tes 25, Sozomen 26, and other ancient writers. But in some canons the name oratories seems to be restrained to private chapels, or places of worship set up for convenience in private families, still depending upon the parochial churches, and differing from them in this, that they were only places of prayer, but not for celebrating the communion; or if that was at any time allowed there to private families, yet, at least, upon the great and solemn festivals, they were to resort for communion to the parish-churches. Gratian 27 cites a canon of the Council of Orleans, which allows such oratories, but forbids any one to celebrate the eucharist there. The same privilege is granted in one of Justinian's Novels 28, with the same exception. And so I think we are to understand that canon in the Council of Trullo 29, which allows the clergy to use the public offices or liturgy in such oratories, provided they did it with the consent and approbation of the bishop of the place. For no mention is made there of administering the sacraments in those places, though the Latin translations put in the word baptizing, which is not in the original 3o, and is expressly forbidden in another canon 31 of the same Council, requiring all persons to be baptized in the catholic, that is, public churches. But the Council of Agde 32, in France, allows the eucharist to be adminis 25 L. 1. c. 18. (v. 2. p. 48. 45.) Toσοῦτος δὲ ἦν ὁ τοῦ βασιλέως περὶ τὸν Χριστιανισμὸν πόθος, ὡς καὶ Περσικοῦ μέλλοντος κινεῖσθαι πολέμου, κατασκευάσας σκηνὴν ἐκ ποικίλης ὀθόνης, ἐκκλησίας τύπον ἀποτελοῦσαν, ὥσπερ Μωϋσῆς ἐν τῇ ἐρήμῳ πεποιήκει, καὶ ταύτην φέρεσθαι, ἵνα ἔχοι κατὰ τοὺς ἐρημοτάτους τόπους εὐκτήριον ηὐτρεπισμένον.—Ibid. c. 19. (p. 50. 26.) Παρεκάλει τόπους καταλαμβάνειν ἰδιάζοντας, ἐπὶ τῷ τὰς Χριστιανικὰς ἐκτελεῖν εὐχάς καταβραχὺ δὲ προϊόντος τοῦ χρόνου, καὶ εὐκτήριον κατεσκεύασε, &c. 26 L. 2. c.5. (ibid. p. 52. 30.) IIλeîσται γὰρ δὴ καὶ ἄλλαι πόλεις τηνικαῦτα πρὸς τὴν θρησκείαν ηὐτομόλησαν· καὶ αὐτόματοι, βασιλέως μηδὲν ἐπιτάττοντος, τοὺς παρ ̓ αὐτοῖς ναοὺς καὶ ξόανα καθεῖλον, καὶ εὐκτηριοὺς οἴκους ὠκοδόμησαν. 27 De Consecrat. distinct. r. c.33. (t. 1. p. 1897. 83.) Unicuique fidelium in domo sua oratorium licet habere et ibi orare: missas autem ibi celebrare non licet. 28 Novel. 58. (t. 5. p. 299.) Sed si quidem domos ita simpliciter aliqui habere putant oportere in sacris suis, orationis videlicet solius gratia, et nullo celebrando penitus hom rum, quæ sacri sunt mysterii, hoc eis permittimus. 29 C. 31. (t. 6. p. 1155 d.) Toùs év τοῖς εὐκτηρίοις οἴκοις ἔνδον οἰκίας τυγχάνουσι λειτουργοῦντας [ἢ βαπτίζον τας] κληρικούς, ὑπὸ γνώμην τοῦτο πράττειν τοῦ κατὰ τὸν τόπον ἐπισκόπου. 30 [Labbe reads the passage with the term βαπτίζοντας, as bracketed in the preceding note. En.] 31 C. 58. al. 59. (ibid. p. 1170 a.) Μηδαμῶς ἐν εὐκτηρίῳ οἴκῳ ἔνδον οἰκίας τυγχάνοντι βάπτισμα ἐπιτελεί σθω, &c. 32 C. 21. (t. 4. p. 1386 d.) Si quis etiam extra parochias, in quibus legitimus est ordinariusque conventus, Why called basilica, and ȧváκτορα, tered in private oratories, except upon Easter-day, or Christmas, or Epiphany, or Ascension, or Pentecost, or such other of the greater festivals; and upon these too, if they had the bishop's license and permission for it. So that in those ages an oratory and a catholic church seem to have differed, as now a private chapel and a parochial church, though the first ages made no distinction between them. 5. Another common name of churches is that of basilica; which we may English, palaces of the great King. This name frequently occurs in St. Ambrose 33, St. Austin 34, St. Jerom 35, Sidonius Apollinaris 36, and other writers of the fourth and fifth ages, before which time we scarce meet with it in any Christian author. For originally the basilica among the Romans were the public halls or courts of judicature, where the princes or magistrates sat to hear and determine causes; and other buildings of public use, such as state-houses, and exchanges for merchants, &c., went by the same name among them. But upon the conversion of Constantine, many of these were given to the Church, and turned into another use, for Christian assemblies to meet in; as may be collected from that passage in Ausonius 37, where, speaking to the Emperor Gratian, he tells him, 'the basilica which heretofore were wont to be filled with oratorium in agro habuerit [al. ha- 33 Ep. 33. [al. 20.] ad Marcellin. 