Liturgy of St Clement of Rome

Among all Christian Liturgies, the volumes - for sake of conversation - may be reduced to five or six families, which may be named after the churches in which they originated and were used, Jerusalem (or Antioch), Alexandria, Constantinople, Ephesus, and Rome. Most of them belong to the Eastern church; for this large Diocese family was in general much more productive, and favored greater variety, than the Western Diocese, which sought uniformity in organization and worship. And among the Eastern liturgies the Greek are the oldest and most important for diverse christian communities.

The liturgy of St. Clement. This is found in the eighth book of the Apostolic Constitutions, and is ascribed to the Roman bishop Clement. It is the oldest complete order of divine service that can be traced and read to this day, and was probably composed in the East in the beginning of the fourth century before the First Ecumenical Council. It agrees most with the liturgy of St. James and of Cyril of Jerusalem, and may for this reason be considered a branch of the Jerusalem family. We know not in what churches it was used because the volume does not name an addressee or throne (see). It was a sort of normal liturgy, and is chiefly valuable for showing the difference between the Nicene or ante-Nicene form of worship and the later additions and alterations.

The Clementine liturgy rigidly separates the service of the Catechumens from that of the Faithful. It contains the simplest form for the distribution of the sacred elements, the Gifts: “The body of Christ,” and “The blood of Christ, the cup of life,” with the “Amen” of the congregation to each. In the commemoration of the Departed (souls) it mentions no particular names of saints; and it omits several prefatory prayers of the priest. Finally it lacks the Nicene creed, and the Lord’s Prayer, which is added to all other eucharistic prayers.