places of κατηχού μενα 7. Upon this account these places of the women are by such Why these Greek writers as speak of them termed ὑπερώα, upper rooms; the women as by Evagrius 22 in his Description of the temple of Sancta were called Sophia, and more particularly by Paulus Silentiarius 23, who μera and styles them expressly θηλυτέρων ὑπερώια, the upper galleries ὑπερῶα. of the women. These were also called κατηχούμενα, as appears from an Edict of the Emperor Leo 24, which makes these upper rooms and the catechumena [or catechumenia, for both these terms are in use,] to be the same thing. Suicerus 25 and Hospinian, and many other learned men, mistake these for the place where the catechumens stood, and where the catechetical books were kept: but Du Fresne 26 more truly observes, that they were so called, because they were places of hearing, where the women sat in their upper galleries to hear divine service. In one of these the Empress commonly had her apartment, as Du Fresne observes out of Evagrius. And by that one may easily understand what Paulus Diaconus 27 means, when, speaking of the Empress Eirene, he says, 22 L. 4. c. 31. (v. 3. p. 411. 21.) Ὑπερῷά τε μετεωρίζουσιν ἑτέροις παραπλησίοις κίοσι, προκύπτειν τοῖς βουλομένοις διδόντες εἰς τὰ τελούμενα· ὅθεν καὶ ἡ βασιλὶς παροῦσα ταῖς ἑορταῖς τῇ ἱερουργίᾳ τῶν μυστης ρίων ἐφίσταται. 23 Descript. S. Soph. part. 1. v. 256. (ap. Byzant. Hist. Scriptor. t. 13. p. 186 c. 9.) "Ενθα δὲ θηλυτέρων ὑπερώια καλὰ νοήσεις. 24 Novel. 73. (ad calc. Corp. J. C. Amst. 1663. t. 2. p. 264.) Πρᾶγμα και κῶς μὲν καὶ πρὸ τῶν κωλυόντων αὐτὸ δικαίων γινόμενον, χεῖρον δὲ μετὰ τὸ κωλυθῆναι τολμώμενον, (φημὶ δὲ τὸ ἐν τοῖς τῶν ἐκκλησιῶν ὑπερῴοις, ἅπερ ὁ πολὺς ἄνθρωπος κατηχούμενα καλεῖν ἔγνω, συνοικεῖν τινὰς γυναιξὶν) οὐκ ἄξιον παριδεῖν· οὐκοῦν οὐδὲ παραφθήσεται ἡμῖν... ὁρίζομεν, μηδένα μηδαμῶς, μήτε ἱερέα, μήτε τῶν ἐκ τοῦ λαοῦ, γυναιξὶ συνοικοῦντα, ἐν τοῖς λεγομένοις κατηχουμένοις οἰκεῖν· εἰ δέ τις εὑρίσκοιτο τὸν ἅγιον οἶκον οὕτω κοινοποιῶν, τοῦτον μὲν βασιλείῳ χερὶ ἀτίμως ἐκεῖθεν ἐξωθεῖσθαι. ..... 25 Thes. Eccles. voce Κατηχούμενα. (t. 2. p. 75.) In quibus catechumeni stant et ubi tabulæ quoque catecheticæ asservantur. 26 In Paul. Silent. p. 550. (ut supr. p. 210. n. 38.) Porticus supe- 27 Miscel. 1. 23. (juxt. Ed. Hamb. Private cells for meditation, reading, on the back of these. she went up by the ascent of the brazen gate into the catechumenia of the church,' that is, into the place of hearing among the women's apartments in the church. These galleries were sometimes also made use of for Councils to sit in, as Leo Allatius 28 has observed of the Council of Constantinople in the time of Johannes Comnenus, anno 1165, that it was held èv Toîs deέioîs Kaтnxovμévois, in the right-hand galleries of the church of Alexius;' and some others are mentioned 29 as held in the same place. give themselves to reading, These were looked upon as were sometimes abused to 8. The inner parts of these porticoes were sometimes divided. into little cells or places of retirement on the walls of the church, and that not only in the women's parts, but the men's and prayer also, as may be collected from the account which Paulinus Nolanus 30 gives of them, who calls them cubicula, little chambers, and tells us, the use of them was for people to retire into, that were minded to or meditation, or private prayer.' parts of the catechumenia, and profane, instead of pious uses. For, as we may collect from the decrees of the Council of Trullo 31 and the Emperor Leo 32, some made use of them for lodgings instead of oratories, and cohabited with their wives there: to correct which abuse, it is ordered, in both those decrees, that all such persons should be expelled from the catechumenia of the church.' 