DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.24719#0080
UNDER JUSTINIAN AND HIS SUCCESSORS,
.61
The “Typic” charges the ecclesiarch to watch that this rule be observed, and orders the
brethren who remain in the narthex not to impede the monks; and also the laics who come to
pray, not to enter the church during the chanting in the choir, but to remain in the narthex
until the office be concluded.
The bodies of the defunct were also placed here during the prayers. The Euchology says,
“And afterwards the brethren, raising the body, carry it into the church; if it be that of a priest,
it is placed in the middle of the church; if that of a laic, in the narthex.”
All the orisons and prayers were said in the narthex. The Typic alludes to this fact in
several places. St. Simeon of Thessalonica mentions it in the following terms : — “ Then the
supplications take place outside, in the narthex, on Saturdays and other festivals. In time of
plague or other visitation, as soon as a crowd of people assemble they offer up prayers in
common in the midst of the town and outside the walls.” lie continues_“and then we
made the following supplications in the narthex— that the Lord would have pity on our miserv,
and be merciful to us; and we stood praying before the gates of the holy church as though
before the celestial gates.” Allatius says: “ The narthex is the portico situated outside the
church, which has the oblong form of a plant called narthex (ferula).” It is possible that
at first the narthex may have been outside the church; but this means simply that it was
separate from the body of the church itself.
Gabriel of Corinth says, “ that place which contains the women in the church is called
the narthex.” The words h tu> UpS in this passage must be understood to moan adjoining
rather than in the church. I hose who were outside the church could not hear the Holy
Scriptures, which were read from the hema. The pronaos is to be understood as not being part
of the church.
The narthex communicated with the church by means of three doors; that in the centre
was very large and magnificently ornamented, the two others, situated one on each side, were
small, and not remarkable. The cential door was called the beautiful gate (wpalot. h'/k^). Codinus
says (ch. xvii.) : “ He did not enter by the side which is opposite the beautiful gates, but on the
other side towards the raised part 01 platform (hema) and the holy tabernacle.” The naos (nave)
then, where the emperor
remained, was evidently situated between the beautiful gates and the
ate" of the tabernacle. The beautiful gates were also called the royal or basilican gates. We
° , . .. m ■ . << And preceded by two lighted candles, he carried the cross itself to t-lie
rccid. in tli6 -L ypi^ * J ■»
o-ates of the sacred edifice.” We find from the Typic that the basilican gates were the
"c °c ,, , o-ates- but they must be distinguished from the holy gates which gave
t the hema The beautiful gate was closed by a curtain, which was moved on one
a.C^'CS* acc(,ss to the worshippers, and which closed the opening when adjusted during the
SLe ° ol * *'e Hinnies According to Ciampini, the custom of hanging curtains before
offices, vespers, 01 litanies. ° i >
churches was derived by the Christ,ans from the Gentiles.1
r,1he atewa 7 was also closed during the office in the middle of the night, called Mesonyction,
and the services held at the third, sixth, and ninth hours (the office of the first hour after
ratios is chanted in the choir); and also during the Apodipnon, or office after supper; these
Tr^ll XL with curtain down and doorways closed. .
Wliat we term the pave, the Byzantines called the choir : in most churches the circular
, i rrriili n vault; there were seats all round, made of walnut-wood or pine,
part was covered witn a vault, , \ j
, , ■ wnii Here the priests and assistants seated themselves, or remained
standin- leaning upon them. They presented, thus resting on these seats, a noble and
e able as ect The stalls were to the right of the beautiful gate on entering : these seats
InTtheir arms were generally known under one common appellation, topoi (places). We read
in the Typic • — “ They seated themselves in their proper topoi.” The more expressive word,
stasidion, was also used; whence was derived the word stalls.
The middle of the church was called the mesonaos. In the 74tli canon of the Council
of Constantinople, called in Trullo (because the hall in which it was held was vaulted in trullo),
it is said they placed couches in the mesonaos; they made also divans and balconies for the
accommodation of the assistants.
Beyond the choir, which was surrounded by a vaulted gallery, there was another vault
i Morem hanc velis ornandi januas ex Gentibus ad Fideles, virga per quam nonnulli excurrunt annuli § quibus vela
acl ecclesias transiisse, colligo ex nonnullarum eccle- pendebant.—Be vEdificiis a Const. Mag. constructs, p. 33, sq.
