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ORDINES*
has been written about the epiklesis, or invocation, in
ea:ste:rn eucharistic liturgies, and by comparison the epiklesis
baptismal services has been somewhat neglected. 'Epildesis'
a vague term, for properly it should include any invo-
of the deity in the course of the service - and there are
many such invocations; moreover, even in the so-called
epiklesis' the invocation need not necessarily be
Father, and ask for the sending of the Holy Spirit,
ugh this is the pattern that has emerged in, and become
liar from, the main Greek eucharistic liturgies that survive.
e shall see, in this respect the epikleses at the consecration
e baptifmal water in the Antiochene rite provide a consider-
variety of patterns.
In the Antiochene baptismal services epikleses are to be found
number of different points, but my main concern in this paper
be the epiklesis that occurs in the prayer of consecration of
water, and I shall mention the other epildeses (E.g. over the
over the candidates) only in so far as they are relevant to the
dy of the baptismal epildesis proper.
The ten different baptismal services which provide the source
terial for our study belong to the four ecclesiastical bodies which
(or once used) Syriac as a liturgical language: the Church of
Eaet, the Syrian Orthodox, the Maronite, and the Melkite
1rches. The services are as follows : 1
The standard East Syrian ordo is attributed to the Catholicos
o'yahb In. The edition I use is that printed in Urmiah in
90, and the service is henceforth designated as I.
* For abbreviations, see p. 216.
1 Full bibliographical details about editions can be found in " Studies ",
17-21.
185 EPIKLESIS IN THE ANTIOCHENE BAPTISMAL 'ORDINES'
service in normal use is attributed to Jacob of Serugh,
this I employ the edition in Assemani, Oodex Liturgicu8
309-50, Ill, pp. 184-7
11
Designated as JS.
short Maronite service is attributed to Basil, and is avail-
print only in Latin translation 12. The epiklesis is almost
with that in Sshort.
11 The Bkerke edition of 1942 is not available to me.
12 DENZINGER I, pp. 358-9.
13 See referenoe in note 7.
though the Melkites now follow the Constantinopolitan rite
mploy Arabic, the oldest surviving baptismal services are in
and belong to the genuine Antiochene liturgical tradition:
The normal service is attributed to Basil, symbolized as B;
his I quote from the edition in Assemani, Oodex Liturgicu8
pp. 199-237. The prayer of consecration of the water in this
ice is the same as that in S and the Byzantine rite, although
d B represent two independent translations from the Greek.
An anonymous short Melkite ordo, containing a number of
haic features, is also available, and for this I quote from my
ion, in Parole de l'OrienP3. Symbolized as Mshort.
My procedure will be, in the first place, to study the formal
lIcture of the baptismal epikleses, and then to go on to consider
ir actual content and their biblical terms of reference. In the
t part of this enquiry it will be necessary to extend the horizon
cl. compare the structure of the baptismal epikleses with that
eucharistic ones in the Antiochene tradition, while in the second
t we shall need to look at the writings of Greek and Syriac Fathers
the subject of baptism, in particular John Chrysostom, Theo-
e of Mopsuestia, Ephrem, Narsai and Jacob of Serugh.
First of all, however, I should say something about the multi-
cation of epikleses in two of the services, T and S. In the
rse of the consecratory prayers in T ( 24-38), there are,
rprisingly, two separate invocations to the Father, requesting
El consecration of the water by the Holy Spirit, although the
brics recognize only the second as the epiklesis. How this
SEBASTIAN BROCK 184
SYRIAN ORTHODOX
Five different services are available, three long and
(1) The normal service in use is attributed to Severos
found in a number of slightly different forms 2: as will t
there is considerable variation in the precise position oft
klesis over the water in the different texts 3. For this ordd
make use of both the printed editions and the earliest man
(which date from the 8th-Hth century) 4. The long pr
the consecration of the water in this service is also found
Byzantine, Melkite and Ethiopian rites 5. The ordo is
lized as S.
(2) One of the early manuscripts of S, BM Add. 14518,
a service which has many deviations from the norm of
These deviations in fact provide numerous points of contac
the Maronite service. I quote from my. edition of this s
in preparation 6. Symbolized as SD.
(3) An abbreviated service is also attributed to Severos, a
this I employ the Horns edition (1950) 7. Designated as
(4) Another long service, surviving in two early manuscrip
attributed to Timothy of Alexandria. Together with SIJ
service serves as a link between S and the Maronite ordo attri
to Jacob of Serugh. I quote from my edition of the servi
Le Museon 8. Symbolized as T.