9. It is to be noted further, that not only men and women The place of the vir Imperatrix Eirene, cum præcessis- 28 De Consens. Eccles. 1. 2. c. II. 29 Ibid. c. 12. (p. 681.) IIpokaðŋμévov tov ȧyiwτátov nμwv deσTÓTOV καὶ οἰκουμενικοῦ πατριάρχου κυρίου Μιχαήλου ἐν τοῖς δεξιοῖς κατηχου μένοις τοῦ ἁγίου ̓Αλεξίου, κ. τ. λ. 30 Ep. 12. ad Sever. (p. 151.) Cubicula intra porticus quaterna longis basilicæ lateribus inserta, secretis orantium, vel in lege Domini meditantium, præterea memoriis religiosorum ac familiarium accommodatos ad pacis æternæ requiem locos præbent. 31 C. 97. (t. 6. p. 1183 c.) Tous γαμετῇ συνοικοῦντας, ἢ ἄλλως ἀδιακρίτως τοὺς ἱεροὺς τόπους κοινοποιοῦντας, καὶ καταφρονητικῶς περὶ αὐτ τοὺς ἔχοντας, καὶ οὕτως ἐν αὐτοῖς καταμένοντας, καὶ ἐκ τῶν ἐν τοῖς σεβασμίοις ναοῖς κατηχουμένων ἐξωθεῖσθαι προστάσσομεν. 32 Novel. 73. See n. 24, preceding. See also b. 3. ch. 4. v. I. p. 346. n. 12. widows others. had their distinct places, but also virgins and widows a peculiar gins and apartment assigned to them. Which we learn from St. Am- distinguishbrose's Discourse to a lapsed Virgin 33, telling her that she ed from ought to have remembered that place in the church, railed out from the rest, where she was used to stand, whither the religious matrons and noble women came thronging to receive her salutations, which were more holy and better than herself.' This appears also from the author of the Constitutions 34, who, speaking of the order in which persons were appointed to sit in the church, first places the virgins, widows, and aged women, in the highest rank; then married women below them, in a place by themselves; then their children, daughters with their mothers, and sons with their fathers, or next behind them; and, last of all, young men, according to their age, in different stations. This was the order in such churches as had none of those hyperoa or galleries before spoken of; for otherwise, as has been noted out of Nazianzen, the virgins and matrons had their distinct places in the porticoes above. I do not here allege Origen, after Durantus and Bona, because they plainly mistake the sense of their author, who speaks not of the Christian Church, but of the Jewish Temple, and that with such a formal story, that it is a wonder any learned men could mistake him. He tells us 35 he had it from an old tradition, that there was a place in the temple peculiar for virgins to worship God in, whither no married woman was oi 33 Ad Virg. Laps. c.6. See before, b. 7. ch. 4. s. 7. v. 2. p. 408. n. 26. 34 L. 2. c. 57. Cotel. v. 1. p. 263. 'Ως γὰρ οἱ ποιμένες ἕκαστον τῶν ἀλόγων, αἰγῶν φημὶ καὶ προβάτων, κατά συγγένειαν καὶ ἡλικίαν ἱστῶσι· καὶ ἕκαστον αὐτῶν τὸ ὅμοιον τῷ ὁμοίῳ συντρέχει, οὕτω καὶ ἐν τῇ ἐκκλησίᾳ οἱ μὲν νεώτεροι ἰδίᾳ καθεζέσθωσαν, ἐὰν ᾖ τόπος εἰ δὲ μὴ, στηκέτωσαν ὀρθοί· οἱ δὲ τῇ ἡλικίᾳ ἤδη προβεβηκότες καθεζέσθωσαν ἐν τάξει· τὰ δὲ παιδία ἑστῶτα προσλαμβανέσθωσαν αὐτῶν οἱ πατέρες καὶ μητέρες· αἱ δὲ νεώτεραι πάλιν ἰδίᾳ, ἐὰν ᾖ τόπος· εἰ δὲ μήγε, ὄπισθεν τῶν γυναικῶν ἱστάσθωσαν· αἱ δὲ ἤδη γεγαμηκυῖαι καὶ τεκναρχοῦσαι ἰδίᾳ ἱστάσθωσαν· αἱ παρθένοι δὲ καὶ αἱ χῆραι καὶ πρεσβύτιδες πρώται πασῶν στηκέτωσαν, ἢ καθεζέσθω σαν. 35 Hom. 26. in Matth. p. 162. [al. Tractat. 