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<!DOCTYPE html> <html lang="en"> <head> <title>CATHOLIC ENCYCLOPEDIA: Amen</title><script src="https://dtyry4ejybx0.cloudfront.net/js/cmp/cleanmediacmp.js?ver=0104" async="true"></script><script defer data-domain="newadvent.org" src="https://plausible.io/js/script.js"></script><link rel="canonical" href="https://www.newadvent.org/cathen/01407b.htm"> <meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1"> <meta name="description" content="One of a small number of Hebrew words which have been imported unchanged into the liturgy of the Church"> <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"><link rel="alternate" type="application/rss+xml" title="RSS" href="http://feeds.newadvent.org/bestoftheweb?format=xml"><link rel="icon" href="../images/icon1.ico" type="image/x-icon"><link rel="shortcut icon" href="../images/icon1.ico" type="image/x-icon"><meta name="robots" content="noodp"><link type="text/css" rel="stylesheet" href="../utility/screen6.css" media="screen"></head> <body class="cathen" id="01407b.htm">  <br/> <div id="capitalcity"><table summary="Logo" cellpadding=0 cellspacing=0 width="100%"><tr valign="bottom"><td align="left"><a href="../"><img height=36 width=153 border="0" alt="New Advent" src="../images/logo.gif"></a></td><td align="right"> <form id="searchbox_000299817191393086628:ifmbhlr-8x0" action="../utility/search.htm">  <input type="hidden" name="safe" value="active"> <input type="hidden" name="cx" value="000299817191393086628:ifmbhlr-8x0"/> <input type="hidden" name="cof" value="FORID:9"/>  <label for="searchQuery" id="searchQueryLabel">Search:</label> <input id="searchQuery" name="q" type="text" size="25" aria-labelledby="searchQueryLabel"/>  <label for="submitButton" id="submitButtonLabel" class="visually-hidden">Submit Search</label> <input id="submitButton" type="submit" name="sa" value="Search" aria-labelledby="submitButtonLabel"/> </form> <table summary="Spacer" cellpadding=0 cellspacing=0><tr><td height="2"></td></tr></table> <table summary="Tabs" cellpadding=0 cellspacing=0><tr> <td bgcolor="#ffffff"></td> <td class="tab"><a class="tab_color_on_beige" href="../"> Home </a></td> <td class="tab"><a class="tab_white_on_color" href="../cathen/index.html"> Encyclopedia </a></td> <td class="tab"><a class="tab_color_on_beige" href="../summa/index.html"> Summa </a></td> <td class="tab"><a class="tab_color_on_beige" href="../fathers/index.html"> Fathers </a></td> <td class="tab"><a class="tab_color_on_beige" href="../bible/gen001.htm"> Bible </a></td> <td class="tab"><a class="tab_color_on_beige" href="../library/index.html"> Library </a></td> </tr></table> </td> </tr></table><table summary="Alphabetical index" width="100%" cellpadding=0 cellspacing=0><tr><td class="bar_white_on_color"> <a href="../cathen/a.htm"> A </a><a href="../cathen/b.htm"> B </a><a href="../cathen/c.htm"> C </a><a href="../cathen/d.htm"> D </a><a href="../cathen/e.htm"> E </a><a href="../cathen/f.htm"> F </a><a href="../cathen/g.htm"> G </a><a href="../cathen/h.htm"> H </a><a href="../cathen/i.htm"> I </a><a href="../cathen/j.htm"> J </a><a href="../cathen/k.htm"> K </a><a href="../cathen/l.htm"> L </a><a href="../cathen/m.htm"> M </a><a href="../cathen/n.htm"> N </a><a href="../cathen/o.htm"> O </a><a href="../cathen/p.htm"> P </a><a href="../cathen/q.htm"> Q </a><a href="../cathen/r.htm"> R </a><a href="../cathen/s.htm"> S </a><a href="../cathen/t.htm"> T </a><a href="../cathen/u.htm"> U </a><a href="../cathen/v.htm"> V </a><a href="../cathen/w.htm"> W </a><a href="../cathen/x.htm"> X </a><a href="../cathen/y.htm"> Y </a><a href="../cathen/z.htm"> Z </a> </td></tr></table></div> <div id="mobilecity" style="text-align: center; "><a href="../"><img height=24 width=102 border="0" alt="New Advent" src="../images/logo.gif"></a></div>  <div id="mi5"><span class="breadcrumbs"><a href="../">Home</a> > <a href="../cathen">Catholic Encyclopedia</a> > <a href="../cathen/a.htm">A</a> > Amen</span></div> <div id="springfield2"> <div class='catholicadnet-728x90' id='cathen-728x90-top' style='display: flex; height: 100px; align-items: center; justify-content: center; '></div> <h1>Amen</h1> <p><em><a href="https://gumroad.com/l/na2"><strong>Please help support the mission of New Advent</strong> and get the full contents of this website as an instant download. Includes the Catholic Encyclopedia, Church Fathers, Summa, Bible and more  all for only $19.99...