The Memorial Acclamation is an acclamation sung or recited by the people after the institution narrative of the

Eucharist The Eucharist (; from Greek , , ), also known as Holy Communion and the Lord's Supper, is a Christian rite that is considered a sacrament in most churches, and as an ordinance in others. According to the New Testament, the rite was institu ...

.Don S. Armentrout, Robert Boak Slocum (editors), ''An Episcopal Dictionary of the Church'' (Church House Publishing 2005
), p. 328 They were common in ancient eastern liturgies and have more recently been introduced into

Roman Catholic Roman or Romans most often refers to: * Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD * Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *'' Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a let ...

Anglican Anglicanism is a Western Christian tradition that has developed from the practices, liturgy, and identity of the Church of England following the English Reformation, in the context of the Protestant Reformation in Europe. It is one of t ...

Lutheran Lutheranism is one of the largest branches of Protestantism, identifying primarily with the theology of Martin Luther, the 16th-century German monk and reformer whose efforts to reform the theology and practice of the Catholic Church launched ...

, and

Methodist Methodism, also called the Methodist movement, is a group of historically related denominations of Protestant Christianity whose origins, doctrine and practice derive from the life and teachings of John Wesley. George Whitefield and John's ...

liturgies.

Liturgy of St James

The Liturgy of St James is the principal liturgy of the

Syriac Orthodox Church , native_name_lang = syc , image = St_George_Syriac_orthodox_church_in_Damascus.jpg , imagewidth = 250 , alt = Cathedral of Saint George , caption = Cathedral of Saint George, Damascus ...

Syriac Catholic Church The Syriac Catholic Church ( syc, ܥܕܬܐ ܣܘܪܝܝܬܐ ܩܬܘܠܝܩܝܬܐ, ʿĪṯo Suryayṯo Qaṯolīqayṯo, ar, الكنيسة السريانية الكاثوليكية) is an Eastern Catholic Christian jurisdiction originating in ...

Syro-Malankara Catholic Church The Syro-Malankara Catholic Church, also known as the Malankara Syrian Catholic Church, is an Eastern Catholic '' sui iuris'' particular church in full communion with the worldwide Catholic Church possessing self-governance under the Code of ...

Maronite Church The Maronite Church is an Eastern Catholic Churches, Eastern Catholic ''sui iuris'' particular church in full communion with the pope and the worldwide Catholic Church, with self-governance under the Code of Canons of the Eastern Churches. Th ...

, and

Malankara Orthodox Church The Malankara Orthodox Syrian Church (MOSC) also known as the Indian Orthodox Church (IOC) or simply as the Malankara Church, is an autocephalous Oriental Orthodox church headquartered in Devalokam, near Kottayam, India. The church serves ...

. It is also occasionally used in the

Eastern Orthodox Church The Eastern Orthodox Church, also called the Orthodox Church, is the second-largest Christian church, with approximately 220 million baptized members. It operates as a communion of autocephalous churches, each governed by its bishops via ...

and Melkite Catholic Church and other

Eastern Catholic Churches The Eastern Catholic Churches or Oriental Catholic Churches, also called the Eastern-Rite Catholic Churches, Eastern Rite Catholicism, or simply the Eastern Churches, are 23 Eastern Christian autonomous ('' sui iuris'') particular churches of ...

Byzantine Rite The Byzantine Rite, also known as the Greek Rite or the Rite of Constantinople, identifies the wide range of cultural, liturgical, and canonical practices that developed in the Eastern Christian Church of Constantinople. The canonical hours a ...

. In the Syriac form of this liturgy, after the

Words of Institution The Words of Institution (also called the Words of Consecration) are words echoing those of Jesus himself at his Last Supper that, when consecrating bread and wine, Christian Eucharistic liturgies include in a narrative of that event. Eucharist ...

