Of the names, dominicum and Kuρia κὸν (whence come kyrk and church) and domus columbæ. Matth. 18, 17. And so Isidore of Pelusium uses it likewise, distinguishing thus between ἐκκλησιαστήριον and ἐκκλησία: • The ἐκκλησιαστήριον is the temple or building made of wood and stone, but the KKλnola is the congregation of souls or people that meet therein.' And in this sense, as St. Cyril2 observes, there is a sort of pheronymy in the name èκкλŋola which is so called ȧπò тоû kкaλeîv, because it is a convocation of men solemnly called together. But though this be a very ancient and common signification, yet it not less usually occurs in the other sense, denoting the place or building itself3 where the congregation met together; and in this acceptation it is commonly opposed both to the synagogues of the Jews and the temples of the Gentiles: as appears from that noted passage in the Epistle of Aurelian, the heathen Emperor 4, where he chides the senate for demurring about the opening of the Sibylline Books, as if they had been upon a debate in a Christian church, and not in the temple of all the Gods.' And from another passage in St. Ambrose, where, pleading with Theodosius in behalf of a Christian bishop, who had caused a Jewish synagogue to be set on fire, he asks him, 'whether it was fitting that Christians should be so severely animadverted on for burning a synagogue, when Jews and Heathens had been spared, who had made havoc of the churches?' 2. Another common name among the Latins is dominicum, or domus Dei, God's house, which answers to the Greek kupιakòr, whence with a little variation we have the Saxon name kyrik or kyrch, and the Scotch and English kirk and church, which are all words of the same import, denoting a place set apart for the use and service of God. The name dominicum is at least as old as Cyprian, but he applies it not only to the 1 L. 2. ep. 246. (p. 236 c.)"Aλλo EoTiv EKKλŋoia kaì äλdo ékkλnoia στήριον· ἡ μὲν γὰρ ἐξ ἀμώμων ψυχῶν συνέστηκε· τὸ δὲ ἀπὸ λίθων καὶ ξύλων οἰκοδομεῖται. 2 Catech. 18. n. 11. [al. 24.] p. 270. (p. 296 c.) 'Ekkλŋoía de Kaλeira φερωνύμως, διὰ τὸ πάντας ἐκκαλεῖσθαι καὶ ὁμοῦ συνάγειν. 3 Vid. Suicer. voce, 'Ekkλnoia. (t. I. p. 1049.) 'Ekkλnoía dicitur anò τοῦ ἐκκαλεῖν. church, but to the Lord's-supper, and perhaps the Lord's-day. For, as the learned editor7 and others have observed, the word dominicum signifies three things in ancient writers: 1. the Lord's-day; 2. the Lord's-supper; 3. the Lord's-house. And Cyprian's words may be construed to either sense; for he thus addresses himself to a rich matron: 'Do you think you rightly celebrate the dominicum, (the Lord's-day, or the Lord'ssupper,) who have no regard to the corban? who come into the Lord's house without any sacrifice, and eat part of the sacrifice which the poor have offered?' The same name occurs frequently in other Latin writers, as in Ruffin 9, who brings in the bishop who converted the philosopher in the Council of Nice, thus addressing himself to his new convert: Arise and follow me to the dominicum, and there receive the seal of your faith;' viz. baptism in the church. And St. Jerom 10 tells us that the famous church of Antioch, which was begun by Constantine, and finished and dedicated by Constantius, had the name of Dominicum Aureum, the Golden Dome, for its richness and beauty. The Greek name Kuptaкòv is frequently to be met with in the Councils of Ancyra11 and Neocæsarea 12 and Laodicea 13, and Eusebius 14, who says the persecuting Emperor Maximinus 6 De Oper. et Eleemos. p. 203. (p. 141.) Locuples et dives es, et dominicum celebrare te credis, quæ corbonam omnino non respicis? quæ in dominicum sine sacrificio venis; quæ partem de sacrificio, quod pauper obtulit, sumis? 7 Fell, in loc. (p. 141. n. 1.) Observandum venit, dominici voce tria significari apud veteres: 1. Diem ipsam; ita habetur Apoc. 1, 9, et Ignat. Ep. ad Trallian. 2. Ecclesiam; ita Concil. Neocæs. can. 5. jubet catechumenum ingredientem és τὸ κυριακὸν, in loco catechumenorum subsistere. Et Hieron. in Chronico sic voce dominici utitur. Et in vernaculis nostris linguis, nostratium church, et Germanorum dohm, ex hoc fonte liquido deducuntur. 3. Ponitur pro mysteriis loco et tempore prædictis celebrari solitis ; ita κυριακὸν τελεῖν, est sacris Christianis operari. Et fortasse huc facit, quod hic dicitur, Dominicum celebrare te credis? 