DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.24719#0091
72
THE CEREMONIES OF THE PRIMITIVE CHRISTIAN CHURCH.
There was another class of Penitents — that of Weepers (Flentes), who remained in it till the
bishop, having judged their penitence sufficient, allowed them to enter the class of Auditors,
that is to say, the second rank of Penitent Catechumens.
The place of the Catechumens, whether Auditors or Competents, was in the narthex. If a
Catechumen had committed a fault, he heard the service on his knees; if he sinned again, he
was sent amongst the Auditors, and then could not be re-established without the consent of the
priest. This regulation, which was ordained by the 5th Canon of the Council of Neocaesareia,
requires an explanation.
In the primitive Church the practice was not to pray kneeling, but standing, with hands
extended: it is thus that worshippers are represented in the catacombs, and saints in all
the ancient pictures, frescoes, and mosaics. Eusebius leaves no doubt in this respect, when he
says: “ The emperor caused himself to be painted with hands extended in the attitude of
prayer.” Kneeling during prayer, which was a punishment in the Eastern Church, was adopted
by the Western as a sign of humiliation.
We learn from the preceding that the catechuminate could not have had a fixed duration.
This is why the 7th Council of Constantinople did not fix any term for it. Those who could
acquire baptism in the short space of seven or eight months were called the Perfect. The
Perfect and the Auditors were summoned into the church to hear the chanting of psalms and
the reading of the Holy Scriptures. But the latter class were not permitted to be spectators
of the holy mysteries. After the reading of the Gospel, as we have before stated, the priest
sent away the Catechumens and those who were unfit to be present at the holy mysteries.
It is from this dismissal (demissio) that the Latins have derived the word mass (Sane Latini
missam diecrmit, ut remissam pro remissione).
It is necessary to state, however, that Leo Allatius contests the correctness of this
tradition upon the subject of Catechumens. He pretends they had a right to a place in the
church. “ The Catechumens, or novices in the faith, and the Competent, had all a right to a
place in the church; it was only the disobedient amongst them, and those who were sullied
by crime, who, like the criminal amongst the faithful, were excluded from the church.”
He is contradicted in this by all the Greek clergy of Constantinople, and even by the fact of
the construction of the churches of the East. Eor of what use was the narthex, simple or
double, that we remark in them, if it were not reserved for those who were not allowed to
be present during the whole service.
We often see in ecclesiastical recitals the term lvepyo6y.evoi,— Energumens, or Possessed,
applied to a class of Penitents. This term had not then exactly the same signification as it
lias at present. Some ecclesiastical writers believe them to have been the same as those
whom the Council of Ancyra called the Hyemants, or tempest-tossed. According to Leo Allatius,
Zonaras confounded the Hyemants with the arreptitii. He adds: “ I am far from sharing this
opinion. The arreptitii are altogether furious, and do not pray. The Hyemants are those who,
tormented by the wicked spirit, have not permission to pray with the faithful, but have a place
assigned to them when they say their prayers.”
St. Maximus, in his commentary on Dionysius the Areopagite,1 regards the Energumens and
the Hyemants as the same. “ If it were permitted to me,” adds the author, “ to have an opinion
on this grave matter, I should say that the Hyemants, tormented by the storms of passion, are
not the Energumens, but those who are tossed about by the waves of voluptuousness and delight,
and have turned their souls from the true wealth to devote themselves to vain and mortal
pleasures. These are the true Hyemants, because they are in a perpetual winter and in a very
dangerous tempest.”
The narthex of the church was thus peopled by a crowd anxious to assist in the
mysteries, but who, before obtaining the privilege of doing so, had to accomplish many rigorous
duties. In addition to this list of probationers, there was an order of Penitents often
confounded with those who kneel, but who were designated by another name. These were
the penitents who were in the state of hypoptosis. The state of hypoptosis was one of great
humiliation, which caused the person who was in it to be declared unworthy to enter the
church. He remained outside, and could not pray for himself, but solicited the prayers of the
faithful who entered.
