SECT. 4. And these subdivided into other Parts. The Exterior Narthex, or Ante-Temple included first the Пpóπvλov, or Vestibulum, the Porch. Eusebius in describing the church of Paulinus takes it in the largest sense, and therefore he begins his description with the Пepißolov, or wall that enclosed the whole circumference of the outward courts, which we may call the ante-temple, or Exterior Narthex, to distinguish it from the Narthex within the church. In the front of this sacred enclosure toward the east, at some distance from the church, the first building that presented itself was a great and lofty porch, which Eusebius and other Greek writers call the Πρόπυλον Μέγα, and the Latins Vestibulum Magnum, the great porch, to distinguish it from the lesser porches, which joined to the church. He calls it also Πρώτην Εισοδον, the first entrance, to distinguish it from the second, which were the gates of the church,

SECT. 5.-The Atrium, or the Area, or Court, before the Church, surrounded with Porticoes or Cloisters.

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Between this porch and the church was a large Area or square plot of ground, which Eusebius' calls "Aipiov, and Paulus Silentiarius 'Avλn in his Description of Sancta Sophia. The Latins term it Atrium and Impluvium, because it was a court open to the air without any covering, save only on each side of the square, which was surrounded with porticoes or cloisters,(rodi, Eusebius calls them,) and these built upon columns; whence, as Du Fresnes observes, this place is called sometimes Terpásvλov, and Quadriporticus in modern authors. In this place stood the first class of penitents according to Eusebius, who says expressly, "it was the mansion of those, who were not allowed to enter further into the church;" that is, they stood either in the porch or the porticoes, to beg the prayers of the faithful as they went into the church. Or, perhaps, if they were more notorious criminals, they were cast out of these also, and

Euseb. lib. x. c. 4. It. de Vit. Const. lib. iii. c. 35. Silent. par. i. ver. 174.

2 Paul.

3 Du Fresne Com. in Paul. Silent. p. 536. * Euseb. lib. x. c. 4. Πρώτη ἅστη διατριβὴ, τοῖς τῶν πρώτων εἰσαγαγων ἔτι δεομένοις, κατάλληλον τὴν μονὴν παρεχομένη.

obliged to wait in the court or open air, and stand there exposed to the weather, as part of their penance; which seems to be intimated by Tertullian,' when speaking of some monstrous sinners, he says, "they were expelled not only from the doors of the church, but from every place that might afford them any shelter or covering." So that the Atrium was always an open place or court before the church; and therefore those authors who confound the Atrium, or Vestibulum and Porticus into one, wholly mistake the form of the ancient churches; for these, as I have showed, were distinct parts of the ante-temple.

SECT. 6. In the middle of which stood a Fountain for washing as they entered into the Church, called Cantharus and Phiala in some Authors. It is further to be noted, that in the middle of the Atrium there was commonly a fountain, or a cistern of water, for people to wash their hands and face before they went into the church. Eusebius expressly mentions this in the temple of Paulinus. He says, in the court over against the church he placed Końvas, fountains of water, as symbols of purification, for such to wash as entered into the church. Paulinus, bishop of Nola, takes notice of the same thing, but gives it the name of Cantharus, which signifies any capacious vessel that will hold much water, and sometimes a statue made to spout out water at its mouth. As Du Fresne has observed, that in some places the fountain was surrounded with lions thus spouting out water, whence this place has the name of Leontarium in some modern Greek writers. It is also called by some Nymphæum, 'Eußárns. and Kolvμßɛiov, which all signify a fountain Paulus Silentiarius, in his Description of Sancta Sophia, gives it the name of Pián, phiala, which we may English, the basin. And Socrates calls it peap, the spring: for speaking of a skirmish that happened between the Catholics and Macedonian Heretics, in the church of Acacius, at Constantinople, he says, "such a slaughter was made, that the

Tertul. de Pudicit. c. 4. Reliquas autem libidinum furias-non modò limine, verùm omni ecclesiæ tecto submovemus, quia non sunt delicta, sed mon2 Paulin. Ep. 12. ad Sever. Sancta nitens famulis interluit atria lymphis Cantharus, intrantumque manus lavat amne ministro. 3 Socrat. lib. ii. c. 28.

stra.

'Avλn, the Atrium, or court-of the church was filled with blood, insomuch that the Posap,—the fountain, that stood in it was overflowed therewith, and ran through the adjoining rod, the portico or cloisters,-even into the street." St. Chrysostom1 also speaks of these fountains, as of things of common use in the Atria, or courts before the churches. And frequently in his popular discourses alludes to the custom of washing their hands before they went into church. Which is also done by Tertullian, who exposes the absurdity of going to prayers with washed hands, whilst men retained a filthy spirit and polluted soul. In like manner Synesius speaks of the cisterns or vessels of water set for washing in their ante-temples.

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SECT. 7.—Whether the superstitious Use of Holy Water be a Corruption of this ancient Custom.

