Said and Sung Eucharists

The Eucharist (also called the Mass) can either be said with one or two servers or it can be sung with several servers.  A Said Eucharist is also known as a Low Mass and a Sung Eucharist as a Sung Mass.  The Low Mass – the simple, said service – is really a Sung Mass cut down and was unknown anywhere in Christendom until perhaps the seventh century.

The Early Church

In the Early Church the Eucharist was usually celebrated by the bishop of the diocese with all his clergy with him.  As each diocese was quite small and consisted only of a town, this was fairly easy.  But as the number of Christians grew and new churches were built in the outlying districts, the bishop, who could not be in two or more places at once, used to get one of his priests to celebrate the Eucharist for him.  So, instead of every Eucharist being a diocesan Eucharist, you had parish Eucharists in which all the clergy
of the parish took part.  In other words, it was very like a modern High Mass in which the principal part is taken by three clergy.

Later, in the sixth century, as the Church spread far and wide into the country districts and few parishes had more than one priest each, the Eucharist was sung by that one priest alone as a Sung Eucharist is today.

Later developments

But in the Latin Monasteries of Western Europe the position was very different, for there you had a number of priests, all of whom wanted to celebrate the Eucharist frequently during the week as well as on Sundays.  It was obviously impossible for each of them to have a Sung Eucharist with choir and servers, and so instead they had a Low Mass in which everything was said and each priest just had one server to act as a congregation and to make the responses in the service.

The Said Eucharist (Low Mass) today is what we generally have during the week, but as you can see the Sung Eucharist is much more like the Eucharist in the early centuries of the Church.

Servers

The server is a child or adult from the congregation or choir who helps in the service (for example, by carrying candles or handing the cruets to the priest when they are needed).  Servers act as the people’s representatives.  They are the link joining priest and people together and show that the Eucharist is not just a service which priests take by themselves at the altar, but something which is done by both priest and people.

Lay ministers of Communion: in many churches adult servers or members of the congregation assist the priest by administering the chalice at Communion.

Introit

Introit comes for the Latin word introitus which means ‘an entering’.  The Introit used to be a complete psalm which was sung while the clergy and servers entered in procession.  Before it a verse was sung called an antiphon and the same verse was repeated at the end to round it off.  Later, the Introit was sung after the priest and servers had arrived at the altar, so the psalm which had been sung in procession was left out, except for the first verse.  Thus the Introit became: Antiphon, first verse of a psalm, Glory be, and Antiphon repeated.

The Gathering

The Eucharist begins with the Gathering, which is an introduction to the whole service.  We’ll look at each part, starting with the Introit hymn.

Introit hymn

In many churches, the Introit chant has been replaced by the singing of an Introit hymn by the whole congregation as the procession of clergy, servers and choir enter for the Eucharist.

Greeting

The priest greets the people with hands held apart.  One of the greetings is, “The Lord be with you”, and the response is “And with thy spirit” (modern language: “And also with you”).  When you make the response you are saying, “I’m with you in everything you pray for”.  For the Eucharist is something which is done by priest and people together.

From Easter to Pentecost, the priest also says, “Alleluia.  Christ is risen”.  And the people joyfully reply, “He is risen indeed.  Alleluia”. (1)

Preparation

In order to understand the Eucharist we need to remember that none of us is really worthy or fit to approach God.  There is bad in the best of us, which makes us unfit to come before the all-holy God, who is as far removed from anything wrong as light is from darkness.  And another thing we have to bear in mind is this: the difference between the eternal and majestic Maker of heaven and earth, and unsatisfactory people like ourselves is much greater than the difference between ourselves and say, a snail – except that we tend not love snails much, if at all, but God loves us more than we can possibly imagine and has given his Son to die for us.

That is why we do not come swaggering into church congratulating God on having such splendid people to visit him.  No, we ask him to forgive the bad he sees in our lives and characters, and to have mercy or pity on us and to help us worship him more worthily.

Prayer of Preparation

So to start with we say the Prayer of Preparation (Collect for Purity):

“Almighty God,
to whom all hearts are open,
all desires known,
and from whom no secrets are hidden:
cleanse the thoughts of our hearts
by the inspiration of your Holy Spirit,
that we may perfectly love you,
and worthily magnify your holy name;
through Christ our Lord. 
Amen”. (2)

Prayers of Penitence

In the Prayer Book the Ten Commandments are recited next, and to each one the people reply with the words beginning, “Lord have mercy …”.  In most churches the Ten Commandments are left out and the priest invites the people to a general confession of sins.  In a general confession we silently call to mind our own particular sins but we confess together out loud in general terms that we have sinned, without mentioning any particular sins.

The Prayers of Penitence may involve saying or singing the words Lord have mercy, either in English or Greek – Kyrie eleison.  Kyrie comes from Kurios, the Greek word for Lord.  We get the word church from it, meaning the Lord’s House.  Eleison means ‘have mercy’. 

We start with the Kyrie eleison, Lord have mercy, repeated three times.  This is addressed to God the Father.  Then follows Christe eleison, Christ have mercy, also repeated three times but addressed to God the Son.  And lastly Kyrie eleison, Lord have mercy, again three times over, only this time addressed to God the Holy Spirit.  So in all there are nine, three times three. 

You may be surprised to find Greek in the Eucharist, but the Kyries, as we call them, go back to the very early days of Christianity when Greek was the ordinary, everyday language.  And we use them now in the form in which St Augustine of Canterbury brought them to this country about the year 600 AD.  So the Kyries are a prayer to the Blessed Trinity and they express at the beginning of the Eucharist our unworthiness and our need of God’s mercy.

The Gloria

For many hundreds of years the Kyries used to be followed by the Gloria, “Glory be to God on high”.  Thus the people turned from their own unworthiness to the glory and praise of God.  The Gloria was moved to the end of the service in the Prayer Book of 1552, but in most churches it is now sung in its original place at the beginning.  The Gloria is left out in the solemn seasons of Advent and Lent.

The Collect

Next comes the Collect, which sums up the Church’s prayers for the particular day and so varies according to the feasts and seasons of the Church’s year.  It ‘collects’ our thoughts for the day.

SUMMARY

1. In the Early Church the normal Eucharist or Mass was a Pontifical High Mass i.e. sung by the bishop with his clergy.  The modern Low Mass or Said Eucharist is really a High Mass cut down.  It was introduced by the monks of the medieval Latin Monasteries.

2. Introit – this begins the Eucharist. It used to be an entrance chant but today an Introit hymn is often sung by the whole congregation.

3. Greeting – when we reply “And with thy spirit” (“And also with you”) we mean, “I am with you in everything you pray for”.  It reminds us that the Eucharist is done by priest and people together.

4. We say the Prayer of Preparation (Collect for Purity) and Prayers of Penitence, which may include singing or saying the Kyries.

5. We say or sing the Gloria, except during Advent and Lent.  The Gloria is followed by the Collect for the Day.

References

1. ©The Archbishops’ Council (2000) Common Worship.  The Order for the celebration of Holy Communion also called the Eucharist and the Lord's Supper, Order One.  Available from:
http://www.cofe.anglican.org/worship/liturgy/commonworship/texts/hc/orderone.html  (Accessed 24 August 2010) (Internet).

2. ©The Archbishops’ Council (2000) Common Worship.  The Order for the celebration of Holy Communion also called the Eucharist and the Lord's Supper, Order One.  Available from:
http://www.cofe.anglican.org/worship/liturgy/commonworship/texts/hc/orderone.html  (Accessed 24 August 2010) (Internet).