When did Latin Christians start kneeling?

[Badaliyyah]

I have a relatively straightforward (I think) question for my Latin brothers and sisters regarding their practice when receiving the Eucharist…

When did the Latin Church start kneeling to receive the Eucharist? And why?

salaam.

 

[nightwalker]

The Latin Rite sees kneeling as a continuation from Apostolic, even Old Testament times, as the position of a supplicant.

While it was widely used in private prayer, the first I can see in liturgical prayer is St Benedict enjoining those monks that are saying the office apart from choir to kneel.

Kneeling was also the posture for penitents in their participation in the liturgy, and by extension all the faithful during penitential seasons.

But it was only in the Late Middle Ages that it took its place properly, in the liturgy.

 

[benedictgal]

While this doesn’t answer your question directly, this excerpt from Pope Benedict’s book, The Spirit of the Liturgy, offers some food for thought:

Kneeling does not come from any culture – it comes from the Bible and its knowledge of God. The central importance of kneeling in the Bible can be seen in a very concrete way. The word proskynein alone occurs fifty-nine times in the New Testament, twenty-four of which are in the Apocalypse, the book of the heavenly Liturgy, which is presented to the Church as the standard for her own Liturgy.

…Kneeling is not only a Christian gesture, but a christological one.

…For me, the most important passage for the theology of kneeling will always be the great hymn of Christ in Philippians 2:6-11. In this pre-Pauline hymn, we hear and see the prayer of the apostolic Church and can discern within it her confession of faith in Christ. However, we also hear the voice of the Apostle, who enters into this prayer and hands it on to us, and, ultimately, we perceive here both the profound inner unity of the Old and New Testaments and the cosmic breadth of Christian faith.

The hymn presents Christ as the antitype of the First Adam. While the latter high-handedly grasped at likeness to God, Christ does not count equality with God, which is His by nature, “a thing to be grasped”, but humbles Himself unto death, even death on the Cross. It is precisely this humility, which comes from love, that is the truly divine reality and procures for Him the “name which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth” (Phil 2:5-10).

Here the hymn of the apostolic Church takes up the words of promise in Isaiah 45:23: “By myself I have sworn, from my mouth has gone forth in righteousness a word that shall not return: ‘To me every knee shall bow, every tongue shall swear’”. In the interweaving of Old and New Testaments, it becomes clear that, even as crucified, Jesus bears that “name above every name” – the name of the Most High – and is Himself God by nature. Through Him, through the Crucified, the bold promise of the Old Testament is now fulfilled: all bend the knee before Jesus, the One who descended, and bow to Him precisely as the one true God above all gods. The Cross has become the world-embracing sign of God’s presence, and all that we have previously heard about the historic and cosmic Christ should now, in this passage, come back into our minds.

The Christian Liturgy is a cosmic Liturgy precisely because it bends the knee before the crucified and exalted Lord. Here is the center of authentic culture - the culture of truth. The humble gesture by which we fall at the feet of the Lord inserts us into the true path of life of the cosmos.

It is clear, then, from the writings of the Holy Father, that kneeling dates back to Apostolic times, even to the time of Jesus, Himself, since He knelt during his Agony at Gethsemane.

 

[Badaliyyah]

It is clear, then, from the writings of the Holy Father, that kneeling dates back to Apostolic times, even to the time of Jesus, Himself, since He knelt during his Agony at Gethsemane.

I realize kneeling is mentioned quite a bit throughout the Bible, but I was curious when it entered as the way in which Latin Christians decided to receive the Eucharist and what the catalyst was.

Nightwalker says late middle ages. That was a bit later than I was expecting, but I have no reason to disagree. I am curious if Nightwalker can provide some sources (again, I’m not doubting you, I just want to follow up and read some more…yes, I am a nerd). I figured it had to be after St.Constantine moved to Constantinople, b/c he and St.Helen were from the West, but kneeling does not appear in the Byzantine tradition that comes down from the Imperial capital. I was guessing somewhere around the reforms of GregoryVII, but if Nightwalker is right it would be even later.

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btw, it is not as if kneeling is entirely absent in the Byzantine liturgical tradition. We knelt tonight during the conclusion of the Akathist to the Theotokos and there were several prostrations as well. It is just very very rare during the Divine Liturgy and somewhat exceptional in general. And course has nothing to do with Eucharistic reception.

salaam.

 

[valient_Lucy]

The posture for prayer (kneeling with hands joined in front, palms touching) comes from the practice of vassals swearing oaths to the lord. If you find footage of Prince Charles being invested as the Prince of Wales, at one point in the ceremony Prince Charles kneels before his mother, the Queen, and touches his palms together. His mother places her hands around his hands, and he swears an oath of loyalty and fidelity to the Queen. This was also done at Queen Elizabeth’s coronation, when the nobles swore loyalty to the Queen.

This practice originates in the middle ages, when lords would grant land (or fiefs) to vassals, who in turn would swear loyalty to their lords, as well as arms and knights if the Vikings invaded. This is what is commonly called feudalism, though people in the middle ages never used this term.

The posture of kneeling with the hands joined at the palms in front of the body, as in the ceremonies of fief-holding and vassalage, eventually became the posture for prayer.

At least, that’s what I remember from my year of studying the middle ages and the crusades. But that was a few years ago.

 

[nightwalker]

I know a lot of what I summarized is in the Catholic Encyclopedia article.

Kneeling for prayer predates kneeling in the liturgy by 1500+ years, as it is references in the bible. “Oh come, let’s worship and bow down. Let’s kneel before Yahweh, our Maker” (Ps 95:6)

 

[Rickwood]

Isn’t kneeling during the Mass something that came from England prior to them splitting?

The Anglicans are big on kneeling…