PRAYER, Chiustian Attitudes of. 1. The first Christians prayed standing, with hands outstretched and raised towards heaven. Their face was turned towards the east. The proof of this appears everywhere in the primitive monuments. The frescos, sarcopbagi, tombstones (especially those of the Roman catacombs), the painted glasses which are found there in abundance, the old mosaics with which the old basilicas were orna- mented, etc., represent both sexes, especially women, in that attitude (Aringhi, passim, and especially ii, 285). These figures are generally called orantes. They are distinguished by the rich elegance of their garments; they wear long tunics or dalmatics with wide folding sleeves, trimmed with embroideries and purple borders; they are adorned with collars, bracelets, and other jew- elry (Bottari, tab. 19, 153). These splendid garments. might at first seem in contradiction with the well-known modesty of the women of the early Church ; but in thus adorning their image the aim of the artist was not to show what they bail been in life, but what glory sur- rounded them in heaven. In the sepultures of all kinds, the orante, generally standing between two trees — the emblem of Paradise — was the symbol of the soul who had become the bride of Jesus Christ, and as such was admitted to the celestial banquet. This explains the magnificence of the garment of St. Priscilla, represented as an orante in the cemetery of her name (Perret. Cata- combes, vol. iii, tab. 3). Thus we find St. Praxedis. in a beautiful Roman mosaic, covered from head to toot with precious stones (Ciampini, Vet. Monum. vol. ii. tali. 47). In a celebrated vision St. Agnes had appeared to her parents, a week after her martyrdom, clothed in precious robes, and, to use the Bollandists1 expression, auro textis cycladibus induta. This text became the type of most of the images of the young martyr: the most beautiful specimen is a gilded glass, published by Boldetti (Cim'et. tab. 3, fig. 3, p. 194). Several of these female orantes, who were probably noble Roman matrons, as if fatigued by a prolonged prayer, have their arms supported by men, who, by their garments. must be supposed to be servants (Bosio, p. 389, 405; Aringhi, ii, 17), which reminds us of Moses supported by Aaron and Hur in a similar manner (Exod. xvii, 12).
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We know this custom nol only by the plctnres, but also by the written monuments of < Ihristian antiquity. The Christians, says T< rtullian i Apol. xxx I, while praying, raise their eyes to heaven, stretch <>ut tleir hands, because they are innocent; they pray bareheaded, be- cause we have nol to blush " llluc suspicientes in coe- lum > < !hristiani manibus expansis, quia innocuis, capite nudo, quia non erubescimus." To pray with uplifted bands is an attitude natural in the man who addresses himself to the Deity; ii is a supplicatory posture which is found in all nations, even pagan, ;b among the Egyptians, where we meel it in funerary monuments; among the Etruscans there arc in the Museo Campana i«<i statues of Chiusi in terra-cotta, which have the arms raised in thai way; among the Romans, as we see by the r< verse ol a number of imperial medals, especial- ly those "i Trebonianus Gallus, the praying figure i* accompanied with the legend " Pietas ^.ugg." (Mionnet, 1 /.' lines, ii. 13 1. But Tertullian
remarks thai the attitude as well as intention of the faithful was quite different from those of the pagans. "As to us," says this father, "we do not content oursi Ives with raising cur hands, we Btretch them in memory of the passion of our Lord." They meant to imitate the
: Christ on the cross, as did several martyrs at their execution, for instance, St. Montanus, disciple of St. Cyprianus i Ruin art, p. •_'.■."> i, and SS. Fructuosus, Au- gurius, and Eulogius (Usuard. xii, Kal. Fehr.) : "Mani- bus in modum crucis expansis orantes." Several other pression id the same idea. It is there- fore easy t i tell the Christian orantes from similar pagan pictures. The latter raise their hands vertically, the curve of the elbow forming a right angle, while the arms of the Christians are almost in a horizontal posi- tion. Tertullian (De Orat. xiii) describes this difference mosl minutely, to remove all idea of idolatrous imita- tion : " We do n. it raise our hands with ostentation, hid with modesty, with moderation." Now, the priest alone
ii mass this rite of venerable antiquity, which has preserved its primitive character in the liturgy of
h of Lyons, for there the priest expands com- pletely his arms in the form of a cross while reciting the oration which immediately precedes the elevation. It is in be observed thai in the primitive Church the catechumens prayed standing like the resl id' the con- gregation, with this difference, that the Litter held their face somewhat raised to heaven (Tertull. /'< Coron. iii'. while the former inclined slightly their heads, not hav- ing obtained yet, by baptism, the divine adoption, the title of children of the Father who i- in heaven.
2. The practice of standing erecl in prayer was nol exclusive, and the firsl Christians sometimes prayed
We have an example of it in the Vxsts I sxi, 5): -And we kneeled down on the shore and prayed;"' and another in the life of St. James Major, whose knees, by dint of prolonged praying, had become as callous as those of a camel; and another, ofgreal celebrity, in the acts of the martyrdom of St. Ignatius i Ruinart, \ ii. 10, ed. Veron.). In less ancient times this custom he- comes more frequent. We know by the testimony of Eusebius i 17/. Constant, iv, '_M. 61) thai Constantine often honed his knees to offer his prayer to God! St. Jerome writes to the virgin Demetrius, •• Frequently the soli i itu.lt- ..I' ih \ -..id prompted thee to feud thy knees;" and to Marcellai Epist. xxiii, De segrnt. Blesill bends hi r k is he naked soii." It is likely thai