The cult of the icon of the Most Holy
Saviour, unlike that of the Veronica veil kept in the Vatican Basilica or
other ancient Roman icons, was the only one to become part of the official
celebrations of the Roman Liturgy. This is evident from the Liber
Politicus (Ordo Romanus XI), a ceremonial book written between 1143-1144,
and the Liber Censuum Romanae Ecclesiae (Ordo Romanus XII), compiled
about 1192 by Cencius Camerarius, the future Pope Honorius III.
These ceremonial books not only show that a
procession with the Acheiropita took place on the night of the
Assumption, but also that the icon was venerated during Holy Week.
On Easter morning, the Pope, vested in
pontificals, entered the Sancta Sanctorum, opened the small silver doors
covering the feet of the icon (the doors are still sealed) and kissed the feet
three times. He then chanted the versicle: Surrexit Dominus de sepulchro,
alleluia, to which the assembly responded: Qui pro nobis pependit in
ligno, alleluia. The Cross, which had bee removed on Good Friday, was then
placed on the altar for the Pope’s veneration.
After the Pope, the members of the papal entourage
venerated the icon and the Cross and then approached the Supreme Pontiff for the
kiss of peace. The Pope gave the sign of peace reciting the versicle:
Surrexit Dominus vere, to which each person responded: Et apparuit
Simoni. Meanwhile the choir chanted a series of antiphons. Following these
rites the papal procession was formed along the Via Merulana while the Pope was
informed by a notary of the Baptisms which had been celebrated the previous
night.
When the Apostolic See moved to Avignon, the rite
of the Resurrexit fell into disuse. With the return of the Popes to Rome,
the Easter statio was transferred to the Basilica of Saint Peter.
The basis and the authentic significance
of these ritual sequences can be found in the words of the Gospel of Luke which
describe Peter’s amazement at seeing the empty tomb and the testimony of the
Eleven that the Lord was truly risen and had appeared to Simon (cf. Lk
24:12,34; Jn 20:3-10). The appearance of the Risen Lord to Peter and to
the other witnesses is the theological foundation of the Church’s Easter faith
(cf. Acts 1:21-22; 1 Cor 15:3-6).
The Bishop of Rome, the Successor of Peter,
likewise meets the Risen Lord in the icon of the Most Holy Saviour and, after
the solemn Easter proclamation of the previous night’s Vigil, he becomes on
Easter Day the «first» witness to all the Church of the Gospel of the Lord’s
Resurrection.
The rite of papal veneration the icon of the Resurrexit was restored for Easter of the Great Jubilee in 2000.
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