Agnus Dei (liturgy) Agnus Dei (liturgy) In the Mass of the Roman Rite and also in the Eucharist of the Anglican Communion, the Lutheran Church, and the Western Rite of the Orthodox Church the Agnus Dei is the invocation to the Lamb of God sung or recited during the fraction of the Host. The Syrian custom of a chant addressed to the Lamb of God was introduced into the Roman Rite Mass by Pope Sergius I (687–701) in the context of his rejection of the Council of Trullo (692), which was well received in the Byzantine East and called the Quinisext Council, but
Vitex agnus-castus Vitex agnus-castus Vitex agnus-castus, also called vitex, chaste tree (or chastetree), chasteberry, Abraham's balm, lilac chastetree, or monk's pepper, is a native of the Mediterranean region. It is one of the few temperate-zone species of "Vitex", which is on the whole a genus of tropical and sub-tropical flowering plants. Theophrastus mentioned the shrub several times, as "agnos" (άγνος) in "Enquiry into Plants". It has been long believed to be an anaphrodisiac – leading to its name as "chaste tree" – but its effectiveness for such action remains unproven. Vitex is a cross-pollinating plant, but its self-pollination has been recorded. "Vitex",