(5) A very short ordo, for use in cases of emergency, is attrib
to Philoxenos. For this I quote from the edition in Asse
Oodex Liturgicus Il, pp. 307-8 9. Designated as Ph 10.
2 For details, see "Studies", passim.
3 Cp below, pp. 186-8.
4 For details, see referenoe in note 1. An English translation
prayer of oonseoration of the water, based on the earliest
published in O.C.P. 37 (1971), pp. 317-32.
5 The texts (apart from the Ethiopio) are set out side by side in
dies ", pp. 46-51.
6 See provisionally A 1'emarkable Syriac baptismal ordo (BM Add.
Parole de l'Orient 2 (1971) 365-78.
7 For details of ot,her editions and manusoripts, see A short
baptismal service in Syriac, Parole de l'Orient 3 (1972) pp.
s Le Mus60n 83 (1970), pp. 357-431.
9 For further details, see referenoe in note 7.
10 A further short servioe is attributed to Io1,J.annan bar Shushan (+
but I have not had aooess to any manuscript of this.
SEBASTIAN BROCK
187
the dragons lurking there; do
thou, therefore, 0 king who
lovest mankind, be present even
now by the visitation of thy Holy
Spirit, and sanctify
* * *
* * *
* * *
fearful, who shall with-
?
o Lord, upon
thy creature,
IN
THE ANTIOCHENE BAPTISMAL ' ORDINES '
THE EPIKLESIS
thou, Lord of all, (+ send thy Holy Spirit and sanctify this
and 17) a p p 0 i n t (D make) t his w ate r the w ate r
est, etc. 18.
O God
the Fathe1' Almighty, and send upon us
mercy on us, P l t th
upon this water that is being sanctified.. ... the arac e e, y
Spirit etc. 19.
* * *
o L 0 l' d u P 0 nthi s wa t e l' (+ and sanctify
;f thy Holy Spirit 20) and g l' ant t h t
se who are baptized in it may be change,
they may strip off the old man...
. . f d in B z and the short m'do in Goal'.
16 This ,IS oun d J.' th 9th jl0th century manuscript
17 The interpolatIOn IS to be foun m e
S, BM Add. , t' Shortest in B. This epiklesis is
18 The ensumg lIst IS longes m ,s
b
' m of the water.
mediately preceded y an exorClS , ire ra er derived from
19 This interpolation, which constItutes t Pd Ketween S *b and
Greek Anaphora of St Mark (see'b:low), IS e f S (see p 192f.).
" t and In some e 1 IOns 0
in several early. s, I rly manuscripts and editions
20 The interpolatIOn IS found m severa ea
(see p. 193).
water, and grant
he grace of rede.m-
on the blesSIng
h J 0 l' d an, (Make it
ell of immortality etc.) 16.
Byz
Thou didst sanctify the st.
of the Jordan, sending
tram heaven thy Holy Spir
thou didst break the he
Original prayer 15
thou didst break the heads
of the dragons in the waters;
14 Op " Studie8 ", pp. 52-9. I have not included in the followin
the curious epiklesis to be found in the Oharfet edition (1922), which
of only from the French translation by G. KHOURI-SARKIS in L'Orient
1 (1956); this reads" tourne-toi, apparais Seigneur, descends sur 11
sur ces eaux et sanctifie-les". I know of no early manuscript con
this epiklesis; "sur nous " indicates that the source may be a
epiklesis (see p. 193), while" descends" suggests an occidental
for this phraseology is extremely rare in Syriac.
15 The Oonstantinopolitan m'do is at this point based on the
prayer Mtyo:<; d, and the only Greek parallel to Sand B here is
by a short ordo included in Goar's Euchologion; cp H.
ilbe1'8ehenes griechi8che8 Taufwa88e1'weihegebet und 8eine Bedeutung,
chliche Studien 14 (1965), pp. 281-91, and my "Studie8 ", pp. 44-7.
duplication arose must remain in the sphere of "!J'JVCUCl>1
as we shall see, these two epikleses neatly exemplify
cally different types of epiklesis that are represented
chene baptismal texts.
The situation in S is considerably more
well known that the prayer of consecration in this
found in the Constantinopolitan rite, and in the Melkite
pian services. Now if the different texts are set side b
at once becomes apparent that originally an invocation
Holy Spirit must have been altogether absent from the
for there is absolutely no agreement about the position
an invocation, and the different texts supply their in
epikleses in a variety of different places 14. Moreover,
that there is great variation over the positioning of such
lesis among the individual texts of S indicates that the
still had no invocation for the Holy Spirit when it first cam
translated into Syriac.
