CEU Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2011
| Author | Kaulics, László Illés |
|---|---|
| Title | Prayer for the Dead from Ambrose to Gregory the Great (Theology and Liturgy) |
| Summary | The first attestations of Christian prayers for the dead are from the turn of the third century; however, the practice became more important in the tolerant age after 313. Ambrose and Gregory the Great constituted the beginning and end of an important period of transition in the theology of supplications. Ambrose was the first in Latin-speaking Christendom to write on the issue after the Constantinian turn; he believed that the prayers, the Eucharistic offering and the tears of the living can help the deceased souls. Augustine was probably the first person who presented a systematized picture of the supplications for the dead. He professed that beside the prayers and the Eucharist, the almsgiving is the third way to help deceased. Moreover, he added that baptism and merits, which had to be obtained prior to death, are the two indispensable preconditions for the supplications. Pope Gregory introduced the novel notion of the double judgement, which essentially changed the purpose of the prayers. Thus, beside the forgiveness of sins and the entrance to heaven, the stopping of one’s sufferings in the place of purgation became one of the most important aims of the prayers. The first records of prayers for the departed also date back to this period, although the first extant instructions on the Roman funeral rite are later compositions, from the eighth century, which nevertheless constitute a good basis for comparison with Gregory’s theology. While scholars have focused on either the patristic or the liturgical sources of the period, this paper compares the contents of the two. While the teachings of the fourth- and fifth-century authors and the contents of the sixth-century prayers agree on most points, the novel ideas of Gregory the Great and a presumably pseudonymous author of the Dialogues cannot be seen in the eighth-century sources yet. |
| Supervisor | Gyorgy Gereby |
| Department | Medieval Studies MA |
| Full text | https://www.etd.ceu.edu/2011/kaulics_laszlo-illes.pdf |
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