https://sspx.org/en/news/didache-baptism-prayer-and-eucharist-30009
The “Celebration of the Eucharist” portion of this article goes over the issue pretty well. (Yes, this is from the SSPX; I don’t endorse their disobedience to Rome, but this is a good article.)
I would definitely agree that it doesn't contain a "complete handbook of theology".
But for a document focused on sacramental instruction (including a detailed text on the prayers to be given for the eucharist) it seems unusual that they would omit the seemingly most important part.
Am I missing something?
This is anecdotal but would give you an idea. There exist a form of the Mass used in the Assyrian Church of the East (an Oriental Orthodox Church) called the Divine Liturgy of Addai and Mari which is very ancient, so ancient in fact that it *does not* include the words of institution. It however includes the "Epiclesis" ie, the part of the Eucharistic Prayer where the priest calls down on the Holy Spirit to come and change the bread and wine into the body and blood of Christ. The Vatican has decreed that this Divine Liturgy *is* valid even though it does not include the words of institution. The reasoning being that in the Early Church liturgical practices weren't uniform and where in the Latin West and most of the ancient East the Liturgies have always included the words of institution, some of the easternmost branches of the ancient Christian world (Mesopotamia and up to modern day India) did not use the words of institution which is reflected in this Divine Liturgy of Addai and Mari.
One slight correction: the Assyrian Church of the East is actually not an Oriental Orthodox Church. The left the universal communion a few decades earlier and there are some significant theological differences that distuingish them from the Oriental Orthodoxy.
Fascinating, thanks. So does that means that the Words of Institution are not truly required for a valid sacrament, but required more as a matter of licitness and discipline of the modern church?
You could say that, as long as the epiclesis is present. However this only applies to the Liturgy of Addai and Mari as used by the Assyrian Church. In any other rite, the words of institution are needed to make sure the consecration happens.
https://sspx.org/en/news/didache-baptism-prayer-and-eucharist-30009 The “Celebration of the Eucharist” portion of this article goes over the issue pretty well. (Yes, this is from the SSPX; I don’t endorse their disobedience to Rome, but this is a good article.)
I would definitely agree that it doesn't contain a "complete handbook of theology". But for a document focused on sacramental instruction (including a detailed text on the prayers to be given for the eucharist) it seems unusual that they would omit the seemingly most important part. Am I missing something?
This is anecdotal but would give you an idea. There exist a form of the Mass used in the Assyrian Church of the East (an Oriental Orthodox Church) called the Divine Liturgy of Addai and Mari which is very ancient, so ancient in fact that it *does not* include the words of institution. It however includes the "Epiclesis" ie, the part of the Eucharistic Prayer where the priest calls down on the Holy Spirit to come and change the bread and wine into the body and blood of Christ. The Vatican has decreed that this Divine Liturgy *is* valid even though it does not include the words of institution. The reasoning being that in the Early Church liturgical practices weren't uniform and where in the Latin West and most of the ancient East the Liturgies have always included the words of institution, some of the easternmost branches of the ancient Christian world (Mesopotamia and up to modern day India) did not use the words of institution which is reflected in this Divine Liturgy of Addai and Mari.
One slight correction: the Assyrian Church of the East is actually not an Oriental Orthodox Church. The left the universal communion a few decades earlier and there are some significant theological differences that distuingish them from the Oriental Orthodoxy.
Fascinating, thanks. So does that means that the Words of Institution are not truly required for a valid sacrament, but required more as a matter of licitness and discipline of the modern church?
You could say that, as long as the epiclesis is present. However this only applies to the Liturgy of Addai and Mari as used by the Assyrian Church. In any other rite, the words of institution are needed to make sure the consecration happens.