The precise situation can best be seen from the fo
layout of the relevant parts of the prayer, where the origin
common to S, D, the Ccnstantinopolitan and EthIOpIan
given in roman type, while the various interpolated epikl
given in italic. The three passages in the original fOrIn
prayer which can reasonably be described as e-pikleses (
without any mention of the Holy Spirit) are given in spaced
ing; these will be referred to below as S *a,b,c,.
189 EPIKLESIS IN THE ANTIOCHENE BAPTISMAL 'ORDINES'
Cp E. STOMMEL, Studien zur Epikle8e der romi8chen Taujwa88erweihe
1950), p. 2lf.
Cp "Studie8 ", p. 59.
Cp also verse 20 which is taken as a reference to Epiphany
usebius (PG 23, 968). On the origin of 'Emcp&ve:Le:t. as the name of the
see J. DANIELOU, in Noel-Epiphanie, retour du Ohri8t (Paris, 1967),
may originally be based on Gen iv 4 (acceptance
Abel's sacrifice); cp also Eleazar's prayer in III Macc
3, 12.
For the combination of .. +Xapw, note especially
e similar wording in the prayer of the consecration of the
ater in Apostolic Oonstitutions VII.43.5: OUpetV013
etl. ay(Mov 't"o 't"o13't"o, Xapw xctt MvetfLw...
S *a is followed by an exorcism of the water, "Let there
ee from it... ". An analogy to this reversal of what might
thought to be the logical order is to be found in the Roman
aptismal ordo 25; in both cases the sequence should be attrib-
'I1ted to the conflation of elements of different origin.
S *b 'AAA?!. o'u 't"(;)v a7tav't"{.ov 't"o 1'o13't"o
&Vet7tetuO'E<ue;, aYLetO'fLo13..
: the sense is 'appoint' 26.
&Vet7t(XUGE<ue;: Ps xxii (xxiii) 2; the other phrases are
not biblical.
S *b is immediately preceded by the exorcism.
S *c: 'Em([JaV'l)&L XUpLE 1'q) 1'OU1'<p Xetl.
1'OUe; ev etu't"q) ...
'Em([J!XV'l)&L: possibly from Ps lxxix (lxxx) 2 (efLMv'l)&L); 27
cp Ph. Note also I Clem. 59, 1'OLe; em([Jav'l)&L.
Type 2:
Holy Spirit is requested to 'come' in several of the Antio-
e ordines, I, JS, SD, Tb and Mshort; all of these except I have
cally the same wording.
I ' ... the Spirit who came down and remained upon our Sa-
viour, (thus) depicting the type of this holy baptism; may
that same Spirit come, 0 Lord, upon this water, so that it
may receive power for the help and salvation of those who
baptized in it. '
came .. remained: cp Matt iii 16 (Old Syriac) and John
B
Do thou
o Lord God, send
wate1' by means of this
oil of true unction th
which is beyond all ages,
thy living and holy Spiri
bless and sanctify and
it and those who are bapt
it, and make them associ
thy Christ etc.
SEBASTIAN BROCK
S 21
(i) S *a : XUpLE e7tl. Tf)v X1'(GLV GOU 1'(xU1''l)V 23, e7tl. 't"0
Xetl. (xU1'q) XapLV
IopMvou... 24
FORMAL STRUCTURE
As far as their formal structure is concerned, the epiklese
the baptismal water can conveniently be divided into four se
types:
(1) Those having no reference at all to the Holy
(2) Those where the Holy Spirit is requested to '
(3) Those where the Father (or Christ) is asked to '
Holy Spirit.
(4) Those where some verb other than' come' or ' send'
We may look at these in turn.
(1) Type 1 :
Three epikleses of this type are to be found in the course
original form of the consecratory prayer common to Byz
B 22 ; these are :
21 At the end of the long prayer of consecration S, Band
company (cp "Studie8 ", p. 50); the interpolated epiklesis in B
be seen by juxtaposing Sand B.
22 I am not concerned here with questions of their relationship
another.
23 Byz adds xcd, so that .. X'dow then refers to the
absence of the conjunction in S Band Eth shows that this is a
element in Byz.
24 Byz adds TCOLlIcrOV e:t.U'TO acp'&e:t.pcrLe:t.<; 7'C1jy1)v.
188
May it please thee now too,
our Lord,
for thy Holy Spirit to dwell
upon these thy servants who are
being baptized, and perfect
them
and appoint them associates of
thy Christ etc.