23. n. 25.] (t. 3. p. 845 f.) Sed venit ad nos quædam traditio talis, quasi sit aliquis locus in templo ubi virginibus quidem consistere licet, et orare Deum: expertæ autem thorum virilem non permittebantur in eo consistere. Maria autem, postquam genuit Salvatorem, ingrediens adorare stetit in illo virginum loco : prohibentibus autem eis, qui noverant adhuc eam jam filium genuisse, Zacharias stetit, atque dixit prohibentibus eam, quoniam digna est virginum loco, cum sit virgo. Ergo quasi manifestissime Zachariam adversus legem agentem, et in loco virginum permittentem stare mulierem, occiderunt inter templum et altare viri generationis illius. The σωλεί that is, the throne, in this part allowed to come. But the Virgin Mary, after she had brought forth our Saviour, went and stood to worship there; which when they, that knew she had borne a son, would not allow of, Zacharias, the father of St. John Baptist, stood up and said, She is worthy to stand up in the place of virgins, for she is yet a virgin. Upon which they rose up against Zacharias, as a breaker of the law, in permitting a married woman to stand in the place of virgins, and slew him between the temple and the altar.' I make no further reflection on this passage at present, but leave it, as I find it, to the judgment of the reader. As to the place of virgins in the Christian church, I have only this one thing to remark, out of St. Ambrose; which is, that usually some profitable texts of Scripture 36 were written upon the walls of the church in this place, proper to the virgin state, such as that of St. Paul, 1 Cor. 7, 34, "There is difference between a wife and a virgin: the unmarried woman careth for the things of the Lord, that she may be holy both in body and in spirit." Which lesson St. Ambrose tells the virgin he writes to, she ought to have remembered, because it was written before her eyes upon the walls of the church. 10. There is one place more to be taken notice of in some ov, or solea, churches, before we leave this part of the temple to go into the magistrate's sanctuary, which is what Codinus 37 and some other modern Grecks call the owλeîov, a place of some note in the church of Sancta Sophia, but not exactly agreed upon by learned men, either what, or where it was, or what use it was put to. Gretser, in his Notes upon Codinus 38, fancies it to be nothing else but the pavement at the entrance of the sanctuary, or some such thing adjoining to it: Morinus 39 and Allatius 40 say it was of the church. 36 Ad Virg. Laps. c. 6. (t. 2. p. 311 b.) Nonne vel illa præcepta, quæ oculis tuis ipse scriptus paries ingerebat, recordari debuisti, Divisa est mulier et virgo, &c.? 37 Origin. Constant. 1. 3. c. 12. (ap. Byzant. Hist. Scriptor. t. 18. 1.56 b. 3.) Εποίησε δὲ κιβώριον, καὶ τοὺς κίονας, καὶ τὰ στήθεα τοῦ θυσιαστηρίου ἐξ ἀργυρίου, καὶ χρυσώσας αὐτά· τὸ δὲ μῆλον, καὶ τὸ κρίνα, καὶ TÒV σTAUρÒV TOÙ κißwpiov óλóxpvσa τὸν δὲ ἄμβωνα, καὶ τὸν σωλέα χρυσά. -[Id. de Offic. Constant. c. 17. n. 22. (ap. eosdem, t. 20. p. 106 a. 4.) Kai Karéрxeraι ó Baσidevs Toù äμßwνος οὐκ ἐκ τοῦ μέρους μέντοι, οὗπερ ἀνῆλθεν, ἕως τοῦ πρὸς τὰς ὡραίας πύλας ὁρῶντος, ἀλλ ̓ ἐκ τοῦ ἑτέρου τοῦ πρὸς τὸν σωλέαν καὶ τὸ ἅγιον Bμа. ED.] 38 Observat. in Codin. 1. 