RELIGIOUS ENCYCLOPEDIA
Paramenia
however, been relieved to some extent by a tasteful regard for the models of earlier times.
II. The Eastern Church: The history of paramenta in the East is naturally more brilliant than in the West. The East was the home and long the source of costly woven goods. Entirely natural, therefore, was the Byzantine predilection for display in divine service. But the looting of the East by crusaders and Turks has unfortunately left little of the great wealth of possessions of this sort once held by the Church there. The greatest use was made of hangings. The ikonostasis, which divides the choir from the nave, doubtless took its rise in curtains, while the choir itself made use of them on its walls. The ornamentation ran to the use of the cross and of figures of angels. The altar was especially the object of decoration, being practically concealed by coverings which hung around it and were spread upon its upper surface. In the service of the altar no less than four varieties of cloth paramenta are employed. The episcopal chair was also draped, and carpets were in use, there being no essential difference in usage in these matters between the West and the East.
III. Protestant Churches: The transformation of worship under Protestantism made a large number of paramenta useless, and the Reformed churches did away with them almost entirely; in the Lutheran Church for a time only the altar retained
use of these materials. Even what the i. General older Lutheranism retained, Pietism Situation, and rationalism tended to do away with; so that the merest remnants of paramenta remained in use. The nineteenth century, however, witnessed a revival of interest and pleas for the employment of these adjuncts to worship, especially under the leadership of Heinrich Otte (q.v.), Martin Eugen Beck, and Moritz Meurer (q.v.), since when there has been in the Evangelical churches a larger use of paramenta either as liturgical ornament or in promoting liturgicalpractical ends. While definite prescriptions as to the use of these materials is lacking, Lutheranism has built up a practical uniformity, but the Reformed churches have gone in an entirely different direction. In building up the practise, actual needs and artistic considerations have governed, and tradition has guided in the choice. Indispensable requirements are that the objects set forth be intelligible to the congregation and that the expression be appropriate to the purpose. Consequently all symbols and representations are excluded which are foreign to the consciousness of the congregation. The typology of the Middle Ages is pass6 and therefore unsuitable, and the same may be said of symbols used in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. Among the symbols permissible as ornamentation are the dove, the four symbols of the evangelists — angel, lion, bull, and eagle — the cross, and the lamb with the cross-standard. Models are not to be sought in nature or in painting, but the technical precedents found in the history of the art of the Church are to be followed.
Evangelical paramenta find their central point in the altar, the covering of which, of silk or cloth,
should be simple and simply arranged. Only exceptionally does the covering of the rear wall come into question, since architectural or
2. Specific plastic adornment usually sets off this Pieces. portion of the edifice. Suitable ornamentation is provided by the cross with ornamental setting or by the lamb with crossbanner or cup. The upper altar cloth may be of fine white linen, the principal covering having its borders ornamented with embroidery. The sacred vessels may be placed upon a corporale or cloth, the ends of which afford place for suitable adornment; the vessels are covered with a white cloth, and a napkin may be provided for cleansing the cup. The altar desk should be of such a form as to need no covering. For the chancel the covering of the desk is practically all that requires consideration, and the ornamentation here most suitable is the cross; harmony with the architectural situation is a desideratum. The baptistery does not easily lend itself to the use of paramenta, and in this case white is recommended if anything be used. The matter of altar carpet has remained within the province of free choice. Carpeting is indicated for the altar steps and the space about them, with geometrical or other technically warranted ornamentation. Wall hangings are seldom required. For direction in minor matters the works of Meurer, Biirkner, and Schafer may be followed (see bibliography).
Early in the history of paramenta the symbolism
of colors entered and remained fixed in the Roman
Catholic cultus; in the Eastern Church the matter
was not one of prescription but of custom and was
simpler, and this latter is followed in
3. Color the Evangelical churches. Color sym- Symbolism. bolism is only a part of ecclesiastical symbolism (see Symbolism, Ecclesiastical), in which paramenta have their part. While white was in early times fixed in use, in the twelfth century the general fixing of color symbolism must have taken place (cf. Innocent III., De sacro altaris mysterio, i. 64); in this four colors, white, black, red and green, are noted; cf. also the Rationale divinorum officiorum of Gulielmus Durandus, q.v.). The Lutheran has retained in some degree the usual customs in regard to the color scheme in connection with the Church Year (q.v.).
(Victor Schultze.)
What is said above of the Lutheran and Reformed churches holds in general for the Evangelical churches of England and America, except that there is little to suggest that the use of paramenta is to be revived there. Protestant churches confine their employment of paramenta usually to embroidered book-marks for the Bible of the pulpit and white spread and coverings for the communion table and the sacred vessels. But in the Anglican Church and its branches a somewhat larger use is made of these objects, especially where High-church usages govern. This branch of Christendom also pays more attention to the color scheme of the church year, this usage accompanying a more elaborate use of vestments. Bibliography: For literary sources consult: A. Ilg, Bei-
trage zur Geschichte der Kunsl und Kunsttechnik aus mittel-
Paramenta Parish and Pastor