191 THE EPIKLESIS IN THE ANTIOCHENE BAPTISMAL 'ORDINES '
34, 'went forth', the variant 'flowed' is attested in a
mber of early Syriac writings 32, and may well have been
e reading of the Old Syriac (lost for this verse). For the
gin. of the variant (John vii 38) see below, p. 211f.
. all texts except Mshort use the word dafneh,
hich IS found III the Peshitta at John xix 34; Mshort, how-
er, reads setrak, for which support can be found in a number
passages in Ephrem 33. It is very likely that setra was the
ord used in the Old Syriac at John xix 34, since this version
ploys that word in John xx 25 (where the Peshitta again
dafna),
E.g. Ephrem (ed. LAMY) I, 511 ; Oomm. Diat. X 12 (but not XXI 11) ;
f Treasures (ed. BEZOLD) p. 255 (but not p. 263) ; Jacob of Serugh
DJAN) V, p. 670
5
Note, however, that Didymus uses in
quotation of John xix 34 (PG 39, 689).
E.g. Ephrem (ed. LAMY) I, 53, 109, 477; cp also PAYNE SMITH The
Syriacus col. 2603. '
Moshe bar Kepha, in his commentary on the baptismal service ( 13),
at the myron represents the Holy Spirit hovering (mr'a1Jbfa) over
ype 3 :
ather (or, in one case, Christ) is asked to 'send' the Holy
and sanctify the water in B, Ta, Sshort and some of the
lated epikleses in S. These differ considerably in detail
one another.
Yea, we request thee, Father of mercy and God of all
mfort, send thy living Spirit and sanctify this water, and
ay it become the spiritual womb which gives rebirth anew
mankind who are baptized in it.
Yea: cp Sshort, also A. Thomas 157.
Father .. comfort: 2 Cor i 3 (Peshitta),
womb: from John iii 4; cp p. 209.
.. thou didst sanctify the streams of the Jordan; do
hou now too, 0 Lord God, send on this water, by means of
is sanctified oil of true anointing, thy dove which is beyond
11) ages, that is, thy living and holy Spirit, and bless and
nctify and perfect it and those who are being baptized in
and make them associates of thy Christ...
sanctified oil: B is unique among the Antiochene m'dines
associating the coming of the Spirit with the pouring of
e myron on to the water 34.
SEBASTIAN BROCK
i 32 (Old Syriac and Peshitta), although in the
the Spirit is construed as a feminine.
the same: Perhaps derived from the Greek
St James (.. cxu't"o 't"o 7tVEufLcx). According to Botte 28
phora has influenced the wording of the eucharistic e
in the East Syrian anaphora of Theodore.
come: perhaps from Acts i 8 (Peshitta),
p. 199 f.
receive power: Acts i 8 (Peshitta) 29.
(ii) JS, SD, Tb and Mshort: (Mshort pr May thy living
Spirit be sent and) may rthy living and holy Spirit (om
the Spirit of holiness JS) come, 0 Lord (om Mshort)
rand repose (om JS) on this water (+ and drive from
power of the enemy, and kindle it with his ill'vincil)le
and bless JS; + and kindle it with thy invincible
and sanctify it, rand make it (om JS) in the likeness
water) which flowed from the (thy Mshort) side rof
JS) only-begotten one (om Mshort) on the (thy
be sent (tstdr): the verb is feminine, whereas
it come', is masculine; since no other epiklesis with
ing 'let thy Holy Spirit be sent' appears to be
likely that tstdr is a corruption of tU?', 'do thou
which there are parallels elsewhere 30.
come: see p. 197, 199,
?'est and ?'epose : Isaiah xi 2 (Peshitta, but verbs
cp p. 200.
kindle: reference is to the apocryphal
popular among Syriac writers, that flames appeared
Jordan's waters at Christ's baptism 31.
bless: cp p. 202.
make it : cp p. 202.
flowed: John xix 34 (Greek = Pe:shitta
Syriac not extant). The verb 'flowed' indicates
epiklesis originated in a Syriac, and not a Greek,
milieu, for while the Peshitta follows the Greek text
28 B. BOTTE, L'epiclese dans les litur'gies syriennes orientales
Erudiri 6 (1954), pp. 48-72. '
290p SD 35; Jacob of Serugh (ed. BEDJAN) IV, p. 707;
Jerusalem, Oat. Myst. 11, 3 : o{JTW xo:l 't'o b"mpXtO"'t'ov 't'OU't'O
xo:l e:OXTI a() v 0: [L t v 't"'1AtXO:{)"'1V A0: [L &, v e: t ...