, to which the people respond with "Amen" after the formula for the blessing of the bread and again after the formula for the blessing of the chalice, the priest celebrant says: "Do in remembrance of Me when you partake of this sacrament, commemorating My death and My resurrection until I come." The people then respond with the acclamation: "Your death, our Lord, we commemorate, Your resurrection we confess and Your second coming we wait for. May Your mercy be upon us all." In the Byzantine form of the Liturgy of St James, the priest celebrant says: "This do in remembrance of me; for as often as ye eat this bread, and drink this cup, ye do show forth the Lord's death, and confess His resurrection, till He comes." The people respond: "We show forth Thy death, O Lord, and confess Thy resurrection."

Roman Rite

The Memorial Acclamation was introduced into the

Roman Rite The Roman Rite ( la, Ritus Romanus) is the primary liturgical rite of the Latin Church, the largest of the ''sui iuris'' particular churches that comprise the Catholic Church. It developed in the Latin language in the city of Rome and, while di ...

Mass Mass is an intrinsic property of a body. It was traditionally believed to be related to the quantity of matter in a physical body, until the discovery of the atom and particle physics. It was found that different atoms and different ele ...

in 1969 as part of the revision of the

Roman Missal The Roman Missal ( la, Missale Romanum) is the title of several missals used in the celebration of the Roman Rite. Along with other liturgical books of the Roman Rite, the Roman Missal contains the texts and rubrics for the celebration of th ...

Pope Paul VI Pope Paul VI ( la, Paulus VI; it, Paolo VI; born Giovanni Battista Enrico Antonio Maria Montini, ; 26 September 18976 August 1978) was head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City, Vatican City State from 21 June 1963 to his ...

. Previously the only acclamations by the people in the eucharistic prayer were the

Sanctus The Sanctus ( la, Sanctus, "Holy") is a hymn in Christian liturgy. It may also be called the ''epinikios hymnos'' ( el, ἐπινίκιος ὕμνος, "Hymn of Victory") when referring to the Greek rendition. In Western Christianity, th ...

and the Amen to the final doxology.

The three acclamations

The three acclamations given in the Roman Missal are, in the official English translation, as follows: The initial edition of the

in English, which in part was a more dynamic rather than literal translation of the original, had instead the following four acclamations: * Christ has died, Christ is risen, Christ will come again. * Dying you destroyed our death, rising you restored our life. Lord Jesus, come in glory. * When we eat this bread and drink this cup, we proclaim your death, Lord Jesus, until you come in glory. * Lord, by your cross and resurrection, you have set us free. You are the Saviour of the world.

''Mysterium fidei''

As a lead to the Memorial Acclamation, the priest says or sings: "

The mystery of faith "The mystery of faith" and "a mystery of faith" are phrases found in different contexts and with a variety of meanings, either as translations of Greek () or Latin , or as independent English phrases. Two English translations of 1 Timothy 3:9 T ...

". This introductory phrase, ''mysterium fidei'' in the

Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through ...

original, was previously translated loosely into English as "Let us proclaim the mystery of faith", and in some places was sung or spoken by the

deacon A deacon is a member of the diaconate, an office in Christian churches that is generally associated with service of some kind, but which varies among theological and denominational traditions. Major Christian churches, such as the Catholic Chur ...

instead of the priest in spite of the clear instruction in the Missal itself and in the apostolic constitution ''Missale Romanum'' with which Pope Paul VI promulgated the revision of the Roman Missal.Peter J. Elliott, ''Liturgical Question Box'' (Ignatius Press 1998
), pp. 95-96 The English translation was corrected in 2011 and now reads simply: "The mystery of faith".