</a></em></p> <p>The word <em>Amen</em> is one of a small number of Hebrew words which have been imported unchanged into the liturgy of the <a href="../cathen/03744a.htm">Church</a>, <em>propter sanctiorem</em> as <a href="../cathen/02084a.htm">St. Augustine</a> expresses it, in virtue of an exceptionally sacred example. "So frequent was this Hebrew in the mouth of <a href="../cathen/08374c.htm">Our Saviour</a>", observes the <a href="../cathen/13120c.htm">Catechism of the Council of Trent</a>, "that it pleased the Holy Ghost to have it perpetuated in the <a href="../cathen/03744a.htm">Church of God</a>". In point of fact <a href="../cathen/10057a.htm">St. Matthew</a> attributes it to <a href="../cathen/08374c.htm">Our Lord</a> twenty-eight times, and St. John in its doubled form twenty-six times. As regards the etymology, Amen is a derivative from the Hebrew verb <em>aman</em> "to strengthen" or "Confirm".</p> <h2>Scriptural use</h2> <p>I. In the <a href="../bible">Holy Scripture</a> it appears almost invariably as an adverb, and its primary use is to indicate that the speaker adopts for his own what has already been said by another. Thus in <a href="../bible/jer028.htm#vrs6">Jeremiah 28:6</a>, the <a href="../cathen/12477a.htm">prophet</a> represents himself as answering to Hananias's prophecy of happier days; "Amen, the Lord perform the words which thou hast prophesied". And in the imprecations of <a href="../bible/deu027.htm#vrs14">Deuteronomy 27:14 sqq.</a> we read, for example: "Cursed be he that honoureth not his <a href="../cathen/11478c.htm">father and mother</a>, and all the people shall say Amen". From this, some <a href="../cathen/09306a.htm">liturgical</a> use of the word appears to have developed long before the coming of <a href="../cathen/08374c.htm">Jesus Christ</a>. Thus we may compare <a href="../bible/1ch016.htm#vrs36">1 Chronicles 16:36</a>, "Blessed be the Lord God of Israel from eternity; and let the people say Amen and a hymn to <a href="../cathen/06608a.htm">God</a>", with <a href="../bible/psa105.htm#vrs48">Psalm 105:48</a>, "Blessed be the Lord, the <a href="../cathen/06608a.htm">God</a> of <a href="../cathen/08193a.htm">Israel</a> from everlasting: and let all the people say: so be it" (cf. also <a href="../bible/neh008.htm#vrs6">Nehemiah 8:6</a>), these last words in the <a href="../cathen/13722a.htm">Septuagint</a> being represented by <em>genoito, genoito</em>, and in the <a href="../cathen/15515b.htm">Vulgate</a>, which follows the <a href="../cathen/13722a.htm">Septuagint</a> by <em>fiat, fiat</em>; but the <a href="../cathen/10035a.htm">Massoretic</a> text gives "Amen, <a href="../cathen/01319b.htm">Alleluia</a>". Talmudic tradition tells us that Amen was not said in the Temple, but only in the <a href="../cathen/14379b.htm">synagogues</a> (cf. Edersheim, The Temple, p. 127), but by this we probably ought to understand not that the saying Amen was forbidden in the Temple, but only that the response of the congregation, being delayed until the end for fear of interrupting the exceptional solemnity of the rite, demanded a more extensive and impressive formula than a simple Amen. The familiarity of the usage of saying Amen at the end of all <a href="../cathen/12345b.htm">prayers</a>, even before the <a href="../cathen/03712a.htm">Christian</a> era, is evidenced by <a href="../bible/tob009.htm#vrs12">Tobit 9:12</a>.