Snul propylseis, ubi in columnarum summitatibus crenitur
.61
The “Typic” charges the ecclesiarch to watch that this rule be observed, and orders the
brethren who remain in the narthex not to impede the monks; and also the laics who come to
pray, not to enter the church during the chanting in the choir, but to remain in the narthex
until the office be concluded.
The bodies of the defunct were also placed here during the prayers. The Euchology says,
“And afterwards the brethren, raising the body, carry it into the church; if it be that of a priest,
it is placed in the middle of the church; if that of a laic, in the narthex.”
All the orisons and prayers were said in the narthex. The Typic alludes to this fact in
several places. St. Simeon of Thessalonica mentions it in the following terms : — “ Then the
supplications take place outside, in the narthex, on Saturdays and other festivals. In time of
plague or other visitation, as soon as a crowd of people assemble they offer up prayers in
common in the midst of the town and outside the walls.” lie continues_“and then we
made the following supplications in the narthex— that the Lord would have pity on our miserv,
and be merciful to us; and we stood praying before the gates of the holy church as though
before the celestial gates.” Allatius says: “ The narthex is the portico situated outside the
church, which has the oblong form of a plant called narthex (ferula).” It is possible that
at first the narthex may have been outside the church; but this means simply that it was
separate from the body of the church itself.
Gabriel of Corinth says, “ that place which contains the women in the church is called
the narthex.” The words h tu> UpS in this passage must be understood to moan adjoining
rather than in the church. I hose who were outside the church could not hear the Holy
Scriptures, which were read from the hema. The pronaos is to be understood as not being part
of the church.
The narthex communicated with the church by means of three doors; that in the centre
was very large and magnificently ornamented, the two others, situated one on each side, were
small, and not remarkable. The cential door was called the beautiful gate (wpalot. h'/k^). Codinus
says (ch. xvii.) : “ He did not enter by the side which is opposite the beautiful gates, but on the
other side towards the raised part 01 platform (hema) and the holy tabernacle.” The naos (nave)
then, where the emperor
remained, was evidently situated between the beautiful gates and the
ate" of the tabernacle. The beautiful gates were also called the royal or basilican gates. We
° , . .. m ■ . << And preceded by two lighted candles, he carried the cross itself to t-lie
rccid. in tli6 -L ypi^ * J ■»
o-ates of the sacred edifice.” We find from the Typic that the basilican gates were the
"c °c ,, , o-ates- but they must be distinguished from the holy gates which gave
t the hema The beautiful gate was closed by a curtain, which was moved on one
a.C^'CS* acc(,ss to the worshippers, and which closed the opening when adjusted during the
SLe ° ol * *'e Hinnies According to Ciampini, the custom of hanging curtains before
offices, vespers, 01 litanies. ° i >
churches was derived by the Christ,ans from the Gentiles.1
r,1he atewa 7 was also closed during the office in the middle of the night, called Mesonyction,
and the services held at the third, sixth, and ninth hours (the office of the first hour after
ratios is chanted in the choir); and also during the Apodipnon, or office after supper; these
Tr^ll XL with curtain down and doorways closed. .
Wliat we term the pave, the Byzantines called the choir : in most churches the circular
, i rrriili n vault; there were seats all round, made of walnut-wood or pine,
part was covered witn a vault, , \ j
, , ■ wnii Here the priests and assistants seated themselves, or remained
standin- leaning upon them. They presented, thus resting on these seats, a noble and
e able as ect The stalls were to the right of the beautiful gate on entering : these seats
InTtheir arms were generally known under one common appellation, topoi (places). We read
in the Typic • — “ They seated themselves in their proper topoi.” The more expressive word,
stasidion, was also used; whence was derived the word stalls.
The middle of the church was called the mesonaos. In the 74tli canon of the Council
of Constantinople, called in Trullo (because the hall in which it was held was vaulted in trullo),
it is said they placed couches in the mesonaos; they made also divans and balconies for the
accommodation of the assistants.
Beyond the choir, which was surrounded by a vaulted gallery, there was another vault
i Morem hanc velis ornandi januas ex Gentibus ad Fideles, virga per quam nonnulli excurrunt annuli § quibus vela
acl ecclesias transiisse, colligo ex nonnullarum eccle- pendebant.—Be vEdificiis a Const. Mag. constructs, p. 33, sq.
Snul propylseis, ubi in columnarum summitatibus crenitur