Silent Prayer. In the ancient Church none but communicants were permitted to remain in the Church during the communion service. The entrance on this service was made by a mental or silent prayer, offered by the people in private, and thence called ti'iyr) Sia mwiriic, the silent prayer, and {I'X') Kara. Siavoiai', the
SILENTIARII
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SILK
mental prayer {Cone. Laodic. can. 19). Some take the praver in silence here to mean no more than prayers made over the communicants bj' the minister alone, the people not making any responses; but we are to understand here such private prayers as each particu- lar person made by himself. That there were such private prayers appears not only from the canon, but from several ancient writers (Chrysostom, De mm Evul- (jandis Peccatis, v, 16i ; Basil, Ep. 63), See Bingham, Christ. Antiq. bk. xv, ch. i, § 1.
Silentiarii, a name given, 1, to some monks in early times. This was not a name of any particular order, but given to some few for their professing a more than Pythagorean silence; such as Johannes Silentia- rius, who was first bishop of Colonia in Armenia, but renounced his bishopric to become a monk in Palestine, where he got the name of /Silent iariiis from his ex- traordinary silence (Cyril, Acta Sanctoium,'Ma.ii 13, vol. iii, p. 23-1).
2. More commonly to certain men who were civil officers in the emperor's palace, and served both as ap- paritors to execute public business, and as guards to keep the peace about him, when they had the name of Silentiarii, under which title they are spoken of in the Theodosidii Code (lib. vi, tit. 23). See Bingham, Christ. Antiq. bk. vii, ch. ii, § 14.
Silentium Indicere, an ancient form of speech used to bid tlie people fall to their private devotions. This signal was given Dy the deacon ; but when the bishop gave the signal, he said Oremus (Let us praj'). See Bingham, Christ. Antiq. bk. xv, ch. i, § 1.
Silenus, in Grecian mythology, was originally sy- nonymous with satyr (q. v.) ; but when the latter term became attached to a class of companions to Bacchus. a single one of them, Silenus, obtained a special prom- inence. He was said to be the son of Mercury or of Pan, and the inseparable companion of Bacchus, whom he brought up and instructed. Silenus was represent- ed as a jovial old man, bald-headed, pug-nosed, fat and round like the wine-bag which he constantly carried, and usually intoxicated. He did not, consequently, trust to his legs, but generally rode on an ass. His special delight was in music and dancing, a certain dance being named from him, Silenus; and the inven- tion of the flute is sometimes attributed to him. He also appears, in contrast with his undignified' external appearance, as a Bacchic inspired prophet who has a familiar knowledge of things both past and future, and as a despiser of the gifts of fortune and of earthly life. When he was drunk and asleep, he was in the power of mortals, who might compel him to prophesy and sing by surrounding him with chains of flowers. Silenus had a temple at Elis, in Greece, where Methe (drunkenness) stood by his side handing him a cup of wine. As the companion of Bacchus, he took part in the contest with the giants, whom he put to flight, in part through the braying of his ass. The name is thought to be derived from a root signifying to flow or run, so that Silenus was considered the rearer of Bacchus, either because moisture is necessary to the growth of the vine, or be- cause the ancients always mixed water with the wine they drank. See Smith, Diet, of Class. Mythol. s. v. ; Yollmer, Wurterb. d. Afythol. s. v. ; Hirt, Mythol. Bilderb. p. 104, etc. ; Muller, A neient A rt, etc., § 336.
Silfintopr, in Norse mythology, was one of the famous asa-horses on which the gods rode to the daily seat of judgment. — VoUmer, Wdrterh. d. Mythol. s. v.
Silicerniuin. (etymology unknown), a feast given in honor of the dead, but it is uncertain on what day. It sometimes appears to have been given at the time of the funeral, sometimes on the Novendiale (q. v.), and sometimes later.
Siliniez, in Slavic mythology, was the forest god of the Poles, to whom the mosses were sacred and whose
altar-fires were fed w^ith moss alone. — Vollmer, Worterh. d. Mythol. s. v.