§ 70.

DIVINE SERVICE.

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In the third century the traces of buildings devoted exclusively to Christian worship become more frequent and obvious;1 and as early as the peaceful times between the Valerian and Diocletian persecutions, splendid edifices had been erected for this purpose.2 These were called προσευκτήριον, κυριακόν, dominicum, οἶκος ἐκκλησίας and simply ἐκκλησία. From the time of Constantine they were also styled vaós, templum, but never fanum and delubrum. In imitation of the temple of Jérusalem, a part of the interior was inaccessible to the people (¿yíaoμa, ẞñua, chorus), where the wooden table for the Lord's Supper трáñεša, mensa sacra) stood beside the seats of the clergy (кaðéSpa, Opóvoi).3 Though the Christians were fond of certain religious symbols on many of their household utensils, yet nothing of this kind was allowed in the churches."

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At the time of Origen, the Christians had no other general festivals besides Sunday, than the parasceve (preparation) the passover, and the feast of pentecost. Soon, after, however, there appears to have been added to them the feast of the ascension (ἡ ἑορτὴ τῆς ἀναλήψεως τοῦ Κυρίου). So also in Egypt,

1 Under Severus Alexander (§ 56, note 6) then in Cyprian, Dionysius of Alexandria, etc. Comp. above, § 53, note 10.

2 Euseb. Η. Ε. viii. 1, 2: Μηδαμῶς ἔτι τοῖς παλαιοῖς οἰκοδομήμασιν ἀρκούμενοι, εὐρείας εἰς πλάτος ἀνὰ πάσας τὰς πόλεις ἐκ θεμελίων ἀνίστων ἐκκλησίας.

3 A prescription respecting the planning of churches is found in Constitt. Apost. ii. 57. A description of the church at Tyre apud Euseb. x. 4, 15, ss.

4 So on the seal-rings, a dove, a ship, a lyre, an anchor, a fish, etc. Clem. Alex. Paedag. iii. p. 289. Tertullianus de Pudic. c. 7, mentions the picturae calicum representing the ovis perdita a Domino requisita, et humeris ejus revecta, but does not seem (cap. 10), to approve of it. Münter's Sinnbilder der alten Christen. Heft 1, S. 7, f.

5 Can. Illiberit. 36: Placuit, picturas in ecclesia esse non debere, ne quod colitur et adoratur, in parietibus depingatur. The older Catholic theologians, for example Baronius, Bellarmine, Perronius, etc., tried many ways of evading the force of this canon; on the contrary, the true meaning of it, with its historical consequences, has been acknowledged by Petavius Dogm. theol. lib. xv. c. 13, no. 3. Pagius Crit. ad ann. 55, no. 4. 18, especially Natalis Alexander ad Hist. eccl. saec. iii. Diss. 21, Art. 2.

6 Origen. contra Cels. viii. p. 392.

7 First mentioned in the Constitt. Apostol. v. 19; and considered by Augustine (Ep. 118 ad Januar.) as an ancient festival. See Krabbe über die apost. Constitutionen, S. 176, ff.

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toward the end of the third century, they began to observe, after the example of Basilides' followers, the epiphany (Tà Éπipávia) on the sixth of January, but according to the orthodox view of the appearance of the Logos on earth ( empáveia) not simply as the festival of his baptism, but also as that of his birth. The arrangement of Divine worship at this time is found in the Constitt. Apost. ii. 57. At the agapae, the clergy and poor were particularly remembered (1. c. ii. 28).

The respect paid to martyrs still maintains the same character as in the second century, differing only in degree, not in kind, from the honor shown to other esteemed dead. As the churches held the yearly festivals of their martyrs at the graves of the latter, so they willingly assembled frequently in the burial places of their deceased friends,1o for which they used in many places even caves (cryptae, catacumbae).11 At the cele

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8 Comp. § 45, note 2. So also Jablonski de Orig. festi nativ. Christi diss. i. § 7. (Opusc. ed. te Water, iii. p. 328, ss.) Differently Neander gnost. Systeme, S. 49, 81, and Kirchengesch. i. i. S. 519. On the other side see Hallische A. L. Z. April, 1823, S. 836.

