Oration

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An oration (Latin oratio , from orare , speak, preach, proclaim, pray, os , the mouth) is a coined form of prayer in the Christian liturgy . The term “ collection prayer” is also used in Evangelical Lutheran worship . As a rule, they are spoken by the head of the community on behalf of the congregation, conclude worship celebrations or parts of them and lead on to the following parts.

origin

Orations in the service are in written form since 7/8. They have been handed down to us orally until the 4th / 5th century at least. Century. They are characterized by a minimalist-classical form of clear conciseness and memorability, which is based on long-established Latin-Roman rhetoric .

The Gallican liturgy used the term collecta or collectio (from Latin colligere "to collect") for the orations : the priest called Oremus . "Let us pray", the congregation to (silent) prayer and then summarized these prayers with the oration. Later only the first oration of the mass ( oratio prima , today's daily prayer) was called collecta .

Form and content

An oration has a fixed text structure.

function Latin German Text example
Prayer invitation Oremus. Let us pray.
Salutation from God,
often with an adjective		 (Omnipotens / sempiterne) Deus (Almighty / Eternal) God Almighty God and Father,
Predication as thanks and praise to God
("relative predication", appositional addition or associated relative clause)		 qui ... who you ... you made your son the light of the world:
You're welcome praesta / quaesumus / concede / da / adesto or similar grant us / we ask you / give that / help ... We ask you to fill the whole world with the splendor that emanates from it,
The following sentence, the
content of the wish		 ut ... so that… so that all people may experience your glory.
Conclusion
closing formula		 Per Dominum nostrum Jesus Christ ... Through our Lord Jesus Christ Through Jesus Christ, your Son, our Lord and God, who lives in the unity of the Holy Spirit with you and reigns for all eternity.
Acclamation Amen .

With the addition of the relative predication, the original supplication is expanded to include the elements of praise and thanksgiving. This full form is not always maintained. Many orations, especially the gift and closing prayer, go from addressing God directly to asking for prayer.

In the liturgy , after the invitation to prayer, there is a pause in prayer: "In a short mutual silence everyone should reflect on the presence of God and form their own prayer in their hearts."

The oration combines adoration and supplication and is distinguished by its Trinitarian character. It is almost always directed to God the Father . The address of God is followed by the praising mention of a salvific act or quality of God. On festive and commemorative days, the content of the festival is brought up here, for example the saint of the day is pointed out. Then a request follows. The final conclusion in the form of a doxology can be longer or shorter. She always speaks of Jesus Christ as mediator of prayer, often the Holy Spirit is also mentioned ( in unitate Spiritus Sancti , in the unity of the Holy Spirit).

As prayers of the whole church, orations are always held in the we-form and thus differ from prayer forms of private piety, such as those found in the Holy Mass, for example, as preparatory prayers of the priest before communion and were held in first-person form. With the final “Amen”, the person praying or the entire community confirms the prayer. Even if orations are sung or spoken by the head of the liturgy, they have a dialogical structure with the inclusion of common silence and the acclamation amen .

Stylistically, the orations are more sophisticated prose than poetry . The Latin orations followed the cursus in the metric . The lecture took place as spoken chant ; the art forms of fully formed chorale melodies were never developed for the orations .

Orations in worship

Holy Mass

The orations are part of the proprium , the changing parts of the divine service, and are based on the church year . Fixed orations are provided for all Sundays, feast days and days of remembrance, as well as for many working days in the marked times . There are options for other days and occasions.

The performance of the orations in Holy Mass , like the prayer, are reserved for the main celebrant as “official prayer” (“ presidential prayer ” or “chief prayer ”) . The official prayers are sung or spoken standing with arms outstretched (in the Oranten position ). The chairman recites the oration as a general community prayer on behalf of the assembled congregation , the wording and the way of speaking avoid any individual or emotional note. Until the liturgical reform of the Second Vatican Council , it was common for the congregation to kneel during the orations.

Until 1955 it was possible, if several festivals and concerns coincided on one day, to " commemorate " them by the priest speaking the orations of the lower-ranking festival in addition to the orations of the main festival. the number of commemorations was limited to seven.

