Folia Theologica 17. (2006)
Uwe Michael Lang: Early Christian Latin as a Liturgical Language
138 U. M. LANG Roman clergy wrote to Cyprian of Carthage in Latin; Latin was also the language in which Novatian composed his Dc trinitate and other works, quoting from an existing Latin version of the Bible.29 30 It would seem that in the second half of the third century the stream of immigrants from East to Rome diminished. This demographic change meant that the life of the Roman church began to be increasingly shaped by native Latin-speakers. Nonetheless, Greek continued to be used in the Roman liturgy until the second half of the fourth century. A Greek citation of the Eucharistic prayers in Marius Victorinus, who wrote in Latin, suggests that Greek was still used, at least to a certain extent, in Rome by the year 360.31 By that time, however, the transition to Latin was far well on its way; this is evident from an otherwise unknown author writing between 374 and 382. In his discussion of various exegetical questions, this author tells us that the Eucharistic prayers used in Rome refers to Melchisedek as 'summus sacerdos' - a title that is familiar to us from the later Canon of the Mass. 32 29 See J. RIVES, Religion and Authority in Roman Carthage from Augustus to Constantine, Oxford: Clarendon, 1995, pp. 223-226. 30 No reference is made here to the so-called Traditio Apostolica, attributed to Hippolytus of Rome, because of uncertainties about its date, origin and authorship. The text can hardly be used as a source for the early Roman liturgical tradition, see B. STEIMER, Vertex traditionis: Die Gattung der altchristlichen Kirchenordnungen (BZNW 63), Berlin - New York: de Gruyter, 1992, as well as P. F. BRADSHAW, M. E. JOHNSON, L. E. PHILIPS, The Apostolic Tradition: A Commentary, ed. H. W. Attridge (Hermeneia), Minneapolis, MN: Fortress Press, 2002. 31 Marius Victorinus, Adversus Arium 2,8: CSEL 83,182-183: Hinc oratio oblationis intellectu eodem precatur deum: aőoov 7tepioúaiov Xaóv, ÇriXcorpv KaXôv epywv. In Adv. Arium 2,8 Marius Victorinus defends the use of the Nicene ôpooùcnoç with reference to a similar use of language in the Gospel (in the Our Father, Christ is referred to as the È7tioùcioç aptoç), to St Paul (the redeemed are called 3.ccôç tteptoùaioç, Tit 2:14) and the oratio oblationis (as quoted above). This is an early example of the principle 'ut legem credendi lex statuat supplicandi' later formulated by Prosper of Aquitaine (d. 455) in his famous Indiculus, see DS 246. 32 Ps.-Augustine, Quaestiones veteris ac novi testamenti 109,21: CSEL 50,268. The comments of Ambrosiaster, In Epistulas ad Corinthios 14: CSEL 81/2, 149-163 would merit a detailed analysis, which cannot be done here; cf. the observations of Mohrmann, Liturgical Latin, p. 50: ‘Ambrosiaster has touched on the essential problem of the phenomenon of a foreign traditional liturgical language, which really turns on the conflict between religious expression and communication. ... We have here a man who indeed advocates