34 Serm. 12. de Divers. [al. Serm. 261.] (t. 2. p. 1065 c.) Sermo habitus Carthagine in Basilica Fausti. 35 E.7. [al.107.]ad Lætam.(t. 1. p. 680 b.) Basilicas martyrum et ecclesias sine matre non adeat.-Ep. 53. [al. 109.] ad Ripar. (ibid. p. 720 b.) Et omnium martyrum basilicas ingredimur. 36 L. 5. Ep. 17. (p.361.) Conveneramus ad Sancti Justi sepulcrum, sed tibi infirmitas impedimento, ne tunc adesses: processio fuerat antelucana, solemnitas anniversaria, populus ingens sexu ex utroque, quem capacissima basilica non caperet. -Eusebius in his Panegyric, ch. 9, uses the Greek name ανάκτορον. De Laud. Constant. c.9. (v. I. p.741. I9.) Εἴσω δὲ τὸ ἀνάκτορον, εἰς ἀμήχανον ἐπαίρων ὕψος, ἐν ὀκταέδρου μὲν σχήματι κατεποίκιλεν. 37 Gratiar. Actio ad Gratian. pro Consulatu, p. 190. (p. 524.3.) Basilica olim negotiis plena, nunc votis, votisque pro tua salute susceptis. [See Ciampini's Vetera Monimenta, part. 1. c. I. Romæ, 1690. p. 9. ED.] men of business, were now thronged with votaries, praying for his safety.' By which he must needs mean, that the Roman halls or courts were turned into Christian churches. And hence, I conceive, the name, basilica, came to be a general name for churches in after-ages. Though I know Durantus 38 and Bona 39 have other reasons beside this for the appellation, as that it was because churches were places where sacrifice was offered to God, the King of all the earth; or because they were only the more stately and magnificent churches which had the title; which is not true in fact, for ever since it came first into use, it appears to have been the common name of all churches. called tem 6. The like observation is to be made upon the name tem- When first ples, which, for the three first ages, is scarce ever 40 used by ples. any Christian writer for a church, but only for the Heathen temples, which were receptacles of idols, and cloisters of their gods. But when idolatry was destroyed, and statues every where demolished, and temples purged and consecrated into Christian churches, then the writers of the following ages make no scruple to give them the name of temples. As when St. Ambrose 41 says, 'he could not deliver up the temple of God,' he certainly means the church, and not an idol-temple. So does also Lactantius 42 when he says, 'he taught oratory in Bithynia, when the temple of God was destroyed;' meaning the church of Nicomedia, which was the first that was demolished in the Diocletian persecution. Eusebius 43, speaking 38 De Rit. Eccles. 1. 1. c. I. n. 9. (p. 3.) Ideo autem divina templa, ait Isidorus, 1. 15. c. 4., basilicæ nominantur, quia ibi Regi omnium Deo cultus et sacrificia offeruntur. 39 Rer. Liturg. l. 1. c. 19. n. 4. (p. 221.) ..... Ea vox [basilica] ecclesiis Christianorum tributa est, vel propter ædificii magnificentiam: vel quod ibi, ut ait Isidorus, 1. 15. Origin. c. 4., Regi omnium Deo cultus et sacrificia offeruntur: vel quia profanæ basilicæ in ecclesias Christi conversæ sunt. 40 Ignatius, Ep. ad Magnes. n. 7. (Cotel. v. 2. p. 19.) once uses the name with some restriction, calling the Church ναὸν Θεοῦ, the temple of God. 41 Ep. 33. [al. 20.] ad Marcellin. (t. 2. p. 853 a.) Respondi quod erat ordinis, templum Dei a sacerdote tradi non posse. 42 Instit. 1. 5. c. 2. (t. I. p. 363.) Ego cum in Bithynia oratorias literas accitus docerem, contigissetque ut eodem tempore Dei templum everteretur, &c. 43 L. 1o. c. 2. (v. I. p. 463. 18.) . . . . Πάντα τόπον τὸν πρὸ μικροῦ ταῖς τῶν τυράννων δυσσεβείαις ἠρειπωμέ νον, ὥσπερ ἐκ μακρᾶς καὶ θανατηφό ρου λύμης ἀναβιώσκοντα θεωμένοις, VEWS TE AVÐIS ÉK Bálρwv eis vos ἄπειρον ἐγειρομένους, καὶ πολὺ κρείτ τονα τὴν ἀγλαΐαν τῶν πάλαι πεπολιορκημένων ἀπολαμβάνοντας. Churches sometimes called synodi, concilia, conciliabula, conventicula. of the churches that were rebuilt after that persecution was over, gives them the name of temples; and particularly the church built by Paulinus he calls 44 the temple of Tyre. Not to mention other passages of Chrysostom 45, Theodoret 46, Prudentius 47, St. Hilary 48, St. Austin 49, and a thousand more to the same purpose, which shew that they had no aversion to the name temple, when they could safely use it without