1 Ecclesiastical Hierarchy, ch. vi.
THE CEREMONIES OF THE PRIMITIVE CHRISTIAN CHURCH.
There was another class of Penitents — that of Weepers (Flentes), who remained in it till the
bishop, having judged their penitence sufficient, allowed them to enter the class of Auditors,
that is to say, the second rank of Penitent Catechumens.
The place of the Catechumens, whether Auditors or Competents, was in the narthex. If a
Catechumen had committed a fault, he heard the service on his knees; if he sinned again, he
was sent amongst the Auditors, and then could not be re-established without the consent of the
priest. This regulation, which was ordained by the 5th Canon of the Council of Neocaesareia,
requires an explanation.
In the primitive Church the practice was not to pray kneeling, but standing, with hands
extended: it is thus that worshippers are represented in the catacombs, and saints in all
the ancient pictures, frescoes, and mosaics. Eusebius leaves no doubt in this respect, when he
says: “ The emperor caused himself to be painted with hands extended in the attitude of
prayer.” Kneeling during prayer, which was a punishment in the Eastern Church, was adopted
by the Western as a sign of humiliation.
We learn from the preceding that the catechuminate could not have had a fixed duration.
This is why the 7th Council of Constantinople did not fix any term for it. Those who could
acquire baptism in the short space of seven or eight months were called the Perfect. The
Perfect and the Auditors were summoned into the church to hear the chanting of psalms and
the reading of the Holy Scriptures. But the latter class were not permitted to be spectators
of the holy mysteries. After the reading of the Gospel, as we have before stated, the priest
sent away the Catechumens and those who were unfit to be present at the holy mysteries.
It is from this dismissal (demissio) that the Latins have derived the word mass (Sane Latini
missam diecrmit, ut remissam pro remissione).
It is necessary to state, however, that Leo Allatius contests the correctness of this
tradition upon the subject of Catechumens. He pretends they had a right to a place in the
church. “ The Catechumens, or novices in the faith, and the Competent, had all a right to a
place in the church; it was only the disobedient amongst them, and those who were sullied
by crime, who, like the criminal amongst the faithful, were excluded from the church.”
He is contradicted in this by all the Greek clergy of Constantinople, and even by the fact of
the construction of the churches of the East. Eor of what use was the narthex, simple or
double, that we remark in them, if it were not reserved for those who were not allowed to
be present during the whole service.
We often see in ecclesiastical recitals the term lvepyo6y.evoi,— Energumens, or Possessed,
applied to a class of Penitents. This term had not then exactly the same signification as it
lias at present. Some ecclesiastical writers believe them to have been the same as those
whom the Council of Ancyra called the Hyemants, or tempest-tossed. According to Leo Allatius,
Zonaras confounded the Hyemants with the arreptitii. He adds: “ I am far from sharing this
opinion. The arreptitii are altogether furious, and do not pray. The Hyemants are those who,
tormented by the wicked spirit, have not permission to pray with the faithful, but have a place
assigned to them when they say their prayers.”
St. Maximus, in his commentary on Dionysius the Areopagite,1 regards the Energumens and
the Hyemants as the same. “ If it were permitted to me,” adds the author, “ to have an opinion
on this grave matter, I should say that the Hyemants, tormented by the storms of passion, are
not the Energumens, but those who are tossed about by the waves of voluptuousness and delight,
and have turned their souls from the true wealth to devote themselves to vain and mortal
pleasures. These are the true Hyemants, because they are in a perpetual winter and in a very
dangerous tempest.”
The narthex of the church was thus peopled by a crowd anxious to assist in the
mysteries, but who, before obtaining the privilege of doing so, had to accomplish many rigorous
duties. In addition to this list of probationers, there was an order of Penitents often
confounded with those who kneel, but who were designated by another name. These were
the penitents who were in the state of hypoptosis. The state of hypoptosis was one of great
humiliation, which caused the person who was in it to be declared unworthy to enter the
church. He remained outside, and could not pray for himself, but solicited the prayers of the
faithful who entered.
1 Ecclesiastical Hierarchy, ch. vi.