司儀

今期Zenit的禮儀專欄，提及「禮節司」的問題。

都幾有趣的：香港的堂區內，往往有一種習慣，將「領經」（Commentator：正確地應譯作「旁述」）的職務稱為「司儀」（Master of Ceremonies）。

有時不同的名稱，顯示教友們傾向於對禮儀的某種解讀。

「領經」一詞，相信是出於擔當這種職務的教友，「帶領」其他教友們作出適當的言和動作上的回應，而當中亦包括「經文」。但久而久之，在一些人心目中，亦出現了「帶領禮儀進行」的理解。然嚴格而言，「帶領」禮儀進行，應是主禮的任務。

至於司儀中的「司」（Master），其實原義不是指「主人」或「話事人」，而更應該指「老師」、「師傅」和「導師」之意。他們深諳禮儀學問，而在禮儀舉行前後、及舉行時，實際協調禮節的進行和處理。他們的存在，多少反映著禮儀的客觀性。

在這裡，記起了 Martin Mosebach 所著的《The Heresy of Formlessness - The Roman Liturgy and Its Enemy》，當中描述一位神父，在主教禮儀中擔當「禮節司」角色的意義：

... In the pontifical Mass the celebrating bishop has an assistant at his side, the presbyter assistens, who dose not wear Mass vestments but choir dress, a cope (pluviale). The priest's task is to guide the bishop through the Missal, turning the pages and indicating the next prayers to be said. In former times he used a small rod for this purpose, a metal scepter ending in a tiny hand and extended index finger. Interestingly, a very similar pointing-stick is used when reading the Torah in the orthodox Jewish service. It may seem puzzling first that prelates who spend their whole lives in and with the liturgy cannot find their way around the Missal on their own; but we begin to see that this ritual of pointing actually manifests the celebrant's submission to the traditional order of prayer: it is not something created by him. Here again the cult wishes to be understood and experienced as something given, not made by the man of the moment. The celebrant is an instrument, just as the pointing-stick is. When the Mass is celebrated by an ordinary priest, the "master of ceremonies" indicates the relevant places in the Missal with his entire hand, not, for course, with the index finger; this pointing is very closely associated with the use of the Missal: of the thousand possibilities contained in it, the pointer "from above" indicates the particular reality applicable to the day. As for the subordinate gestures of the hand on the part of lower clerics and even laymen, they always have a reference to the ministry of the angels. Indicating the correct place in the Missal partakes - most definitely - of the character of revelation ...