30 See pp. 195f., and note 64.
31 See" Timothy", p. 409, note 64.
190
193
THE EPIKLESIS IN THE ANTIOCHENE BAPTISMAL 'ORDINES '
texts do not fall into the above categuries:
(.. appear, 0 Lord, on this water,) and sanctify it by the
yershadowing of thy Holy Spirit (and grant that those who
l'e baptized III It may be changed... )
ThIS interpolated 41 epiklesis is found in BM Add. 14494,
14499, 17128, and 14500 among the early manuscripts,
nd III several of the printed editions (SA I IV VI, SH).
overshadowing: the phraseology here has its closest parallel
the epiklesis of the anaphora of Xystus. Cp below, p. 202f.
Ph Shine forth, 0 Lord, on this water, and may thy Holy
pirit stir it in the power of its might, and do thou be mingled,
nd let the all-worshipful too, be mingled in it. ..
Shine forth: or 'appear'; cp S *c, which is rf'ndered
'be revealed' in S, and 'turn' in B.
o Lord: Christ is addressed (as in the epikleses of all
the other short services).
stir: from John v 7 ('rap&(j(jU); azi' in Old Syriac and
Peshitta).
6 of the services printed in Assemani's Oodex Liturgicus
II Ill) 38. The whole prayer is derived from the Greek
phora of St Mark 39.
UpOn'llS : this is the only epiklesis over the baptismal water
which God is requested to send his Spirit 'upon us', as
II as upon the water; the phrase is, however, commonly
hnd in the eucharistic epikleses of the numerous Syrian
thodox anaphoras, and its presence here is simply indicative
its origin.
sanctified: it is remarkable that, in the course of adapta-
On from the eucharistic liturgy, the epiklesis has lost the
tual request that the water be sanctified by the coming of
e Holy Spirit 40.
8 For the varying positions, see" Studies ", p. 54 and" Consecration"
214. '
9 For details, see" Studies ", pp. 54.6. It is also found in the service
e consecration of the myron; cp E. P. SIMAN, L'exp61'ience de l' Esprit
'eglise d'apres la tmdition syrienne d'Antioche (Paris, 1971), p. 227f.
In the Greek Anaphora of St ,Mark the epiklesis ends up, after a
lIst of epithets of the Holy Spirit, with tvoc ocu-ra &YL<xcrn XOCL
'txv'rol)'lJvoclJ,0s .&e:6s, XOCL 't"QV iLev &p-rov X't"A.
middle of S *c.
SEBASTIAN BROCK
dove: earlier in B's prayer reference is made
ing of the dove 'to those who were protected
in Noah's ark', and the olive branch it held is
'the promise of reconciliation and salvation from
and the mystery of this hidden grace... '. Reference
dove is also found in Byz, but it is absent from
bless and sanctify: comparison with S here (see
p. 188) shows that these two words are an additi
which also alters the object of 'perfect', substituti
water and the candidate!" for' the candidates' (alon.
Cp also below, p. 202.
make: S has the less specific word
B is secondary. Cp 8lso below, p. 202.
(iii) Sshort (also the short Maronite service): Yea, Lord, se
Holy Spirit on thIS water, and bless and sanctIfy It,
may be for him who i" baptized in It saving water, w
joy..
Yea: Thus Ta.
Lord: Christ 36 : just before the epildesis cumes an
cism of the water and a reference to Christ's sanctificati
the water of Jordan by thy descent and by the coming
Holy Spirit'.
bless and sanctify: cp B, and below, p. 202.
saving water, water of joy: C'p S *b, where S (agains
and B) adds' water of joy' after ; the
IS no doubt inspired by tAawv in Ps xliv
(iv) Sa (.. do thou, Lord of all,) send thy Holy Spirit on
and sanctify it and (appoint it water of rest... ).
This interpolated 37 epikleSIS IS found only III
14494. For the phrasedogy, cp below, p. 202.
v) Sb Have mercy on us, God the Father Almighty,
upon us and this water which is being sanctified.. the
lete, thy Holy Spirit...
This interpolated epiklesis is found in BM Add.
14493, and 14499 (mg), amcng the early manuscripts,
the water, and he quotes Severos as stating that' the mYl'on re1=)reE;en1
Holy Spirit' (BM Add. 21210, f. 137b-sa).
35 Compare Jacob of Serugh (ed. BEDJAN) IV, p. 49
17