LITURGY (Greek XeirovpYla means a pub lic service; used at Athens to mean a public service which the richer citizens discharged at their own expense). The Septuagint translators used the Greek word leitourgos for that serv ice of God in the sanctuary. In the Hebrew it had various kindred meanings; in the Old Tes tament is usually denotes the service of a Jew ishpriest, but in the New Testament it is used of any service rendered to God. In the 4th century, the word as applied to priestly ministrations was generally recog nized; and while it continued in use as meaning any solemn service, it was applied especially to the Eucharistic service. It is in this sense that the word is used by the Greek Church when they say °Divine liturgy.x' The records extant which show the exact liturgy of the Christian Church in the 1st cen tury are mainly allusions found in documents of the 2d century. From the year 150 there are numerous proofs to show the existence of a fixed order and fixed words for the service of the mass or for the Eucharistic service. This service or liturgy was not made just when men tioned by Cyprian, and in 138 by Justin, and many others who committed to writing the or der of the services or the liturgy. But there is not sufficient proof to warrant the assertion that there was any entire written liturgy before the second half of the 4th century. As the liturgies exist to-day they may be divide into five groups or families of liturgies, distinguished from each other chiefly, though not entirely, by the different arrangement of their parts. Three of the groups are Oriental and two are West ern. They are: (1) The West Syrian Group, which includes the liturgies of Saint James, Saint Basil, Saint Chrysostom and that of Armenia. In this group the intercession for the living and the dead is placed after the invocation of the Holy Spirit, which in the Oriental liturgies follows the con secration.
(2) The Alexandrian Group, which includes three Greek liturgies: Saint Mark, Saint Basil, and Saint Gregory; also the Coptic liturgies. This group is characterized by the "Great In tercession" for the living and the dead being placed in the midst of the Preface.
(3) The East Syrian Group includes the liturgies in the Syriac language as used by those who belong to the Roman Catholic Church. In
this group the "general intercession° is placed between the words of institution and the invo cation of the Holy Spirit.
(4) The Liturgies of Gaul and Spain. In this group the "Great Intercession° comes just after the offertory, though the Mozarabic liturgy has a memento of the living before the Pater Noster.
(5) Gallican Liturgy. In this the interces sion is divided, that of the living is before con secreation, and that of the dead after consecra tion.
That part of the "Liturgy of the Mass° called the "canon" is very ancient, and existed almost as at present since the time of the Apos tles (see MASS; MISSAL). The liturgy of the Church of England is derived from the Ephe sine original through the ancient Galilean liturgy which was brought to France by Greek missionaries, who were accustomed to use the form known as the liturgy of Saint John. There is no invocation of the Holy Spirit in the present English form, although the Prot estant Episcopal Church has restored the invo cation, like the Scottish Episcopal Church. There is, however, no ritual element wanting in these two English forms- whether they be com pared with the Greek or Latin liturgies. The liturgy in use in the Protestant Episcopal Church more nearly resembles the Gallican liturgy than any other group, but in some re spects there is a difference in arrangement, and also in meaning. There is no intercession for the dead, and the intercession for the living comes before the Communion.
Bibliography.—An exhaustive bibliography appears in the catalogue of the British Museum. Consult also Tertullian, Corona' ; Cyprian, 'Epistle); Report of Council in Probst, (Liturgie der drei ersten Jahrhunderte,' who claims that there was a written liturgy before 150; Hammond, 'Ancient Liturgies' ; Smith and Cheetum, 'Liturgies' ; Rock, 'The Church of Our Fathers, as Seen in Saint Osmond's Rite for the Cathedral of Salisbury' (1904); De Herdt, 'Sacra Liturgie' (3 vols.) ; Fortescue, >The Mass: A Study' (1912); Staley, (Litur gical Studies) (1907); York, 'The Roman Liturgy' (1908), and 'The Prayer Book Dic tionary,'. edited by Hartford and Stevenson (1912).