54.4 THEBD PERIOD. A.D. 311-590.
§ 104. The Consecration of Ctiurches.
New clmrches were consecrated with great solem'^ity bj prayer, singing, the communion, eulogies of present tishops, and the depositing of relics of saints." Tliis service set them apart Irom all profane uses, and designated them exclusively for the service and praise of God and the edification of his people. The dedication of Solomon's temple," as well as the purification of the temple after its desecration by the heathen Syrians," furnished the biblical authority for this custom. In times of persecution the consecration must have been performed in silence. But now these occasions became festivals attended by multitudes. Many bishops, like Theodorct, even invited t]ie pagans to attend them. The first description of such a festivity is given us by Eusebius: the consecration of the church of the Redeemer at the Holy Sepulchre,* and of a church at Tyre.'
After the Jewish precedent," it was usual to celebrate the anniversary of the consecration.^
Churches were dedicated either to the holy Trinity, or to one of the three divine Persons, especially Christ, or to the Virgin Mary, or to apostles, especially Peter, Paul, and John, or to distinguished martyrs and saints.
The idea of dedication, of course, by no means necessarily involves the superstitious notion of tlic oumipresent God being inclosed in a definite place. On the contrary, Solomon had long before said at the dedication of the temple at Jerusalem :
' This last was, according to Ambrose, Epist. 54, the custom in Rome, and cer. tainly wherever such relics were to be had. ' 2 Chron. c. 5-7.
* 1 Mace. iv. 44 ff.
* Vita Constant, iv. 43-46.
* Hist. Eccl. X. 2-4. Eusebius speaks here in general of the consecration of churches after the cessation of persecution, and then, c. 4, gives an oratio panegyrica, deliveied probably by himself, in which he describes the church at Tyre in a minute, but pompous way.
* To. tyKaivta, in memory of the purification of the temple under the Maccabees, 1 Mace. iv. 59 ; John x. 22.
^ Sozomen, II. E. ii. 25 (2(j). Gregory the Great ordered: " Solemnitatcs eccle tiarum dedicatiouum per singulos auuos sunt cclcbraudao."
§ 105. INTERIOR ARRANGEMENT OF CHURCHES. ^45
" Behold, the heaven and heaven of heavens cannot contain thee ; how much less this house that I have builded." When Athanasius was once censured for assembling the congregation on Easter, for want of room, in a newly built but not yet consecrated church, he appealed to tlie injunction of the Lord, that we enter into our closet to pray, as consecrating every place Chrysostom urged that every house should be a church, and every head of a family a spiritual shepherd, remembering the account which he must give even for his children and servants.' Kot walls and roof, but faith and life, constitute the chnrcb,* and the advantage of prayer in the church comes not so much from a special holiness of the phice, as from the Christian fellowship, the bond of love, and the prayer of the priests/ Augustine gives to liis congregation the excellent admonition : " It is your duty to put your talent to usury ; every one must be bishop in his own house ; he must see that his wife, his son, his daughter, his servant, since he is bought with so great & price, continues in the true faith. The apostle's doctrine has placed the master over the servant, and has bound the servant to obedience to the master, but Christ has paid a ransom for both."*
§ 105, Interwr Arrangement of Churches.
The interior arrangement of the Christian churches in parC imitated the temple at Jenisalem, in part proceeded directly from the Christian spirit. It exliibits, therefore, like the whole catholic system, a mixture of Judaism and Christianity. At the bottom of it lay the ideas of the priesthood and of sacrifice, and of fellowship with God administered thereby.
Accordingly, in every large church after Constantine there were three main divisions, wliich answered, on the one hand,
' Horn. vi. in Gen., § 2 : 'Ek^cAtjctioj' iroiTjiroi' aov t}\v olKiau koI yap Koi firevbvyoi fl Kai rri$ ruv TraiSioiv Kai t^j oltteTtJov cTurrjplai.
* Serm. in Eutrop. : 'H iKKKriaia ov revxo\ /col opocpos, aWit niaris kuI 0los.
* De incomprehensibili : 'Evrav^a 4<tt'i ti irKeoy, itov fi 5fi6voia koI ^ w/nAmpia Koi rrji ayaiTTii 6 cTvvdfcriJ.os ko.) at ru>v Uptaiy fvxat.
* Serm. 94.
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