Psalm 139 verse 1: Save us from the enemy

The first verse of Psalm 139 is a plea for help.

Understanding the literal meaning of the Latin

A word by word translation would be:

Eripe (free, imperative) me, Dómine (O Lord), ab (from+abl) hómine (men) malo (evil): * a (from) viro (men) iníquo (wicked) éripe (free) me.

Or phrase by phrase, using the Douay-Rheims:

Eripe me, Dómine, ab hómine malo: a viro iníquo  éripe me.

Deliver me, O Lord, from the evil man: from the unjust man  rescue me.

The key vocabulary for the verse is:

eripio, ripui, reptum, ere 3  to snatch away, to rescue, deliver; to tear out, snatch away, wrest, pluck, tear, take away

homo, inis, m  man, a human being; mortal man as compared with God; person, individual 

malus, a, um, adj., bad, evil, wicked; grievous, sore, severe; subst., malum, i, n., evil, sin; woe, harm, misfortune.

vir, viri, m., a man

iniquus, a, um, unjust, godless, wicked; As a subst.  the wicked, the godless, the unjust (man or men); evil-doers.

At first glance this verse seems like a classic case of paralellism: in the Vulgate version we are given two synonyms for the enemy, the evil man, and the wicked man, with both homo and vir understood as referring to men in general, rather than a particular individual (see the plurals in verse 3-4 below).  St Jerome's version from the Hebrew follows the same text tradition, and reflects the theme of the psalm that the main sin committed by those against the psalmist is slander.  

The Hebrew Masoretic Text however makes the second half of the verse the 'violent man' (חָמָס, chamac), and the Pian and neo-Vulgate versions follow suit:

1	V/OR	Eripe me, Dómine, ab hómine malo: * a viro iníquo éripe me.
	NV	Eripe me, Domine, ab homine malo, a viro violentiae serva me.
	Pian	Eripe me, Domine, ab homine malo, A viro violento custodi me:
	JH	Erue me, Domine, ab homine malo ; a uiris iniquis serua me:
	Sept	ἐξελοῦ με κύριε ἐξ ἀνθρώπου πονηροῦ ἀπὸ ἀνδρὸς ἀδίκου ῥῦσαί με

[Abbreviations: V=Vulgate; OR=Old Roman; NV=Neo-Vulgate; Jh=St Jerome's translation from the Hebrew; Sept=Septuagint]

The twentieth century Pian version also makes a subtle but perhaps important change in the meaning of the verse: instead of repeating the plea to God to save or rescue us, it asks him to guard us. Several twentieth century translations, such as the Collegeville contained in the Monastic Diurnal, follow suit.

DR	Deliver me, O Lord, from the evil man: rescue me from the unjust man.
Brenton	Rescue me, O Lord, from the evil man; deliver me from the unjust man.
MD	Deliver me O Lord from evil men save me from men of violence
RSV	Deliver me, O LORD, from evil men; preserve me from violent men,
Cover	Deliver me, O Lord, from the evil man, and preserve me from the wicked man,
Knox	Rescue me, Lord, from human malice, save me from the lovers of oppression,
Grail	Rescue me, Lord, from evil men; from the violent keep me safe

[Abbreviations: DR=Douay-Rheims Challoner; MD=Monastic Diurnal; RSV=Revised Standard Version; Cover=Coverdale]

A plea for help

The psalms starts with a plea for help from God, which should be viewed, I think, as an acknowledgement that without God's grace, our own efforts are futile.

Who is it we need help to save us from?

So who, then, is the enemy the psalmist is asking for help against?

St Augustine argued that the verse is talking first and foremost about the devil, but also from those acting under his influence:

Not from one only, but from the class; not from the vessels only, but from their prince himself, that is, the devil. Why from man, if he means from the devil? Because he too is called a man in a figure. ...Now then being made light, not in ourselves, but in the Lord, let us pray not only against darkness, that is, against sinners, whom still the devil possesses, but also against their prince, the devil himself, who works in the children of disobedience.

In this then, we can see the seeds of the Christological interpretation of the psalm, which sees the verse as referring to Judas and the Jewish authorities plotting against Christ.

