AMEN. – Biblical and liturgical acclamation.
1. BIBLICAL USE
Derived from the root ’āman, “to be firm, to support,” the word Amen (Hebr. ’āmēn; Septuagint: ’Αμήν) expresses a fundamental idea of security and truth. Isaiah twice calls God Deus Amen (65:16), in the sense of “the truthful God” (so the Septuagint). This concept, of messianic import, is developed by St. Paul (II Cor. 1:18–20). Similarly, in the Apocalypse Christ is called the Amen, ὁ 'Αμήν, as being the witness of truth (3:14). Frequent is the adverbial use of a. as the assent of the listener (yes, certainly) to what the speaker says, most often joined also to the wish that the same thing may come to pass (cf. I Reg. 1:36; Ier. 11:5; 28:6). Thus a. assumes the value of a religious acclamation (Deut. 27:15–26; cf. Num. 5:22), especially in the exercise of worship (I Par. 16:36; Neh. 5:13; 8:6). In this sense it occurs in the concluding doxologies of the Psalms (v.) (at the end of Psalms 40 [41]; 71 [72]; 88 [89]; in 53, a. is doubled; in 105 [106], it is joined to the Alleluia: cf. I Par. 16:36 Hebr., and Apoc. 19:4). In these cases the Septuagint has γένοιτο, γένοιτο, which the Vulgate renders Fiat, fiat. Characteristic is Jesus’ use of a. in the well-known asseverative formula: Amen dico vobis (or tibi), which occurs 28 times in Mt., 13 in Mc., 7 in Lc., and 26 times, in duplicated form, in Io.: Amen, amen dico vobis, “in truth, in truth I say to you,” that is, “I tell you in all truth” (a superlative form: cf. St. Augustine, Tractatus in Ioh., 8, 34 (PL 35, 1694). St. John perhaps alludes to it in Apoc. 3:14.2. LITURGICAL USE
A. passed spontaneously from the synagogue to the Christian community. The clear allusions of St. Paul (I Cor. 14:16; II Cor. 1:20), the texts of early Christian literature, and the correspondence of the Apostles, which place a. even as a seal upon greetings, good wishes, and doxologies, provide the best evidence of this (cf. Didaché, 10, 6; St. Justin, I Apol., 65 and 67; Dionysius of Alexandria, in Eusebius, Hist. eccl., 7, 9; Tertullian, De spect., 25; St. Augustine, De catech. rudibus, 9, 13; St. Jerome, Comm. in Galatas, II, pr.).As a solemn profession of Eucharistic faith, a. was sung at the most important moments of the sacrificial action: at the Consecration (as still today in the Eastern liturgies) and at the end of the Canon and anaphora, while the faithful were to articulate it when receiving Communion. “Placing the left hand, as though a throne for the king, beneath the right – says Cyril of Jerusalem – receive with the hollow of this hand the Body of Christ, and answer a.” (Catech., 23, 21); and Ambrose of Milan in De Sacramentis: “Dicit tibi Sacerdo: Corpus Christi; et tu dicis a., hoc est Verum. Quod confitetur lingua, teneat affectus” (4, 5; cf. Constit. Apostolorum, 8, 13; St. Augustine, Sermo 272). This ancient custom is still in force in the Ambrosian liturgy; and the Roman liturgy preserves a vestige of it in the Mass for the conferral of Holy Orders. The liturgical a. has an eminently social value, because it expresses the solidarity of the faithful with the celebrant: “Fratres mei – explains St. Augustine – a. vestrum subscriptio vestra est, consensio vestra est, adstipulatio vestra est” (Sermo contra Pelagium, 3: PL 39, 1721). Especially famous for this reason is the a. at the end of the doxology concluding the canon, before the Pater noster: it is the most solemn in the liturgy, perhaps the only one deriving from the primitive canon. As a concluding formula of the creeds, a. may well be translated, with the Fathers, verum est: “it is true,” or “so it is.” At the end of doxologies, however, and especially at the end of prayers of petition, it has the optative sense of sic sit, “so be it,” as St. Augustine already interpreted it (Sermo 6, 3 of the Denis collection: PL 46, 836); and its translation today replaces a. in almost all prayers in the vernacular.
UNIVERSALITY OF A. — A. is one of the words most widespread throughout the world: common to the Jews, to Christians of every rite, and even to Muslims, who add amio to their prayers, especially after the first sura of the Koran. The rabbis exalted its efficacy as a pledge of eternal life: « Whoever says a. with all his strength (that is, with complete intention and devotion) will have the gates of paradise opened to him » (J. Buxtorf, in Lexicon Chald. Talm. Rabb., Basel 1620, col. 115). A word of faith and hope, a. also gladdened the tombs. Christian epigraphy has transmitted to us no small number of inscriptions such as: Reguiescat in pace. A. or Cum Christo in aeternum. A.
With such a manifold and sublime meaning, a. is an untranslatable term (cf. M. Vittorino, Adv. Arium, 3, 9; s. Agostino, De doctr. christ., 2, 11; Tractatus in Io., 8, 34), one of those mystical words which, like the Alleluia, even in heaven form part of the songs of the Church triumphant (Apoc. 5, 14; 7, 12; 19, 4):
« Tota actio nostra — concludes s. Agostino (Serm., 262, 28, 29) — A. et Alleluia erit » — for the blessed life will consist entirely « in the contemplation and praise of truth »: « all the saints will say Alleluia, because they will say A. ».