</p> <div class="CMtag_300x250" style="display: flex; height: 300px; align-items: center; justify-content: center; "></div> <p>II. A second use of Amen most common in the <a href="../cathen/14530a.htm">New Testament</a>, but not quite unknown in the Old, has no reference to the words of any other <a href="../cathen/11726a.htm">person</a>, but is simply a form of affirmation or confirmation of the speaker's own thought, sometimes introducing it, sometimes following it. Its employment as an introductory formula seems to be peculiar to the speeches of <a href="../cathen/08374c.htm">Our Saviour</a> recorded in the Gospels, and it is noteworthy that, while in the <a href="../cathen/14389b.htm">Synoptists</a> one Amen is used, in St. John the word is invariably doubled. (Cf. the double Amen of conclusion in <a href="../bible/num005.htm#vrs22">Numbers 5:22</a>, etc.) In the <a href="../cathen/03449a.htm">Catholic</a> (i.e. the Reims) translation of the Gospels, the Hebrew word is for the most part retained, but in the <a href="../cathen/12495a.htm">Protestant</a> <a href="../cathen/02141a.htm">"Authorized Version"</a> it is rendered by "Verily". When Amen is thus used by <a href="../cathen/08374c.htm">Our Lord</a> to introduce a statement He seems especially to make a demand upon the <a href="../cathen/05752c.htm">faith</a> of His hearers in His word or in His power; e.g. <a href="../bible/joh008.htm#vrs58">John 8:58</a>, "Amen, Amen, I say unto you, before Abraham was made, I am". In other parts of the <a href="../cathen/14530a.htm">New Testament</a>, especially in the <a href="../cathen/05509a.htm">Epistles</a> of <a href="../cathen/11567b.htm">St. Paul</a>, Amen usually concludes a <a href="../cathen/12345b.htm">prayer</a> or a <a href="../cathen/05150a.htm">doxology</a>, e.g. <a href="../bible/rom011.htm#vrs36">Romans 11:36</a>, "To Him be glory for ever. Amen." We also find it sometimes attached to <a href="../cathen/02599b.htm">blessings</a>, e.g. <a href="../bible/rom015.htm#vrs33">Romans 15:33</a>, "Now the <a href="../cathen/06608a.htm">God</a> of peace be with you all. Amen"; but this usage is much rarer, and in many apparent instances, e.g. all those appealed to by Abbot Cabrol, the Amen is really a later interpolation.</p> <p>III. Lastly the common practice of concluding any discourse or chapter of a subject with a <a href="../cathen/05150a.htm">doxology</a> ending in Amen seems to have led to a third distinctive use of the word in which it appears as nothing more than a formula of conclusion  <em>finis</em>. In the best Greek <a href="../cathen/04080b.htm">codices</a> the book of Tobias ends in this way with Amen, and the <a href="../cathen/15515b.htm">Vulgate</a> gives it at the end of <a href="../bible/luk000.htm">St. Luke's Gospel</a>. This seems to be the best explanation of <a href="../bible/rev003.htm#vrs14">Apocalypse 3:14</a>: "These things saith the Amen, the faithful and <a href="../cathen/15073a.htm">true</a> witness who is the beginning of the creation of <a href="../cathen/06608a.htm">God</a>". The Amen who is also the beginning would thus suggest much the same <a href="../cathen/07630a.htm">idea</a> as "I am <a href="../cathen/01332a.htm">Alpha and Omega</a>" of <a href="../bible/rev001.htm#vrs5">Apocalypse 1:5</a>, or "The first and the last" of <a href="../bible/rev002.htm#vrs8">Apocalypse 2:8</a>.</p> <h2>Liturgical use</h2> <p>The employment of Amen in the <a href="../cathen/14379b.htm">synagogues</a> as the people's answer to a <a href="../cathen/12345b.htm">prayer</a> said aloud by a representative must no <a href="../cathen/05141a.htm">doubt</a> have been adopted in their own worship by the <a href="../cathen/03712a.htm">Christians</a> of the <a href="../cathen/01626c.htm">Apostolic</a> age. This at least is the only natural sense in which to interpret the use of the word in <a href="../bible/1co014.htm#vrs16">1 Corinthians 14:16</a>, "Else if thou shall <a href="../cathen/02599b.htm">bless</a> with the spirit, how shall he that holdeth the place of the unlearned say Amen to thy blessing?" (<em>pos erei to amen epi te se eucharistia</em>) where <em>to amen</em> seems clearly to mean "the customary Amen". In the beginning. however, its use seems