Dealing with the enemy

St Augustine's commentary includes a key warning against complacency in dealing with the enemy (taking a slant on the verse at odds with the Pian interpretation), warning that even those don't seem to pose an immediate threat can be dangerous:

For he called him wicked because unrighteous, lest perchance you should think that any unrighteous man could be a good man. For many unrighteous men seem to be harmless; they are not fierce, are not savage, do not persecute nor oppress; yet are they unrighteous, because, following some other habit, they are luxurious, drunkards, given to pleasure....Wicked then is every unrighteous man, who must needs be harmful, whether he be gentle or fierce...Let not then men please you who seem gentle and kind, yet are lovers of carnal pleasure, followers of polluted lusts, let them not please you. Though as yet they seem gentle, they are roots of thorns...They may be silent, they may hide their enmity, but they cannot love you. But since they cannot love you, and since they who hate you must needs seek your harm, let not your tongue and heart be slow to say to God, Deliver me, O Lord, from the unrighteous man.

Vulgate	Douay-Rheims
In finem. Psalmus David.	Unto the end, a psalm of David.
1 Eripe me, Dómine, ab hómine malo: * a viro iníquo éripe me.	Deliver me, O Lord, from the evil man: rescue me from the unjust man.
2 Qui cogitavérunt iniquitátes in corde: * tota die constituébant prælia.	3 Who have devised iniquities in their hearts: all the day long they designed battles.
3 Acuérunt linguas suas sicut serpéntis: * venénum áspidum sub lábiis eórum.	4 They have sharpened their tongues like a serpent: the venom of asps is under their lips.
4 Custódi me, Dómine, de manu peccatóris: * et ab homínibus iníquis éripe me.	5 Keep me, O Lord, from the hand of the wicked: and from unjust men deliver me.
5 Qui cogitavérunt supplantáre gressus meos: * abscondérunt supérbi láqueum mihi:	Who have proposed to supplant my steps: 6 The proud have hidden a net for me.
6 Et funes extendérunt in láqueum: * juxta iter scándalum posuérunt mihi.	And they have stretched out cords for a snare: they have laid for me a stumbling block by the wayside.
7. Dixi Dómino : Deus meus es tu: * exáudi, Dómine, vocem deprecatiónis meæ.	7 I said to the Lord: You are my God: hear, O Lord, the voice of my supplication.
8 Dómine, Dómine, virtus salútis meæ: * obumbrásti super caput meum in die belli.	8 O Lord, Lord, the strength of my salvation: you have overshadowed my head in the day of battle.
9 Ne tradas me, Dómine, a desidério meo peccatóri: * cogitavérunt contra me, ne derelínquas me, ne forte exalténtur.	9 Give me not up, O Lord, from my desire to the wicked: they have plotted against me; do not forsake me, lest they should triumph.
10 Caput circúitus eórum: * labor labiórum ipsórum opériet eos.	10 The head of them compassing me about: the labour of their lips shall overwhelm them.
11 Cadent super eos carbónes, in ignem dejícies eos: * in misériis non subsístent.	11 Burning coals shall fall upon them; you will cast them down into the fire: in miseries they shall not be able to stand.
12 Vir linguósus non dirigétur in terra: * virum injústum mala cápient in intéritu.	12 A man full of tongue shall not be established in the earth: evil shall catch the unjust man unto destruction.
13 Cognóvi quia fáciet Dóminus judícium ínopis: * et vindíctam páuperum.	13 I know that the Lord will do justice to the needy, and will revenge the poor.
14 Verúmtamen justi confitebúntur nómini tuo: * et habitábunt recti cum vultu tuo.	14 But as for the just, they shall give glory to your name: and the upright shall dwell with your countenance.

And for the next part in this series, continue on here.

Introduction to Psalm 139

Metropolitan Museum of Art, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons

Psalm 139 is said on Thursdays in the Benedictine Office, a placement particularly appropriate given that the persecution and suffering of the speaker in the psalm have long been viewed as a prophesy referring to Christ, hence its use in Vespers for Maundy Thursday and Good Friday.

Vespers on Thursday in the Benedictine Office

There are, I think, strong connections between all of the psalms set for Thursday Vespers in the Benedictine Office.

The first half of the hour is taken up with Psalm 138, a meditation on the omniscience and omnipotence of God.  Its most obvious interpretation is as a meditation on the human and divine natures of Christ, particularly in the context of the agony in the garden.  The following psalms too, can readily be interpreted as applying to Christ, and particularly his persecution, trials and passion.

But its ideas flow into the other two psalms of the hour, I think, in the form of instruction for us, in Psalms 139 and 140, on how we as limited humans can obtain and retain the small knowledge (relative to that of God) we need, to find and stay on the path that God has set out for us, in order to become saints, and thus reach heaven.

