Of the dis tinction between ecclesia diœcesana. He gives it the name of tabernacle; which is only a private appellation, belonging peculiarly to moveable or travelling churches. For Eusebius 6, speaking of Constantine's intended expedition against the Persians, says, 'that among his other preparations for that war, he erected himself a tent, or tabernacle, in the form of a church, in which he might continually make his supplications to God, the giver of victory, with the bishops and clergy that were to attend him in his expedition.' Socrates, speaking of the same thing, compares it to the tabernacle that Moses set up in the wilderness, and says Constantine did it 'that he might have a decent and convenient oratory, evкTýpιov пνтρепισμévov, in the most desert and barbarous places through which he was to travel.' And from this example, as Sozomen 8 observes, it became a custom throughout the Roman army for every legion to have their tabernacle, and priests and deacons appointed to attend the service of it. 12. Whilst I am upon this head, it will not be amiss to give the reader an account of two other words, which have some relation to this subject, and by their ambiguity are often mismatrix and taken and confounded, that is, ecclesia matrix, and diœcesana; which seem to be words of the same importance, but are often very different from one another. Ecclesia matrix, a mother-church, is sometimes taken for an original Church planted immediately by the Apostles, whence others were derived and propagated afterward. So Tertullian 9 calls those Churches, to which the Apostles preached, either viva voce or by their epistles, by which all doctrines are to be judged. And in this sense the Church of Jerusalem is called the mother of all Churches in the world' by the second general Council of Constantinople 10; and Arles, the mother-church of France, be 6 De Vit. Constant. 1. 4. c. 56. (v. 7. p. 658. 17.) Ἔπειτα τὴν σκηνὴν τῷ τῆς ἐκκλησίας σχήματι πρὸς τὴν ἐκείνου τοῦ πολέμου παράταξιν σὺν πολλῇ φιλοτιμίᾳ κατειργάζετο· ἐν ᾗ τῷ Θεῷ, τῷ τῆς νίκης δοτῆρι, τὰς ἱκετηρίας ἅμα τοῖς ἐπισκόποις ποιεῖσθαι ἐπενόει. 7 L. 1. c. 18. See before, s. 4. p. 7. n. 25. 8 L. I. c. 8. (v. 2. p. 19. 38.) Εξ ἐκείνου δὲ καὶ τὰ ̔Ρωμαίων τάγματα, ἃ νῦν ἀριθμοὺς καλοῦσιν, ἕκαστον ἰ δίαν σκηνὴν κατεσκευάσατο, καὶ ἱερέας, καὶ διακόνους ἀπονενεμημένους ἔχειν. 9 De Præscript. c. 21. (p. 209 a.) .... Constat proinde omnem doctrnam, quæ cum illis ecclesiis apostolicis matricibus et originalibus fdei conspiret, veritati deputandam. 10 Ep. Synodic. ad Damasum, ap. Theodoret. 1. 5. c.9. (v. 3. p. 207.5.) Τῆς δὲ γε μητρὸς ἁπασῶν τῶν ἐκκλη σιῶν τῆς ἐν Ἱεροσολύμοις τὸν . . . Κύριλλον ἐπίσκοπον εἶναι γνωρίζομεν. cause supposed to be planted by the Apostles' missionary, Trophimus, first bishop of the place. At other times a motherchurch denotes a metropolis, or the principal church of a single province, as in some of the African Canons 12, where matrix is used sometimes for the primate's see, to which other bishops were to have recourse for judgment and decision of controversies. But most commonly it signifies a cathedral, or bishop's church, which was usually termed the great church, and the catholic church, and the principal see, in opposition to the lesser tituli, or parish-churches, committed to single presbyters. Thus in the African Code the matter is plain: in one canon 13 every bishop is prohibited to alienate or sell the goods of the mother-church, and presbyters the goods belonging to their titles. The Greek translation of this canon is here imperfect and corrupt, as Suicerus 14 has rightly