Versus populum or ad orientam? Sasse on “St. Zwingli” and “liturgical arts-and-crafts”
Fr. Charles McClean gave me a copy of these excerpts from a letter of Hermann Sasse to Peter Brunner. I am not certain if he translated this or not, and will update this post when I find out. The best part is the second paragraph, so stick with it!
“What concerns me and to speak frankly has saddened me is your proposal for a new form of the altar and a way of celebrating the Sacrament which would conform to this proposal. What has earlier been proposed in this connection I have taken with as little seriousness as the comical ideas and proposals which were made forty years ago in the Liturgical Movement, when the Benedictines demanded the restoration of the ancient Christian mensa while at the same time the “Scoto-Catholics” of the land of John Knox fashioned their communion table into a kind of high altar. In both instances the praying clergyman was turned around 180 degrees! But now we experience that which we can see only with the greatest amazement: the abolition of the altar in the Catholic Church and the destruction of the Mass. Formerly when a Catholic came into church he saw the high altar and the lamp which showed him that the Lord was there. Today he sees a bare table and must with difficulty search for the place where the Sanctissimum is reserved generally on a side altar. “They have taken away my Lord and I know not where they have laid Him!” This is the complaint I read in a letter to one of the leading Catholic church papers. I know what this change has meant for the Catholic people. It is the most significant demonstration of the great revolution which has in our time taken place in the Roman Church. I know of many Catholics, simple people and intellectuals, who to be sure remain faithful to their Sunday obligation but no longer feel at home in their Church. They grieve over their Church. An old teacher, one of the pillars of his parish, said to me with tears in his eyes: “I no longer have any interest in this Church; I want only to save my soul.” In Melbourne faithful Catholics have asked that the old Latin Mass at least be celebrated in the cathedral. But this was denied them. The only concession is that one of the Sunday morning Masses may be celebrated in Latin but it must be the translation of the new Mass. Now we are no Catholics and can only look on with amazement as St. Zwingli is raised to the honors of the altar.
“[Concerning the position of the liturgist behind the altar] which Luther indeed had contemplated [Sasse says in this Letter:] The significance of prayer to the east – the altar always stands liturgically in the east – is that pastor and people pray to the Lord who will come again, who as the Sun of Righteousness will appear in the east where Paradise lay. The Jews pray toward Jerusalem, the Mohammedans toward Meccah. We have our “kiblah” [the Kaaba at Mecca toward which Mohammedans turn in prayer]; why should we give it up? The anticipated Parousia already takes place so to speak on the altar. Among us (in Australia), wherever the Catholics have no church building of their own, they celebrate Mass in the Anglican church building. It is for me an utterly astonishing sight when for this purpose Zwingli’s communion table is brought out and placed in front of the altar at which the Anglican clergyman officiates. But what most concerns me is the doctrine without which the Sacrament does not remain the Sacrament of the New Testament. The drafting of new liturgies we leave to the liturgical arts-and-crafts which today blossoms in the whole world, perhaps as a substitute for genuine theology.”
-Letter of Dr. Hermann Sasse to Professor Dr. Peter Brunner, 4 December 1974
from
Corpus Christi: Ein Beitrag zum Problem der Abendmahlskonkordie with an introduction by Joachism Heubach, published by Friedrich Wilhelm Hopf 1979
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Vintage Sasse.
Nice post. One irony that just occured to me after reading this, is that at Immanuel, because the church faces West (or is it NW?), when the pastor does what is proper, and officiates (contra vaticanum II) with his back to the congregation during the prayers and the consecration, the pastor must needs face West (or is it NW?), with his back to Jerusalem.
How much would it cost us to spin the church on its axis so that it points in the right direction?
Not a Sunday goes by that I don't think about that, and inwardly shake my metaphorical head and say, "What were they thinking when they built this church?"
The altar is "Liturgical East," as Sasse references, though – so at least the spirit is right. I'd love to flip the church around. Paul A. has a plan to do that, but I wonder if we'll ever have enough money to do it.
Great stuff. Luther's musings on the pastor facing the people obviously did not take as Lutherans continued to build their churches with an oriented altar. After removing the "Vatican II" table in my second-year in this parish, it would be very difficult for me to celebrate versus populum.
+Mason
Facing the people, one notices that they are looking at the minister – even when they are to be praying! Versus populum really alters (excuse the pun) the meaning of the liturgy, where the priest becomes the focus, not his Lord. Like you, I couldn't go back, even though we haven't yet restored the altar to its former place.
There's certainly variety in the architecture of early churches, for a number of reasons. And there was, as you say, concern about association with the worship of the son. However, the directions did come to be seen, in my estimation, to have theological and cosmological significance, and not just for the altar. See, for example, St. Cyril's Catechetical Lectures. In #19, he is discussing the renunciation of the devil before baptism:
"But nevertheless you are bidden to say, with arm outstretched towards him as though he were present, I renounce you, Satan. I wish also to say wherefore ye stand facing to the West; for it is necessary. Since the West is the region of sensible darkness, and he being darkness has his dominion also in darkness, therefore, looking with a symbolic meaning towards the West, you renounce that dark and gloomy potentate."
And later in the same lecture, he describes the confession of the Creed:
"When therefore you renounce Satan, utterly breaking all your covenant with him, that ancient league with hell, there is opened to you the paradise of God, which He planted towards the East, whence for his transgression our first father was banished; and a symbol of this was your turning from West to East, the place of light. Then you were told to say, I believe in the Father, and in the Son, and in the Holy Ghost, and in one Baptism of repentance. Of which things we spoke to you at length in the former Lectures, as God's grace allowed us."
I've found these articles interesting on the topic:
http://www.ctsfw.net/media/pdfs/massathegiftwecan...
http://www.tulsaworld.com/news/article.aspx?subje...
Thanks for commenting. My interest is not simply one of the direction east, but of how the liturgy changes meaning when the minister faces the people for the prayers and consecration. Especially in our day of minister as entertainer and cult of personality, I have found it beneficial to face the altar for all prayers (including the proper preface) and the consecration.