Psalm 138, for example, reminds us that our entire existence is dependent on God's action:

13   Quia tu possedisti renes meos; suscepisti me de utero matris meæ.

For it was you that created me, and have protected me from my mother's womb.

It goes on to point out that we can only know a tiny fraction of what God does (v6): we can see some of his work's and praise him for them (v14); we can seek to know the correct path to take.  But because we are limited, imperfect beings (v16), we can easily be deluded, and so need God to teach us and correct us when we go astray:

23 Proba me, Deus, et scito cor meum; interroga me, et cognosce semitas meas.	23 Examine  me, O God, and know my heart: examine me, and know my paths.
24 Et vide si via iniquitatis in me est, et deduc me in via æterna.	24 And see if there be in me the way of iniquity: and lead me in the eternal way.

In Psalm 139 the key obstacle we face is the malice of others; in order to overcome this, we need the help of grace.  In Psalm 140, the focus shifts to what should be our own proper actions, aided by grace.  

The text of Psalm 139

Vulgate	Douay-Rheims
In finem. Psalmus David.	Unto the end, a psalm of David.
1 Eripe me, Dómine, ab hómine malo: * a viro iníquo éripe me.	Deliver me, O Lord, from the evil man: rescue me from the unjust man.
2 Qui cogitavérunt iniquitátes in corde: * tota die constituébant prælia.	Who have devised iniquities in their hearts: all the day long they designed battles.
3 Acuérunt linguas suas sicut serpéntis: * venénum áspidum sub lábiis eórum.	They have sharpened their tongues like a serpent: the venom of asps is under their lips.
4 Custódi me, Dómine, de manu peccatóris: * et ab homínibus iníquis éripe me.	Keep me, O Lord, from the hand of the wicked: and from unjust men deliver me.
5 Qui cogitavérunt supplantáre gressus meos: * abscondérunt supérbi láqueum mihi:	Who have proposed to supplant my steps: The proud have hidden a net for me.
6 Et funes extendérunt in láqueum: * juxta iter scándalum posuérunt mihi.	And they have stretched out cords for a snare: they have laid for me a stumbling block by the wayside.
7. Dixi Dómino : Deus meus es tu: * exáudi, Dómine, vocem deprecatiónis meæ.	I said to the Lord: You are my God: hear, O Lord, the voice of my supplication.
8 Dómine, Dómine, virtus salútis meæ: * obumbrásti super caput meum in die belli.	O Lord, Lord, the strength of my salvation: you have overshadowed my head in the day of battle.
9 Ne tradas me, Dómine, a desidério meo peccatóri: * cogitavérunt contra me, ne derelínquas me, ne forte exalténtur.	Give me not up, O Lord, from my desire to the wicked: they have plotted against me; do not forsake me, lest they should triumph.
10 Caput circúitus eórum: * labor labiórum ipsórum opériet eos.	The head of them compassing me about: the labour of their lips shall overwhelm them.
11 Cadent super eos carbónes, in ignem dejícies eos: * in misériis non subsístent.	Burning coals shall fall upon them; you will cast them down into the fire: in miseries they shall not be able to stand.
12 Vir linguósus non dirigétur in terra: * virum injústum mala cápient in intéritu.	A man full of tongue shall not be established in the earth: evil shall catch the unjust man unto destruction.
13 Cognóvi quia fáciet Dóminus judícium ínopis: * et vindíctam páuperum.	I know that the Lord will do justice to the needy, and will revenge the poor.
14 Verúmtamen justi confitebúntur nómini tuo: * et habitábunt recti cum vultu tuo.	But as for the just, they shall give glory to your name: and the upright shall dwell with your countenance.

The psalm title

The literal, historical interpretation of the psalm as a reference to the sufferings of King David are generally referenced in post -Trent commentaries, such as that of St Alphonsus Liguori:

David implores help from God against Saul, and against those that spoke calumniously of him to that prince. 

St Cassiodorus (c485-585), however, explained the relevance of the title of the psalm christologically:

Unto the end denotes the Lord Christ; as Paul says: For the end of the law is Christ, unto justice to everyone that believeth.' Let us lift up our hearts to Him with all our strength, for in this psalm as by the voice of a herald we are forewarned that He comes as a Judge, fearful and almighty but also devoted and the object of great longing.

The voice of the Christ

The Christological explanation of the psalm is reflected in its use in the liturgies of Passiontide, Holy Week, and feasts relating to the Passion.

It is an interpretation of it that goes back at least to St Hilary of Poitiers (310-367), who argued that verses 2-6 can be interpreted as the plotting of the Jewish authorities; while the reference to the hand of the unjust man refers to Judas.

