DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.24719#0099
80
PAGAN TEMPLES CONVERTED INTO CHURCHES.
The name basilica given to the churches after the time of Constantine did not have
reference solely to the resemblance these edifices had to the courts of justice.
From the earliest times the church was approached through an outer hall or nartliex, which
opened into the nave through three doorways, which had their destination in the ceremonies of
worship. The middle doorway was termed the basilican or royal gate (0a<rjA<xv) ■n-o’x.i]), and it was
of importance in ecclesiastical ceremonies, especially in those relating to expiation. Leo Allatius,
citing the Typic, frequently mentions this door — “As far as the basilican gates;”1 2 — “and he
entered by the basilican gates.” s In another passage: — “As they commenced the holy mass,
the emperor remained before the basilican gates, his girdle loosened, his sandals removed, and
his head uncovered.” 3 It is said in the Expiations,4 that those who had received philtres for
the purpose of causing abortion had six years of penitence, two years weeping outside the
church, and the remaining three years at the basilican gates.5 It was but a natural consequence
that the term basilica should be applied to the whole edifice.
As we have before stated, there being no single example remaining of a basilica converted
into a church, we may fairly conclude that the early converts did not take for churches edifices
that had been used for civil purposes, although they did not hesitate to make use of the
abandoned temples for the purposes of worship.
We have seen that from the first year of the foundation of Constantinople many edicts
were promulgated by the emperor, which had for their object the abolition of idolatrous
practices by means of shutting up the pagan temples. lie deprived them of their revenues
and ordered them to be closed.6 But these edicts received only a temporary observance, or
else were not obeyed at all.
Many temples owed their renown to the custom the people had of assembling within their
enclosures on the occasion of festivals or panegyries, when great fairs were held. This usage
has been perpetuated in times of Christianity in the feasts held in certain parishes, generally
on the day of the saint to whom the church is dedicated. These festivals gave occasion for
public games and theatrical representations, the taste for which was still more general in Asia
than in Europe.
Constantius, the successor of Constantine, although he permitted the edicts of his pre-
decessor to remain, tolerated by tacit consent the exercise of paganism in the large towns where
Christians were few in number ; but this uncertain and precarious position of the pagans gave
rise to popular disturbances, in consequence of which their priests uttered those sad
lamentations, of which Libanius is the eloquent exponent: — “ Constantine,” says he, “ was blind
to shut up the temples; Constantius has destroyed them, and the materials have been employed
for the vilest uses. You see the Christians carry away the stones, the wood, and the iron-
work of the temples; the roofs and walls are demolished, the statues stolen, the altars
violated.”7
These complaints were only true of certain localities; for in some of the principal cities
the festivals of the heathen deities were still celebrated, notably at Athens, where those in
honour of Minerva were held in the time of Yalentinian; and the sanctuaries of Astarte
and Diana were still flourishing in the kingdom of Pontus, a mountainous country, which,
notwithstanding the preaching of St. Basil, was a stronghold of paganism. It was not
until the reign of Justinian that the temples of Comana, in Cappadocia, built, according
to tradition, by Orestes, one in honour of Diana, and the other of his sister Iphigenia, were
converted into churches, when the Christians consecrated them without changing either the internal
arrangement or exterior aspect of the buildings.8
In the time of Theodosius II. the reaction against the ancient worship had made
sensible progress, and pagans were obliged to celebrate their ancient rites in secret.
All the little symbolical figures — the numerous ex-votos, the numerous religious emblems of
Abundance, Health, Eortune — all the little presents made to the good goddess for happy
1 MtypL twv I)ria/Xi0)v irvX<>!v. Page 12.
2 Kat daeXOiov tam rrjc fiaaiXmiQ TriXqr.—Page 13.
■' Page 13.
4 Page 93.
8 Ifapa 7(nr fiaaiXucdlQ tariuaai itvXwai.
6 Turn deinde primus Constantinus justo oi’dine et pio vicem
vertit, edicto siquidem statuit citra ullam hominum cedem
paganorum templa claudi. — Paul Orosius, book vii. Fol. C.
1517. And ch. xix. : Hie Constantinus imperator jubet templa
claudi.
7 0Lovaiv t<j> lepa EvXa tytpovTtc, ml Xidove ml attir/pav, ol St
ml Ixvtv tovtiov \tlpac ml TroSns' t-rreira XlvaHv Xt~ia mdaipov-
ptva>v vpoi/tiov, mraamiTTOfitviov roiywv, mTaamTrroptviov ayaX-
pcirwi’, avaaTTb>ptvu>v fiwpiov . . .—Libanius 'Yirtp 'ltpCiy. Reiske,
t. n. p. 160.
