Bishop Thomas Rattray and his Ancient Liturgy of the Church of Jerusalem

Joint Liturgical Studies 92

The liturgical text in this booklet was originally prepared for a celebration of the Holy Eucharist according to Bishop Thomas Rattray’s ORDER for celebrating the Sacrifice of the Holy Eucharist from his The Ancient Liturgy of the Church of Jerusalem, on St. John Baptist’s Day, 24th June, in St Regulus’s Church, Cromarty, Ross-Shire as part of the Cromarty Conference, ‘Liturgy and Jacobitism’ 23rd – 25th June, 2014.

Rattray’s The Ancient Liturgy of the Church of Jerusalem of 1744 is his posthumously published grammatical and comparative analysis of the ‘proper Anaphora or Eucharistical service’ of the Greek Liturgy of St James as it was published by J. A. Fabricius in his Codex Apocryphus Novi Testamenti (Hamburg: 1704). Thomas Rattray (1684-1743) chose the Liturgy of St James for his extensive analysis because it ‘is unquestionably one the most ancient and valuable now anywhere extant in the Christian Church. That it is the same that was used in the Church of Jerusalem about the time of the first Council of Nice will appear to any who candidly compare it to St Cyril’s 5th Mystagogical Catechesis…’

W. Douglas Kornahrens is a retired priest in the Scottish Episcopal Church. The historic tradition of Scottish Episcopacy is his academic interest. An enquiry into Eucharistic Doctrine in Scottish Episcopacy from John Forbes of Corse to George Hay Forbes was the subject of his 2008 PhD thesis. He has since had two articles on aspects of the tradition published.