a solemn form of supplication to God. The word is derived from
λιτανεία, _supplication_. At first the use of litanies was not fixed to
any stated time; but they were employed only as exigencies required.
They were observed in imitation of the Ninevites with ardent
supplications and fastings, to avert the threatened judgments of fire,
earthquake, inundations, or hostile invasions. The days on which they
were used were called rogation days. Several of these days were
appointed by the canons of different councils, till the seventeenth
council of Toledo decreed that litanies should be used in every month.
Thus, by degrees, these solemn supplications came to be used weekly, on
Wednesdays and Fridays, the ancient stationary days in all churches. As
to the form in which litanies are made, namely, in short petitions by
the priest with responses by the people, St. Chrysostom derives the
custom from the primitive ages, when the priest began and uttered by the
Spirit some things fit to be prayed for, and the people joined the
intercessions, saying, We beseech thee to hear us, good Lord.” When the
miraculous gift of the Spirit began to cease, they wrote down several of
these forms, which were the original of our present litanies. St.
Ambrose has left us one, which agrees in many particulars with that of
our own church. About the year 400, litanies began to be used in
processions, the people walking barefoot, and repeating them with great
devotion. It is pretended that several countries were delivered from
great calamities by this means. About the year 600, Gregory the Great,
from all the litanies extant, composed the famous sevenfold litany, by
which Rome, it is said, was delivered from a grievous mortality. This
has served as a pattern to all the western churches since; and to it
ours of the church of England comes nearer than that of the Romish
missal, in which later popes have inserted the invocation of saints,
which our Reformers properly expunged. These processional litanies
having occasioned much scandal, it was decreed that in future the
litanies should be used only within the walls of the church. Before the
last review of the Common Prayer, the litany was a distinct service by
itself, and used some time after the morning prayer was ended. At
present it forms one office with the morning service, being ordered to
be read after the third collect for grace, instead of the intercessional
prayers in the daily service.
LITURGY denotes all the ceremonies in general belonging to divine
service. The word comes from the Greek, λειτȣργία, _public service_, or
_public ministry_; formed of λεῖτος, _public_, and ἔργον, _work_. In a
more restrained signification, liturgy is used among the Romanists to
signify the mass; and among us, the common prayer. All who have written
on liturgies agree that, in primitive days, divine service was
exceedingly simple, clogged with very few ceremonies, and consisted of
but a very small number of prayers; but, by degrees, they increased the
number of ceremonies, and added new prayers, to render the office more
awful and venerable to the people. At length, things were carried to
such a pitch that a regulation became necessary; and it was found
needful to put the service, and the manner of performing it, into
writing; and this was what they called a liturgy. Liturgies have been
different at different times and in different countries. We have the
liturgy of St. Chrysostom, of St. Peter, the Armenian liturgy, Gallican
liturgy, &c. The properties required in a public liturgy,” says Paley,
are these: it must be compendious; express just conceptions of the
divine attributes; recite such wants as a congregation are likely to
feel, and no other; and contain as few controverted propositions as
possible.” The liturgy of the church of England was composed A. D. 1547,
and established in the second year of King Edward VI. In the fifth year
of this prince, it was reviewed, because some things were contained in
that liturgy which showed a compliance with the superstitions of those
times; and exceptions were taken against it by learned men at home, and
by Calvin abroad. Some alterations were made in it, which consisted in
adding the general confession and absolution, and the communion service,
to begin with the commandments. The use of oil in confirmation and
extreme unction, was left out, and also prayers for souls departed, and
what related to a belief of the real presence of Christ in the
eucharist. The liturgy, so reformed, was established by the acts of 5th
and 6th of Edward VI., chap. 1. However, it was abolished by Queen Mary,
who enacted that the service should stand as it was commonly used in the
last year of King Henry VIII. That of Edward VI. was reëstablished, with
some few alterations, by Elizabeth. Some farther alterations were
introduced, in consequence of the review of the Common Prayer Book, by
order of King James, in the first year of his reign; particularly in the
office of private baptism, in several rubrics, and other passages, with
the addition of five or six new prayers and thanksgivings, and all that
part of the catechism which contains the doctrines of the sacraments.
This Book of Common Prayer, so altered, remained in force from the first
year of King James to the fourteenth of Charles II. The last review of
the liturgy was in the year 1661. It is an invidious cavil, says Dr.
Nichols, that our liturgy was compiled out of popish books. Our
reformers took nothing from them, but what was taken before from the
oldest writers. We have many things out of the Greek liturgies of Basil
and Chrysostom; more out of the litanies of Ambrose and Gregory; very
much out of the ancient forms of the church dispersed in the works of
the fathers, who wrote long before the Roman Breviary, and Canon of the
Mass. Our Reformers added many prayers, and thanksgivings, and
exhortations, to supply the defect.