9 Comp. § 53, note 46. A remarkable accommodation of Gregory Thaumaturgus, see Vita S. Gregorii Thaumat. per Gregor. Nyssenum (ed. G. Vosii, p. 312): Evviðàv ŐTI TAÏS σωματικαῖς θυμηδίας τῇ περὶ τὰ εἴδωλα πλάνῃ παραμένει τὸ νηπιῶδες τῶν πολλῶν καὶ ἀπαίδευτον· ὡς ἂν τὸ προηγούμενον τέως ἐν αὐτοῖς μάλιστα κατορθωθείη τὸ πρὸς τὸν θεὸν ἀντὶ τῶν ματαίων σεβασμάτων βλέπειν, ἐφῆκεν αὐτοῖς ταῖς τῶν ἁγίων μαρτύρων ἐμφαιδρύνεσθαι μνήμαις καὶ εὐπαθεῖν καὶ ἀγάλλεσθαι.

10 Constitt. Apost. v. c. 8 : Συναθροίζεσθε ἐν τοῖς κοιμητηρίοις, τὴν ἀνάγνωσιν τῶν ἱερῶν βιβλίων ποιούμενοι, καὶ ψάλλοντες ὑπὲρ τῶν κεκοιμημένων μαρτύρων καὶ πάντων τῶν ἀπ' αἰῶνος ἁγίων, καὶ τῶν ἀδελφῶν ὑμῶν τῶν ἐν κυρίῳ κεκοιμημένων· καὶ τὴν ἀντίτυπον τοῦ βασιλείου σώματος Χριστοῦ δεκτὴν εὐχαριστίαν προσφέρετε ἔν τε ταῖς ἐκκλησίαις ὑμῶν, καὶ ἐν τοῖς κοιμητηρίοις. Hence Aemilianus, governor of Egypt, said to the Christians brought before him in the Decian persecution (Dionys. Alex. ap. Euseb. vii. 11, 4): Οὐδαμῶς δὲ ἐξέσται ὑμῖν ἢ συνόδους ποιεῖσθαι, ἢ εἰς τὰ καλούμενα κοιμητήρια siotévat. So also the proconsul of Africa (Acta proconsularia S. Cypriani, c. 1). Gallienus removed this prohibitory rule (see above, § 56, note 14); but Maximinus afterward renewed (Euseb. ix. c. 2). These burial-places were called younτýpiov, dormitorium.

Christian catacombs are found in Rome, Naples, Syracuse, and Malta. In the year 1844 they were also discovered on the island Melos. Respecting the Roman catacombs, Hieronymus in Ezechiel. c. 40: Dum essem Romae puer, et liberalibus studiis erudirer, solebam cum caeteris ejusdem aetatis et propositi diebus dominicis sepulchra Apostolorum et Martyrum circuire: crebroque cryptas ingredi, quae in terrarum profunda defossae, ex utraque parte ingredientium per parietes habent corpora sepulturarum, et ita obscura sunt omnia, ut propemodum illud propheticum compleatur: descendant ad infernum viventes, etc. Cf. Prudentius reρì σrep. hymn. xi. Passio Hippolyti, v. 153, ss.-Modern descriptions of the catacombs in Rome, Pauli Aringhi Roma subterranea novissima. Paris. 1659. 2 voll. fol. M. A. Boldetti Osservazioni sopra i Cimiteri de SS. Martiri, ed antichi Cristiani di Roma. 1720. 2 t. fol. See farther the works of Bottari, Ciampini, etc. (see Münter's Sinnbilder d. alten Christen. Heft. 1, S. 24). Volkmann's histor. krit. Nachrichten v. Italien. (Leipz. 3 Bde. 1777), iii. 67. A description of the city of Rome by Platner, Bunsen, Gerhard, and Röstell (Stuttgart and Tübingen. 1830. i. 355); Respecting those

bration of the Lord's Supper, both the living who brought oblations, as well as the dead, and the martyrs for whom offerings were presented, especially on the anniversary of their death, were included by name in the prayer of the church.12 Inasmuch as the re-admission of a sinner into the church was thought to stand in close connection with the forgiveness of sin, an opinion was associated with the older custom of restoring to church communion the lapsed who had been again received by the martyrs, that the martyrs could also be serviceable in obtaining the forgiveness of sins.13 In doing so they set out in part with the idea, which is very natural, that the dead prayed for the living, as the living prayed for the dead,11 but that the intercession of martyrs abiding in the society of the Lord, would be of peculiar efficacy on behalf of their brethren: 15 while they partly thought that the martyrs, as assessors in the last decisive judgment, were particularly active (1 Cor. vi. 2, 3).

