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, anciently called 1. THE third and innermost part of the ancient churches was The chanthat which we now call the chancel, but originally it was known by many other names. One of the most common names was bema, or tribunal. that of Bua, 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 Bhua. (t. I. and sacra sanctuary. quently to be thus used in the Liturgies of St. Chrysostom and St. Basil. And Chrysostom, in one of his Homilies 50, 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 ávaẞaívei 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 roû Býματος, and τάξις τοῦ βήματος, the order of the bema, or the sanctuary. Also ἅγιον, 2. For the name sanctuary was also appropriated to this orieparer, part of the church. The Greeks peculiarly styled it äytov, the rium, the holy; and from thence the altar was called άytov ȧyíov, 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 ȧyíaoua, 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. 8. II. v. I. p. 45. Ovσiaσrηpiov ev péow beis. ... 54 L. 7. c. 15. (ibid. p. 341. 23.) Τῆς χειρὸς λαβὼν ἐπὶ τὴν ἐκκλησíav прoáyel, elow te πpòs avT� σTησας 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 Ovσiaσrnpiov, the altar-part; And Ovơiαστήριον, 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 Ovolaσrýpiov, 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 Ovσiaorηplov aliquid aliud præter altare et sacram mensam sape significare, nempe spatium sive locum sanctuarii seu sacrarii sacerdotalis, τοῦ ἱερατείου, 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 ἁπάντ των ἐν λαϊκοῖς τελοῦντι ἔνδον ἱεροῦ εἰσιέναι θυσιαστηρίου. 59 Comment. in Apocalyps. (p. 479.) Ubi Ovotaorpiov, 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 ééσTw, K.T.A. as quoted by Habert. See n. 58, preceding. 62 L. 1. c. 25. [Corrige, Sozom. 1.7. c. 25. (v. 2. p. 317.2.) "Eeos v τοὺς βασιλεῖς ἐν τῷ ἱερατείῳ ἐκκλησιάζειν . . . . . Κολακίας δὲ ἢ ἀταξίας εἶναι τοῦτο συνιδὼν, τόπον εἶναι βασιλέως ἐν ἐκκλησίᾳ τέταχε, τὸν πρὸ τῶν δρυφάκτων τοῦ ἱερατείου. ED.] 63 L. 1. c. 14. [Corrige, 1. 5. c. 18. (v. 3. p. 218. 14.).. Tà évdov, & Baσιλεῦ, μόνοις ἐστὶν ἱερεῦσι βατά· τοῖς δὲ ἄλλοις ἅπασιν ἄδυτά τε καὶ ἄψαυστα. ἔξιθι τοίνυν καὶ τοῖς ἄλλοις κοινώνει τῆς στάσεως. ED.] 64 [Al. Ep. 59. ad Cornel. (p. 268.) See before, b. 2. ch. 19. s. 7. v. I. p. 225. n. 29. ED.] 65 Irenic. 1. 2. c. 11. 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 5. In some canons it seems also to have had the name of 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 KуKλides: whence, in Theodoret 68, rà ěvdov tôv kɩykλídwv, 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 parwas called ticularly forbidding women to come within the altar-part; and another71 in more general terms, allowing none but the iepatikoè to communicate there: in which canon some take the word, adyla. 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. 80, 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 περιέφραττε δικτύοις, εἰς ἄκρον ἐντέχνου λεπτουργίας ἐξησκημένοις, ὡς θαυμάσιον τοῖς ὁρῶσι παρέχειν τὴν θέαν. 68 L. 5. c. 18. (v. 3. p. 218. 32.) Τῇ ἱερᾷ τραπέζῃ τὰ δῶρα προσενεγ κὼν δὲ, ὥσπερ εἰώθει, ἔνδον παρὰ τὰς κιγκλίδας μεμένηκεν, κ. τ. λ. 69 Catast. (p. 303 b. 8.)' woσákis ταῖς κιγκλίσι τὰ χεῖρε προσμάξομαι ; 70 C. 44. See s. 3. n. 60, preceding. 71 C. 19. (t. I. p. 1500 d.) Kai μόνοις ἐξὸν εἶναι τοῖς ἱερατικοῖς εἰσε ιέναι εἰς τὸ θυσιαστήριον καὶ κοινωνεῖν. 1 6 ieparikol to mean all the clergy, inferior as well as superior. But Habertus 72 thinks it means only the inferior clergy, priests and deacons; and that all the inferiors, subdeacons, readers, &c. were excluded from this part as well as the people. However it is agreed on all hands that the people in that age had no place there; for St. Ambrose would not permit the Emperor Theodosius himself to communicate in this part 73, but obliged him to retire as soon as he had made his oblation at the altar. Which custom continued for some ages after; as appears from what Theodosius Junior says of himself in the Acts of the Council of Ephesus 74, that he only went up to the altar to make his oblation, and, having done that, retired again to the exterior court, or atrium, of the people.' And so we find it decreed, correspondent to this practice, in the Council of Trullo 75, that no layman whatsoever should come into the altar-part, except only the Emperor, when he had made his oblation to the Creator, according to ancient custom.' And hence it was that this part of the church was called åßara, and advra, by Theodoret 76 and other Greek writers, and adyta by the Latins, that is, inaccessible; because there was no place of access here for the people, who were wholly excluded from it. Though I must note, that according to the difference of times and places, different customs seem to have prevailed in this matter. For the most ancient custom was both for men and women to come 72 Archierat. part. 10. observ. ix. (p. 268.) Tertium est, Solis sacerdotibus et diaconis ad altare in sanctuario communicare licuit. De solis sacerdotibus Concilium Laodicenum decernere nonnulli arbitrantur, ob hæc verba Canonis xix. Καὶ μόνοις, κ. τ. λ. (See before. Et solis sacerdotibus licere ad altare accedere et communicare. Ita vertit heterodoxus auctor. Verum τὸ ἱερατικοῖς, melius reddiderat Dionysius Exiguus, sacro ministerio deditis: quo sensu et diaconi saltem comprehenduntur, qui hic etiam ad altare in sanctuario communicant: nam hypodiaconi et lectores extra sanctuarium, ad ejus limen. 73 Vid. Theodoret. 1. 5. c. 18. See s. 3. n. 63, preceding.-Sozom. 1. 7. c. 25. 6 See n. 62, preceding. 74 Edict. Theodos. ad calc. C. Ephes. (t. 3. p. 1238 d.) Toû ȧyiwτάτου θυσιαστηρίου διὰ μόνην τὴν τῶν δωρεῶν προσφορὰν ἐφαπτόμεθα· καὶ εἰς τὴν τῶν θείων κύκλων περιστοι χουμένην ἔπαυλιν ἅμα τῷ εἰσελθεῖν ὑπεκβαίνομεν· καὶ οὐδὲν ἐκ τῆς ἀγγιστευούσης θειότητος ἑαυτοῖς ἀπονέ |