Download The Jewish Influence On Early Christian Liturgy Christianity began

The Jewish Influence On Early Christian Liturgy
Christianity began life as a kind of Judaism, which, like that of the Dead Sea Scroll sectarians
and the Samaritans, did not accept the Oral Torah, later enshrined in the Mishnah, Talmudim, and
Midrash from 200 CE. As the Jewish scholar David Flusser commented in 1987 in ‘Jewish sources
in early Christianity’
Like every new religion, Christianity developed stage by stage. In its first years its
development was extremely fast. Christianity had already [in the first century] spread
not only among Palestinian Jews, but also among Jews in the Diaspora (1987: Flusser,
68).
Christianity retained the Written torah which is traditionally the Old Testament (tanakh) . The
New Testament was added to these Scriptures.
As time progressed, other elements were added that reflected the increasingly gentile
background of its converts who soon outnumbered those of Jewish origin. Added to this
phenomenon was the fact that the Christian expulsion from the synagogue apparently was not
effected at least until after Gamaliel II’s activities at Yabneh, thus allowing almost two-thirds of a
century of Christian liturgical development within a Jewish milieu. The elements that were
absorbed into Christian worship evidently sprang from this period of disturbance and change as
well as from a common biblical heritage.
During the first century there was a decline in sacrificial ritual (only carried out in the Jerusalem
Temple), which was being replaced by synagogue prayer and liturgy as well as by rituals within the
home. The Pharisees, by transplanting the rituals of the temple to the home, helped to free the later
sages from the necessity of offering sacrifices, and prepared the way for the reforms that rabbinic
Judaism needed in order to adapt to life without the Jerusalem Temple, which the Romans had
destroyed in 70 CE,
A sizeable number of liturgical fragments from the Dead Sea Scrolls reveal an organised prayer
ritual. Shemaryahu Talmon commented in 1960:
Dr Marianne Dacy - SSEC Conference May 2013
Embedded in the scrolls and fragments...there appear to be scattered portions of a
‘Manual of Benedictions’, viz, a collection of blessings arranged according to the
calendar, containing daily prayers side by side with festival prayers, after the manner of
the mahazorta still used in the Syrian Church.
His remarks have been vindicated in recent years with the publication of scrolls showing the
practice of prayer at fixed times, public prayers, and prayers of fixed content.
Prayers in the Temple
The great Israeli Jewish liturgist, Joseph Heinemann, concluded that several liturgical elements
had been transferred from the Second Temple to the synagogue. These included the Shema and a
form of the Amidah (18 Benedictions), the use of certain biblical poems including the Hallel
psalms, the recitation of the Decalogue as part of the Shema liturgy, and versions of certain rituals
used by the High Priest on the Day of Atonement.
Daily Prayer
Synagogue worship traditionally dates from after the Babylonian exile in the time of Ezra and
Nehemiah. Sources from the days of the Second Temple indicate that worshippers were scrupulous
about reciting their prayers at exactly those hours when the daily services were being offered in the
temple and the incense was being burned. During the Second Temple period, synagogue prayer was
seen as complementing the temple sacrifices. The daily synagogue prayers, according to talmudic
tradition, were instituted to correspond to the daily sacrifices (b. Ber. 26b).
The archaeologist Eric Meyers also considers archaeological evidence supports the view that
Jews and Christians relocated to Galilee. On the basis of the archaeological evidence he suggested
that Jewish and Christian communities continued to live in harmony until the seventh century CE in
various locations including Capernaum.
The Benediction of the Minim
Dr Marianne Dacy - SSEC Conference May 2013
Some scholars associate the ejection of Christians from the synagogue with the period of Yabneh
and the twelfth benediction, the so-called Benediction of the Minim (heretics). Passages in John
(9:22, 12:42, and 16:2) have been interpreted as pointing to the expulsion of Christians from the
synagogue. If this is so, were these expulsions isolated cases, or on a more universal level? It would
be difficult to pinpoint when Christian participation in synagogue worship ceased.
Yet, despite Christian borrowing of elements belonging to Jewish liturgical practice, certain
elements that belong to the essential framework of Jewish liturgy as it was developing before the
fall of the temple were not retained in Christian liturgy, were retained only for a short time, or were
radically changed. These elements include the prayer section of the daily service, which consists of
the Shema liturgy and its blessings as well as the Amidah and accompanying blessings. The other
essential element of the daily service was retained, namely the Torah readings. Research indicates
that Torah reading and study were the chief religious activities in the synagogue during the Second
Temple period. However, from material found at Qumran it would appear that the prayer forms
were well developed earlier.
The Question of the Shema for the Early Christians
The Christian stance on Jesus was one of the key elements leading to separate Christian worship
from Jewish worship and most likely was the main reason for the non-retention in Christian worship
of the recitation of the Shema. In the case of the Shema, the point could be made that a movement
that declares Jesus to be divine, would not be inclined to recite the text of the Shema, but would
substitute cult prayers centred around Jesus’ death and resurrection. Again, why retain the use of
tefillin (phylacteries), tallit (prayer shawl) or mezzuzah if the ‘Jesus’ symbolism is to distinguish the
new movement, whose members came in increasing numbers from the ranks of non-Jews?
The Didache and Early Christian Liturgical Documents
There is an allusion to the Shema in the beginning of the Didache, which speaks of loving God
and neighbour, cited as the first two commandments in the synoptics (Matt 22:34–40; Luke 10: 25–
28; Mark 12: 28–34).
