Ordo Romanus Primus: Translation by Alan Griffiths

Ordo Romanus Primus: Text and Translation with Introduction and Notes (Joint Liturgical Studies)

One of the special joys of membership of the Alcuin Club is the arrival of the latest Joint Liturgical Study, even when as in this case it takes me 6 months to get around to reading it. These slim volumes shed little windows on to topics which are normally reserved only for the most specialised of reader.

In this case we are offered a few pages of contextual introduction and then a new translation of a Papal liturgical manual dating back to 8th century Rome.   The number of people involved in the liturgy does give the impression that it was likely to be either chaotic or fussy or indeed both. But what is interesting is that I happen to also be reading The Art of Tentmaking: Making Space for Worship a collection of essays in tribute to Richard Giles. While the detail of Giles liturgical programme might have few direct links to Ordo Romanus Primus one very key principle is highlighted by both.  Against a backdrop where most thinking about liturgy is based on a fetishisation of the "Text" we are drawn to the realisation that it is the actions, the way in which you perform the liturgy that is often central to its meaning and understanding. Giles is interested in space and movement much more than words and Ordo Romanus Primus quotes the text of the liturgy only to give a cue for action and movement.

This is something which was clear within the Church of England in the late 19th and early 20th Centuries where Anglo-Catholics were able to extend the range of meaning of the Protestant (or even Puritan) Book of Common Prayer with a the addition of ceremony - the ritualist trails of that era were witness to an understanding the textual conformity was not the guarantee of shared doctrine. This understanding was lost in the latter half of the 20th Century and, for me, the reforms of the text of Anglican liturgy, as currently expressed in the liberalised textual environment of Common Worship, have been a blind alley.  I would go as far as to say that the words have been given an idolatrous status.  While some forms of words are better than others, liturgy is not perfected because we stumble across the "right" words - liturgy is only perfected by the action of the Holy Spirit.