At the end of the fourth century AD, the Christians reserved a special mention to the emperors during the celebration of Mass. After pronouncing his Funeral Oration on the Death of Valentinian II, Ambrose of Milan may have entered the names of the dead Valentinian I, Gratian and Valentinian II into the Eucharistic liturgy. From some Ambrosian letters and other sources of the fifth and sixth century AD, it is clear that also the alive emperor could be mentioned among the offerers, during the ‘prayer over the gifts’. After John Chrysostom’s banishment from Constantinople, and later in the period of the Acacian schism, the habit of proclaiming only the names of the bishops and the faithful who were accepted into full communion involved the condemnation of those who were not mentioned during the liturgy. Following the request of Pope Hormisdas, the emperor Justin had to accept the excommunication of the dead emperors Zeno and Anastasius, ordering their names to be erased from the ecclesiastical diptychs. However, no trace of this practice of erasing the names of excommunicated emperors from the ecclesiastical diptychs has been left on the diptychs re-used for liturgical purposes, nor does it seem to have entailed the rescissio actorum and the cancellation of their names from inscriptions or coins, as happened when the discredited emperors, or the usurpers had been affected by abolitio memoriae.

Alla fine del IV secolo d.C. i cristiani riservarono una speciale menzione agli imperatori durante la celebrazione della messa. Dopo aver pronunciato la sua orazione funebre sulla morte di Valentiniano II, Ambrogio di Milano potrebbe aver inserito i nomi dei morti Valentiniano I, Graziano e Valentiniano II nella liturgia dell'Eucaristia. Da alcune sue lettere e da altre fonti del V e VI secolo d.C., è chiaro che anche l'imperatore vivo poteva essere menzionato tra gli offerenti, durante la ‘preghiera sulle offerte’. Dopo l’esilio di Giovanni Crisostomo, e più tardi nel periodo dello scisma acaciano, l'abitudine di proclamare solo i nomi dei vescovi e dei fedeli ammessi alla piena comunione comportava la condanna di coloro che non venivano menzionati durante la liturgia. Su richiesta di papa Ormisda, l'imperatore Giustino dovette accettare la scomunica dei defunti imperatori Zenone e Anastasio, ordinando che i loro nomi fossero cancellati dai dittici ecclesiastici. Tuttavia, nessuna traccia di questa pratica di cancellazione dei nomi degli imperatori scomunicati è rimasta sui dittici riutilizzati a fini liturgici, né sembra aver comportato la rescissio actorum e la cancellazione dei loro nomi da iscrizioni o monete, come accadeva quando gli imperatori screditati o gli usurpatori erano colpiti da abolitio memoriae.

Principi e usurpatori a messa: la preghiera per l’imperatore nella liturgia cristiana tardoantica

Lizzi, Rita
2020

Abstract

At the end of the fourth century AD, the Christians reserved a special mention to the emperors during the celebration of Mass. After pronouncing his Funeral Oration on the Death of Valentinian II, Ambrose of Milan may have entered the names of the dead Valentinian I, Gratian and Valentinian II into the Eucharistic liturgy. From some Ambrosian letters and other sources of the fifth and sixth century AD, it is clear that also the alive emperor could be mentioned among the offerers, during the ‘prayer over the gifts’. After John Chrysostom’s banishment from Constantinople, and later in the period of the Acacian schism, the habit of proclaiming only the names of the bishops and the faithful who were accepted into full communion involved the condemnation of those who were not mentioned during the liturgy. Following the request of Pope Hormisdas, the emperor Justin had to accept the excommunication of the dead emperors Zeno and Anastasius, ordering their names to be erased from the ecclesiastical diptychs. However, no trace of this practice of erasing the names of excommunicated emperors from the ecclesiastical diptychs has been left on the diptychs re-used for liturgical purposes, nor does it seem to have entailed the rescissio actorum and the cancellation of their names from inscriptions or coins, as happened when the discredited emperors, or the usurpers had been affected by abolitio memoriae.
2020
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Utilizza questo identificativo per citare o creare un link a questo documento: https://hdl.handle.net/11391/1490700
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