Enciclopedia Cattolica Vol. X, 1953 Liturgy Various topics

Prostration (Προσκύνησις)

PROSTRAZIONE (ΠΡΟΣΚΎΝΗΣΙΣ)

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Also known as: Greek: proskynesis

PROSTRATION (Προσκύνησις). - It is the act of throwing oneself to the ground, touching it with one's forehead, a sign of the deepest humiliation and submission.

A natural act found in the various ancient cults, in the Jewish religion, and in the rituals of Eastern courts. Holy Scripture speaks of it (Gen. 42:6; 43:26, 28; Jos. 5:15). Thus the Magi venerated the Infant Jesus (Mt. 2:11); thus Jesus himself prayed in the garden (Mt. 26:39); thus the Apocalypse presents the elders in adoration (Apoc. 5:14; 19:4). Prostration, very much in vogue in the ancient Persian court, was not unknown in Rome (Suetonius, Aul. Vitell., 2, 5). Tertullian knows it as an attitude in urgent prayer (Adv. Marcionem, 3, 18). The Byzantine court too adopted it in its ceremonial, and from there it entered the Eastern liturgy, and later the Western one as well. The first certain testimony for the Roman liturgy, very late, is found in the Breviarium ecclesiastici ordinis, composed ca. 790-800, of Franco-monastic origin, where it appears as a reverence to the altar at the beginning of Mass (M. Andrieu, Les Ordines romani du haut moyen âge, III, Louvain 1951, Ordo XVII, n. 25, p. 179). The current Roman liturgy uses it on Good Friday (Andrieu, Ordo XXIII of the 8th century, ibid., p. 271) at the beginning of the sacred functions and in solemn consecrations and personal blessings while the litanies are sung or recited.

Bibliography7 works

BIBL.: L. Eisenhofer, Handbuch der kath. Liturgik, I, Freiburg im Br. 1932, pp. 254-55; A. Alföldi, Die Ausgestaltung des monarchischen Zeremoniels am röm. Kaiserhof, in Mitteilungen d. deutsch. arch. Inst.; röm. Abt., 49 (1934), pp. 1-118 (fundamental study on the Roman and Byzantine court ceremonial, which had a broad influence on the papal and episcopal one and from there on the liturgy); Th. Klauser, Abendländische Liturgiegeschichte, Bonn 1949, pp. 12-13; J. A. Jungmann, Missarum sollemnia, 2nd ed., I, Vienna 1949, pp. 51-52; II, ibid., see index under the entries προσκύνησις, prostratio; M. Andrieu, Le Pontifical Romain au moyen âge, IV, Vatican City 1941, see index under the entries: prostrumere (se), prostratus, prostratio, which allow one to form an idea of the wide use of prostration in the medieval liturgy.

About this entry

By Giuseppe Löw

How we know recovered from an earlier OCR reading

Translated from the Enciclopedia Cattolica, vol. X (1953), col. 167.

More by Giuseppe Löw: Purification (Candlemas), Feast of the · Raphael, Saint · Reichersberg · Rein · Raetia (*Rhaetia et Vindelicia*)

Cite this article

Chicago

Lów, Giuseppe. “Prostrazione (ΠΡΟΣΚΎΝΗΣΙΣ).” In Enciclopedia Cattolica, vol. X, col. 167. Città del Vaticano: Ente per l’Enciclopedia Cattolica e per il Libro Cattolico, 1953. https://azioneromana.com/article/prostrazione-proskunesis.

MLA

Lów, Giuseppe. “Prostrazione (ΠΡΟΣΚΎΝΗΣΙΣ).” Enciclopedia Cattolica, vol. X, Ente per l’Enciclopedia Cattolica e per il Libro Cattolico, 1953, col. 167. Azione Romana, https://azioneromana.com/article/prostrazione-proskunesis.

BibTeX

@incollection{ec10_prostrazione_proskunesis,
  author    = {Lów, Giuseppe},
  title     = {Prostrazione (ΠΡΟΣΚΎΝΗΣΙΣ)},
  booktitle = {Enciclopedia Cattolica},
  volume    = {X},
  pages     = {167},
  note      = {Cited by column},
  publisher = {Ente per l’Enciclopedia Cattolica e per il Libro Cattolico},
  address   = {Città del Vaticano},
  year      = {1953},
  url       = {https://azioneromana.com/article/prostrazione-proskunesis}
}

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