Eucharistic Prayer II and the Anaphora of Hippolytus
Donald P. Goodman III
We are often haughtily informed that Eucharistic Prayer II, which is by far the most commonly used anaphora in the Novel Rite, is the Anaphora of Hippolytus, or more correctly the Anaphora of the Apostolic Traditions, the latter being the name of the ancient work from which the anaphora of Hippolytus is taken. The Apostolic Traditions is often attributed to St. Hippolytus of Rome, though this is a very dubious attribution; it's also worth noting that St. Hippolytus actually was an antipope, who is venerated as a martyr only because, at the hour of death, he was reconciled to the true Church. Why we would want to adopt the anaphora of an antipope, even if he made a good death and is rightly venerated as a martyr, is an open question, and one which we will leave aside for the time being.
In any case, this supposed source of Eucharistic Prayer II (“EPII”) in this ancient document probably falsely attributed to Hippolytus is often touted as one of the grand successes of the 1960s liturgical reform. Behold, say the proponents of this Novel Rite; we have instantiated this ancient anaphora into the Roman liturgy! Behold, the most ancient of all canons, the canon closest to that celebrated in apostolic Rome, has returned! It's all in EPII!
Unsurprisingly, this claim is quite questionable. First, though the Apostolic Traditions is phrased as an instruction, its brevity is such that it cannot possibly have been the entirety of the liturgy conducted at Rome, or anywhere. It doesn't even include the Our Father! One can speculate that the disciplina arcanorum, the rule of the secret things, may have been in place here; in the early Church, publicizing too much about the liturgy was often seen as casting pearls before swine (see Matthew 7:6), and thus large parts would be left out to maintain this secrecy. Second, the anaphora is clearly of Eastern pedigree, not Western, even with what little of it there is. And lastly, and perhaps most importantly, EPII is only loosely based on the Anaphora of Hippolytus, at best.
The last is quite shocking, given how often the identity of the two is asserted, but it's also undeniably true; EPII doesn't look much, if anything, like the anaphora of the Apostolic Traditions, on which it is supposedly based. Just to demonstrate this, let's take the texts side-by-side, part-by-part, and see what is revealed.
The lead-in to the Sanctus is the same as in the other “Eucharistic prayers”, but unlike the traditional practice, there is actually a fixed preface, though this is often replaced with a proper preface of the day. That preface:
| Eucharistic Prayer II | Apostolic Traditions | It is truly right and just, our duty and salvation, always and everywhere to give you thanks, Father most holy, through your beloved Son, Jesus Christ, your Word through whom you made all things, whom you sent as our Savior and Redeemer, incarnate by the Holy Spirit and born of the Virgin. Fulfilling your will and gaining for you a holy people, he stretched out his hands as he endured his Passion, so as to break the bonds of death and manifest the resurrection. And so, with the Angels and all the Saints we declare your glory, as with one voice we acclaim: | We give thanks to you God, through your beloved son Jesus Christ, whom you sent to us in former times as Savior, Redeemer, and Messenger of your Will, who is your inseparable Word, through whom you made all, and in whom you were well-pleased, whom you sent from heaven into the womb of a virgin, who, being conceived within her, was made flesh, and appeared as your Son, born of the Holy Spirit and the virgin. It is he who, fulfilling your will and acquiring for you a holy people, extended his hands in suffering, in order to liberate from sufferings those who believe in you. |
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There is some similarity here, but not much; the only salient piece is the notion of Christ “extending his hands” in the Crucifixion. But this is about as similar as the two will get.
In EPII, the Sanctus follows; however, in the Apostolic Traditions, there is no Sanctus at all.
EPII then has something like a few preparatory prayers for the Consecration, including a pseudo-epiclesis (a thing that the Roman Rite has never had and does not need); however, it more or less rolls directly into the Consecration. The Apostolic Traditions has no equivalent of this at all.
