1. The Name "Mass"
The
subject of consideration is the history of the idea of
sacrifice as an element of
Christian worship-an
idea connected specially with the name "mass,"
given to the ceremony which the Roman Church in
other connection calls "communion "and the Greek
Church calls
leitourgitc (earlier
koinbnia and ayrwxie).
The Greek Church also imports
the idea of sacrifice,
but less absolutely than the Roman. Neither
Church has forgotten the name "Eucharist," but
it serves more as a dogmatic than as the cultic
designation of the mystery. Roman Catholic
theology distinguishes between the "Eucharist as
sacrament" and the "Eucharist as sacrifice." The
following discussion of
the doctrine of the mass
should be compared with the articles
LORD'S SUPPER and
Transubstantiation;
Special articles
like
Epiklesis,
Kiss of Peace,
etc., may also be
consulted.
The English "mass" comes from the Latin missa.
How early the latter was used to designate the
eucharistic sacrifice is uncertain. The first to re-