''Mysterium fidei'' in the Tridentine Mass

Before the 1969 revision of the Roman Missal, the phrase ''mysterium fidei'' was included in the formula of consecration of the wine spoken inaudibly by the priest, appearing as follows (here accompanied by an unofficial English translation): :::''Text (in Latin)'' :Simili modo postquam cenatum est, :accipiens et hunc praeclarum calicem :in sanctas ac venerabiles manus suas: :item tibi gratias agens, benedixit, :deditque discipulis suis, dicens: :Accipite, et bibite ex eo omnes. :Hic est enim calix sanguinis mei, :novi et aeterni testamenti: :mysterium fidei: :qui pro vobis et pro multis effundetur :in remissionem peccatorum. :Haec quotiescumque feceritis, :in mei memoriam facietis. ::''Unofficial English translation'' :In like manner, after He had supped, :taking also into His holy and venerable hands :this goodly chalice, :again giving thanks to Thee, He blessed it, :and gave it to His disciples, saying: :Take and drink ye all of this: :For this is the chalice of My blood, :of the new and eternal testament: :the mystery of faith: :which will be shed for you and for many :unto the remission of sins. :As often as ye shall do these things, :ye shall do them in remembrance of me. Some traditionalist Catholics have criticised the removal of the phrase ''mysterium fidei'' from the words of consecration.

Meaning of the phrase ''mysterium fidei'' in context

The phrase ''mysterium fidei'' was added to the words of consecration at some time before the 6th century, perhaps by

Pope Leo I Pope Leo I ( 400 – 10 November 461), also known as Leo the Great, was bishop of Rome from 29 September 440 until his death. Pope Benedict XVI said that Leo's papacy "was undoubtedly one of the most important in the Church's history." Leo was ...

(440-461) and perhaps, in reaction to the denial by

Manichaeism Manichaeism (; in New Persian ; ) is a former major religionR. van den Broek, Wouter J. Hanegraaff ''Gnosis and Hermeticism from Antiquity to Modern Times''SUNY Press, 1998 p. 37 founded in the 3rd century AD by the Parthian prophet Mani (A ...

of the goodness of material things, as an expression of the Catholic Church's belief that salvation comes through Christ's material blood and through participation in the sacrament, which makes use of a material element. The memorial acclamations that follow suggest that "the mystery of faith" refers, in its new context, to "the entire mystery of salvation through Christ's death, resurrection and ascension, which is made present in the celebration of the Eucharist". An alternative memorial acclamation permitted in Ireland, "My Lord and my God", was disapproved of by Pope Paul VI for seemingly concentrating on the

real presence of Christ in the Eucharist The real presence of Christ in the Eucharist is the Christian doctrine that Jesus Christ is present in the Eucharist, not merely symbolically or metaphorically, but in a true, real and substantial way. There are a number of Christian denomina ...

rather than on Eucharistic sacrifice as a whole, but even this may be interpreted in the same sense, since it is a repetition of what in refers to Christ as risen and as still bearing the marks of his suffering.Edward McNamara, "The Mystery of Faith" in ''ZENIT News Agency, 7 October 2014
/ref>

Other liturgies

In its 1979 version of the ''Book of Common Prayer'', the

Episcopal Church (United States) The Episcopal Church, based in the United States with additional dioceses elsewhere, is a member church of the worldwide Anglican Communion. It is a mainline Protestant denomination and is divided into nine provinces. The presiding bishop ...

has in Prayer B the acclamation: In three of its Rite 2 eucharistic prayers, the acclamation is made by celebrant and people together. The ''

Book of Alternative Services The ''Book of Alternative Services'' (''BAS'') is the contemporary, inclusive-language liturgical book used in place of the 1962 ''Book of Common Prayer'' (BCP) in most parishes of the Anglican Church of Canada. Further reading * Webster, John ...

'' of the

Anglican Church of Canada The Anglican Church of Canada (ACC or ACoC) is the province of the Anglican Communion in Canada. The official French-language name is ''l'Église anglicane du Canada''. In 2017, the Anglican Church counted 359,030 members on parish rolls in 2,2 ...

has a Memorial Acclamation, as have some

United Methodist The United Methodist Church (UMC) is a worldwide mainline Protestant denomination based in the United States, and a major part of Methodism. In the 19th century, its main predecessor, the Methodist Episcopal Church, was a leader in evangelica ...

churches. Lutherans also have an acclamation.Order of Worship
from ''Lutherans Online''. Retrieved 2010-16-01.

References

{{Lutheran Divine Service Eucharist