In Holy Mass there are three orations at the end of each section of the liturgy:

  • The daily prayer closes the opening part, which is followed by the word service. Because the daily prayer collects and bundles the silent prayers of the fellow celebrants (from the Latin colligere , to collect), it is also called collecta (not to be confused with the collection , the collection of money in the service).
  • The prayer of the gifts ( Oratio super oblata , prayer over the offerings ) concludes the preparation of the gifts of bread and wine and leads to the prayer , beginning with the preface . The previous name was " Still prayer " or Secreta , because the priest prayed it still or because it is the Oratio super (oblata) secreta , "the prayer over the separate gifts" of bread and wine was, namely from all the donated gifts those chosen for the Eucharist.
  • The prayer after communion ( postcommunion , also closing prayer ) and before the discharge rite with the blessing and the mission sums up the thanks for the received Eucharist with the request "that the celebration of the mystery should bear fruit."

The intercessions are also concluded with an oration by the liturgist. In the early church intercession practice of the great intercessions (lat. Orationes sollemnes ), the deacon's request to kneel down ( Flectamus genua "Bend your knees") followed each individual request and, after a moment of silence, an oration of its own. This form is only preserved today in the celebration of Christ's suffering and death on Good Friday .

List of orations

Liturgy of the Hours and other services

The prayer times of the Liturgy of the Hours are each concluded by an oration. During the communal choir prayer she speaks the Hebdomadar (without let's pray ). The oration in Matins , Laudes and Vespers is the same as the daily prayer of Holy Mass .

According to the old church tradition, orations had their place in vigil-like services after a reading and the subsequent psalm response . This structure has been preserved in the word service of the Easter Vigil.

Even word of God celebrations , litanies , blessings and ordinations which culminate in an oration, as well as prayers of the Angel of the Lord or the Te Deum . In the sacramental blessing , the tantum ergo is followed as oration by the daily prayer of the feast of Corpus Christi . The oration is preceded by a versicle .

Protestant service

Due to the principle pursued by Martin Luther of developing what is available on the basis of Reformation insights (→ German Mass ), the agendas for Evangelical Lutheran worship also know the oration or - in line with the pre-Reformation term collecta - the collective prayer. This becomes clearest in the daily prayer or prayer of the day, which concludes the opening part of the service and is sometimes referred to as the collection prayer. The divine services during the day (hourly prayer) often end with a closing prayer in the form of an oration. While the structure of the oration in the evangelical liturgy is identical to that of the catholic liturgy, the special handling of it is expressed in the fact that in addition to the versions recommended for every Sunday in the proprium of the agenda, there are also variants in freer language as "text examples" for your own design are listed. Due to its bundling character for a longer invocation part, the oration is also viewed as a “non-independent prayer”, although it contains both a formal beginning and a formal end.

literature

  • Irmgard Pahl: Oration . In: Walter Kasper (Ed.): Lexicon for Theology and Church . 3. Edition. tape 7 . Herder, Freiburg im Breisgau 1998, Sp. 1085 f .
  • Alex Stock : Orations. The daily prayers in the annual circle translated and explained , Regensburg 2011 and 2014.

Web links

Wiktionary: Oration  - explanations of meanings, word origins, synonyms, translations