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in Naples: Pellicia de Christ. eccl. politia. tom. iii. P. ii. Diss. 5. Chr. F. Bellermann über die ältesten christl. Begräbnisstätten, u. bes. die Katakomben zu Neapel mit ihren Wandgemälden. Hamburg. 1839. 4: Respecting those in Sicily, see Bartel's Briefe über Calabrien u. Sicilien. (Götting. 3 Th. 1787-91), iii. 203. Münter's Nachrichten v. Neapel und Sicilien, S. 344.-By the "Congregation of Relics and Indulgences," the symbol of the palm and the pretended blood-vessels (which were more probably used in the celebration of the eucharist) have been established as marks of the graves of martyrs; but that they are not sufficient marks is shown by Eusebius Romanus (Mabillon) de cultu Sanctorum ignotorum. Paris. 1688. 4. In the second edition, however, he was obliged to yield. 1705. (The church in the Catacombs, by Dr. C. Maitland. London, 1846. 8vo). 12 These registers of names, since they were not always the same, were inscribed for each occasion on the writing-tables then used (diptycha, díπтνɣa), and afterward erased. Hence the appellation diptycha was used of the lists of names of persons to be mentioned at the communion service, though these lists afterward assumed a more permanent character after all the offerentes were no longer called by name. This, and the peculiar names diptycha episcoporum, dipt. vivorum, dipt. mortuorum, first occur in the fifth century. Chr. A. Salig, de Diptychis veterum tam profanis quam sacris. Halae. 1731. 4.

13 Against this notion great zeal is shown by Tertull. de Pudicitia, c. 22: In ipsa securitate et possessione martyrii quis permittit homini donare quae Deo reservanda sunt?-Sufficiat martyri propria delicta purgasse. Ingrati vel superbi est in alios quoque spargere, quod pro magno fuerit consecutus. On the other hand, even Cyprian, Ep. 12 and 13, admits, Christianos auxilio Martyrum adjuvari apud Dominum in delictis suis posse. 14 Cypriani Epist. 57 ad Cornelium: Memores nostri invicem simus,-utrobique pro nobis semper oremus,—et si quis istinc nostrum prior divinae dignationis celeritate praecesserit, perseveret apud Dominum nostra dilectio, pro fratribus et sororibus nostris apud misericordiam patris non cesset oratio.

15 Cyprian writes to confessors, Ep. 15: Vox illa purificatione confessionis illustris-impetrat de domini bonitate quod postulat; and Ep. 77: Nunc vobis in precibus efficacior sermo est, et ad impetrandum quod in pressuris petitur facilior oratio est.

16 Cyprianus de Lapsis: Credimus quidem posse apud judicem plurimum Martyrum merita et opera justorum: sed cum judicii dies venerit, cum post occasum saeculi hujus et mundi ante tribunal Christi populos ejus adsteterit. Martyrs are, according to Dionysius

Origen attributed very great value to that intercession, in expecting from it great help toward sanctification;17 but he went beyond the ideas hitherto entertained in attributing to martyrdom an importance and efficacy similar to the death of Christ.18 Hence he feared the cessation of persecution as a misfortune.19 The more the opinion that value belonged to the intercession of martyrs was established,20 the oftener it may have happened that persons recommended themselves to the martyrs yet living for intercession, i. e. after their death.21 On the other hand, no trace is found of in

Alex. ab. Euseb. Η. Ε. vi. 42, 3 : Οἱ νῦν τοῦ Χριστοῦ πάρεδροι καὶ τῆς βασιλείας αὐτοῦ κοινωνοὶ, καὶ μέτοχοι τῆς κρίσεως αὐτοῦ, καὶ συνδικάζοντες αὐτῷ.