to have been limited to the congregation, who made answer to some public <a href="../cathen/12345b.htm">prayer</a>, and it was not spoken by him who offered the <a href="../cathen/12345b.htm">prayer</a> (see yon der Goltz, Das Gebet in der ltesten Christenheit, p. 160). It is perhaps one of the most reliable indications of the early data of the <a href="../fathers/0714.htm">"Didache"</a> or "Teaching of the Twelve Apostles", that, although several short <a href="../cathen/09306a.htm">liturgical</a> formulæ are embodied in this document, the word Amen occurs but once, and then in company with the word maranatha, apparently as an ejaculation of the assembly. As regards these <a href="../cathen/09306a.htm">liturgical</a> formulæ in the "Didache", which include the <a href="../cathen/09356a.htm">Our Father</a>, we may, however, perhaps suppose that the Amen was not written because it was taken for granted that after the <a href="../cathen/05150a.htm">doxology</a> those present would answer Amen as a matter of course. Again, in the <a href="../cathen/01601a.htm">apocryphal</a> but early "Acta Johannis" (ed. Bonnet, c. xciv, p. 197) we find a series of short <a href="../cathen/12345b.htm">prayers</a> spoken by the Saint to which the bystanders regularly answer Amen. But it cannot have been very long before the Amen was in many cases added by the utterer of the <a href="../cathen/12345b.htm">prayer</a>. We have a noteworthy instance in the <a href="../cathen/12345b.htm">prayer</a> of <a href="../cathen/12219b.htm">St. Polycarp</a> at his <a href="../cathen/09736b.htm">martyrdom</a>, A.D. 155, on which occasion we are expressly told in a contemporary document that the executioners waited until <a href="../cathen/12219b.htm">Polycarp</a> completed his <a href="../cathen/12345b.htm">prayer</a>, and "pronounced the word Amen", before they kindled the fire by which he perished. We may fairly infer from this that before the middle of the second century it had become a familiar practice for one who <a href="../cathen/12345b.htm">prayed</a> alone to add Amen by way of conclusion. This usage seems to have developed even in public worship, and in the second half of the fourth century, in the earliest form of the liturgy which affords us any safe data, that of the Apostolic Constitutions, we find that in only three instances is it clearly indicated that Amen is to be said by the congregation (i.e. after the Trisagion, after the "Prayer of Intercession", and at the reception of Communion); in the eight remaining instances in which Amen occurs, it was said, so far as we can judge, by the <a href="../cathen/02581b.htm">bishop</a> himself who offered the <a href="../cathen/12345b.htm">prayer</a>. From the lately-discovered <a href="../cathen/12345b.htm">Prayer</a> Book of Bishop Serapion, which can be ascribed with <a href="../cathen/03539b.htm">certainty</a> to the middle of the fourth century, we should infer that, with certain exceptions as regards the <em><a href="../cathen/01451a.htm">anaphora</a></em> of the liturgy, every <a href="../cathen/12345b.htm">prayer</a> consistently ended in Amen. In many cases no <a href="../cathen/05141a.htm">doubt</a> the word was nothing more than a mere formula to mark the conclusion, but the real meaning was never altogether lost sight of. Thus, though <a href="../cathen/02084a.htm">St. Augustine</a> and Pseudo-Ambrose may not be quite exact when they interpret Amen as <em>verum est</em> (it is <a href="../cathen/15073a.htm">true</a>), they are not very remote from the general sense; and in the <a href="../cathen/10285c.htm">Middle Ages</a>, on the other band, the word is often rendered with perfect accuracy. Thus, in an early "Expositio Missæ" published by Gerbert (Men. Lit. Alere, II, 276), we read: "Amen is a ratification by the people of what has been spoken, and it may be interpreted in our language as if they all said: May it so be done as the <a href="../cathen/12406a.htm">priest</a> has <a href="../cathen/12345b.htm">prayed</a>".