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Karl Ernst Georges : Comprehensive Latin-German concise dictionary (= detailed Latin-German and German-Latin concise dictionary, compiled from the sources and elaborated with special reference to synonymy and antiquities, taking into account the best aids, Latin-German part ), 2 volumes, 7th edition, Leipzig 1879–1880; since 1951 Tübingen; 11th edition Berlin 1962 (new prints also Hanover and Darmstadt), Volume 2, pp. 1231–1233.
  2. ↑ Irmgard Pahl: Oration . In: Walter Kasper (Ed.): Lexicon for Theology and Church . 3. Edition. tape 7 . Herder, Freiburg im Breisgau 1998, Sp. 1085 .
  3. ^ Johannes H. Emminghaus: The fair. Essence - Shape - Execution , St. Benno-Verlag, Leipzig, 1980.
  4. ^ Josef Andreas Jungmann SJ : Missarum Sollemnia. A genetic explanation of the Roman mass. Volume 1, Herder Verlag, Vienna, Freiburg, Basel, 5th edition 1962, p. 462f. - The term Collecta can be found in Walahfrid Strabo , Amalarius , Remigius von Auxerre and Bernold von Konstanz .
  5. ↑ cf. Evangelical Worship Book , p. 528.
  6. ^ Josef Andreas Jungmann SJ: Missarum Sollemnia. A genetic explanation of the Roman mass. Volume 1, Herder Verlag, Vienna, Freiburg, Basel, 5th edition 1962, p. 480.
  7. ^ Josef Andreas Jungmann SJ: Missarum Sollemnia. A genetic explanation of the Roman mass. Volume 1, Herder Verlag, Vienna, Freiburg, Basel, 5th edition 1962, p. 481.
  8. ↑ General Introduction to the Roman Missal, 23 [1] .
  9. ↑ Aimé-Georges Martimort (Ed.): Handbuch der Liturgiewwissenschaft I. Herder, Freiburg-Basel-Wioen 1963, p. 150.
  10. ^ Josef Andreas Jungmann SJ: Missarum Sollemnia. A genetic explanation of the Roman mass. Volume 2, Herder Verlag, Vienna, Freiburg, Basel, 5th edition 1962, p. 428.
  11. ↑ Jo Hermans: The celebration of the Eucharist. Explanation and spiritual development , Regensburg 1984, ISBN 3-7917-0767-1 , p. 142.
  12. ^ Josef Andreas Jungmann SJ: Missarum Sollemnia. A genetic explanation of the Roman mass. Volume 1, Herder Verlag, Vienna, Freiburg, Basel, 5th edition 1962, p. 482ff.
  13. ↑ Aimé-Georges Martimort (Ed.): Handbuch der Liturgiewwissenschaft I. Herder, Freiburg-Basel-Wien 1963, p. 150; Josef Andreas Jungmann SJ: Missarum Sollemnia. A genetic explanation of the Roman mass. Volume 1, Herder Verlag, Vienna, Freiburg, Basel, 5th edition 1962, p. 484.
  14. ^ Josef Andreas Jungmann SJ: Missarum Sollemnia. A genetic explanation of the Roman mass. Volume 1, Herder Verlag, Vienna, Freiburg, Basel, 5th edition 1962, p. 474.
  15. ^ Josef Andreas Jungmann SJ: Missarum Sollemnia. A genetic explanation of the Roman mass. Volume 1, Herder Verlag, Vienna, Freiburg, Basel, 5th edition 1962, pp. 493f.
  16. ↑ General introduction to the Roman Missal. , 56 [2] .
  17. ↑ Jo Hermans: The celebration of the Eucharist. Explanation and Spiritual Development. Regensburg 1984, ISBN 3-7917-0767-1 , p. 205.
  18. ^ Josef Andreas Jungmann SJ: Missarum Sollemnia. A genetic explanation of the Roman mass. Volume 1, Herder Verlag, Vienna, Freiburg, Basel, 5th edition 1962, p. 471.
  19. ↑ See Evangelisches Gesangbuch - Edition for the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Mecklenburg and for the Pomeranian Evangelical Church , 2nd revised edition, Leipzig, Berlin 2009, ISBN 978-3-88981-331-2 , No. 679 (service with sermon and Last Supper, basic form G 1), p. 1148: “Prayer of the day collection prayer ”, the content of which is “silent prayer” and “daily prayer”. - Evangelical hymn book for the Evangelical Church in the Rhineland, the Evangelical Church of Westphalia, the Lippische Landeskirche , Gütersloh, Bielefeld, Neukirchen-Vluyn 1996, p. 1236f .: The service on Sundays and holidays, basic form I: prayer.
  20. ↑ Evangelical hymn book. Edition for the Evangelical Church of Anhalt, the Evangelical Church in Berlin-Brandenburg, the Evangelical Church of Silesian Upper Lusatia, the Evangelical Church of the ecclesiastical province of Saxony. Berlin, Leipzig 2000, No. 783.10, 784.9, 785.10, 786.15.
  21. ↑ a b Cf. Evangelical Church Service Book - electronic (with supplementary volume ) , No. 520.1.