NT references	Romans 3:13, Jas 3:8 (3)
RB cursus	Thursday Vespers+AN 1197 (2)
Monastic feasts etc	Triduum Vespers; Comm. of Passion, Five Wounds, Seven Dolours (Vespers) AN 1199(5), 3535 (14)
Roman pre 1911	Friday Vespers
Responsories	Passion wk Tues v2 (207) 6666, 6671, 7203 (alt verse for Ne avertas) (2);
Brigittine	Wednesday Vespers
Maurist	Friday Vespers
Thesauris schemas	A: Thurs Vespers; B: Tuesday Vespers; C: Tuesday Sext wk 1; D: Thursday Matins wk 2
Roman post 1911	1911-62: Friday Vespers  . 1970: Friday wk 4 little hour omit vv. 10-12
Mass propers (EF)	Holy Tues, OF (4); Good Friday TR (1-10, 14).

The voice of the Church

The psalm can also, though, be interpreted as speaking of the ongoing struggle of the Church against those seeking to subvert it from within and without, as Cassiodorus, for example, explained:

Holy Church speaks throughout the psalm. In the first section she entreats the Lord that He may deign to free her from the wicked devil who seeks to undermine the devotion of the faithful people with many deceits and traps. In the second, she begs not to be consigned to that most evil tempter, now that she is certainly delivered from bitter dangers by His protection. In the third, she says that vengeance at the future judgment will visit those who afflict His poor with senseless disturbances.

St Benedict's use of the psalm

The psalm is also cited in the Benedictine Rule in relation to the ninth degree of humility:

The ninth degree of humility is that a monk restrain his tongue and keep silence,  not speaking until he is questioned.  For the Scripture shows  that "in much speaking there is no escape from sin" (Prov. 10:19) and that "the talkative man is not stable on the earth" (Ps. 139:12).

The text of the psalm

Vulgate	Douay-Rheims
In finem. Psalmus David.	Unto the end, a psalm of David.
1 Eripe me, Dómine, ab hómine malo: * a viro iníquo éripe me.	Deliver me, O Lord, from the evil man: rescue me from the unjust man.
2 Qui cogitavérunt iniquitátes in corde: * tota die constituébant prælia.	Who have devised iniquities in their hearts: all the day long they designed battles.
3 Acuérunt linguas suas sicut serpéntis: * venénum áspidum sub lábiis eórum.	They have sharpened their tongues like a serpent: the venom of asps is under their lips.
4 Custódi me, Dómine, de manu peccatóris: * et ab homínibus iníquis éripe me.	Keep me, O Lord, from the hand of the wicked: and from unjust men deliver me.
5 Qui cogitavérunt supplantáre gressus meos: * abscondérunt supérbi láqueum mihi:	Who have proposed to supplant my steps: The proud have hidden a net for me.
6 Et funes extendérunt in láqueum: * juxta iter scándalum posuérunt mihi.	And they have stretched out cords for a snare: they have laid for me a stumbling block by the wayside.
7. Dixi Dómino : Deus meus es tu: * exáudi, Dómine, vocem deprecatiónis meæ.	I said to the Lord: You are my God: hear, O Lord, the voice of my supplication.
8 Dómine, Dómine, virtus salútis meæ: * obumbrásti super caput meum in die belli.	O Lord, Lord, the strength of my salvation: you have overshadowed my head in the day of battle.
9 Ne tradas me, Dómine, a desidério meo peccatóri: * cogitavérunt contra me, ne derelínquas me, ne forte exalténtur.	Give me not up, O Lord, from my desire to the wicked: they have plotted against me; do not forsake me, lest they should triumph.
10 Caput circúitus eórum: * labor labiórum ipsórum opériet eos.	The head of them compassing me about: the labour of their lips shall overwhelm them.
11 Cadent super eos carbónes, in ignem dejícies eos: * in misériis non subsístent.	Burning coals shall fall upon them; you will cast them down into the fire: in miseries they shall not be able to stand.
12 Vir linguósus non dirigétur in terra: * virum injústum mala cápient in intéritu.	A man full of tongue shall not be established in the earth: evil shall catch the unjust man unto destruction.
13 Cognóvi quia fáciet Dóminus judícium ínopis: * et vindíctam páuperum.	I know that the Lord will do justice to the needy, and will revenge the poor.
14 Verúmtamen justi confitebúntur nómini tuo: * et habitábunt recti cum vultu tuo.	But as for the just, they shall give glory to your name: and the upright shall dwell with your countenance.