8 Bona, Rer. Liturg. 1. 1. c. 3. n. II. (p. 179.) where the words of Cyprian are cited. See the preceding note. 9 Hist. 1.1. [al. 10.] c. 3. (p. 219 b. 5.) Si hæc ita esse credis, surge et sequere me ad dominicum, et hujus fidei signaculum suscipe. 10 Chron. Olymp. 276. an. 3. [Ed. Vallars. Olymp. 277.] (t. 8. p. 785.) In Antiochia Dominicum, quod appellatur Aureum, ædificari cœptum. 11 C. 15. (t. I. p. 1461 b.) Hepì τῶν διαφερόντων τῷ κυριακῷ, ὅσα ἐπισκόπου μὴ ὄντος πρεσβύτεροι ἐπώλησαν, αναβαλεῖσθαι τὸ κυριακόν. 12 C. 5. (ibid. p. 1481 c.) Karnχούμενος ἐὰν εἰσερχόμενος εἰς κυριαKov, K. T.λ. 13 C. 28. (ibid. p. 1501 c.) "Or oẻ δεῖ ἐν τοῖς κυριακοῖς, ἢ ἐν ταῖς ἐκκλησίαις, τὰς λεγομένας ἀγάπας ποιεῖν, κ. τ. λ. 14 L. 9. c. 10. (v. I. p. 457. 36.) restored the Christians their churches under that appellation in his edicts. And Constantine having built several churches, gave them all the name of κuptakà, as being dedicated 15 not to the honour of any man, but Him who is Lord of the universe. This is a plain account of the name; but whether we may hence conclude, with a learned man 16, that the Greeks and not the Latins were the first planters of Christianity in Britain, because of the near affinity between the names, κʊpɩakòν and kyrk, [or kirk,] is what I think not so plain; but I leave it to every reader's judgment to determine. Tertullian once uses the name of domus columbæ, the house of a dove, for a church. For, writing against the Valentinian heretics, who affected secresy in their doctrines, he compares them to the Eleusinian mysteries, whose temple was so guarded with doors and curtains, that a man must be five years a candidate before he could be admitted to the adytum of the deity, or secrets of the sanctuary: Whereas,' says he 17, 'the house of our dove is plain and simple, delights in high and open places, affects the light, loves the figure of the Holy Ghost, (that is, fire and light, as I think Junius rightly interprets it,) and the orient, or morning sun, which is the figure of Christ.' The house of the dove seems here to be the same as the house of Christ, who is pointed out by the dove, as Tertullian words it in the same place, Christum columba demonstrare solita est; Kaì tà kupiakà dè rà oikeîa öñws κατασκευάζοιεν, συγχωρεῖται. 15 De Laud. Constant. c. 17. (ibid. p. 770. 33.) Κατὰ πόλεις τε καὶ κώμας, χώρας τε πάσας καὶ τὰς τῶν βαρβάρων ἐρήμους, ἱερὰ καὶ τεμένη ἑνὶ τῷ πάντων βασιλεῖ Θεῷ, τῷ δὴ καὶ τῶν ὅλων δεσπότῃ, καθιερώσθαι· ἔνθεν καὶ τῆς τοῦ Δεσπότου προσηγορίας ἠξίωται τὰ καθιερωμένα· οὐκ ἐξ ἀνθρώπων τυχόντα τῆς ἐπικλήσεως, ἐξ αὐτοῦ δὲ τοῦ τῶν ὅλων Κυρίου· παρὸ καὶ κυριακῶν ἠξίωνται τῶν ἐπωνυμιών. 16 Bevereg. in c. 15 C. Ancyr. (t. 2. append. p.178.) Hanc saltem vocem [Kupiakov] ut ecclesiam in genere significantem alii Germani a Græcis mutuati sunt, ut docet Walafridus Strabo de Rebus Eccles. c. 7. Sic etiam antiqui Saxones ecclesiam quamlibet kyrik vocarunt. Unde in Scotia et septemtrionalibus Angliæ partibus kyrk nobis vulgo, sed magis corrupto nomine church, duplici aspiratione nuncupatur. Cum autem hæc communis fuerit majoribus nostris ecclesiæ cujuslibet templive denominatio, veri nobis simillimum videtur, prima Christianæ religionis semina a Græcis hic dispersa fuisse. Neque enim existimandum est, quod Latini Græcum nomen ecclesiis imponerent. 17 Cont. Valentin. c. 3. (p. 251 a.) Nostræ columbæ etiam domus simplex, [al. domus simplex, etiam] in editis et apertis et ad lucem. Amat figuram Spiritus Sancti, Orientem, Christi figuram, &c. [Others read Amat figura Spiritus Sancti Orientem, &c. Semler also (v. 2. p. 111. Hal. Magdeburg. 1827.) has followed the reading of Rigaltius. Vid. Junium in loc. Franequer. 1597. ED.] or else, as Mr. Mede18 explains it, we may take it for the house of the dove-like religion, or the dove-like disciples of Christ. For every way it will be the name of a church, as Tertullian plainly intended it. mer, tinction be tween do domus di The vina, and clesiæ. 