</p> <div class="CMtag_300x250" style="display: flex; height: 300px; align-items: center; justify-content: center; "></div> <p>General as was the use of the Amen as a conclusion, there were for a long time certain <a href="../cathen/09306a.htm">liturgical</a> formulas to which it was not added. It does not for the most part occur at the end of the early creeds, and a <a href="../cathen/04670a.htm">Decree</a> of the Congregation of Rites (n. 3014, 9 June, 1853) has decided that it should not be spoken at the end of the form for the administration of <a href="../cathen/02258b.htm">baptism</a>, where indeed it would be meaningless. On the other hand, in the Churches of the East Amen is still commonly said after the form of <a href="../cathen/02258b.htm">baptism</a>, sometimes by the bystanders, sometimes by the <a href="../cathen/12406a.htm">priest</a> himself. In the <a href="../cathen/12345b.htm">prayers</a> of <a href="../cathen/05709a.htm">exorcism</a> it is the <a href="../cathen/11726a.htm">person</a> <a href="../cathen/05709a.htm">exorcised</a> who is expected to say "Amen", and in the conferring of <a href="../cathen/11279a.htm">sacred orders</a>, when the vestments, etc., are given to the candidate by the <a href="../cathen/02581b.htm">bishop</a> with some <a href="../cathen/12345b.htm">prayer</a> of benediction, it is again the candidate who responds, just as in the solemn blessing of the Mass the people answer in the <a href="../cathen/11726a.htm">person</a> of the server. Still we cannot say that any uniform principle governs <a href="../cathen/09306a.htm">liturgical</a> usage in this matter, for when at a High Mass the celebrant <a href="../cathen/02599b.htm">blesses</a> the <a href="../cathen/04647c.htm">deacon</a> before the latter goes to read the Gospel, it is the <a href="../cathen/12406a.htm">priest</a> himself who says Amen. Similarly in the <a href="../cathen/11618c.htm">Sacrament of Penance</a> and in the Sacrament of Extreme Unction it is the <a href="../cathen/12406a.htm">priest</a> who adds Amen after the essential words of the sacramental form, although in the Sacrament of Confirmation this is done by the assistants. Further, it may be noticed that in past centuries certain local rites seem to have shown an extraordinary predilection for the use of the word <em>Amen</em>. In the Mozarabic ritual, for example, not only is it inserted after each clause of the long episcopal benediction, but it was repeated after each petition of the <a href="../cathen/09356a.htm">Pater Noster</a>. A similar exaggeration may be found in various portions of the Coptic Liturgy.</p> <p>Two special instances of the use of Amen seem to call for separate treatment. The first is the Amen formerly spoken by the people at the close of the great <a href="../cathen/12345b.htm">Prayer</a> of Consecration in the liturgy. The second is that which was uttered by each of the faithful when he received the Body and Blood of Christ.</p> <h3 id="A">Amen after the consecration</h3> <p>With regard to what we have ventured to call the "great <a href="../cathen/12345b.htm">Prayer</a> of Consecration" a few words of explanation are <a href="../cathen/10733a.htm">necessary</a>. There can be no <a href="../cathen/05141a.htm">doubt</a> that by the <a href="../cathen/03712a.htm">Christians</a> of the earlier ages of the <a href="../cathen/03744a.htm">Church</a> the precise moment of the conversion of the <a href="../cathen/01349d.htm">bread</a> and <a href="../cathen/01358a.htm">wine</a> upon the altar into the Body and Blood of Christ was not so clearly apprehended as it is now by us. They were satisfied to believe that the change was wrought in the course of a long "prayer of thanksgiving" (<em>eucharistia</em>), a <a href="../cathen/12345b.htm">prayer</a> made up of several elements  preface, recitation of the words of institution, memento for living and dead, invocation of the Holy Ghost, etc.  which <a href="../cathen/12345b.htm">prayer</a> they nevertheless conceived of as one "action" or <a