3. c. 12. ad Codin. de Officiis, c. 17. n. 38. ibid. p. 220.) Junius etiam, &c. 39 De Ordinat. part. 2. [Annotat. in Græc. Ordinat.] n. 52. (p. 187.) Græce vario modo scriptum reperitur, ὁ σωλέας, ἡ σωλία, ἡ σωλέα, τὸ some place between the bema and the ambo. Schelstrate 41 is a little more particular; that it was the place before the rails of the sanctuary, where the Emperor had his seat on the right hand, and the readers and subdeacons on the left. But Suicerus 42 and Meursius 43 are more positive, that it was only the Emperor's throne, and called owλetov from the Latin solium; and Dr. Beveridge 44 inclines to the same opinion. Du Fresne 45 allows of this as probable likewise; but he also fancies it might signify the limina cancellorum, the threshold, or raised foundation, upon which the rails of the chancel were erected, and be so called from solum, whence comes the French name seuil, and the English sill, or groundsil. This was usually adorned and beautified very richly, he thinks with gold and precious stones, and sometimes reverenced with the kisses or salutations owdeîov, ó owλevs, aliquando etiam pro σω scribitur σο. Locus est in ecclesiis Græcorum intermedius inter sanctuarium et chorum. A choro ingressus est in sanctuarium, vel a sanctuario in chorum, per mediam soleam. Altior est et eminentior choro. Illuc usque procedunt, qui corporis Christi participes esse volunt. Ex una igitur parte cancellis sanctuarii contiguus est; ex altera, choro, &c. 40 De Templ. Græcor. dissert. 2. n. 5. (p. 170.) Quæris, ubinam solea collocanda sit? Respondeo, si conjecturæ non fallunt, bemati ambonique proximum fuisse. Colligo ex Codino, c. 17. de Officiis, Kai karépχεται, κ. τ. λ. See n. 37, above. Et in Originibus de Templo S. Sophiæ: Εποίησε τὸ κιβώριον, κ. τ. λ. See n. 37, above. 41 C. Antioch. Restitut. dissert. 3. c. 4. n. 1o. de Canone 2. (p. 192.) 42 Thes. Eccles. voce Zwléas (t. 2. p. 1209.) At quænam est hæc solea? Meursio est solium seu thro nus. 43 Vid. Glossar. Græco-barb. (p. 545.) Ewλéas. Solium, &c. 44 In C. Nicæn. c. 11. (t. 2. append. p. 74.) Ex his enim verbis [Sozomeni, 1.7. c. 25. See n.46, following.] finis, ni fallor, tandem imponatur tortuosæ isti quæstioni, quæ doctorum ingenia huc usque exercuit, quidnam nimirum esset soleus ille a recentioribus Græcis toties decantatus, et quem in ecclesia usum habuerit? Inter omnes enim convenit, aliquid fuisse in recentiorum, præsertim Græcorum, ecclesiis, owλeiav, σωλίαν, σωλείον, atque etiam σολέαν, σolíav, vel ooλetov, dictum, idque prope cancellos collocatum fuisse. Consentiunt itidem omnes hoc Latinum esse vocabulum, et plerique nihil aliud esse quam solium; et tamen quidnam esset istud solium se ignorare ingenue fatentur: nisi quod Jacobus Goar solium Christi per nomen illud designari affirmat. Sed miror, nemini de hac re agenti, eorum, quæ supra citantur, Sozomeni verborum in mentem venisse, quibus D. Ambrosius locum imperatoribus in ecclesia assignasse traditur ante cancellos altaris. Ubi enim imperator sedere solitus est, solium meritissimo jure nominetur. Ab Ambrosii autem temporibus et deinceps, ut edictis verbis constat, imperatoris sedes erat ante cancellos, ubi omnes uno ore concinunt, σωλεῖον vel σωXéar collocatum esse; quod haud dubie itaque ipsum erat imperatoris solium sive sedes; quod etiam solii instar erectum fuisse, fidem facit Cedrenus, &c. 45 In Paul. Silent. p. 585. (ut supra, p. 231.) Itaque si bene auguror, &c. [See the whole of n. 73. ibid. (p. 226.) on the word Solea. ED.] |