λιτανεία, _supplication_. At first the use of litanies was not fixed to
any stated time; but they were employed only as exigencies required.
They were observed in imitation of the Ninevites with ardent
supplications and fastings, to avert the threatened judgments of fire,
earthquake, inundations, or hostile invasions. The days on which they
were used were called rogation days. Several of these days were
appointed by the canons of different councils, till the seventeenth
council of Toledo decreed that litanies should be used in every month.
Thus, by degrees, these solemn supplications came to be used weekly, on
Wednesdays and Fridays, the ancient stationary days in all churches. As
to the form in which litanies are made, namely, in short petitions by
the priest with responses by the people, St. Chrysostom derives the
custom from the primitive ages, when the priest began and uttered by the
Spirit some things fit to be prayed for, and the people joined the
intercessions, saying, We beseech thee to hear us, good Lord.” When the
miraculous gift of the Spirit began to cease, they wrote down several of
these forms, which were the original of our present litanies. St.
Ambrose has left us one, which agrees in many particulars with that of
our own church. About the year 400, litanies began to be used in
processions, the people walking barefoot, and repeating them with great
devotion. It is pretended that several countries were delivered from
great calamities by this means. About the year 600, Gregory the Great,
from all the litanies extant, composed the famous sevenfold litany, by
which Rome, it is said, was delivered from a grievous mortality. This
has served as a pattern to all the western churches since; and to it
ours of the church of England comes nearer than that of the Romish
missal, in which later popes have inserted the invocation of saints,
which our Reformers properly expunged. These processional litanies
having occasioned much scandal, it was decreed that in future the
litanies should be used only within the walls of the church. Before the
last review of the Common Prayer, the litany was a distinct service by
itself, and used some time after the morning prayer was ended. At
present it forms one office with the morning service, being ordered to
be read after the third collect for grace, instead of the intercessional
prayers in the daily service.
LITURGY denotes all the ceremonies in general belonging to divine
service. The word comes from the Greek, λειτȣργία, _public service_, or
_public ministry_; formed of λεῖτος, _public_, and ἔργον, _work_. In a
more restrained signification, liturgy is used among the Romanists to
signify the mass; and among us, the common prayer. All who have written
on liturgies agree that, in primitive days, divine service was
exceedingly simple, clogged with very few ceremonies, and consisted of
but a very small number of prayers; but, by degrees, they increased the
number of ceremonies, and added new prayers, to render the office more
awful and venerable to the people. At length, things were carried to
such a pitch that a regulation became necessary; and it was found
needful to put the service, and the manner of performing it, into
writing; and this was what they called a liturgy. Liturgies have been
different at different times and in different countries. We have the
liturgy of St. Chrysostom, of St. Peter, the Armenian liturgy, Gallican
liturgy, &c. The properties required in a public liturgy,” says Paley,
are these: it must be compendious; express just conceptions of the
divine attributes; recite such wants as a congregation are likely to
feel, and no other; and contain as few controverted propositions as
possible.” The liturgy of the church of England was composed A. D. 1547,
and established in the second year of King Edward VI. In the fifth year
of this prince, it was reviewed, because some things were contained in
that liturgy which showed a compliance with the superstitions of those
times; and exceptions were taken against it by learned men at home, and
by Calvin abroad. Some alterations were made in it, which consisted in
adding the general confession and absolution, and the communion service,
to begin with the commandments. The use of oil in confirmation and
extreme unction, was left out, and also prayers for souls departed, and
what related to a belief of the real presence of Christ in the
eucharist. The liturgy, so reformed, was established by the acts of 5th
and 6th of Edward VI., chap. 1. However, it was abolished by Queen Mary,
who enacted that the service should stand as it was commonly used in the
last year of King Henry VIII. That of Edward VI. was reëstablished, with
some few alterations, by Elizabeth. Some farther alterations were
introduced, in consequence of the review of the Common Prayer Book, by
order of King James, in the first year of his reign; particularly in the
office of private baptism, in several rubrics, and other passages, with
the addition of five or six new prayers and thanksgivings, and all that
part of the catechism which contains the doctrines of the sacraments.
This Book of Common Prayer, so altered, remained in force from the first
year of King James to the fourteenth of Charles II. The last review of
the liturgy was in the year 1661. It is an invidious cavil, says Dr.
Nichols, that our liturgy was compiled out of popish books. Our
reformers took nothing from them, but what was taken before from the
oldest writers. We have many things out of the Greek liturgies of Basil
and Chrysostom; more out of the litanies of Ambrose and Gregory; very
much out of the ancient forms of the church dispersed in the works of
the fathers, who wrote long before the Roman Breviary, and Canon of the
Mass. Our Reformers added many prayers, and thanksgivings, and
exhortations, to supply the defect.