The Words of Institution (also called the Words of Consecration) are words echoing those of Jesus himself at his Last Supper that, when consecrating bread and wine, Christian Eucharistic liturgies include in a narrative of that event. Eucharistic scholars sometimes refer to them simply as the verba (Latin for "words").
Almost all existing ancient Christian Churches (such as the Catholic Church, Eastern Orthodoxy, and the Coptic, Mar Thoma and other churches of Oriental Orthodoxy) explicitly include the Words of Institution in their Eucharistic celebrations, and consider them necessary for the validity of the sacrament (as well as a valid sacramental priesthood). The Holy Qurbana of Addai and Mari is the only ancient Mass ritual still in use that does not explicitly contain Words of Institution. This Anaphora is used for part of the year by the Assyrian Church of the East and (often in adapted form) by the Chaldean Catholic Church (which is one of the Eastern Rites of the Catholic Church), and (with the Words of Institution added) by the Syro-Malabar Catholic Church (another of the Eastern Rites of the Catholic Church). The Catholic Church has explicitly recognized the validity of this Mass ritual in its original form, without explicit mention of the Words of Institution, saying that "the words of Eucharistic Institution are indeed present in the Anaphora of Addai and Mari, not in a coherent narrative way and ad litteram, but rather in a dispersed euchological way, that is, integrated in successive prayers of thanksgiving, praise and intercession."
No formula of Words of Institution in any liturgy is claimed to be an exact reproduction of words that Jesus used, presumably in the Aramaic language, at his Last Supper. The formulas generally combine words from the Gospels of Mark, Matthew and Luke and the Pauline account in 1 Corinthians 11:24-25. They may even insert other words, such as the phrase "Mysterium fidei" which for many centuries was found within the Roman Rite Words of Institution, until removed in 1970.
Read more about Words Of Institution: Early Liturgies
Famous quotes containing the words words of, words and/or institution:
“Brute force crushes many plants. Yet the plants rise again. The Pyramids will not last a moment compared with the daisy. And before Buddha or Jesus spoke the nightingale sang, and long after the words of Jesus and Buddha are gone into oblivion the nightingale still will sing. Because it is neither preaching nor commanding nor urging. It is just singing. And in the beginning was not a Word, but a chirrup.”
—D.H. (David Herbert)
“For, though the origin of most of our words is forgotten, each word was at first a stroke of genius, and obtained currency, because for the moment it symbolized the world to the first speaker and to the hearer. The etymologist finds the deadest word to have been once a brilliant picture.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)
“The authority of any governing institution must stop at its citizens’ skin.”
—Gloria Steinem (b. 1934)