And you can find the next part in this series, providing detailed notes on verse 1 of the Psalm, here. 

Coming soon - A Lenten series on Thursday Vespers in the Benedictine Office

Source: Coro alto, Sé de Braga Portugal; author - Joseolgon, Wiki Commons.

This Lent I intend to resume my long neglected effort to provide verse by verse notes on the psalms set for Vespers in the Benedictine Office. I have previously provided notes for the psalms for the hour up to and including Psalm 138..

Accordingly, this Lent I plan to look primarily at Psalms 139 and 140, that is the second half of Vespers on Thursday in the Benedictine Office, whose themes are, I think, particularly appropriate for Lent.  

As in the past, the notes on individual verses will generally include four components:

• a crib for the Latin, so that those with little or no knowledge of the language can understand what they are praying, in order support those who wish to pray the Office in Latin;
• notes on the different text traditions represented primarily by the Hebrew Masoretic Text (the main basis for Protestant translations of the Bible, as well as the Neo-Vulgate published in 1979 by the Vatican) and the Greek Septuagint text;
• a compilation of different translations of the verse, to help get a feel for the different possibilities the Hebrew/Greek/Latin presents; 
• notes on the psalm in the context of Benedicitne spirituality in particular, and drawing on the commentaries of the Fathers and Doctors of the Church more broadly.

If I can, I will also provide some more general notes on St Benedict's design of Vespers, focusing on Thursday, as an act of Scriptural interpretation.

You can find the first part of the series here.

Why pray in Latin? New book...

 

I wanted to alert readers to a new book that may be of interest, called Latin Prayer. Aspects of Language and Catholic Spirituality, by David Birch.

I will provide a review in a week or two, but in the meantime, here is the information from the flyer:

Praying in Latin has been part of Catholic life for almost 2,000 years. Each Latin prayer, whether prayed in public worship, or in private contemplation, is saturated with the very rich history of the Catholic Church. The place of Latin prayer thus forms an intrinsic part of the deep and extensive patrimony that is Catholic Tradition. Latin Prayer. Aspects of Language and Catholic Spirituality offers a grammar of prayer, with a linguist's eye for language, and with a Catholic heart for the numinous, which, linguistically and spiritually, is steeped in this patrimony and Tradition.

Over 13 detailed chapters, exploring a wide range of grammatical, linguistic and stylistic features of Latin prayer, and including a very comprehensive bibliography of Liturgical Latin, this book seeks to offer a linguistic means to exploring, and articulating, some of the spiritual depths that lie at the heart of the Latin prayer of the Church.

This is not a ‘how to learn Latin’ book, nor is it a compendium of Latin prayers, but a sustained meditation on prayer, using both a linguistics and theological/scriptural vocabulary, and written by a now retired academic, who has spent a lifetime, as first medieval and then modern linguist, praying both public and increasingly now, private Latin prayer.

It is hoped that those who know no Latin will be inspired by this book to learn it, and those who know it, and perhaps some, or all, of the prayers included here, to revisit it, perhaps with renewed eyes and heart. Above all, it is hoped that everyone, regardless of linguistic skills, will, through these pages, acknowledge, and indeed marvel at, the depth of Catholic patrimony and Tradition in Latin prayer, and its power and potency as a still completely relevant way of prayer. 

This is not a call to traditionalist arms; nor a condemnation or critique of contemporary post-Vatican II vernacular Catholicism, but an embrace of the prayer of the Church across its entire history, regardless of how parts of that history may now be viewed.

Available in paperback and as an e-book at https://www.amazon.com; online bookstores or please support your local bookshop by ordering it with its ISBN- 978-0-6454193-0-6

All royalties from this book will be donated in full to the Monks of Notre Dame Priory, Colebrook, Tasmania, Australia: https://www.notredamemonastery.org/helpus

Notes on the relationship between the early Roman and Benedictine Offices: The Nunc Dimittis at Compline**

On the feast of the Purification, the Gospel reading contains the Nunc Dimittis, which is said daily at Compline in the traditional forms of the Roman Office. This canticle is not, however, said at that hour in the Benedictine Office.

So why did St Benedict omit it?

One recent suggestion, from Jesse Billett, is that he didn't: rather the Nunc Dimittis was added to the Roman Office after the Rule of St Benedict was written. [1]

On the face of it the suggestion seems eminently plausible. There are, however, some reasons for questioning this conclusion.