17 Origenes in Cant. Cant. lib. iii. ed. de la Rue. t. iii. p. 75: Sed et omnes sancti, qui de hac vita decesserunt, habentes adhuc charitatem erga eos qui in hoc mundo sunt si dicantur curam gerere salutis eorum et juvare eos precibus suis atque interventu suò apud Deum non erit inconveniens.-In libr. Jesu Nave, Hom. xvi. 5: Ego sic arbitror, quod omnes illi, qui dormierunt ante nos, patres pugnent nobiscum et adjuvent nos orationibus suis. Ita namque etiam quemdam de senioribus magistris audivi dicentem in eo loco, in quo scriptum est in Numeris (xxii. 4), quia ablinget synagoga illa hanc synagogam, sicut ablingit vitulus herbam viridem in campo. Dicebat ergo: Quare hujusmodi similitudo assumpta est, nisi quia hoc est, quod intelligendum est in hoc loco, quod synagoga Domini, quae nos praecessit in sanctis, ore et lingua consumit adversariam synagogam, i. e., orationibus et precibus adversarios nostros absumit?-in epist. ad Rom. lib. ii. 4: Jam vero si etiam extra corpus positi vel sancti, qui cum Christo sunt, agunt aliquid, et laborant pro nobis ad similitudinem angelorum, qui salutis nostrae ministeria procurant: vel rursum peccatores etiam ipsi extra corpus positi agunt aliquid secundum propositum mentis suae, ad angelorum nihilominus similitudinem sinistrorum, cum quibus et in aeternum ignem mittendi dicuntur a Christo: habeatur et hoc quoque inter occulta Dei, nec chartulae committenda mysteria.

18 Origenis Exhort. ad Martyr. c. 30 : Ἐπίστησον εἰ τὸ κατὰ τὸ μαρτύριον βάπτισμα, ὥσπερ τὸ τοῦ σωτῆρος καθάρσιον γέγονε τοῦ κόσμου, καὶ αὐτὸ ἐπὶ πολλῶν θεραπείᾳ καθ αιρόμενον γίνεται. ὡς γὰρ οἱ τῷ κατὰ τὸν Μωσέως νόμον θυσιαστηρίῳ προσεδρεύοντες διακονεῖν ἐδόκουν δι' αἵματος ταυρῶν καὶ τράγων ἄφεσιν ἁμαρτημάτων ἐκείνοις οὕτως αἱ ψυχαὶ τῶν πεπελεκισμένων ἕνεκεν τῆς μαρτυρίας Ἰησοῦ μὴ μάτην τῷ ἐν οὐρανοῖς θυσιασ τηρίῳ παρεδρεύουσαι διακονοῦσι τοῖς εὐχομένοις ἄφεσιν ἁμαρτημάτων. Cap. 50 : Τάχα δὲ καὶ ὥσπερ τιμίῳ αἵματι τοῦ Ἰησοῦ ἠγοράσθημεν,ποὕτως τῷ τιμίῳ αἵματι τῶν μαρτύρων άyоpaσ¤ýσοvтαí Tives. Cf. in Numeros Hom. xxiv. 1.

19 Origenes in Num. Hom. x. 2: Et quidem quod Dominus noster J. Chr venerit, ut tolleret peccatum mundi, et morte sua peccata nostra deleverit, nullus, qui Christo credit, ignorat. Quomodo autem et filii ejus auferant peccata sanctorum, i. e., Apostoli et Martyres, si poterimus, ex scripturis divinis probare tentabimus. (He appeals to 2 Cor. xii. 15, 2 Tim. iv. 6, Apoc. vi. 9.) Unde ergo vereor, ne forte, ex quo Martyres non fiunt, et hostiae sanctorum non offeruntur pro peccatis nostris, peccatorum nostrorum remissionem non mereamur. Et ideo etiam diabolus, sciens, per passionem Martyrii remissionem fieri peccatorum, non vult nobis publicas Gentilium persecutiones movere.

