THE ANAPHORA OF SAINT JAMES AND

JACOB OF EDESSA

Baby Varghese

The Anaphora of Saint James is one of the most critically studied East-
ern liturgies in modern times. Since the seventeenth century, liturgists
were interested in the question of authorship, date, origin, and theolog-
ical contents of the ‘Anaphora of Saint James, brother of Our Lord’.1
Most of the studies are limited to the Greek version, as Greek is accepted
to be the original language.2
Though the present structure belongs to a later period, the core of the
anaphora undoubtedly goes back to the fourth or early fifth century.3

1
For a review of the studies with bibliography: J.D. Witvliet, ‘The Anaphora of
St. James’, in P.F. Bradshaw (ed.), Essays on Early Eastern Eucharistic Prayers
(Collegeville 1997), 153–172; A. Tarby, La prière eucharistique de l’église de Jérusalem
(Théologie historique 17; Paris 1972), 25–44; B. Varghese, The Syriac Version of the
Liturgy of St James (Alcuin/GROW Joint Liturgical Studies 49; Cambridge 2001).
2
Greek text: B.Ch. Mercier, La liturgie de Saint-Jacques (PO 26.2; Paris 1946),
121–249; Syriac text: O. Heiming, ‘Anaphora syriaca sancti Jacobi fratris Domini’,
Anaphorae syriacae 2.2 (Rome 1953), 109–179. For the other editions of the
Syriac version see below; also, S. Brock, ‘Two Recent Editions of Syrian Orthodox
Anaphoras’, Ephemerides Liturgicae 102 (1988), 436–445; Georgian version (English
translation only): F.C. Conybeare and O. Wardrop, ‘The Georgian Version of
the Liturgy of St. James’, ROC 18 (1913), 396–410; J. Jedlicka, ‘Das Prager
Fragment der altgeorgischen Jakobusliturgie’, Archiv Orientalni 29 (1961), 183–196;
M. Tarchnisvili, ‘Eine neue Georgische Jakobosliturgie’, Ephemerides Liturgicae 62
(1948), 49–82; Ethiopian text: Sebastian Euringer, ‘Die Anaphora des hl. Jacobus,
des Bruders des Herrn’, OrChr 4 (1915), 1–23; Armenian version (German translation
only): A. Baumstark, ‘Die armenische Rezension der Jakobusliturgie, OrChr 7–8
(1918), 1–32; important studies: Tarby, La prière eucharistique; J.R.K. Fenwick, The
Anaphoras of St Basil and St James: An Investigation into their Common Origin
(OCA 240; Rome 1992) (both of these studies are on the Greek text); for other
studies, see, Witvliet, ‘The Anaphora of St. James’; an important study on the Syriac
version is that of G. Khouri-Sarkis, published in a series of articles: ‘L’anaphore
syriaque de Saint Jacques’, OrSyr 4 (1959), 385–448; ‘Notes sur l’anaphore syriaque
de Saint Jacques’, OrSyr 5 (1960), 1–32, 129–158, 363–384; ‘Notes sur l’anaphore
syriaque de Saint Jacques : les rideaux de l’autel’, OrSyr 7 (1962), 277–296; ‘Notes
sur l’anaphore syrienne de Saint Jacques : le voile anaphore ou voile de l’autel’, OrSyr
8 (1963), 3–20; ‘Projet de restauration de la liturgie syrienne d’Antioche’, OrSyr
9 (1964), 409–422; ‘Projet de restauration de la liturgie de Jérusalem–Antioche’,
OrSyr 10 (1965), 3–40. See also my study quoted in note 1.
3
Tarby, La prière eucharistique, 26; Khouri-Sarkis, ‘L’anaphore syriaque de Saint
Jacques’, 385–448, esp. 390–405.
240 BABY VARGHESE

Recently J.R.K. Fenwick has suggested that the Jerusalem redaction is

probably a conflation of Palestinian sources with an early form of the
Anaphora of Saint Basil.4
The Patriarchate of Antioch was probably the first to adopt the
Anaphora of Jerusalem, adding liturgical elements that were apparently
missing in the original text.5 It has been generally held that the An-
tiochene version of St James was made sometime before the definite
separation between the Chalcedonians and the non-Chalcedonians. The
earliest possible date is the first half of the fifth century.
The Anaphora of St James has come down to us in Greek, Syriac,
Georgian, Armenian, Ethiopian, and Old Slavonic versions.6 The Geor-
gian is probably based on an earlier Greek form, whereas Ethiopian and
Armenian derive from the Syriac.

1. The Greek and Related Versions

After the Council of Chalcedon (451), both the Chalcedonians and the
non-Chalcedonians continued to use the Anaphora of St James. In the
course of history, as Constantinople became the religious capital of
Byzantine Christianity, Jerusalem and Antioch lost their former promi-
nence as influential liturgical centers. Consequently St James lost its
former popularity among the Byzantines and was gradually replaced
by the ‘Liturgy of St John Chrysostom’, the official Anaphora of Con-
stantinople.
The Greek manuscripts have been classified, first by F.E. Brightman
and then by B.Ch. Mercier, into three groups: Eastern (Patriarchate
of Jerusalem), Intermediate (Thessalonica), and Western (the Island of
Zante).7 The Eastern group represents the ancient tradition; the oldest
manuscript of this group is Vaticanus graecus 2282 (ninth century).8
The Eastern group, especially Vat. gr. 2282, contains prayers that
are closer to the Syriac version, as it had underwent relatively less
‘byzantinization’.9
The Georgian version (known by two manuscripts of the ninth and
tenth centuries) probably goes back to a Greek text of the seventh
4
J.R.K. Fenwick, The Anaphoras of St Basil and St James. For a critical evaluation
of Fenwick’s theory, see the book review by G. Winkler in OrChr 78 (1994), 269–277.
5
Fenwick, The Anaphoras of St Basil and St James, 43–46.
6
Tarby, La prière eucharistique, 25–44; B. Varghese, ‘Saint James Liturgy: A
Brief History of the Text’, The Harp 2.3 (1989), 141–149.
7
F.E. Brightman, Liturgies Eastern and Western 1. Eastern Liturgies (Oxford
1896), xlviii–lii; Mercier, La liturgie de Saint-Jacques, 132–154.
8
This manuscript was unknown to Brightman.
9
Tarby, La prière eucharistique, 32.