observed; and by it Cujacius and others have been led into a mistake to expound matrix by matricula, the catalogue, or books of the church, whereas it means the cathedral, or bishop's church. As also in another canon 15, which says, 'If any bishop is negligent to deal with heretics in the mother-church, he shall be admonished of his fault by the neighbouring bishops, that he may have no excuse.' The mother-church is here the bishop's church, or that which required both his care and residence, as the principal church of the diocese. This by Fulgentius Ferrandus 16 is plainly opposed to other inferior churches in the diocese, upon which only presbyters resided, both when he says that the judgment of the mother-church shall be sufficient in the election of a bishop;' and again, 'that the bishop Il Libellus Precum Episcopor. Gallor. ad Leon. ap. Baron. an. 450. p. 125. (t. 6. p. 129 a.) Cujus honoris obtentu ecclesiam Arelatensem omnes decessores, prædecessoresque nostri vel ut matrem debito semper honore coluerunt, &c. 12 Cod. Afric. c. 119. al. 120. (t. 2. p. 1217 c.)... Μὴ προκριματισθῇ ἐν Tŷ μаTρIKη, K.T.A. Non præjudicetur in matrice, &c. 13 C. 33. (ibid. p. 1065 b.) Non habente necessitatem, nec episcopo liceat matricis ccclesiæ, nec presbytero rem tituli sui usurpare. 14 Thes. Eccles. voce, Márpí§. (t. 2. p. 321.) Quo loco perperam magnus Cujacius, ..... matricem pro matricula, sive catalogo, sive descriptione locorum, .... accepit, &c. 15 C. 123. (ibid. p. 1129 c.) Si in matricibus cathedris episcopus negligens fuerit adversus hæreticos, conveniatur a vicinis episcopis, &c. 16 Breviar. c. 11. (ap. Justell. t. 1. p. 448.) Ut ad eligendum episcopum sufficiat matricis arbitrium. Ex Concilio Septimunicensi et Concilio Macrianensi.-Ibid. c. 38. (p. 449.) Ut episcopus matricis non usurpet quicquid fuerit donatum ecclesiis, quæ in diœcesi constitutæ sunt. Ex Concilio Hipponiregiensi. of the mother-church shall not usurp any thing that is given to the churches in the diocese.' These churches in the diocese are the same as we now call parish-churches; though they themselves are sometimes termed dioceses in the Pontifical 17 and the African Canons 18; and in some other Canons ecclesiæ diocesana, diocesan churches, as in the Council of Tarraco 19, which obliges all bishops to visit their dioceses once a-year, to see that no diocesan church,-that is, no church within the diocese, was out of repair. So that a motherchurch and a diocesan church, in that ancient style, differed as now a cathedral and a parish-church with us. The motherchurch being otherwise called 20 the principal see, principalis cathedra, where the bishop was obliged continually to reside; and sometimes the catholic church, as Valesius has observed 21 out of Epiphanius 22 and Nicephorus 23, in opposition to the lesser churches that were subject to it. Though, as I noted before, the Council of Trullo 24 ..... 17 Vit. Marcel. (CC. t. 1. p. 946 c.) Hic viginti quinque titulos in Urbe Roma constituit, quasi diceceses, propter baptismum, &c. 18 Cod. Afric. c. 53 tot. (t. 2. p. 1077 a.) Dico, si placet, circa hos, non tantum dioceses non esse servandas, verum et de propria ecclesia, quæ illis male faverit, omnimodo annitendum, ut etiam auctoritate publica rejiciantur, atque ab ipsis principalibus cathedris removeantur. Oportet enim, ut qui universis fratribus ac toto concilio inhæserit, non solum suam jure integro, sed et dioceses possideat. At vero, qui sibimet putant plebes suas sufficere, fraterna dilectione contempta, non tantum dioceses amittant, sed, ut dixi, etiam propriis publica careant auctoritate, ut rebelles.