20 The Origenist Eusebius refers on this point, Praep. evang. xii. c. 3, first to Plato de Legg. lib. xi., then: Καὶ ἐν τῇ βίβλῳ δὲ τῶν Μακκαβαίων (2 Macc. xv. 14) λέγεται Ιερεμίας ὁ προφήτης μετὰ τὴν ἀπαλλαγὴν τοῦ βίου εὐχόμενος ὁρᾶσθαι ὑπὲρ τοῦ λαοῦ, ὡς φρον τίδα ποιούμενος τῶν ἐπὶ γῆς ἀνθρώπων. Δεῖ δέ φησι καὶ ὁ Πλάτων τούτοις πιστεύειν.

21 So Eusebius de Martyr. Palaest. cap. 7, relates that a maiden, Theodosia in Caesarea was added to the Martyrs expecting their death, ὁμοῦ φιλοφρονουμένη, καὶ οἷα εἰκὸς ὑπὲρ οὗ μνημονεύειν αὐτῆς πρὸς τὸν κύριον γενομένους παρακαλοῦσα.

vocation of the dead, since the idea was not yet entertained of the living being able to make known their requests to them.

§ 71.

CHURCH DISCIPLINE.

Memorials of the ecclesiastical discipline of this period exist in the Epistolae canonicae of Dionysius bishop of Alexandria, of Gregory Thaumaturgus (both about 260), and Peter, bishop of Alexandria, A.D. 306; the canons of the councils of Illiberis (305 ?), Arles (314), Ancyra (315), and Neo-Caesarea (315). All these are found in collections of the councils, and in Routh's Reliquiae Sacrae.

After the holiest transactions of public worship began to be treated as mysteries, the mode of admission to Christianity naturally assumed another form. A preparatory course preceded it, in which the catechumens (kaтηXоúμɛvo) were instructed by suitable teachers (catechistes, doctor audientium)1 and prepared for baptism through different classes (ȧkpowμevoi, audientes, yovvκλίνοντες, genuflectentes, βαπτιζόμενοι, φωτιζόμενοι, competentes).

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The condition of catechumen usually continued several years; but the catechumens often deferred even baptism as long as possible, on account of the remission of sins by which it was to be accompanied. Hence it was often necessary to baptize the sick; and for them the rite of sprinkling was introduced (baptismus clinicorum, T☎v kλivik☎v). The baptism of children was τῶν κλινικῶν).4 more common.5 The exorcism of those about to be baptized is

1 At this time the positive doctrines had not yet been kept secret from the catechumens. See the rule respecting their instructions in Const. Apost. vii. 39.

2 In Tertullian and Cyprian the audientes and catechumeni are synonymous. In Origen contra Cels. iii. 481. ed. de la Rue, Boehmer christl. Kirchl. Alterthumswissenschaft, ii. 287, and Rothe de Disciplinae arcani origine p. 13 find three classes of catechumens. See, on the other side C. F. W. Hasselbach de Catechumenorum ordinibus, quot fuerint in vetere Eccl. graeca et lat., 1839, and Redepenning's Origenes, i. 358. The yovvкhívoVTES are first mentioned by Conc. Neocaesar. can. 5. Nicaen. can. 14. Tob. Pfanner de Catechumenis antiquae ecclesiae. Francof. et Goth. 1688.12. Bingham Antiquitt. lib. x. (vol. iv.).

3 Disapproved, Constit. Apost. vi. 15: Ὁ δὲ λέγων, ὅτι ὅταν τελευτῶ, βαπτίζομαι, ἵνα μὴ ἁμαρτήσω καὶ ῥυπανῶ τὸ βάπτισμα, οὗτος ἄγνοιαν ἔχει θεοῦ, καὶ τῆς ἑαυτοῦ φύσεως ἐπιλήσμων τυγχάνει.

4 Cf. Cypriani Ep. 76. ad Magnum, that the baptism of them ought not to be regarded as invalid, eo quod aqua salutari non loti sunt, sed perfusi.

5 Comp. § 53, note 20. Origen found the baptism of children already existing in his circle, and defended it. Walli Hist. Baptism. Infant. P. i. p. 72, ss.---Fidus, an African bishop, believed, considerandam esse legem circumcisionis antiquae, ut intra octavum diem eum, qui natus est, baptizandum et sanctificandum non putaret. On the other hand, Cyprian,