Teologia rubryk

Abstract

A b s t r a c t. Rubrics, which are red-printed instructions concerned with the performance of worship, date back as early as to the Old Testament Books. As the time went on, they started to appear in the Catholic liturgy, and currently they are the indispensable part of the liturgical books. Their aim is to provide the liturgy with the proper dynamics which symbolizes the internal dynamics of the community. Rubrics perform a legislative function -they constitute one of the sources of the liturgical law. Some of them fulfil a didactic role towards the celebrant and the participants of the liturgy and unify the behaviours of the members of the community. If the liturgy was deprived of everything that is hidden behind the rubrics, it would become a static prayer monologue of the celebrant, so they indeed constitute the part of the liturgy. Defined in such a way, they can become locus theologicus for other theology branches, for instance thanks to the indication of the ways in which God's internal action is hidden in particular liturgical instructions contained in rubrics. Summarised by Wojciech Malesa