of the people; whence the phrases, exosculari limina, and liminibus martyrum affundi, in Sidonius and Prudentius, are by him interpreted to this purpose. But I conceive the former opinion most probable, which takes it for the Emperor's throne, which was toward the east end of the church, in the men's portico, over-against the altar, where now the Sultan has his seat among the Turks. For that place which Dr. Beveridge calls the embolus, and others the circuitus, or side-aisles on both sides, were, in the temple of Sancta Sophia, porticoes for men below, and women above. And as the Empress had her seat in the upper end of the women's apartment, so the Emperors had theirs in the men's apartment, next to the chancel, from the time that Sozomen 46 tells us Theodosius submitted to the reproof of St. Ambrose, who blamed him for taking his seat within the rails of the sanctuary, though it had been customary for the Emperors so to do. After which admonition both he and his successors always took their place without the rails, whence that place seems to be called the solium, the royal seat. Which is confirmed in a little by what Suicerus 47 observes out of Cedrenus and Codinus, that Justinian made the solea of gold and onyx-stone; which are proper materials to adorn a throne, but not so proper to be laid in the pavement of a church. Not far from this, Du Fresne 48 observes, in some 46 L. 7. c. 25. (v. I. p. 317. 2.) "Εθος ἦν τοὺς βασιλεῖς ἐν τῷ ἱερατείῳ ἐκκλησιάζειν, κατ' ἐξοχὴν τῶν ὁρίων τοῦ λαοῦ κεχωρισμένους κολακίας δὲ ἢ ἀταξίας εἶναι τοῦτο συνιδὼν, τόπον εἶναι βασιλέως ἐν ἐκκλησίᾳ τέταχε, τὸν πρὸ τῶν δρυφάκτων τοῦ ἱερατείου· ὥστε τοῦ μὲν λαοῦ τὸν κρατοῦντα τὴν προεδρίαν ἔχειν, αὐτοῦ δὲ τοὺς ἱερέας προκαθῆσθαι. Ταύτην δὲ τὴν ἀρίστην παράδοσιν ἐπῄνεσε Θεοδόσιος ὁ βaσιλεὺς, καὶ οἱ μετὰ ταῦτα ἐκράτυναν Kaì è§ èkcívov vvvì þvλartoμévŋv óρῶμεν. 47 [Thes. Eccles. voce Ewλéas (t. 2. p. 1208.) Solea erat in templis Græcorum bemati ambonique proxima. Colligitur ex Codino, c. 17. de Officiis; Kai KaréрXETAI, K. T. λ. (See n. 37, preceding.) Cedrenus: 'H τρούλλα τῆς ἁγίας τοῦ Θεοῦ μεγάλης ἐκκλησίας φουρνικὴ οὖσα ἔπεσε, τόν τε ἄμβωνα, καὶ τοὺς σωλείας ἐξ ἀνυ χίτου λίθου ὄντας συνέτριψε, καὶ εἰς 48 In Paul. Silent. p. 560. (ut su- modern churches a place called the senatorium, which some take to be only another name for the seats of the bishop and presbyters, who were the senate of the church: but Du Fresne thinks it was rather the seat of the magistrates, called senators, whence their apartment had the name of senatorium in the church. CHAP. VI. Of the bema, or third part of the temple, called the altar and the sanctuary, and the parts and uses of it. cel,ancient tribunal. 1. THE third and innermost part of the ancient churches was The chanthat which we now call the chancel, but originally it was known ly called by many other names. One of the most common names was bema, or that of ẞîμa, or tribunal, which, as I have noted before, is a word of various signification, denoting sometimes the ambo or reading-desk, and sometimes the altar; and sometimes the seats or thrones of the bishop and presbyters; and sometimes the whole space where these thrones and the altar stood: in which sense I understand that canon of the Council of Laodicea 49 which forbids presbyters to go into the bema and sit there before the bishop comes. dicitur: Pontifex autem, sustentatus hinc inde dextra lavaque a primicerio notariorum, descendit ad senatorium, quod est locus principum, ut suscipiat oblationes eorum. Et infra: Pontifex descendit ad senatorium,.. suscipit oblationes principum per ordines arcuum. Siquidem enim senatorium locus fuit, in quo consistebant principes, seu magnates, dum sacræ intererant liturgiæ; idem ille forte fuerit cum solea, seu pavimento editiori ante cancellos bematis; ita appellatus, quod ibi senatores seu principes consisterent. Nam observatum supra, ad sacros