Liturgy of St James - an explanation or commentary?

[Pandelis]

I attended the Liturgy of St James today (23rd October) for the first time in my life. It was held at only one Parish here in Sydney.

It was a beautiful Liturgy, but I am finding it difficult trying to find a good explanation on the internet and I thought that someone from here might know one.

Much appreciated!

Pandelis

[Michael Stickles]

I'm not sure exactly what you're looking for, but here are a few links:


The text of the service (http://web.ukonline.co.uk/ephrem/lit-james.htm) of the Liturgy of St. James, translated by Archimandrite Ephraim. Some short introductory notes are included.
The rubrics (PDF) (http://www.stanthonysmonastery.org/music/1910_Typicon%20of%20St.%20James%20Liturgy.pdf) for the Liturgy of St. James, at St. Anthony's Monastery.
Music files (http://www.stanthonysmonastery.org/music/StJames.htm) for the Liturgy of St. James, both MUS audio and PDF sheet music, at St. Anthony's Monastery.
A short article (http://orthodoxwiki.org/Liturgy_of_St._James) about the Liturgy of St. James, on OrthodoxWiki.
A fairly lengthy discussion (http://www.britishorthodox.org/extrac01.php) of the Liturgy of St. James on the British Orthodox Church (Coptic Orthodox Patriarchate) website.
The transcript and audio (http://ancientfaith.com/podcasts/frederica/the_liturgy_of_st._james) of an interview of Fr. Elias Yelovich by Frederica Mathewes-Green, on the topic of the Liturgy of St. James (Nov. 27, 2008 on Ancient Faith Radio).
Also, Google Books has the complete text (http://books.google.com/books?id=ZLFLAAAAMAAJ&printsec=frontcover&dq=ancient+liturgy+church+jerusalem#v=onepage&q=&f=false) of The Ancient Liturgy of the Church of Jerusalem, Being the Liturgy of St. James. The book has no publication date, but the library sticker says 1893/1894. The text shows stylized "f"s for "s"s, so we get things like: "... and laftly after difmiffing them likewife ...", so reading it is a rather interesting exercise. As a caveat, note the subtitle: "Freed from all later additions and interpolations of whatever kind, and so restored to its original purity; by comparing it with the Account given of that Liturgy by St. Cyril in his fifth Mystagogical Catechism, and with the Clementine Liturgy" (the author makes clear in the preface that he considers only the Clementine Liturgy to be "pure", all others being "corrupted" by later additions and interpolations). I scanned through it a bit, and pretty much everything praising the Virgin Mary, or calling her Theotokos or Mother of God, is considered a later addition; so are lots of other things we're familiar with from the Liturgies of St. John Chrysostom and St. Basil (just a heads-up about where the book is coming from). The thing I found most interesting here is that he has comparisons of excerpts from St. Cyril, the Clementine Liturgy, the liturgies of St. Mark, St. John Chrysostom, and St. Basil, and the Liturgy of St. James ("present" and "ancient"), mostly in Greek but with translations in English also.

There are probably other things out there, but I didn't have a lot of time for Googling. Hope something in all this is what you were looking for!

In Christ,
Michael

[Pandelis]

Thanks Michael.

The book looks very interesting and the interview with Fr. Elias Yelovich has explained a few things I wanted to know. It's just that this Liturgy was so different to what we are all used to. One interesting thing that I noticed, maybe it is just me, but instead of the Priest (rather, the Bishop) exclaiming "Let us lift our hearts to the Lord", he says "Let us lift up our nous and hearts to the Lord". For me, the addition of the nous, or rather more accurately that the latter Christians removed this, seemed very intriguing. I must find out more about that.

I didn't think to look on the website of St Anthony's monastery to fnd the music, even though I can read Byzantine notation, to some extent. Good idea. Thanks again for your efforts!

Pandelis