-C. 56. (ibid. p. 1080 e.) Audivimus constitutum, ut diœceses non mereantur episcopos accipere, nisi consensu ejus, sub quo fuerant constitutæ: sed in provincia nostra cum aliqui forte in diœcesi, concedente eo episcopo, in cujus potestate fuerant constitutæ, ordinati sunt episcopi, etiam dicceses sibi vindicant, &c. 19 C. 8. (t. 4. p. 1565 a.). . Reperimus nonnullas diocesanas ecclesias esse destitutas. Ob quam rem hac calls every baptismal church ɑ constitutione decrevimus ut ... annuis vicibus ab episcopo dioceses [al. diocesano] visitentur; et siqua forte basilica reperta fuerit destituta, ordinatione ipsius reparetur. 20 C. Carth. 5. c. 5. (t. 2. p. 1216 b.) Placuit, ut nemini sit facultas, relicta principali cathedra, ad aliquam eeclesiam in diœcesi constitutam se conferre. 21 In Theodor. Lect. 1. 1. p. 553. (v.3. p. 566. n. 3.).. Notandum est, Nicephorum majorem ecclesiam vocare τὴν Καθόλου: non quod reliquæ ecclesiæ, huic subjectæ, non essent catholicæ, sed per excellentiam quandam major ecclesia patriarchalis dicebatur Catholica. Sic Epiphanius in Hæresi Arianorum, haud procul ab initio, Catholicam Ecclesiam vocat majorem ecclesiam urbis Alexandriæ, quæ subjectas habebat plures minores ecclesias. 22 Hær. 69. Arian. n. 1. (t. 1. p. 727 c.) See b. 7. ch. 2. 8. 2. v. 2. p. 329. n. 12. 23 L. 15. c. 22. (t. 2. p. 623 b. 1.) Ος ἅμα τῷ γενέσθαι οἰκονόμος, τὰ ἐν ἑκάστῃ τῶν ἐκκλησιῶν προσφερόμενα, διετύπου τοὺς κατὰ τόπους κληρικούς ἀποφέρεσθαι· ἄχρις ἐκείνου πάντα τῆς καθόλου ἐκκλησίας νομιζομένης. 24 C. 59. (t.6. p. 1170 a.) Mŋdaμ@s catholic church, in opposition to private oratories, where baptism was not allowed to be administered. It was necessary for me to be thus particular about the names of churches in the entrance upon this Book, because some of them are curious, and others ambiguous, that the reader might find them explained at once, and not be at a loss about terms upon every occasion in the following discourse. churches in Mr. Mede. 13. Our next inquiry is into the original of churches; that is, Proofs of when Christians began to set them apart for divine service. the first A very singular paradox has been advanced by some learned century, collected by men in these last ages, that for the three first ages the Christians had no such distinct places of worship; grounding upon some mistaken passages of Origen, Minucius Felix, Arnobius, and Lactantius, who say the Christians had no temples, 'which they take for a denial of their having any churches; which opinion, though advanced with some show of learning by Vedelius 25, Suicerus 26, and others, is altogether without ground, ἐν εὐκτηρίῳ οἴκῳ, ἔνδον οἰκίας τυγχάνοντι, βάπτισμα ἐπιτελείσθω; ἀλλ ̓ οἱ μέλλοντες ἀξιοῦσθαι τοῦ ἀχράντου φωτίσματος ταῖς καθολικαῖς προσερχέσθωσαν ἐκκλησίαις. 25 Exercit. in Ignat. Ep. ad Magnesian. c. 4. n. 2. (p. 68.) At Ignatii tempore, Christiani templa non habebant proprie sic dicta: immo post Ignatii etiam tempora iis carebant aliquamdiu. Origenis tempore, qui post annum 200 scripsit, templis carebant Christiani, ut patet ex libro octavo adversus Celsum; ubi Celsus Christianis exprobrat: Post hæc Celsus et aras et simulacra et delubra nos ait defugere, quo minus fundentur, &c.' Hoc Origines non negat, sed agnoscit, ' Quia,' inquit, 'haudquaquam Deum insensibilibus (h. e. inanimatis) templis colendum existimamus.' Negat autem causam, propter quam Celsus putabat Christianos templa defugere. Putabat Celsus id ideo fieri, ut confirmarent insensibilis suæ et inexplicabilis communionis fidem. Sed eam causam Origines negat, et veram adducit. Verba