3. There are two other names of near affinity with the for- Of the diswhich some readers may be apt to mistake for names of churches, when they are not always so; and therefore I cannot mus Dei, let them pass in this place without taking notice of them. one is domus divina, and the other domus ecclesiæ. first of which is of frequent use in the Civil Law, where it signifies not a church, but the Emperor's palace, or his house and family, according to the style of those times, when every thing belonging to them had the name of divine. As constitutiones divinæ, divale præceptum, lex divalis, literæ sacræ, oraculum cœleste, and such other terms, do not signify, as one would hastily imagine, the sacred inspired writings, or the laws and oracles of God, but the edicts and constitutions of the Emperors, who themselves were called divi, and thence all things relating to them styled divine. Agreeably to this style, when the Emperor, Theodosius Junior, decrees 19 that no one, no not of his own divine house, should receive corn in specie out of the public storehouses, before it was made into bread by the public bakers;' it is plain, by his own divine house he does not mean the house of God, the church, but his own family of Palatins, as Gothofred rightly explains it. The other name, domus ecclesiæ, oikos Kкλŋolas, the house of the church, is used by Eusebius in relating the history of the heretic Paulus Samosatensis, who, notwithstanding that he was deposed by the Council of Antioch, would not remove out of the house of the church 20, and therefore the fathers appealed to the Emperor Aurelian against him, who determined that 'that party to whom Μηδαμῶς ἐκστῆναι τοῦ Παύλου τοῦ Churches called oratories, or the bishops of Italy and Rome should write, should have the house delivered up to them;' and so Paul was turned out of the church with great disgrace by the secular power. The question here is, What Eusebius means by the house of the church? Mr. Mede21 takes it for the church itself, and gives a very probable reason for it, because Eusebius expounds himself, when he says, Paul was turned out of the church: and he uses the same expression in another place, where it can signify nothing but the church, or house of sacred assembly. For, speaking of the persecutor Maximinus, he says 22, 'He neither allowed the Christians to hold assemblies, nor build houses of assembly;' which evidently refers to the building of churches. But yet in other places domus ecclesiæ seems to signify no more than the bishop's house, as in the second Council of Toledo 23, where it is decreed, that such children, as were dedicated by their parents in their infancy to a clerical or monastic life, should be educated and instructed in the house of the church, under the bishop's eye, by the provost or governor that was set over them.' This in other canons is called domus sacerdotalis, the bishop's house, to distinguish it from the church. 4. But to proceed. As the temple of God at Jerusalem is frequently in Scripture styled "the house of prayer;" so houses of Christian churches, in regard that prayer was one of the principal offices performed in them, were usually termed роσEUKTýρia, and olкOL EVKтýpioι, oratories, or houses of prayer; of which there are innumerable instances in Eusebius 24, Socra prayer. 21 Discourse of Churches. (p. 333.) For that by Ts EKKλnoias oikos is here meant the Christians' oratory or house of sacred assembly, &c. 22 L. 9. c. 9. (v. I. p. 455. 8.)..... Αὐτὸ μόνον τὸ ἀνεπηρέαστον ἡμῖν ἐπιτρέπον φυλάττεσθαι, οὐ μὴν συνόδους ἐπικελευον ποιεῖσθαι, οὐδ ̓ οἴκους ἐκκλησιῶν οἰκοδομεῖν, οὐδ ̓ ἄλλο τι τῶν συνήθων ἡμῖν διαπράττεσθαι.—Vid. 1. 8. c. 13. (ibid. p. 396. 22.) Μήτε τῶν ἐκκλησιῶν τοὺς οἴκους καθελών, κ. τ. λ. 23 C. 1. (t. 4. p. 1733. [corrige 1735] a.) De his, quos voluntas parentum a primis infantiæ annis in clericatus officio vel monachali posuit [al. clericatus officio mancipa rit], [pariter] statuimus observandum, ut.. in domo ecclesiæ sub episcopali præsentia a præposito sibi debeant erudiri. 24 L. 10. c. 3. (v. 1. p. 463. 36.) Ἐπὶ δὲ τούτοις, τὸ πᾶσιν εὐκταῖον ἡμῖν καὶ ποθούμενον συνεκροτεῖτο θέαμα, ἐγκαινίων ἑορταὶ κατὰ πόλεις, καὶ τῶν ἄρτι νεοπαγῶν προσευκτηρίων ἀφιερώσεις.—De Laud. Constant. c. 17. (ibid. p. 770. 11.) θεομάχοι τινὲς πρώην, τῶν αὐτοῦ προσευκτηρίων τὰς οἰκοδομὰς . . ἐκ βάθρων ἀνορύττονTES, Kaoηρоvv.-De Vit. Constant. 1. 3. c. 48. (ibid. p. 604. 37.) Tǹu dè y ἐπώνυμον αὐτοῦ πόλιν ἐξόχῳ τιμῇ γεραίρων, εὐκτηρίοις πλείοσιν ἐφαίSpuve, K. T.λ. See s. 8. n. 63, following. |