cancellos assignatam fuisse imperatoribus in ecclesia sedem ab Ambrosio. Senatores autem appellatos magnates, apud scriptores Christianos veteres, notum est. Proinde in senatorio pontifex non modo suscipiebat oblationes principum, sed et populum ibidem communicabat, &c. 49 C. 56. (t. 1. p. 1505 d.) "Ori où Suicerus 50 has observed it fre δεῖ πρεσβυτέρους πρὸ τῆς εἰσόδου τοῦ 50 Thes. Eccles. voce Bua. (t. I. Also ἅγιον, ἱερατεῖον, and sacra sanctuary. quently to be thus used in the Liturgies of St. Chrysostom and St. Basil. And Chrysostom, in one of his Homilies 5o, more particularly describes it to be the place whither the bishop went by an ascent into it, to preach, to pray, to stand by the holy temple, and offer the tremendous sacrifice for the people.' By which it is easy to understand, that he takes it not barely for the altar alone, or the bishop's throne, but for the whole place where they stood, and where these several offices were performed. And the reason of the name bema was what Chrysostom also intimates when he says, they went up by an ascent into it.' For bema and ambo have both the same original, from åvaßaívei 51, because they were places exalted above the rest, and, like the tribunals of judges, had an ascent by steps into them. Now the bema was more peculiarly allotted to the clergy, and, upon that account, as I have noted before in a former Book 52, the clergy were sometimes styled oi Toû Býματος, and τάξις τοῦ βήματος, the order of the bema, or the sanctuary. 2. For the name sanctuary was also appropriated to this or leparetov, part of the church. The Greeks peculiarly styled it äytov, the rium, the holy; and from thence the altar was called åytov åyíwv, the holy, or the holy of holies, which is the term that Eusebius 53 uses in describing the temple of Paulinus. In other places 54 he calls it àyíaopa, which is the name whereby the Seventy call the sanctuary in the Old Testament. The Latins called it sacrarium, the sanctuary; as in the first Council of Bracara 55, which forbids laymen to come into the sanctuary to communicate; and the Council of Vaison 56, which speaks of the office of ordering or disposing the things of the sanctuary; partem, sive chorum, nomen haben- 50 Hom. 36. [al. 1.] de Pentecost. 52 B. 1. ch.5. s. II. v. I. p. 45. ... 54 L. 7. c. 15. (ibid. p. 341. 23.) Τῆς χειρὸς λαβὼν ἐπὶ τὴν ἐκκληoíav poάyet, éïow te tρòs avтų OTŃσας τῷ ἁγιάσματι, κ. τ. λ. 55 [Al. Bracar. 2.] c. 13. (t. 5. p. 841 c.) ... Sanctuarium altaris [al. sacrarium] ingredi ad communicandum non liceat laicis .... nisi tantum clericis. 56 Vasens. I. c. 3. (t. 3. p. 1457 d.).... Is, cujus officium [al. officii] est sacrarium disponere et sacramenta suscipere. and the fourth Council of Carthage 57, which forbids the oblation of such, as are at variance one with another, to be received either in the treasury or the sanctuary. 3. The Greeks also termed it Ovσiaornptov, the altar-part; And Ovatαστήριον, for though that word commonly signifies the altar itself, or the altarthe Lord's-table, yet in some ancient canons and ecclesiastical part. writers, as Habertus 58 and Mr. Mede 59 have observed, it is used to denote the whole sanctuary within the rails, where none but the clergy were allowed. As in the Councils of Laodicea 60 and Trullo 61, which forbid women and laymen to come into the volaσrýpiov, it must mean the whole altar-part or chancel. And so in Socrates 62, and Theodoret 63, and many others, who speak of St. Ambrose excluding Theodosius, the Emperor, from within the rails of the sanctuary. diaconicum. 4. St. Cyprian, in his fifty-fifth Epistle 64, calls it consessus Presbytecleri, the presbytery: and Forbesius 65 and some other learned rium and men think it was also called diaconicum, from the presbyters sitting and the deacons ministering there. Thus they understand the Council of Laodicea 66, which forbids subdeacons to have any place in the diaconicum, or to touch the sacred 57 C. 93. (t. 2. p. 1207 b.) Oblationes dissidentium fratrum, neque in sacrario, neque in gazophylacio recipiantur. 