notanda sunt, ex quibus constabit, tum noluisse Christianos fundare templa, tum cur fundare noluerint. Non igitur ad nostra hujus invisibilis et inexplicabilis animorum conjunctionis et tanti conventus con- contradicted by the authors which they allege, and by themselves who assert and maintain it. Mr. Mede 27 has an elaborate discourse in confutation of this opinion, wherein he has learnedly collected the authorities of the Ancients, which for the three first ages prove the being of Christian churches. I shall briefly, for the sake of those who have not that author at hand, relate the substance of his proofs, and add some others to his collections. In the first place he shews that the Ancients, St. Austin 28, St. Basil 29, and the author under the name of St. Jerom, St. Chrysostom, Sedulius, Ecumenius, and Theophylact, in their comments on that passage of St. Paul, 1 Cor. 11, 22, Religione, c. 2, Gentes accusat, quod templa, aras, simulacra haberent. 'Cur igitur,' inquit, 'oculos in cœlum non tollitis? et, advocatis deorum nominibus, in aperto sacrificia celebratis? cur ad parietes, et ligna, et lapides potissimum, quam illo spectatis, ubi eos esse creditis? quid sibi templa? quid aræ volunt? quid ipsa denique simulacra ? &c.' Quibus verbis etsi idololatrica templa ethniorum perstringit; tamen haud obscure indicat, Christianos etiam tum templa omnia fugisse. Etenim quod Origenes in genere dixerat, Christianos, ne in impietatem delaberentur, templis abstinuisse, id Lactantius jam in specie declarat, indicans quid impietatis Christiani evitarint, scilicet existimasse eos sacrificia in aperto celebranda: ad parietes non esse spectandum sed in cœlum, adeoque quia Deus ubique sit, templis opus non esse. Hic aperte profiteor, me rationes illas propugnare non velle; sufficit enim ostendere, Christianorum veterum praxin suis rationibus, qualescumque ex demum fuerint, nixam fuisse. Ex quibus apparet, quandoquidem Lactantii tempore hæc opinio Christianorum fuit, sacra in aperto celebranda, non ad parietes adorandum Deum; quia ubivis sit, templis ethnicorum opus non habere, eos quoque templis tum quoque caruisse. Ex his veterum testimoniis luce clarius meridiana est, veterem ecclesiam, ad prædicta usque tempora, templis omnino caruisse. 26 Thes. Eccles. voce, Naòs, (t. 2. p. 386.) 27 Discourses and Treatises of Churches, &c. (pp. 319-339.) 28 Quæst. 37. in Levit. (t. 3. p. 516 e. f.) Sicut ecclesia dicitur locus, quo ecclesia congregatur. Nam ecclesia homines sunt, de quibus dicitur, Ut exhiberet sibi gloriosam ecclesiam. Hoc tamen vocari etiam ipsam domum orationum, idem Apostolus testis est, ubi ait, Numquid domos non habetis, ad manducandum et bibendum? an ecclesiam Dei contemnitis? Et hoc quotidianus loquendi usus obtinuit, ut ad ecclesiam prodire, aut ad ecclesiam confugere non dicatur, nisi quod ad locum ipsum parietesque prodierit vel confugerit, quibus ecclesiæ congregatio continetur. 29 Regul.Min. quæst.310. (t.2.part. 2. p. 751d.)"Ωσπερ οὐδὲν κοινὸν σκεῦος ἐπιτρέπει ὁ λόγος εἰσφέρεσθαι εἰς rà ayia, oûtws ovdè tà åyia eis koɩvòv οἶκον ἐπιτελεῖσθαι τῆς παλαιᾶς διαθήκης φανερῶς προστάγματι Θεοῦ μηδὲν τοιοῦτον ἐπιτρεπούσης γένεσθαι· τοῦ Κυρίου λέγοντος, Πλεῖον τοῦ ἱεροῦ ὧδε καὶ τοῦ ̓Αποστόλου λέγοντος, Μῆ γὰρ οἰκίας οὐκ ἔχετε εἰς τὸ ἐσθίειν καὶ πίνειν; τί εἴπω ὑμῖν; ἐπαινέσω ὑμᾶς; ἐν τούτῳ οὐκ ἐπαινῶ· ἐγὼ γὰρ παρέδωκα ὑμῖν ὁ καὶ παρέλαβον καὶ τὰ ἑξῆς. Ἐξ ὧν παιδευόμεθα, μήτε τὸ κοινὸν δεῖπνον ἐν ἐκκλησίᾳ ἐσθίειν καὶ πίνειν, μήτε τὸ κυριακὸν δεῖπνον ἐν οἰκίᾳ καθυβρίζειν, ἐκτὸς εἰ μὴ ἐν ἀνάγκῃ ἐπιλέξηταί τις καθαρώτερον τόπον, ἢ οἶκον ἐν καιρῷ εὐθέτῳ. |