed of two different oils, balsam and olive oil, because it stands for the union of God the word with the flesh.30 It is this kind of symbolic reasoning that may drive the focus on minutiae in the canons. To insist on a veil embroidered with a cross, as Yohannan does, is understandable if the veil symbolizes the veiling of the meaning of scripture (and therefore justifies allegorical exegesis).31

A key theme that runs through the legislation is the importance of priesthood and the need to maintain its propriety by avoiding quarrelling, maintaining educational standards and punishing laymen who insult priests. The significance of priests as representatives of God, acting in His place before the congregation, is also threaded through the commentaries. Accordingly, in baptism the priest breathes on the water ‘like God breathed on Adam’, and he lays his hands on the head of the baptized ‘like God laid His hands upon Adam’.32 Here the priest and the new Christian stand for God and all people.33 And in consecrating the myron, ‘the high priest stands in the place of God’ and is surrounded by the priests and deacons, who represent the seraphim and the apostles.34

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