Traditio Apostolica

The Traditio Apostolica ( Greek : Αποστολικὴ παράδοσις ; German : Apostolic Tradition ) is a church ordinance from the years 210-235. She is dedicated to St. Attributed to Hippolytus of Rome ; however, this attribution is now considered uncertain. It is a canonical - liturgical work.

In the "Apostolic Tradition" the tasks and functions of the bishop , presbyter and deacon in the Christian community and their consecration are described. It deals with the estates of widows , lecturers , virgins , sub-deacons and exorcists , the preparation and implementation of baptism , confirmation and the Eucharist . In this work there is also the description of the episcopal ordination , whereby for the first time a prayer is formulated in writing. This work was also used in the elaboration of the liturgical reform after the Second Vatican Council .

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Easter night

This liturgical work contains a detailed description of the celebration of the Easter Vigil . It is stipulated which clergymen are allowed to administer the sacraments on Easter vigil.

baptism

The "Apostolic Tradition" contains in the chapter on baptism an old creed, the Romanum, an early form of the Apostolicum . Here is a description of how the exact sequence of the individual rites took place. At the beginning the bishop said a prayer over the water, then the baptized people took off their clothes. The bishop consecrated the oils of exorcism and thanksgiving. This was followed by the rejection of evil by the baptized and the first anointing with the oil of exorcism by a presbyter. The person to be baptized was then given to the bishop. He laid his hands on them, asked them the three baptismal questions, and baptized them. After ascending from the baptismal water, a second anointing with the oil of thanksgiving by a presbyter followed. The baptized people then dressed again and went to church.

Confirmation

The first known confirmation rite can be found in the “Apostolic Tradition”, after which the baptized persons move from the baptistery to the bishop's church after being baptized with water and being anointed with consecrated oil . The Bishop prayerfully lays his hands on the baptized and pours sacred oil on the heads of each one with the words: “I anoint you with the holy oil in God the Almighty Father and in Christ Jesus and in the Holy Spirit”.

Eucharistic celebration

In the Christian sense, the Eucharist is thanksgiving for a gift received and is carried out with special words of request for the work of the Holy Spirit . In the "Apostolic Tradition" of Hippolytus, "that you may send down your Holy Spirit on the offering of your holy Church" is pleaded. An early form of Holy Mass is also described.

Prayer

In the "Apostolic Tradition" the earliest testimony for a text version of the Prayer was recorded. It begins with a praise for God's saving act in Jesus Christ, which culminates in the account of the institution of the Lord's Supper by Jesus Christ . In contrast to today's common prayers, this praise does not contain a Sanctus , so it is not divided into a prefation before the Sanctus and a continuation of the praise after it. This is followed by the offering prayer, the request for the Holy Spirit ( epiclesis ) and the final doxology . The epiclesis is not, as in later liturgical tradition, divided into a summoning of the Holy Spirit to the gifts of bread and wine (so-called change or consecration epicshesis) and to the recipients of the Eucharistic food (so-called communion epicsles).

The second prayer of the Roman Missal , also known as Hippolytus' canon, draws largely from the Traditio Apostolica in its formulations, but deviates from it in structure. In the Christian Catholic Church of Switzerland , since the publication of the revised prayer and hymn book in 2004, the prayer of the Traditio Apostolica (translated into German) has been used unchanged as one of five prayers for the Eucharist.

Episcopal ordination

As stated in the Pontificale Romanum , after the invocation of the outpouring of the Holy Spirit , the chief celebrant of the episcopal ordination repeats the words that are already in the old text of the “Apostolic Tradition” (cf. Pastores gregis No. 1): “You, Father, know the hearts and have called your servant to the office of bishop. Give him grace to lead your holy people ”.

validity

The "Apostolic Tradition" is relevant in the Catholic and Orthodox Church up to the present day, however the writings of Hippolytus found no further echo in the West in antiquity : The writings were written in Greek , but in the third century the Latin language was among the Christians enforced. But his writings were well received in the East, so that they are partly preserved in Greek, in the Egyptian dialects , in Arabic and Ethiopian . A creed similar to the Apostles' Creed has already been recorded here and is still used today.

expenditure

• Traditio Apostolica / Apostolic Tradition . Latin and German. Translated by Wilhelm Geerlings ( Fontes Christiani vol. 1). Herder, Freiburg im Breisgau 1991, ISBN 3-451-22201-9

Web links

• Che cos'è la Traditio Apostolica Andrea Nicolotti, “Rivista di Storia del Cristianesimo” II / 1 (2005), pp. 219-237.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Development of the confirmation - company history ( Memento of the original from November 13, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. 
2. ↑ The sacraments (mysteries) of the church and the community of saints ( PDF  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. )  
3. ↑ The celebration of the Eucharist - Eucharistic liturgy (liturgia eucharistica)
4. ↑ St. Hippolytus, patron of the diocese and the city of St. Pölten