542 THDBD PERIOD, A.D. 311-590.
even in deserts and subterranean catacombs, and dui-ing the "whole period of persecution there were few church builduigs properly so called. The cause of this want, however, lay not in conscientious objection, but in the ojjpressed condition of the Christians. No sooner did they enjoy external and internal peace, than they built special places of devotion, which in a normal, orderly condition of the church are as necessary to public worship as special sacred times. The first certain traces of proper churcli buildings, in distinction from private places, appear in the second half of the third centur}'-, during the threeand-forty years' rest between the persecution of Decius and that of Diocletian.' But these were destroyed in the latter persecution.
The period of church building properly begins with Coustantine the Great. After Chi-istianity was acknowledged by the state, and empowered to hold property, it raised houses of worship in all parts of the Roman empire. There was probably more building of this kind in the fourth century than there has been in any period since, excepting perhaps the nineteenth century in the United States, where, every ten years, hundreds of churches and chapels are erected, while in the great cities of Eui'ope the multiplication of churches by no means keeps pact with the increase of population.' Constantine and his mother Helena led the way with a good exam])le. The emperor adorned not only his new residential city, but also the holy places in Palestine, and the African city Constantine, with basilicas, partly at his own expense, partly from the public treasury. His successors on the throne, excepting Julian, as well as bishops and wealthy laymen, vied with each other in building, beautifying, and enriching churches. This was considered a work pleasing to God and meritorious. Ambition and selfrighteousness mingled themselves here, as they almost everywhere do, with zeal for the glory of God. Chrysostom even
' Euseb. Hist. EccL vili. 1.
• The cities of New York, Brooklyn, and Philadelphia, for instance, have more enurches than the much older cities of Bcrhn, Vicniui, and Paris. New York hai Bomc three hundred, Berlin and Paris each hardly fifty. This is a noble triumph of the voluntary jirinciple in religion.
§ 103. CHimCH ARCHITECTURE. 543
laments that many a time the pctor are forgotten in the chui-ch buildings, and suggests that it is not enough to adorn the altar, the walls, and the floor, but that we must, above all, ofier the soul a living sacrifice to the Lord.' Jerome also rebukes those who haughtily pride themselves in the costly gifts which they offer to God, and directs them to help needy fellow-Christians rather, since not the house of stone, but the soul of the believer is the true temple of Christ.
The fourth century saw in the city of Rome above forty great churches.* In Constantinople the Church of the Apostles and the church of St. Sophia, built by Constantine, excelled in magnificence and beauty, and in the fifth century were considerably enlarged and beautified by Justinian. Sometimes heathen temples or other public buildings were transformed for Christian worship. The Emperor Phocas (602-610), for example, gave to the Roman bishop Boniface lY, the Pantheon, built by Agrippa under Augustus, and renowned for its immense and magnificent dome (now called chiesa della rotonda), and it was thenceforth consecrated to the virgin Mary and the martyrs.
But generally the heathen temples, from their small size and their frequent round form, were not adapted for the Christian worship, as this is held within the building, and requires large room for xhe, congregation, that the preaching and the Scripture-reading may be heard ; while the heathen sacrifices were performed before the portico, and the multitude looked on without the sanctuary. The sanctuary of Pandrosos, on the Acropolis at Athens, holds but few persons, and even the Parthenon is not so capacious as an ordinary church. The Pantheon in Rome is an exception, and is much larger than most temples. The small round pagan temples were most easily convertible into Christian baptisteries and burial chapels. Far more frequently, doubtless, was the material of forsaken or destroyed temples applied to the bui) iing of churches.
' Homil. Ixxx. in Matth. § 2, and 1. § 3.
• Optatus of Mileve, De sehism. Donat. ii. 4 : " Inter quadra^nla et qiod exooi- A. basilicas."