to God and his service,) but because it was a memorial of his martyrdom, being built in the place where Cyprian himself was offered a sacrifice to God. sometimes ers or other their build 9. And from hence it is very plain that the naming a church Churches by the name of a saint or martyr was far from dedicating it to named from that saint or martyr, though it served for a memorial of him their foundamong the living, and so far was an honour to his memory, circumthough dedicated only to God and his service. And this is fur- stances in ther evident from this consideration, that churches were some- ing. times named from their founders, who certainly did not intend to dedicate churches to themselves. Thus Sirmond 67 has observed three churches in Carthage to be so denominated from their founders, Basilica Fausti, Florentii, and Leontii. And Sozomen 68 tells us, that the temple of Serapis, when it was turned into a church, was called by the name of Arcadius: as some in Rome and Antioch bare the name of Constantine and Justinian. Sometimes they had their name from a particular circumstance of time or place, or other accident in the building of them. The church of Jerusalem was called Anastasis and Crux, not because it was dedicated to any St. Anastasis or St. Cross, but because it was by Constantine built in the place of our Saviour's crucifixion and resurrection, as Valesius 69 and others have rightly observed. So the church of Anastasia at Constantinople was so termed, not from any saint of the same name, but because it was the church where Gregory Nazianzen, by his preaching, gave a sort of new life or resurrection to the Catholic doctrine of the Trinity, after it had been long oppressed by the Arian faction, as he himself 70 Sed ut mensa illa, quæ Dei est, etiam Cypriani vocetur, hæc caussa est: quia ut illa modo cingatur ab obsequentibus, ibi Cyprianus cingebatur a persequentibus, &c.-Ibid. antea. (p. ead. a.)... In eodem loco, &c. See before, ch. 1. s. 9. p. 15. n. 78. 67 In August. Serm. 37. ex 40. a se edit. t. 10. p. 753. (Oper. Sirmond. t. 1. p. 343 c. 4.) Quemadmodum basilica Fausti, et basilica Leontiana dictæ sunt a Fausto et Leontio conditoribus, sic Florentia hoc loco basilica de nomine Florentii episcopi. 68 L. 7. c. 15. (v. 2. p. 298. 19.) Τὸ μὲν δὴ Σεράπιον ὧδε ἥλω, καὶ μετ ̓ 69 Ep. de Anastas. ad calc. Euseb. 70 Orat. 32. ad Episcopos 150. (t. 1. p. 527 b.) Xaipois, 'Avaσoraσía, μοι τῆς εὐσεβείας ἐπώνυμε· σὺ γὰρ τὸν λόγον ἡμῖν ἐξανέστησας, ἔτι και ταφρονούμενον, τὸ τῆς κοινῆς νίκης χωρίον, ἢ Σηλώμ, ἐν ᾗ πρῶτον τὴν accounts for the reason of the name in several places of his writings. And upon the like ground one of the churches of Carthage was called Basilica Restituta, from its being rescued out of the hands of the Arians. One of the churches of Alexandria was commonly called Cæsareum71, which Valesius 72 thinks was for no other reason but because the place before had been called Cæsareum, or the Temple of the Cæsars. As a church of Antioch was called Palæa, because built in that part of the city which they termed aλaiàv, or the old city. So St. Peter's at Rome was anciently called Triumphalis, because it stood in Via Triumphali, in the Triumphal Way, leading to the Capitol. And we are assured from St. Jerom 73 that the Lateran Church had its name from Lateranus, the heathen, who was slain by Nero, because it had formerly been that nobleman's palace in Rome. A thousand observations of the like nature might be made; but these few are sufficient to shew that there were different reasons for giving names to churches; and that it was no argument of churches being dedicated to saints, because they bare the names of saints; it being otherwise apparent that they were consecrated only to God, and not to any creature. σκηνὴν ἐπήξαμεν, τεσσαράκοντα ἔτη περιφερομένην ἐν τῇ ἐρήμῳ καὶ πλανωμένην. Σύ τε ὁ μέγας ναὸς οὗτος καὶ περιβόητος, ἡ νέα κληρονομία, τὸ νῦν μέγας εἶναι παρὰ τοῦ λόγου λαβὼν, δν, 'IeBoûs TрóтEрov ovтa, Iepovσaλn πεποιήκαμεν. Conf. Carm. 9. In Somn. Anastas. (t. 2. p. 78 b.) Εἶδον δὴ γλυκὺν ὕπνον, Αναστασίαν δέ τ' ὄνειρος Στῆσεν ἐμοῖσι φέρων ἠματίοισι πόθοις. Ἡ πρώτη λόγον αἰπὺν ἐνὶ προπόδεσσι μένοντα "Hyayev és κopupηv оűρeos ȧкpоτάτην. Τοὔνεκ” Αναστασίαν μιν ἐπίκλησιν καλέουσι Νηὸν, ἐμῆς παλάμης ἔργον ἀριστ τοπόνου. 