Dr Marianne Dacy - SSEC Conference May 2013
The Way of Life is this: First, you shall love the God who made you, secondly, your
neighbour as yourself; and whatsoever you would not have done to yourself, do not do
to another. (Didache 1:2)
Some have argued that the Amidah or Shemoneh Esreh (HaTefillah, The Prayer par excellence),
was a creation of the rabbis of Yabneh, as was the building of the recitation of the Shema into a
regular daily liturgy. This, however, would not do justice to the evidence from Qumran, nor the
obvious Jewish practice of the Shema reflected in the New Testament and Philo, as well as Ben
Sira.
According to the Talmud (Ber. 12a), the recitation of the Decalogue was dropped by Judaism, in
reaction to the sectarians who retained only the Decalogue, which was part of the liturgy of the
Shema at the time. This information is corroborated by evidence from the first part of the Didache,
itself believed to be a composite document. It seems evident that the first part, known as The Two
Ways, was part of an original pre-Christian Jewish document from the first century or earlier. While
the so-called Golden Rule of Hillel and some of the prescriptions of the Decalogue are mentioned,
the Sabbath is omitted.
The Way of Life is this: ‘First, you shall love the God who made you, secondly, your
neighbour as yourself; and whatsoever you would not have done to yourself, do not do
to another’(Didache 1:2).
But the second commandment of the teaching is this: 2. You shall not murder; you shall
not commit adultery, you shall not covet your neighbour’s goods (Didache 2:1,2).
The Didascalia, a third-century document from Asia Minor, declares that only the Decalogue but
not the other commandments need be observed by Christians. It claims to have been compiled by
the apostles at Jerusalem immediately following the Council described in Acts 15.
The law therefore is indissoluble; but the second legislation is temporary, and is
dissoluble. Now the law consists of the ten words and the judgements (decalogus et
iudicia). (Didascalia 26:9–10).
Dr Marianne Dacy - SSEC Conference May 2013
In addition, the Apostolical Constitutions declare that the Decalogue is valid, but that Christ has
released Christians from the bonds of the law. It is possible the text in the Babylonian Talmud
(written up about the same time as Constantine was active (5th century CE) omitting the Decalogue,
is a reaction to the Christian attitude to the law. Since the doctrine of the unity of God expressed in
the Shema is basic to Judaism, it stands to reason then, that the first Christians, being of Jewish
origin, were strongly affected by its influence and by their religionof origin. The New Testament
(source?) reveals that Jesus reveres the Shema.
Josephus alludes to the morning prayers of the Essenes, which would have included the Shema
and its blessings as well as a form of the Amidah and its surrounding blessings.
And as for their piety towards God, it is very extraordinary; for before the sunrise, they
speak not a word about profane matters, but put up certain prayers which they have
received from their forefathers, as if they made a supplication for its rising(Wars 2.8.5).
It also should be noted that John’s Gospel, in John 17, for example, brings together the themes
of love and unity in God, which are central to the Shema, but in an altered context.
May they all be one,
just as, Father, you are in me
and I am in you...
With me in them and you in me,
may they be so perfected in unity
that the world will recognise
that it was you who sent me
and that you have loved them
as you have loved me (John 17:21, 23).
In a text from the end of the first century or early in the second in the writings of Ignatius of
Antioch, the themes of love and unity in God also occur together but in the context of perfect faith
in Jesus.
None of these things are unknown to you if you possess perfect faith towards Jesus
Christ, and love, which are the beginning and end of life; for the beginning is faith and
the end is love, and when the two are joined together in unity it is God (Epistle to the
Ephesians 14:1).
The “Our Father”
Dr Marianne Dacy - SSEC Conference May 2013
The rule of the three times of prayer in daily worship in the synagogue was observed by the early
Christians; references to the third, sixth and ninth hour are found in the Book of Acts. According to
the Didache, the Lord’s Prayer also was said three times daily.
Our Father, who art in Heaven, hallowed be thy Name, thy Kingdom come, thy will be
done, as in Heaven so also upon earth; give us to-day daily bread, and forgive us our
debt as we forgive our debtors, and lead us not into trial, but deliver us from the Evil
One, for thine is the power and the glory forever (Didache 8.2).
Tertullian (source?) asserted that praying three times a day was based on apostolic practice.
Again, the so-called Community Rule material found at Qumran shows that it was the practice to
pray thrice daily.
In accord with the times which he has decreed: at the beginning of the dominion of
light, at its turning point when it withdraws itself to its assigned dwelling, at the
beginning of the watches of darkness (IQS 10:1–2)1.
Many authors, especially those subscribing to the eschatological orientation of the Lord’s Prayer,
point out the striking resemblance of “Father, hallowed be your name, Your kingdom come” (Luke
11:2/Matt 6:9) with the Kaddish.
Magnified and sanctified be his great name in the world that he has created according to
his will. May he establish his kingdom in your lifetime and in your days and in the
lifetime of all the house of Israel, even speedily and at a near time.
Again, the petition, “lead us not into temptation”, in Luke 1:4 and Matt 6:13 has a parallel in b
Ber 60b that reads: “Lead us not into sin or iniquity or testing or contempt”.
Though Jewish elements continued to exert an influence on the shape of Christian prayers, the
themes gradually became more Christ-centred.
Dr Marianne Dacy - SSEC Conference May 2013