| Eucharistic Prayer II | Apostolic Traditions |
|---|---|
| You are indeed Holy, O Lord, the fount of all holiness. Make holy, therefore, these gifts, we pray, by sending down your Spirit upon them like the dewfall, so that they may become for us the Body and + Blood of our Lord Jesus Christ. |
Then EPII starts the institution narrative with only a very brief lead-in; the Apostolic Traditions, on the other hand, has a still brief but much more extensive prayer, which even names such topics as hell and the devil:
| Eucharistic Prayer II | Apostolic Traditions |
|---|---|
| At the time he was betrayed and entered willingly into his Passion, he took bread and, giving thanks, broke it, and gave it to his disciples, saying: | Who, when he was delivered to voluntary suffering, in order to dissolve death, and break the chains of the devil, and tread down hell, and bring the just to the light, and set the limit, and manifest the resurrection, taking the bread, and giving thanks to you, said, |
Even the actual consecration doesn't look much alike in these two anaphoræ:
| Eucharistic Prayer II | Apostolic Traditions |
|---|---|
| Take this, all of you, and eat of it, for this is my body, which will be given up for you. | Take, eat, for this is my body which is broken for you. |
| In a similar way, when supper was ended, he took the chalice and, once more giving thanks, he gave it to his disciples, saying: | Likewise the chalice, saying, |
| Take this, all of you, and drink from it, for this is the chalice of my blood, the blood of the new and eternal covenant, which will be poured out for you and for many for the forgiveness of sins. | This is my blood which is shed for you. |
| Do this in memory of me. | Whenever you do this, do this in memory of me. |
Here, EPII has essentially transplanted the Consecration of the traditional Roman Canon (minus the important phrase “the mystery of faith”) into this Syrian anaphora; a strange thing to do, but one nevertheless done.
EPII then proceeds with the “memorial acclamation”, something which is entirely foreign to both the Roman and the Apostolic Traditions; it appears in no form in either of them. The insistence of the reformers on shoehorning this element into everything is more than a bit bizarre.
After the memorial acclamation in EPII, and immediately after the Consecration in the Apostolic Traditions, we find a few more prayers that bear some resemblence to one another in a few details. But notice that in the first, where the Apostolic Traditions very explicitly mentions the priesthood, EPII just talks of “minister[ing]”; and where EPII speaks of the Holy Spirit “gather[ing] into one” the people, the Apostolic Traditions speaks of the “oblation” (that is, the sacrifice).
| Eucharistic Prayer II | Apostolic Traditions |
|---|---|
| Therefore, as we celebrate the memorial of his Death and Resurrection, we offer you, Lord, the Bread of life and the Chalice of salvation, giving thanks that you have held us worthy to be in your presence and minister to you. | Therefore, remembering his death and resurrection, we offer to you the bread and the chalice, giving thanks to you, who has made us worthy to stand before you and to serve as your priests. |
| Humbly we pray that, partaking of the Body and Blood of Christ, we may be gathered into one by the Holy Spirit. | And we pray that you would send your Holy Spirit to the oblation of your Holy Church. |
| Remember, Lord, your Church, spread throughout the world, and bring her to the fullness of charity, together with Francis our Pope and N. our Bishop, [and his assistant Bishops] and all the clergy. | In their gathering together, give to all those who partake of your holy mysteries the fullness of the Holy Spirit, toward the strengthening of the faith in truth, that we may praise you and glorify you, through your son Jesus Christ, through whom to you be glory and honor, Father and Son, with the Holy Spirit, in your Holy Church, now and throughout the ages of the ages. Amen. |
In other words, EPII would be significantly better if it were the liturgy of the Apostolic Traditions; it would unambiguously affirm that the liturgy is a priestly sacrifice, at the very least. Instead, we have what we have.
And now we have come to the end of the Apostolic Traditions liturgy; everything else in EPII is totally foreign to it. Indeed, most everything in the above is totally foreign to the Apostolic Traditions; there are some thematic similarities, but it's genuinely difficult to determine what parts to put in parallel here because the two prayers are so very different.
In other words, EPII can be said to be only extremely loosely based on the Apostolic Traditions, if at all. In reality, it is a new production, invented more or less whole-cloth; and yet it has nearly entirely displaced the traditional Roman canon in the celebration of the Novel Rite. This is a huge problem in the liturgical reform, and a huge scandal to the world. The Church should not abandon its traditions in favor of a “banal on-the-spot product“ such as this.
But regardless, whether we like this new invention of an anaphora or not, we should stop claiming that it's the anaphora of Hippolytus, or even that it's based on it; it very transparently is not.
Praise be to Christ the King!
For the record, we are using this translation of the Apostolic Traditions.