71 Vid. Socrat. 1. 7. c. 15. (v. 2. p. 361. 17.)..... Kai ek Tov dippov ἐκβαλόντες, ἐπὶ τὴν ἐκκλησίαν ᾗ ἐπώνυμον Καισάριον συνέλκουσιν· ἀποδύσαντές τε τὴν ἐσθῆτα, ὀστράκοις ἀνεῖXov.-Liberat. Breviar. c. 18. (CC. t. 5. p. 767 b.) Igitur Petrus Moggus ab abbate Amone et Joanne episcopo Magileos, et ab abbatibus monachorum inferioris Ægypti bella passus et seditione ei in Casarea basilica, ut dicitur, facta, anathematizavit Synodum Chalcedonensem et tomum Papæ Leonis. 72 Not. in Evagr. 1. 2. c. 8. (v. 3. p. 298. n. 1.) Magna ecclesia urbis Alexandrina Caesarea dicebatur, ut docet Epiphanius in Hæresi Arianorum... Causam autem hujus appellationis docet Athanasius in Epist. ad Solitarios, eo quod scilicet ecclesia illa constructa fuisset in loco, qui Cæsarium antea dicebatur, id est, Cæsarum templum. 73 Ep. 30. [al. 77.] Epitaph. Fabiolæ. (t. I. p. 455 e.) Ut ante diem Paschæ in basilica quondam Laterani, qui Cæsariano truncatus est gladio, staret in ordine poenitentium. Speaking of Fabiola doing penance there. gan to have consecra tion with monies dis churches. 10. What has been observed of churches is equally true of When alaltars, that they were always dedicated to God alone, and not tars first beto any other being whatever, even after they began to have a a particular particular consecration with some new ceremonies distinct from churches; which seems to have begun first of all in the sixth new cerecentury. For the Council of Agde, anno 506, is the first pub- tinct from lic record that we meet with giving any account of a distinct consecration of altars; and there we find the new ceremony of chrism 74 added to the sacerdotal benediction. And not long after we find a like decree in the Council of Epone 75, anno 517, that no altars, but such as were made of stone, should be consecrated with the infusion of chrism upon them;' which implies, that at least some altars, if not all, had then the ceremony of chrism in their consecration. But as this ceremony was new, so was the consecration of altars, as distinct from churches, a new thing also; and much more the consecration of communion-cloths, and cups, and images, and crosses, and paschal tapers, and holy water, and beads, and bells, of which the reader may find a particular account in Hospinian 76, with all the new rites of consecrating churches in the Romish Rituals, which it is none of my business here further to pursue. to be built or conse fore it was 11. Concerning the ancient consecrations we have further to No church observe, that by the laws of Justinian 77 no man was to begin to build a church, before he had given security to the bishop crated beof a maintenance for the ministry, and the repairs of the endowed. church, and whatever was otherwise necessary to uphold divine service in it. And by a rule of one of the Spanish Councils 78, 74 C. 14. (t. 4. p. 1385 e.) Altaria placuit non solum unctione christmatis, sed etiam sacerdotali benedictione sacrari. 75 C. 26. (ibid. p. 1579 c.) Altaria nisi lapidea infusione [al. unctione] chrismatis non sacrentur. 76 De Templis, 1. 2. c. 2. (p. 373.) De Origine Dedicationum et Consecrationum, &c.-Conf. ibid. cc. crum ministerium, et ad incorrum- 78 C. Bracar. 2. [al. 3.] c. 5. non 377 Novel. 67. c. 2. (t. 5. p. 318.) obsequium ipsius per donationem Deinde non aliter quempiam ecclesiam ex novo ædificare, priusquam loquatur ad Deo amabilem episcopum, et definiat mensuram, quam deputat, et ad luminaria, et ad sa chartulæ confirmatum accipiat.- Yet bishops not to demand any a bishop was not to consecrate a church before the donation of its maintenance was delivered to him in writing confirmed by law.' Which were necessary rules to preserve churches from falling to ruin, and their ministry and service from contempt and disgrace. 