The origins of Compline

It is worth starting by considering, by way of context, the origins of the hour of Compline.

Prayers before bed are mentioned in numerous early sources.

Whether these can be construed as references to proto-liturgical prayer though is contested.

Still, the key elements of Compline were clearly in place relatively early: its position as the 'hour' of prayer before sleep is set out in several early Office schemas; the use of certain fixed psalms at it seems to date from very early on; and the idea of an examination of conscience associated with it also has early origins.

The Apostolic Tradition (circa  225 or 375-400) , for example, lists the appropriate hours of prayer for the faithful as on rising at dawn/cockcrow (Lauds); before starting work (Prime); the third, sixth and ninth hours (Terce, Sext and None); before bed (Compline), again at midnight (Matins). [2]

St Ambrose (d397), in his instructions to Virgins, enjoins the use of psalms in conjunction with the Lord's prayer before sleep, as an aid to freeing the mind from earthly cares and focusing instead on the things of God. [3]

Similarly, St Basil (d379), in the Long Rule, includes prayers before bed in his listing of the hours and foreshadowed three of the key elements of what was to become monastic Compline, viz the use of Psalms 4 and 90 and an examination of conscience:

"The examination of our past actions is a great help toward not falling into like faults again; wherefore the Psalmist says: ‘the things you say in your hearts, be sorry for them upon your beds.’ (Ps 4:5)"  Again, at nightfall, we must ask that our rest be sinless and untroubled by dreams. At this hour, also, the ninetieth Psalm should be recited. [4]

The psalms associated with the hour were apparently so well known that the Ordo Monasterii associated with St Augustine (d430) just refers to 'the customary psalms before sleeping'. [5]

And while St Benedict's contemporary St Caesarius of Arles (d542) doesn't mention Compline in his Rule  for Virgins (which he claimed followed the Office of the monastery of Lerins), his mid-sixth century successor as bishop of Arles, Aurelian (d551), did include the hour. [5]

For Italy, St Cassiodorus mentioned the hour as one of the seven hours each day alluded to in an office hymn attributed to St Ambrose. [6] It is St Benedict's Rule (c500-547), though, that contains the first detailed description of the hour. [7]

The Benedictine form of the hour was evidently used in Roman monasteries in the following centuries given the various references to the Rule in the Ordines Romani, including specific references to Compline in Ordo XVIII, which its original editor dated to the end of the eighth century, though others have convincingly argued dates much more likely from the mid-seventh century. [8]

The earliest surviving detailed description of the Roman version of the hour, however, dates from around three centuries later, and was penned by Amalarius of Metz (c775-850). [9]

The Roman hour and the 'organic development of the liturgy'

The hour Amalarius describes differs from the version St Benedict specifies in several respects: Amalarius doesn't repeat St Benedict's instruction that the psalms should be said without antiphon and 'directly' (ie without any repetitions of an antiphon or refrain); an additional psalm is included, namely the first six verses of Psalm 30; the hour is preceded by a reading (although not formally part of the hour itself); and it includes the Nunc Dimittis.

The table below compares the provisions of the Rule and the version of the hour described by Amalarius.

Benedictine Rule	Amalarius	Modern Benedictine (1962)
	[Reading]	Reading
		Confessional rite
Deus in adjutorium…
Psalm 4
-	Psalm 30:1-6	-
Psalm 90
Psalm 133
Hymn	-	Hymn
Lesson	-	Lesson
Versicle	Versicle	Versicle
	Nunc dimittis
Kyrie eleison		Kyrie eleison
Pater Noster
Blessing		Blessing
		Marian antiphon

Some of the differences between the two forms of the hour are perhaps readily explicable as part of the process of the development of the liturgy. The addition of antiphons for the psalms and canticle, for example, in later versions of the Roman Office may well reflect a more developed version of the hour, with the Benedictines continuing to omit it because of the explicit specifications of the Rule. Similarly, later Roman forms of the hour include the hymn and short lesson of the Benedictine hour.

One of the difficulties with Billett's suggestion in relation to the Nunc Dimittis though, is that while the core of the Benedictine Office as laid out in the Rule did not (in most cases) change at all, or significantly, it does seem to have developed in parallel with the Roman Office, adding a number of additional features, such as collects. In the case of Compline, the modern version of the Benedictine hour includes both the opening reading, the confessional rite of the Roman hour, as well as the seasonal Marian antiphon after it (which has Benedictine origins). So why include those elements but not the canticle?

Deliberate choices?