The writers of the Church of Rome, Baronius and others, commonly derive and defend the use of their holy water from this ancient custom; but Du Fresne seems to speak more properly when he says, their lustral water rather succeeded in its room. For the washing of the Ancients had nothing of expiation in it, but was only an indifferent ceremony of corporal decency; or, at most, but an admonishing emblem of that purity of soul with which men ought to enter the courts of the most holy God. And therefore any one that compares these matters nicely together, must conclude, that the latter custom is but a fond imitation, or mere corruption, of the former; if it owe not rather its original to a worse fountain, the Пepipavτnpia, or sprinkling with holy water, so often spoken of among the heathen. The things are so like one another, that some modern transcribers of Sozomen have mistaken them for one another. For, whereas, Sozomen, speaking of Julian's going into a tem

Τὰς κρήνας εἶναι ἐν 2 Chrys. Hom. 52. in

1 Chrysost. Homil. 57. tom. v. Edit. Savil. p. 390. ταῖς ἀυλαῖς τῶν ἐυκτηρίων οἴκων νενόμιται. Matth. Hom. 72. in Johan. Hom. 3. in Ephes. Hom. 36. ad Popul. Antioch. Hom. in Psal. 140. 3 Tertul. de Orat. c. 11. Quæ ratio est, manibus quidem ablutis, spiritu verò sordente, orationem obire? 4 Synes. Ep. 121. Anastasio. Τὰ ἐν τοῖς προτεμινίσμασι χέρνιβα, &c. 5 Baron. an. 57. n, Ill. 6 Du Fresne Com. in Paul. Silent. p. 539.

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ple to sacrifice, in Gaul, with Valentinian to attend him, says, "the priest sprinkled them with water as they went in, according to the heathen custom," Valesius has observed, that in some copies it is read, according to ecclesiastical custom, instead of heathen custom,-which he imputes to some modern transcribers, who were minded to make church-holy-water of it; whom he ingenuously chastises for their ignorance or impudence in corrupting good authors, as they justly deserved.

SECT. 8.-The Atrium and Porticoes in the Ante-Temple, only made use

of for burying the Dead.

But to return to the business of the ancient churches, Whilst we are speaking of the ante-temple it will not be improper to observe, that for many years after buryingplaces were allowed in cities, they were still kept out of that which was strictly and properly called the church, and only allowed in those parts of the ante-temple, the Atrium and porticoes which we have been describing; as appears from a canon of the council of Nantes, Anno 658, which prohibits any to be buried in the church, but allows of it in the Atrium, or Porticus, or Exedra, of the church, Which I note, only to show what use these parts of the ante-temple were put to. But of this more when we come to treat of cemiteries and the funeral rites of the ancient Church,

CHAP. IV.

Of the Interior Narthex, and the Parts and Uses of it. SECT. I. Of the lesser IIρórvλa, or Porches before the Doors of the Church.

HAVING taken a view of the Exterior Narthex, or outward ante-temple, we are next led by Eusebius into the Interior Narthex, or ante-temple within the church. For in such stately structures as that of Paulinus was, the

1 Sozomen. lib. vi. c. 6. Ὁ ἱερεὺς νόμω Ἑλληνικῷ περιέῤῥαινε τὰς εἰσιόντας. 2 Con. Nannetens. c. 6. In eccleşiâ nullatenùs sepeliantur, sed in atrio, aut porticu, aut in exedris ecclesiæ.

Narthex, or Пpovάos, which I English ante-temple, was a name common to more parts than one. And in some of the most magnificent churches, as that of Sancta Sophia, as Du Fresne has observed, out of Procopius and Paulus Silentiarius, there were no less than four distinct Natheces. The entrance into the Interior Narthex, in the church of Paulinus, was out of the porticoes, or cloisters before the church, by three inner porches, (Tà ¿vdoràrw Пpóñvλa, Eusebius calls them,) and as many gates, opening out of them, the middle one being the greatest and highest of the three, as we commonly see in our modern cathedrals, only with this difference, that those fronted to the east, and ours to the west. It had also porticoes adjoining on the north and south,' and as many porches and doors to enter out of them. These porches, in such churches as had no other ante-temple, served to receive the first class of penitents, called the mourners, which otherwise were remitted to the Atrium and Porticus before the church, as I have showed already, in the temple of Paulinus. And these things are accurately to be observed by those who would not mistake the Ancients, when they seem to speak differently of the place of mourners. Du Fresne has also observed, out of Paulinus Nolanus, that these porches and gates are sometimes called Arcus, from the manner of their structure, which was arch-work; and Apsides for the same reason, for apsis denotes any thing that is framed in the figure of an arch or a convex, as the heavens; and therefore he thinks the thirty-second canon of the third council of Carthage is to be understood of this place, when it says, "that such penitents as had committed very notorious and scandalous crimes, known to the whole church, should have imposition of hands before the Apsis;" that is, before the porch or doors of the church. Here it was also that the poor of the church placed themselves, both before and after divine service to ask alms of such as came from the altar.

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See also Euseb. de Vit. Const. lib. iii. c. 37. Of the Church of Jerusalem. 2 Paulin. Ep. 12. ad Sever. Alma domus triplici patet ingredientibus arcu. 8 Con. Carth. iii. c. 32. Cujuscunque pœnitentis publicum et vulgatissimum crimen est, quod universa Ecclesia noverit, ante apsidem manus ei imponatur.