12. But beyond this suitable provision and settlement for the service of the church, the bishop was not to exact or dething for mand any thing further of the founder; but it being part of consecra tion. Consecra. formed in day. his ordinary office to consecrate churches, he was obliged to do it without requiring any reward for his service; unless the founder thought fit to make him any voluntary oblation, in which case he was at liberty to receive it. So it is determined in the foresaid Spanish Council of Bracara 79, and for the French churches in the second Council of Chalons so, and others in the time of Charles the Great. 13. As to the time of consecration, they did not anciently tions per- confine themselves to perform it only upon Sundays, but all differently days were at first indifferent both for this and the ordinations upon any of the clergy likewise. Which is an observation frequently made by the learned Pagi 81 in his critical remarks upon the chronology of the ancient Church. Particularly he observes, that Constantine's famous dedication of the church of Jerusalem in a full synod of bishops, anno 335, must needs have been upon a Saturday; for all writers agree that it was upon the Ides of September, that is, upon the 13th day of September, which according to the exact rules and method of the cycle must fall upon a Saturday that year. Whence Pagi rightly concludes, that the custom had not yet prevailed which confined consecration of churches to the Lord's-day. hoc procuret episcopus prece sua 79 Ibid. (p. 897 d.) Placuit ut quo- 80 C. 16. (t. 7. p. 1275 e.).... Omnes uno consensu statuimus, ut sicut, pro dedicandis basilicis et dandis ordinibus, nihil accipiendum est; ita etiam pro balsamo, sive luminaribus emendis, nihil presbyteri chrisma accepturi dent. 81 Crit. in Baron. an. 335. n. 4. (t. 1. p. 431.) Initio Septembris, ut minimum, Eusebius et reliqui episcopi, Tyro relicta, Hierosolymam petierunt, quem die decima tertia Septembris basilica Hierosolymitanæ encænia celebrarint.—Ibid. n. 6. (p. 431.) Idus Septembris, seu dies 13. illius mensis, concurrit hoc anno cum sabbato, ut methodus cyclica docet. Quare nondum mos invaluerat, ut ecclesiæ die dominica dedicarentur. consecra among their 14. I have nothing further to remark upon this head, save The day of only that the day of consecration was in many churches tion usually solemnly kept and observed among their anniversary festivals: celebrated for Sozomen 82 gives us this account of the dedication of the anniversary church of Jerusalem, that in memory of it they held a yearly festivals. festival, which lasted for eight days together, during which time both they of the church, and all strangers, which flocked thither in abundance, held ecclesiastical assemblies, and met together for divine service.' To this Gregory the Great seems to have added a new custom here in England, which was, that on the annual feast of the dedication the people might build themselves booths round about the church, and there feast and entertain themselves with eating and drinking, in lieu of their ancient sacrifices while they were Heathens. Which is related by Bede 83, out of Gregory's Letters to Austin, and to Mellitus, the first bishop of the Saxons. And from this custom it is more than probable came our wakes, which are still observed in some places, as the remains of those feasts of dedication of particular churches. СНАР. Х. Of the respect and reverence which the primitive Christians paid to their churches. never put 1. NEXT to their adorning and consecration of churches, it Churches will be proper to examine what respect and reverence they to any propaid to consecrated places, after they were once set apart for fane use, but only divine service. They then used them only as the houses of sacred and God, for acts of devotion and religion, and did not allow of religious any thing to be done there that had not some tendency towards piety, or immediate relation to it. They might be used 82 L. 2. c 26. (v. 2. p. 81. 30.) Ἐξ ἐκείνου δὲ ἐτήσιον ταύτην ἑορτὴν λαμπρῶς μάλα ἄγει ἡ τῶν Ἱεροσολύμων ἐκκλησία· ὡς καὶ μυήσεις ἐν αὐτῇ τελεῖσθαι, καὶ ὀκτὼ ἡμέρας ἐφεξῆς ἐκκλησιάζειν· συνιέναι τε πολλούς σχεδὸν ἐκ πάσης τῆς ὑφ ̓ ἥλιον, οἳ καθ ̓ ἱστορίαν τῶν ἱερῶν τόπων πάντοθεν συντρέχουσι κατὰ τὸν καιρὸν ταύτης τῆς πανηγύρεως. 83 Hist. 1. 1. c. 30. (p. 71. 18.).. Ut die dedicationis vel natalitiis service. |