Secret. See INIvstery,
Secret Discipline (Lat, arcani disciplina), a term used to signify a practice of the early Cliristian Cliurch of performing the rites of religion with se- crecy. It was founded upon the words of Christ, " Give not that which is holy unto the dogs," etc, (Matt, vii, ()), and began to be common shortly after the middle of the 2d century. The first reason ft)r its adoption was to guard the more sacred and mysterious doctrines from po])ular misconception and blasphemy among the pa- gans. The discipline of the secret appears in several forms: (1,) Both unbelievers and catechumens were
SECRET OF THE MASS
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SECTS, CHRISTIAN
dismissed from the church, when the ordinarj' service was closed, by one of the deacons, who said, "//e, niissa est" — "(io, tlie assembly is dismissed." After this the sacrament was administered. (2.) The lectures address- ed b}- the presiding teacher to the body of catechumens in general were confined to the general doctrines of Cliristianity. The more mysterious doctrines, those which regarded the sacraments of baptism and the eu- charist, called " Mystagogic," were only communicated at the close, and to those only who had undergone the preliminary probation. (3.) The eucharist, if referred to at all in the presence of the uninitiated, was spoken of in words so conceived as to conceal its nature. Some very curious examples of this concealment might be cited — e. g. Epiphanius, referring to the formula " this is my body," writes, " This is my that tfiiiii/^' (Toiiro fiov tan T('i^f). The mysteries thus specially guarded were baptism, the unction, or chrism ordination of priests, the Lord's supper, liturgy, the knowledge of the Holy Trinity, the Creed, and the Lord's Prayer. See Coleman, C/uist. A ntiq. p. 35. See Aucani Disciplina.
Secret of the Mass, a prayer in the canon of the mass before the preface, and having much the same tenor as the collect. Since the 10th century it is said in a low voice by the celebrant after the Oralefratres. In France it was marked with the mystic letters V. D. St. Gregory calls it the Canon of the Secret. Accord- ing to some writers, it represents that the working of God in the holy communion passes man's understand- ing; but, as Cranmer explains it, Christ's secret conver- sation which he had with his disciples before his pas- sion. The bells in England were forbidden to be rung during this service in 1701. The secrets were formerly called svper ohlata and may have taken their name from the secretion of gifts and oblations. — Walcott, Sacred A rchveol. s. v.
Secretse, any prayers said secretly and not aloud. Anciently, at the c<immencement of the divine office, the Loni's I'rayer and Hail Mary were said silently, as also other portions of the same office. But this rule was abolished in the English Church during the changes which took place three centuries ago, though it still obtains in the Latin communion. — Lee, Glossci?-// of Li- turrjical Term^, s. v.
Secretaria, a name given to the sessions of the councils in the early Christian Church because they were held in the secretariiim (q. v.).
Secretarium (or SECiiEXUJi). a part of early Chris- tian chiirrhes, which was also called diaconimm (q. v.). It was called secretarium, as Ducange conjectures, be- cause the consistory or tribunal of the Church was here kept, the secretum or secretarium being a known name for the courts of the civil magistrate. Others suppose it derived its name from its being a place of safety, or the robing-room of the officiating clergy.
Secretarius (1), the confidential correspondent of a bishop, abbot, head of a college, or other ecclesiastical dignitary. (2) A sacristan or sexton.
Sect [in Biblical usage] {a'iptffic, i. e. dicision ; hence " heresy," Acts xxiv, 14 ; 1 Cor. xi, 19 ; Gal. v, 20; 2 Pet. ii, 1), a religious party (Acts v, 17, etc.); hence discord (1 Cor. xi, 19, etc.). Atnong the Jews there were several sects mentioned in the New Test., distinguished by their practices and opinions, yet united in communit)n with each other and with the bod\' of their nation. See Skcts, Jewish. Christianity was origi- nally considered as a new sect of Judaism ; hence Ter- tuUus, accusing Paul before Felix, says that he was chief of the seditious sect of the Nazarenes (Acts xxiv, 5) ; and the Jews of Kome said to the apostle when he arrived in that city that, "as concerning this sect, we know that everywhere it is spoken against" (Acts xxviii, 22). Peter (2 Pet. ii, 1-10) foretells that false teachers should arise among them " who privily shall bring in damnable heresies [or sects], even denying the
Lord that bought them, and bring upon themselves swift destruction." He adds that these people, being great lovers of themselves, are not afraid to introduce new sects, where the word sect is taken in the same sense as heresy. See Heijesy.
Among the Greeks the philosophers were divided into different sects; as the Academics, the Stoics, the Peripatetics, the Cynics, the Epicureans, etc. The Jews, in imitation of the Greeks, began to divide themselves into sects about the time of the Maccabees ; and it seems as if the Corinthians had a mind to introduce something like this into Christianity when they boast- ed, I am a disciple of Peter, I of Paul, I of ApoUos (1 Cor. i, 12 ; iii, 22, etc.). See Division.