Claudia Rapp: Liturgical Manuscripts and the Performance of Prayer: A Paradoxical Relation

This paper will serve as the introduction to the sequence of two workshops on 'Practice, Performance, Liturgy: Prayers before the Prayer Book' that explore the practice and performance of prayer in various Late Antique contexts, on the one hand, and the place of prayer within the liturgy, on the other. A pivotal point in this latter development is the earliest attestation of the Greek liturgical tradition in manuscript form, in the late eighth century ms. Vat. Barb. gr. 336, which contains not only the liturgy for the eucharist and for various sacraments, but also prayers recited by the priest on particular occasions of concern to the faithful. These ‘occasional prayers’ would seem to provide unique glimpses into daily life and social history. Their manuscript tradition to ca. 1650 has been studied by the Vienna Euchologia Project since 2015, and is featured in select papers of these two workshops.
This paper will address the complex issue of how to interpret individual prayers and prayer concerns as they are preserved in liturgical manuscripts: Are these prayer texts descriptive or prescriptive? Do they provide snapshots of historical reality, offer guidance for priestly improvisation, or merely constitute the preservation of older traditions that are no longer practised? In search of an answer to this paradox, I will draw on comparative observations from the creation, transmission and potential implementation of other kinds of normative texts that were accumulated over time: the Sayings of the Desert Fathers, Latin pentitentials, and Late Roman law.