ambiguity, and not be mistaken to mean the temples of the Heathen. But from the name fanum they more religiously abstained, and never used it, unless it were by way of contempt, to signify their resentments against some conventicle of heretics, whom they usually put into the same class with heathens. As we may observe in St. Ambrose 50, who, having occasion to speak of a conventicle of the Valentinians, will not vouchsafe it the name of a temple or a church, but a fanum, a name always appropriated to the idol-temples of the heathens, with whom he parallels the Valentinians, as no better than a pack of idolatrous Gentiles met together, for they worshipped idols and images as the heathen did. 7. There is one general name more for churches, which I must not omit, because the ambiguity of the expression has led some learned men into strange mistakes about it. Constantine, in one of his laws in the Theodosian Code 51, calls the church 44 Ibid. c. 4. (p. 465. 4.) 45 Hom. 4. de Verb. Esai. t. 3. 46 L. I. c. 31. (v. 3. p. 64. 8.) ... Καὶ τοὺς ὑπ ̓ αὐτοῦ δομηθέντας καθιερῶσαι νεώς. 47 Peristeph. H. 2. Pass. Laurent. Recenset exin singulos, [Pass. Hippol. vv. 215. 216. Tunc adeat, cultu nobile regifico. 48 In P. 126. n. 6. (t. 1. p. 468 a.) Conventus quidem ecclesiarum, sive tum templi, quos ad secretam sacramentorum religionem ædificiorum septa concludunt, consuetudo nostra vel domum Dei solita est nuncupare, vel templum. 49 De Civitat. Dei, 1. 8. c. 27. (t. 6. p. 217 b.) Nec tamen nos eisdem martyribus templa, sacerdotia, sacra et sacrificia constituimus. 50 Ep. 29. [al. 40.] ad Theodos. (t. 2. p. 951 a. n. 16.) Vindicabitur etiam Valentinianorum fanum incensum? Quid est enim nisi fanum, in quo est conventus Gentilium? &c. 51 L. 16. tit. 2. de Episc. leg. 4. (t. 6. p. 23.) Habeat unusque licen Sanctissimum Catholicæ Concilium, which Alciat, the great lawyer, by mistake interprets an ecclesiastical synod; whereas indeed, as Gothofred rightly observes, it signifies there the church, as in many other places of the ancient writers. For these words concilium, synodus, conventiculum, conciliabulum, and the like, are words of various acceptation. For though they commonly signify ecclesiastical synods and councils, yet sometimes they denote other assemblies, and particularly the ordinary assemblies of the Church for divine service; and thence the name was transferred from the assembly to denote the place of the assembly, or the church, as has been observed before upon the word ecclesia. Thus, when St. Jerom commends Nepotian for adorning the conciliabula martyrum with flowers and branches 52, he cannot mean councils of martyrs, but churches called by the names of martyrs. And so again when he says 53, 'The persecutor's rage and barbarity was so exceeding fierce against us, that they proceeded to destroy our conciliabula,' it is evident he means the Christian churches. As Gaudentius must be understood in one of his Sermons upon the dedication of a church 54, which is called Concilium Martyrum. The church-assembly itself is often called by the same name, concilium; as in the Passion of Cyprian, written by Pontius, his deacon 55, the Christians are commanded by the Emperor to leave off their conciliabula, or meetings and assemblies in the cemeteries for the worship of God. So the word is used by St. Jerom 56, speaking of the monks meeting in the church for divine service; and by Tertullian 57 for any tiam sanctissimo Catholicæ venerabilique concilio, decedens, bonorum quod optavit relinquere. 52 Ep. 3. ad Heliodor. Epitaph. Nepotian. (t. 1. p. 338 d.) Qui basilicas ecclesiæ et martyrum conciliabula diversis floribus et arborum comis, vitiumque pampinis adumbrarit, &c. 53 In Zechar. c. 8. (t. 6. p. 841 d.) ... In tantam rabiem persecutorum feritas excitata est, ut etiam conciliabula nostra destruerent. 54 Serm. 17. (ap. Bibl. Max. t. 5. p. 970 f. 13.)... Hanc ipsam basilicam eorum [martyrum] meritis dedicatam Concilium Sanctorum nun cupari oportere decernimus. 56 Ep. 22. ad Eustoch. c. 15. [al. 35.] (t 1. p. 117 e.) Post hoc concilium solvitur, et unaquæque decuria cum suo parente pergit ad mensam. 57 De Pudicit. c. 10. (p. 563 a.) Cederem tibi, si Scriptura Pastoris ....non ab omni concilio ecclesiarum etiam vestrarum inter apocrypha et falsa judicaretur. |