‘AGNUS DEI—LAMB OF GOD’
During the breaking of the bread, the Lamb of God (Agnus Dei) is sung, the
text of which comes from scripture: ‘There is the Lamb of God who takes away
the sins of the world’. (John 1:29)
The title ‘Lamb of God’ also
comes from Isaiah 53:6-11 (known as the ‘Suffering Servant’). The superposition of the images of the
Servant and the Lamb was easier, because in Aramaic the word ‘talya’ meant Servant, Son and
Lamb. Throughout Scriptures there are
many other references to the Lamb. The book of Revelations for instance, speaks
28 times about Christ as the Pascal Lamb.
The chant was originally sung
by the people and assisting clergy, and was repeated as often as necessary to
accompany the action of the breaking of the bread. Gradually, it became the
domain of the choir. As the number of communicants decreased and as unleavened
hosts replaced leavened bread, the action of the breaking of the bread was
quite brief. As a result, the text came
to be sung only three times.
The wording was originally
unchanged at each repetition until the 10th century, when the last
phrase was changed to ‘grant us peace’
to link the chant to the kiss of peace, which in the previous century began to
be transferred from before, to after the breaking of the bread.
Nowadays, ‘The Lamb of God’
has been restored as a chant to accompany the breaking of the bread and the commingling. The invocation may be repeated as the action
demands, but the final response is always ‘grant
us peace’.
Perhaps, we too can be like
John the Baptist and acknowledge Jesus as ‘the Lamb (Servant-Son) of God who
takes away the sins of the world’.
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