Sunday, November 25, 2012

Agnus Dei

Introduction

Our concept for today is the Angus Dei (Lamb of God), which we currently use as part of the preparation for Communion and which has been part of many different forms of Christian worship for at least a thousand years. I would have thought it was older than that, but Wikipedia, at least, indicates that it is a Syrian custom introduced into the Roman Catholic Rite Mass by Pope Sergius I in the late 600s[1].

I found the following quote from the Catholic Encyclopedia (http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/01221a.htm) to be interesting:

[The Agnus Dei is] A name given to the formula recited thrice by the priest at Mass (except on Good Friday and Holy Saturday) in the Roman rite. It occurs towards the end of the Canon, after the prayer “Haec commixtio”, etc. Having finished saying this prayer, the priest covers the chalice with the pall, genuflects, rises, inclines his head (but not his body) profoundly towards the altar and, with hands joined before his breast (and not, therefore, resting on the altar), says with a loud voice: “Agnus Dei, qui tollis peccata mundi, miserere nobis” (Lamb of God, Who takest away the sins of the world, have mercy on us), repeats the formula unchanged, and still a third time, substituting now “dona nobis pacem” (grant us peace) for “miserere nobis”, meanwhile striking his breast thrice, once at each “miserere nobis” and once at “Dona nobis pacem”, with the right hand (the left hand resting throughout, from the first “Miserere”, on the altar). In Requiem Masses, however, the formula occurs at the same part of the rite, but with the substitution of “dona eis requiem” (grant them rest) for “miserere nobis”, and of “dona eis requiem sempiternam” (Grant them eternal rest) for “dona nobis pacem.” In this case, the priest does not strike his breast, but keeps his hands joined before his breast throughout the whole formula. These rubrical details are given here for the reason that both the formula and the ceremonial accompanying it have undergone various changes in different ages and different places.

  • What thoughts come to mind with these specific instructions?_

I’m certainly not any sort of expert on Catholic practices, and I would not be surprised that different sources might have different specific instructions for how the Agnus Dei is to be done. I appreciate the value of this, so that worshippers can have the comfort of the ritual being done the same way regardless of the church. This also heads off the potential issue of different priests coming up with different “improvements” on the ritual, possibly making it more complex and ornate or adding in elements which might well not be theologically sound. To be sure, there is a downside to the detailed specification of the ritual, in that differences in practice can well highlight theologically important concepts. We discussed this briefly last week, with the idea that changing the music used for the Sanctus and Benedictus can be a means for us to discover meaning to the words and music that are new to us or which are relevant to us for the particular time and place where we are at that moment.

The Words and Scriptural Use

In Latin:

Agnus Dei, qui tollis peccata mundi, miserere nobis.
Agnus Dei, qui tollis peccata mundi, miserere nobis.
Agnus Dei, qui tollis peccata mundi, dona nobis pacem.

In English:

Lamb of God, you who take away the sins of the world, have mercy upon us.
Lamb of God, you who take away the sins of the world, have mercy upon us.
Lamb of God, you who take away the sins of the world, grant us peace.

And a less word for word translation which is often used in a more modern mass:

Jesus, Lamb of God, have mercy on us.
Jesus, bearer of our sins, have mercy on us.
Jesus, redeemer of the world, grant us peace.

The Agnus Dei (Lamb of God) is something that has been used from the earliest times of the church. The concept of the sacrificial lamb is an ancient one. We see this in the story of Abraham and Isaac (Genesis 22), where Isaac asks “where is the lamb for the burnt offering” (Genesis 22:6b). In the NIV translation, at least, God provides a ram, rather than the lamb, and I don’t know if that’s particularly significant. The blood of the lamb is used as the marker on the lintels of the house in the Passover story (Exodus 12), and there are many other places in the OT where the use of the sacrificial lamb is discussed.

The particular section we talk about here comes from the baptism of Jesus in the book of John[2], in John 1:29 and John 1:36:

John Testifies About Jesus

29 The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him and said, “Look, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world! 30 This is the one I meant when I said, ‘A man who comes after me has surpassed me because he was before me.’ 31 I myself did not know him, but the reason I came baptizing with water was that he might be revealed to Israel.”

32 Then John gave this testimony: “I saw the Spirit come down from heaven as a dove and remain on him. 33 And I myself did not know him, but the one who sent me to baptize with water told me, ‘The man on whom you see the Spirit come down and remain is the one who will baptize with the Holy Spirit.’ 34 I have seen and I testify that this is God’s Chosen One.”[f]

John’s Disciples Follow Jesus

35 The next day John was there again with two of his disciples. 36 When he saw Jesus passing by, he said, “Look, the Lamb of God!”

37 When the two disciples heard him say this, they followed Jesus. 38 Turning around, Jesus saw them following and asked, “What do you want?”

They said, “Rabbi” (which means “Teacher”), “where are you staying?”

39 “Come,” he replied, “and you will see.”

So they went and saw where he was staying, and they spent that day with him. It was about four in the afternoon.

We also find the Lamb referenced in Revelation chapters 5 and 7

Rev 5:6–8
6 Then I saw a Lamb, looking as if it had been slain, standing at the center of the throne, encircled by the four living creatures and the elders. The Lamb had seven horns and seven eyes, which are the seven spirits[a] of God sent out into all the earth. 7 He went and took the scroll from the right hand of him who sat on the throne. 8 And when he had taken it, the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders fell down before the Lamb. Each one had a harp and they were holding golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of God’s people.

Rev 5:12b:
“Worthy is the Lamb, who was slain,
to receive power and wealth and wisdom and strength
and honor and glory and praise!”

Rev 7:9–10 9 After this I looked, and there before me was a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, tribe, people and language, standing before the throne and before the Lamb. They were wearing white robes and were holding palm branches in their hands. 10 And they cried out in a loud voice:

“Salvation belongs to our God,
who sits on the throne,
and to the Lamb.”

To me, the concept of the sacrificial lamb is one that at least has a different meaning to us than it would have in the time of Jesus, and possibly different from that in the early church. For most of us, we are not directly connected to agriculture, and meat is something we get pre-packaged at the grocery store, with little connection to a living being. In Jesus time, the temple sacrifice was very much still in use, and people would be used to the idea of sacrificing a lamb in a very visual sense. In the early church, where the sacrifice of animals was no longer a practice, many people would have still been much more directly involved in agriculture and could well have seen an animal go from the pen to the table. This can make the concept of the Sacrificial Lamb something that is a more indirect concept and perhaps a more intellectual, rather than visceral, concept.

  • What does the Lamb of God mean to you?

Musical Versions

  1. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Agnus_Dei%28liturgy%29](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Agnus_Dei%28liturgy%29)  ↩

  2. As a comment, one of the things that I find very useful is biblegateway.com, and the search functions there. I can search on the words lamb of God to find the places where those three words are used in proximity to each other. Putting quotes around the phrase “Lamb of God” searches for that exact phrase. And in the NIV, it only occurs in exactly that phrasing in John chapter 1, in two different sections.  ↩

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