One possible answer is that some of the differences between the two forms of Compline reflect deliberate choices, and were recognised as such by contemporaries.

St Benedict's decision not to include Psalm 30 in his version of the hour, for example, probably goes in part to number symbolism: in his version of the Office Vespers and Compline together add up to seven psalms (a number symbolising completeness, as well as paralleling the seven days of creation), paralleling the number of psalms said at Lauds, and matching the symbolism of the twelve psalms said at Matins and again at Prime to None each day (the number of hours of the day).

It may also, though, reflect his preferred theological emphasises.  

Psalm 30's Compline verses end, implicitly, with the crucifixion (since the section ends with the verse Christ recited on the cross before his death) and acceptance of death.  By contrast St Benedict's psalm cursus is organised so as to consistently emphasis the Resurrection, for example in the placement of Psalm 3, with its verse Ego dormívi, et soporátus sum: exsurréxi, quia Dóminus suscépit me at Matins, and often seems to reflect the comments in the Prologue of the Rule on being granted the extension of our lives in order that we grow in merit.

The addition of the opening reading first to the Roman (later replicated in the Benedictine) version of the hour seems, at least if Amalarius is to be believed, to be due to the influence of St Bede, who drew attention to the precedent of having readings eight times a day in Nehemiah: the Benedictine Office had a reading at Compline (and all its other hours) to make up the eight, but the Roman did not, hence, Amalarius claims, the custom arose of adding a reading before the hour started. [10]

So was the omission of the canticle another such deliberate choice? Like Psalm 30, the Nunc Dimittis arguably serves to give Compline more of a flavour of the acceptance of death, rather than on repenting for our sins and resolution to do better in future, as urged by Psalm 4.

Te decet laus

There is another key reason for seeing it as a deliberate choice though, in a reference to a daily evening prayer consisting of an antiphon and the Nunc Dimittis in the fourth century Apostolic Constitutions:

You children, praise the Lord: praise the name of the Lord. We praise You, we sing hymns to You, we bless You for Your great glory, O Lord our King, the Father of Christ the immaculate Lamb, who takes away the sin of the world. Praise becomes You, hymns become You, glory becomes You, the God and Father, through the Son, in the most holy Spirit, for ever and ever. Amen. Now, O Lord, let Your servant depart in peace, according to Your word; for my eyes have seen Your salvation, which You have prepared before the face of all people, a light for the revelation to the Gentiles, and the glory of Your people Israel. [11]

Although the Apostolic Constitutions are almost certainly of Syrian origin rather than Roman, it does seem to imply the early use of the Nunc Dimittis as part of the customary prayers before bed, although they do not seem to have become part of any of the Eastern forms of Compline. Early on it appears to have been used at Matins; its use at Vespers seems to have been a thirteenth century development. [12]

All the same the Constitutions, (incorrectly) ascribed to Clement of Rome, were almost certainly known in Rome in the sixth century, since they were rejected as non-canonical by the Gelasium Decretal. [13] More significantly perhaps, the Constitutions provide our sole surviving source for the short doxological hymn, Te decet laus (see the bolding in the text above), that St Benedict specified be used in his version of Matins.

Conclusions

Jesse Billett, in The Divine Office in Anglo-Saxon England 597-c1000, made the suggestion that the Nunc Dimittis was a later addition to the Roman Office in order to explain its absence in an Anglo-Saxon Office manuscript including canticles and hymns thought to have originated with the Gregorian mission in 597. The traditional explanation was of course that the manuscript reflected the Benedictine origin of most of the missionaries: the book after all contains hymns, which were not used in the Roman Office, as far as we know, until the high middle ages. Billett, by contrast, sought to make the case that the missionaries bought the Roman Office (or at least Roman psalm cursus) with them rather than the Benedictine.

But given the continuing development of Benedictine Compline, presumably in response to the evolution of the Roman version of the hour, the traditional case seems to me at least as plausible as Billett's alternative suggestion.  In particular, the circulation in Rome in Benedict's time of the Apostolic Constitutions, at the very least makes the Nunc Dimittis' association with evening prayer in the city by this time a strong possibility. And at the very least, St Benedict's probable familiarity with the Apostolic Constitutions implies that he made a deliberate choice not to use it in that context, instead repurposing the short doxology associated with it, just as he chose to drop Psalm 30 (assuming it too was already part of Compline) from his version of the hour.

Notes

[1] Jesse Billett, The Divine Office in Anglo-Saxon England 597-c1000, Henry Bradshaw Society, London, 2014, pp 114.