href="../cathen/04276a.htm">consecration</a>, to which, after a <a href="../cathen/05150a.htm">doxology</a>, they responded by a solemn Amen. For a more detailed account of this aspect of the liturgy the reader must be referred to the article EPICLESIS. It must be sufficient to say here that the essential unity of the great <a href="../cathen/12345b.htm">Prayer</a> of Consecration is very clearly brought before us in the account of <a href="../cathen/08580c.htm">St. Justin Martyr</a> (A.D. 151) who, describing the <a href="../cathen/09306a.htm">Christian liturgy</a>, says: "As soon as the common <a href="../cathen/12345b.htm">prayers</a> are ended and they (the <a href="../cathen/03712a.htm">Christians</a>) have saluted one another with a <a href="../cathen/08663a.htm">kiss</a>, <a href="../cathen/01349d.htm">bread</a> and <a href="../cathen/01358a.htm">wine</a> and water are brought to the president, who receiving them gives praise to the Father of all things by the Son and Holy Spirit and makes a long thanksgiving (<em>eucharistian epi poly</em>) for the <a href="../cathen/02599b.htm">blessings</a> which He has vouchsafed to bestow upon them, and when he has ended the <a href="../cathen/12345b.htm">prayers</a> and thanksgiving, all the people that are present forthwith answer with acclamation 'Amen'". (Justin, I Apol., lxv, P.G., VI, 428). The existing <a href="../cathen/09306a.htm">liturgies</a> both of the East and the West clearly bear witness to this primitive arrangement. In the Roman Liturgy the great consecrating <a href="../cathen/12345b.htm">prayer</a>, or "action", of the Mass ends with the solemn <a href="../cathen/05150a.htm">doxology</a> and Amen which immediately precede the <a href="../cathen/09356a.htm">Pater Noster</a>. The other Amens which are found between the Preface and the <a href="../cathen/09356a.htm">Pater Noster</a> can easily be shown to be relatively late additions. The Eastern <a href="../cathen/09306a.htm">liturgies</a> also contain Amens similarly interpolated, and in particular the Amens which in several Oriental rites ape spoken immediately after the words of Institution, are not primitive. It may be noted that at the end of the seventeenth century the question of Amens in the Canon of the Mass acquired an adventitious importance on account of the controversy between Dom Claude de Vert and Père <a href="../cathen/09106a.htm">Lebrun</a> regarding the secrecy of the Canon. It is now commonly admitted that in the primitive <a href="../cathen/09306a.htm">liturgies</a> the words of the Canon were spoken aloud so as to be heard by the people. For some reason, the explanation of which is not obvious, the Amen immediately before the <a href="../cathen/09356a.htm">Pater Noster</a> is omitted in the solemn Mass celebrated by the Pope on <a href="../cathen/05224d.htm">Easter day</a>.</p> <h3 id="B">Amen after communion</h3> <p>The Amen which in many <a href="../cathen/09306a.htm">liturgies</a> is spoken by the faithful at the moment of receiving <a href="../cathen/07402a.htm">Holy Communion</a> may also be traced back to primitive usage. The Pontificale Romanum still prescribes that at the <a href="../cathen/11279a.htm">ordination</a> of <a href="../cathen/04049b.htm">clerics</a> and on other similar occasions the newly-ordained in receiving Communion should <a href="../cathen/08663a.htm">kiss</a> the <a href="../cathen/02581b.htm">bishop's</a> hand and answer Amen when the <a href="../cathen/02581b.htm">bishop</a> says to them: "May the Body of <a href="../cathen/08374c.htm">Our Lord Jesus Christ</a> keep thy <a href="../cathen/14153a.htm">soul</a> unto everlasting life" (<em>Corpus Domini</em>, etc.). It is curious that in the lately-discovered Latin life of <a href="../cathen/10154a.htm">St. Melania the Younger</a>, of the early fifth century, we are told how the Saint in receiving Communion before death answered Amen and <a href="../cathen/08663a.htm">kissed</a> the hand of the <a href="../cathen/02581b.htm">bishop</a> who had brought it (see Cardinal