8 Procopius, de Bello persico, book i. ch. 17.
PAGAN TEMPLES CONVERTED INTO CHURCHES.
The name basilica given to the churches after the time of Constantine did not have
reference solely to the resemblance these edifices had to the courts of justice.
From the earliest times the church was approached through an outer hall or nartliex, which
opened into the nave through three doorways, which had their destination in the ceremonies of
worship. The middle doorway was termed the basilican or royal gate (0a<rjA<xv) ■n-o’x.i]), and it was
of importance in ecclesiastical ceremonies, especially in those relating to expiation. Leo Allatius,
citing the Typic, frequently mentions this door — “As far as the basilican gates;”1 2 — “and he
entered by the basilican gates.” s In another passage: — “As they commenced the holy mass,
the emperor remained before the basilican gates, his girdle loosened, his sandals removed, and
his head uncovered.” 3 It is said in the Expiations,4 that those who had received philtres for
the purpose of causing abortion had six years of penitence, two years weeping outside the
church, and the remaining three years at the basilican gates.5 It was but a natural consequence
that the term basilica should be applied to the whole edifice.
As we have before stated, there being no single example remaining of a basilica converted
into a church, we may fairly conclude that the early converts did not take for churches edifices
that had been used for civil purposes, although they did not hesitate to make use of the
abandoned temples for the purposes of worship.
We have seen that from the first year of the foundation of Constantinople many edicts
were promulgated by the emperor, which had for their object the abolition of idolatrous
practices by means of shutting up the pagan temples. lie deprived them of their revenues
and ordered them to be closed.6 But these edicts received only a temporary observance, or
else were not obeyed at all.
Many temples owed their renown to the custom the people had of assembling within their
enclosures on the occasion of festivals or panegyries, when great fairs were held. This usage
has been perpetuated in times of Christianity in the feasts held in certain parishes, generally
on the day of the saint to whom the church is dedicated. These festivals gave occasion for
public games and theatrical representations, the taste for which was still more general in Asia
than in Europe.
Constantius, the successor of Constantine, although he permitted the edicts of his pre-
decessor to remain, tolerated by tacit consent the exercise of paganism in the large towns where
Christians were few in number ; but this uncertain and precarious position of the pagans gave
rise to popular disturbances, in consequence of which their priests uttered those sad
lamentations, of which Libanius is the eloquent exponent: — “ Constantine,” says he, “ was blind
to shut up the temples; Constantius has destroyed them, and the materials have been employed
for the vilest uses. You see the Christians carry away the stones, the wood, and the iron-
work of the temples; the roofs and walls are demolished, the statues stolen, the altars
violated.”7
These complaints were only true of certain localities; for in some of the principal cities
the festivals of the heathen deities were still celebrated, notably at Athens, where those in
honour of Minerva were held in the time of Yalentinian; and the sanctuaries of Astarte
and Diana were still flourishing in the kingdom of Pontus, a mountainous country, which,
notwithstanding the preaching of St. Basil, was a stronghold of paganism. It was not
until the reign of Justinian that the temples of Comana, in Cappadocia, built, according
to tradition, by Orestes, one in honour of Diana, and the other of his sister Iphigenia, were
converted into churches, when the Christians consecrated them without changing either the internal
arrangement or exterior aspect of the buildings.8
In the time of Theodosius II. the reaction against the ancient worship had made
sensible progress, and pagans were obliged to celebrate their ancient rites in secret.
All the little symbolical figures — the numerous ex-votos, the numerous religious emblems of
Abundance, Health, Eortune — all the little presents made to the good goddess for happy
1 MtypL twv I)ria/Xi0)v irvX<>!v. Page 12.
2 Kat daeXOiov tam rrjc fiaaiXmiQ TriXqr.—Page 13.
■' Page 13.
4 Page 93.
8 Ifapa 7(nr fiaaiXucdlQ tariuaai itvXwai.
6 Turn deinde primus Constantinus justo oi’dine et pio vicem
vertit, edicto siquidem statuit citra ullam hominum cedem
paganorum templa claudi. — Paul Orosius, book vii. Fol. C.
1517. And ch. xix. : Hie Constantinus imperator jubet templa
claudi.
7 0Lovaiv t<j> lepa EvXa tytpovTtc, ml Xidove ml attir/pav, ol St
ml Ixvtv tovtiov \tlpac ml TroSns' t-rreira XlvaHv Xt~ia mdaipov-
ptva>v vpoi/tiov, mraamiTTOfitviov roiywv, mTaamTrroptviov ayaX-
pcirwi’, avaaTTb>ptvu>v fiwpiov . . .—Libanius 'Yirtp 'ltpCiy. Reiske,
t. n. p. 160.
8 Procopius, de Bello persico, book i. ch. 17.