Ton Despotin
Forgive me if my question is stupid, but, after watching a Papal Mass, and hearing about how some of those same participants have gone and been Extremely Online, to put it euphemistically, I noticed that after the Gospel at the Vatican, the deacons (one Latin and one Italo-Albanian) go to the Pope, and the congregation sing, ""Eis polla eti, Despota." Now I know what it means in English, and that it happens when a bishop blesses something, but why is it in the Liturgy?
Posted Apr 9, 2018, 12:33 AM UTC
67
A lot of what is done with a bishop present during liturgy in Eastern churches is a kind of vestige of the various ceremonies and court etiquette related to the emperor's presence in Hagia Sophia.
In time the EP adopted a lot of the same things to emphasize his equality to the emperor, then it trickled down to the other patriarchs and bishops as a way of their showing their equality to the EP. Couple this with the Fall of the Byzantine Empire and the political/courtly connection is lost and therefore isn't obvious.
I find it interesting that the Papal Masses keep the following at least partially in Greek:
-Kyrie (which in its Latin form seems pretty unique)
-the Gospel
-Ton Despotin
-Good Friday Trisagion
In the Solemn Papal Mass before the promulgation of the Novus Ordo, Mass actually required both a Greek and Latin Subdeacon and Deacon because the Epistle and Gospel were chanted in Greek and Latin. The Pope also had a special maniple intertwined with red and gold which apparently symbolized unity of East and West.
Having a Greek Deacon chant the Gospel in today's Papal Masses is but a remnant of what it used to be.
The Kyrie is the most interesting to me because it is like just the vaguest sliver of our litanies.
Pope Gregory the Dialogist notes that the truncation occurred as early as the 6th century and is indeed a truncation of a litany which seems to have varied depending on the day (for example, IIRC Christmas had its own proper Kyrie). The Sarum Use IIRC had tropes during the Kyrie, though now the Anglican Use either uses the Latin Kyrie, or replaces it entirely with a litany-like setting of the Decalogue.
Oh, and (at least in the EF) there seems to be a hint of the Usual Beginning in the Asperges, in a way.
Also the Prayers of the Faithful in the OF Mass.
Ah yeah, that too