Rampella, Santa Melania Giuniore, 1905, p. 257). But the practice of answering Amen is older than this. It appears in the Canons of <a href="../cathen/07360c.htm">Hippolytus</a> (No. 146) and in the <a href="../cathen/05363a.htm">Egyptian Church Order</a> (p. 101). Further, <a href="../cathen/05617b.htm">Eusebius</a> (<a href="../fathers/250106.htm"><em>Church History</em> VI.43</a>) tells a story of the <a href="../cathen/07256b.htm">heretic</a> <a href="../cathen/11138a.htm">Novatian</a> (c. 250), how, at the time of Communion, instead of Amen he made the people say "I will not go back to <a href="../cathen/04375c.htm">Pope Cornelius</a>". Also we have evidently an echo of the same practice in the Acts of St. Perpetua, A.D. 202 (Armitage Robinson, St. Perpetua, pp. 68, 80), and probably in <a href="../cathen/14520c.htm">Tertullian's</a> phrase about the <a href="../cathen/03712a.htm">Christian</a> profaning in the amphitheatre the lips with which he had spoken Amen to greet the All-Holy (De Spect., xxv). But nearly all the Fathers supply illustrations of the practice, notably <a href="../cathen/04595b.htm">St. Cyril of Jerusalem</a> (Catech., v, 18, P.G., XXIII, 1125).</p> <h2>Other uses</h2> <p>Finally, we may note that the word <em>Amen</em> occurs not infrequently in <a href="../cathen/08042a.htm">early Christian inscriptions</a>, and that it was often introduced into <a href="../cathen/01455e.htm">anathemas</a> and <a href="../cathen/06592a.htm">gnostic</a> spells. Moreover, as the Greek letters which form Amen according to their numerical values total 99 (<em>alpha</em>=1, <em>mu</em>=40, <em>epsilon</em>=8, <em>nu</em>=50), this number often appears in inscriptions, especially of <a href="../cathen/05329b.htm">Egyptian</a> origin, and a sort of magical efficacy seems to have been attributed to its symbol. It should also be mentioned that the word Amen is still employed in the ritual both of <a href="../cathen/08399a.htm">Jews</a> and <a href="../cathen/10424a.htm">Mohammedans</a>.</p> <div class='catholicadnet-728x90' id='cathen-728x90-bottom' style='display: flex; height: 100px; align-items: center; justify-content: center; '></div> <div class="pub"><h2>About this page</h2><p id="apa"><strong>APA citation.</strong> <span id="apaauthor">Thurston, H.</span> <span id="apayear">(1907).</span> <span id="apaarticle">Amen.</span> In <span id="apawork">The Catholic Encyclopedia.</span> <span id="apapublisher">New York: Robert Appleton Company.</span> <span id="apaurl">http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/01407b.htm</span></p><p id="mla"><strong>MLA citation.</strong> <span id="mlaauthor">Thurston, Herbert.</span> <span id="mlaarticle">"Amen."</span> <span id="mlawork">The Catholic Encyclopedia.</span> <span id="mlavolume">Vol. 1.</span> <span id="mlapublisher">New York: Robert Appleton Company,</span> <span id="mlayear">1907.</span> <span id="mlaurl"><http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/01407b.htm>.</span></p><p id="transcription"><strong>Transcription.</strong> <span id="transcriber">This article was transcribed for New Advent by Carl Horst.</span> <span id="dedication"></span></p><p id="approbation"><strong>Ecclesiastical approbation.</strong> <span id="nihil"><em>Nihil Obstat.</em> March 1, 1907. Remy Lafort, S.T.D., Censor.</span> <span id="imprimatur"><em>Imprimatur.</em> +John Cardinal Farley, Archbishop of New York.</span></p><p id="contactus"><strong>Contact information.</strong> The editor of New Advent is Kevin Knight. My email address is webmaster <em>at</em> newadvent.org. Regrettably, I can't reply to every letter, but I greatly appreciate your feedback — especially notifications about typographical errors and inappropriate ads.</p></div> </div> <div id="ogdenville"><table summary="Bottom bar" width="100%" cellpadding=0 cellspacing=0><tr><td class="bar_white_on_color"><center><strong>Copyright © 2023 by <a href="../utility/contactus.htm">New Advent LLC</a>. 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