58 Archierat. ad Rit. Varios Altar. observ. 1. (p. 663.) Porro Ovσiaorηριον aliquid aliud præter altare et sacram mensam sæpe significare, nempe spatium sive locum sanctuarii seu sacrarii sacerdotalis, toû ieρατείου, in quo et prothesis minus altare, et sacra mensa altare majus positum est. Quod elucet ex illa formula quotidie in his officiis obvia: Εἰσέρχεσθαι εἰς τὸ θυσιαστήριον, non vero dicitur εἰσέρχεσθαι εἰς τὴν ἁγίαν τράπεζαν.--Canone 79. in Trullo: Μὴ ἐξέστω τινὶ τῶν ἁπάν των ἐν λαϊκοῖς τελοῦντι ἔνδον ἱεροῦ εἰσιέναι θυσιαστηρίου. 59 Comment. in Apocalyps. (p. 479.) Ubi Ovoraσrnpiov, non altare tantum holocausti quod ibi situm, sed spatium etiam circumjectum, id est, totum altaris et sacrificii locum, designat, &c. 60 C. 44. (t. 1504 e.) Οτι οὐ δεῖ γυναῖκας ἐν τῷ θυσιαστηρίῳ εἰσέρBINGHAM, VOL. III. 61 C. 69. (t. 6. p. 1174 b.) Mǹ 62 L. 1. c. 25. [Corrige, Sozom. ..... 63 L. 1. c. 14. [Corrige, 1. 5. c. 18. (v. 3. p. 218. 14.).. Tà evdov, & Baσιλεῦ, μόνοις ἐστὶν ἱερεῦσι βατά· τοῖς δὲ ἄλλοις ἅπασιν ἄδυτά τε καὶ ἄψαυστα. ἔξιθι τοίνυν καὶ τοῖς ἄλλοις κοι νώνει τῆς στάσεως. ED.] 64 [Al. Ep. 59. ad Cornel. (p. 268.) See before, b. 2. ch. ry. s. 7. V. I. p. 225. n. 29. ED.] 65 Irenic. 1. 2. c. II. prop. 13. p. 221. (t. I. p. 437.)..... Dicebatur etiam presbyterium et diaconicum, &c.-See b. 17. ch. 2. s. 2. 66 C. 21. (t. I. p. 1500 e.) "OTI οὐ δεῖ ὑπηρέτας ἔχειν χώραν ἐν τῷ διακονικῷ, καὶ ἅπτεσθαι δεσποτικῶν σκευῶν. G Also cho rus, or choir. This place separated from the rest by rails, called cancelli, whence comes chancel. And kept inaccessible titude: whence it vessels of the Lord's table. But I must note, that though the name, diaconicum, in that canon may signify the chancel or sanctuary, yet it more commonly means the vestry or repository of the sacred vessels; of which we are to give a further account when we come to speak of the exedræ of the church. 5. In some canons it seems also to have had the name of chorus whence comes our English word, choir; as in the fourth Council of Toledo 66, which thus appoints the order and manner of men's communicating in the church, so as that the priests and deacons should communicate before the altar, the inferior clergy in the choir, and the people without the choir.' Though some take the chorus to signify rather the place of the singers and readers in the other part of the church. 6. Eusebius 67, describing this part of the temple of Paulinus, says, it was divided from the rest by certain rails of wood, curiously and artificially wrought in the form of net-work, to make it inaccessible to the multitude. These the Latins call cancelli, whence comes our English name, chancel. In other Greek writers they are termed κуKλides: whence, in Theodoret 68, rà ěvôov тŵv Kɩуkλídwv, the place within the rails, is but another name for the altar-part or chancel: and, to lay hold of the rails,' in the phrase of Synesius 69, is the same thing as to take sanctuary at the altar. 7. By these rails, as Eusebius words it, this whole altarto the mul- place was kept inaccessible to all but the clergy in time of divine service. The Council of Laodicea has one canon 70 particularly forbidding women to come within the altar-part; and another 71 in more general terms, allowing none but the iepatikoì to communicate there: in which canon some take the word, was called adyta. 66 C. 17. (t. 5. p. 1711 c.) Sacerdotes et Levitæ ante altare communicent, in choro clerus, extra chorum populus.-Vid. C. Turon. 2. c. 4. (ibid. p. 853 e.) See s. 7. n. So, following. 67 L. 10. c. 4. p. 381. (v.1. p. 474. 15.) . . . Αὖθις καὶ τάδε ὡς ἂν εἴη τοῖς πολλοῖς ἄβατα, τοῖς ἀπὸ ξύλου περ ριέφραττε δικτύοις, εἰς ἄκρον ἐντέχνου λεπτουργίας ἐξησκημένοις, ὡς θαυμάς σιον τοῖς ὁρῶσι παρέχειν τὴν θέαν. |