[2] Chapter 41 of the Apostolic Tradition (there is an ongoing vigorous debate on its dating and origins, on which see Ashbrook Harvey, Susan; Hunter, David G. (2008). The Oxford handbook of early Christian studies. Oxford University Press. p. 430).

[3] Ambrose On Virgins, Book III;

[4] Trans St. Basil, the Long Rules, tr. M. Wagner, New York, Fathers of the Church Inc., 1950  pp. 306-311.

[5] St Augustine's Ordo Monasterii. (Sr Michaele Puzicha, though, in her recent commentary on the Benedictine Rule argues that this is not a reference to collective prayer).

[5] Caesarius of Arles, Rule for Virgins, in Caesarius of Arles, Oeuvres Monastique, de Vogue and Courreau ed and trans, 2 vols, Sources Chretienne 345, 398; Aurelian of Arles, Rule for Monks, in Vincent Desprez, Adalbert de Vogüé (ed and trans), Règles monastiques d'Occident: IVe-VIe siècle, d'Augustin à Ferréol, Abbaye de Bellefontaine, 1980.

[6] Cassiodorus, Commentary on Psalm P118:164, in P G Walsh (trans), Cassiodorus: Explanation of the Psalms, Paulist Press, NY, 1991: “Should we wish to interpret this number [seven] literally, it denotes the seven offices with which monks in their devoted piety console themselves, namely, matins, terce, sext, none, vespers, compline, nocturn; the hymn of saint Ambrose, sung at the sixth hour, also attests this.”

[7] RB 17&18.

[8]  Although Guy Hallinger argued that the Benedictine Rule was not used in Rome after Benedict, more recent assessments by have challenged this view: see in particular Marios Costambeys and Conrad Leyser, To be the neighbour of St Stephen: patronage, martyr cult, and Roman monasteries c, 600-900 in Kate Cooper and Julia Hillner ed, Religion, Dynasty, and Patronage in Early Christian Rome, 300-900, CUP 2007, pp 262-287, and  Constant J. Mews (2011) Gregory the Great, the Rule of Benedict and Roman liturgy: the evolution of a legend, Journal of Medieval History, 37:2, 125-144.

For Ordo XVIII see Michel Andrieu (ed), Les ordines romani du haut moyen age, 1961, vol iii, pp 197-208.  Andrieu argues that the Ordo as a whole deviates from the Rule in several respects but there is no obvious reason to view these as other than legitimate adaptations to the circumstances. Andrieu points out, for example that the Rule doesn't envisage saying the Office in the dormitory rather than the oratory, but the Roman basilican monasteries were often located at some distance from the church itself, and in some cases there seem to have been specific agreements (mentioned in the Liber Pontificis) as to which of the hours they would provide in the church itself.  On its dating, see Mews above.

[9] Eric Knibbs (ed and trans). Amalar of Metz, On the Liturgy, vol II, Dumbarton Oaks, 2014, pp 376 - 383.

[10] Bede, On Ezra and Nehemiah, quoting Nehemiah 9:3 says: And they rose up to stand, and they read from the Book of the Law of the Lord their God four times a day, and four times at night they confessed and prayed to the Lord their God.   For who would not be amazed that such a great people had such extraordinary concern for devotion that four times a day - that is, at the first hour of the morning, the third, the sixth and the ninth, when time was to be made for prayer and psalmody - they gave themselves over to listening to the divine law in order to renew their mind in God and come back purer and more devout for imploring his mercy; but also four times a night they would shake off their sleepiness and get up in order to confess their sins and beg pardon.  From this example, I think, a most beautiful custom has developed in the Church, namely that through each hour of daily psalmody a passage from the Old or New Testament is recited by heart for all to hear, and thus strengthened by the words of the apostles or the prophets, they bend their knees to perverance in prayer, but also at night, when people cease from the labours of doing good works, they turn willing ears to listen to divine readings.  (trans Scott DeGregorio, Liverpool University Press, 2012, pp 200-201).  Amalarius, op cit, pp 382-3, comments that "And since, according to the arrangement of Ezra, this office must have a reading, that we may read four times a night, pious men are accustomed to read th reading before this Office..."

[11] Book VII , XLVIII.

[12] Gregory Woolfenden, Daily Liturgical Prayer Origins and Theology, pp 285.

[13]  The authenticity and origin of collection of books deemed non-canonical in the Gelasian decretal continue to be debated: their original author suggested a late fifth century southern Gaul origin; Bronwen Neil has recently defended its authenticity.