Volume 1

A dictionary of Christian antiquities : being a continuation of the 'Dictionary of the Bible' / edited by William Smith and Samuel Cheetham ; illustrated by engravings on wood.

Date:: [between 1890 and 1899?]

Credit: A dictionary of Christian antiquities : being a continuation of the 'Dictionary of the Bible' / edited by William Smith and Samuel Cheetham ; illustrated by engravings on wood. Source: Wellcome Collection.

1079/1096 (page 1059)

$implies that any subsequent celebration may be BO called. Dionysius of Alexandria, a.d. 254, says that Christ “ gives Himself to us in the mystical supper ” (^Ti act. c. Sauios. R. ad Qu. 7). St. Basil, A.D. 370: “We are instructed neither to eat and drink an ordinary sujqjer in a church, noi to dishonour the Lord’s Supper (by cele- brating it) in a house ” {lirgiilae brevius tract. 310). St. Augustine, A.D. 396, expressly says that St. Paul “ calls that reception itself of the eucharist the Lord’s Supper” (/p. 54, v. § 7). Again, “ He gave the supper to His disciples consecrated by His own hands; but we have not reclined at that feast, and yet we daily eat the name supper by faith” {Serm. 112, iv.) In the regions of the East most do not partake of the Lord’s Supper every day” {In Serm. Bom. ii. 7, § 25). Judas “drew near to the Lord’s Supper equally ” (with the other apostles) { I'ract. 50 in St. Joan. Ev. § 10). “ He permitted him to partake of the holy supper with the innocent ” (^Epiit. 93, iv. § 15; Sim. Psalm, c. Part. Bon. div. 16 ; c. Ldt. Petil. ii. 23, § 53; 106, § 243 ; Enarr. ii. in Ps. xxi. (xxii.) § 27). St. Chry- sostom, A.D. 398, he says again, “As oft as ye eat it, ye do shew the Lord’s death; and this is that supper ” (of which St. Paul speaks) (Bom. xxvii. in Ep. i. ad Cor. § 5). “ As to draw near at random is perilous, so not to partake of those holy mystical suppers is famine and death ” (ibid. § 8). “ Believe that even now this is that supper at which He Himself reclined ” (Horn. 50 in St. Matt. xiv. 34-36). Pelagius, A.D. 405 : “The Lord’s Supper ought to be common to all, because He delivered the sacrament equally to all His disciples who were present ” (Comment, in Ep. i. ad Cor (xi. 20); inter 0pp. Hieron. v. ii. 997). Cyril of Alexandria, A.D. 412: “Let us run together to the mystical supper” (Horn. x. tom. v. li. 371, and commonly). Theodoret, 423 : “ He (St. Paul) calls the Master’s mystery the Lord’s Supper” (Comment. in Ep. i. ad Cor. xi. 20). St. Nilus, 440 : “ Keep thyself from all corruption, and be every day partaker of the mystical Supper; for thus the body of Christ begins to be ours ” (Paraenetica n. 120). Anastasius Sinaita, 561: “On the 5th day (of Holy Week) He gave the mystic supper which absolves all sin ” (in Hexaemeron V.). Gregory of Tours, 573 : “ The day on which the Lord delivered the mystic Supper to the disciples ” (de Glor. Mart. 24). Llesychius, 601: “The thanksgiving, that is, the oblation which holds the chief place in the Lord’s Supper ” (in Lecit. p. 146 c.). The sacrament is fre- quently called by this author the mystical or the divine “ Supp)er ” (i^id.). Since the time of Justinian the Second, a.d. 686 (Leo. Allat. de Bomin. Graec. xxi.), the choir have sung on Maundy Thursday in the Liturgy of St. Basil, “ Make me this day, 0 Son of God, a partaker of Thy mystic Supper” (Goar^ Eucuol. 17C). The foregoing testimonies appear to give an ample sanction to the usage of the Church of England, and to the statement of the Catechism of Trent, that “the mo.;t ancient Fathers, following the authority of the apostle, sometimes called the sacred eucharist also by the name of supper ” (P. ii. de Buck, v ). IV. In the 6th century we first find the name ‘ Coena L*omini ’ given to Maundy Thursday, but generally then with some addition or expla- nation. The earliest example known to the writer occurs in a document of the year 519, “Quinta feria, hoc est, Coena Domini” (hxempl. Sugg. 2ae Germani, inter Epp. Hormisdae, Labbe, Cone. iv. 1488). Gregory of Tours, a.d. 573, uses the phrase “ Day of the Lord’s Supper ” (Bist. Franc, ii. 21), and calls its rites “ Domi- nicae Coenae Festa” (ibid. viii. 43). The first council of Macon, 581, “Coena Domini usque ad primum Pascha ” (Can. 14). Isidore of Seville, 610, calls it Coena Domini in the heading of a chapter, but explains, as if the usage were not familiar, “ This ‘Supper of the Lord’ is the fifth day of the last week of Lent ” (de Eccl. Off. i. 28). The Besan^on sacramentary, written later in the 7th century, gives an “ E])istle of St. Paul to the Corinthians to be read on Coena Domini ” (Mus. Ital. i. 315). The Galilean Lectionary also gives “Lessons for Coena Domini at Matins” (Liturg. Gallic. 128). In the first Ordo Ro- manus, probably about a.d. 730, the day is called both Feria quinta Coenae Domini, and Coena Domini (Mus. Bal. ii. 19, 30-33). A law of Carloman, in 742, .says, “On Coen i Domini let him (the presbyter) always seek fresh chrism from the bishop ’’ (c. iii. in Capit. Peg. Franc. 147. So a law of Charlemagne in 769, col. 192). In 744 a chapter of Pepin ordered “ every presbyter always on Coena Domini to give to the bishop a statement of the method and order of his ministry ” (c. 4 ; u. s. 4. 158). In the capitularies of the French kings is an order that “ the presbyter on Coena Domini take with him two ampullae, one for the chrism, another for the oil to anoint catechumens and the sick ” (L. i. c. 156). See other instances (coll. 824, 865, 953, &c.). It is evident that this singular designation of a day had quite established itself by the end of the 8th century. See Maundv Thuksday. [W. E. S.] LORD’S TABLE. 1. For more than three hundred years after the institution of the sacra- ment the altar is but once called a table in the genuine remains of Christian waiters. The ex- ception occurs in an epistle of Dionysius of Alex- andria (a.d. 254) to Xystus of Romie. He speaks of a communicant as “ standing at the Table ” (Euseb. Bist. Eccles. vii. 9). The next instance is a full century later, viz. in the commentary of Hilary the deacon, 354: “ When he partakes of the table of devils, he outrages the Lord’s Table, i.e. the altar’'(Comm, in 1 Cor. x. 21). The explanation in the last words implies that the phrase was not common in that sense. The same remark applies to a jiassage in the Bisput. c. Arianos ascribed to Athanasius, but certainly later. The table in Prov. ix. 2 is there under- stood of “the Table ” pre})ared by Christ, “That is, the holy altar” (c. 17 ; App. 0pp. Athan. iii. 164-). The usage was never general in the West, and the examples found in the Greek writers of the 4th and 5th centuries, con- sidering how much they have left, are not really numerous. The following are from every great division of the church :—St. Basil, a.d 370, says that the orthodox in tne district • Gangra “ overthrew the altars ” of the heretic Basilides and “ set up their own Tables” (Epist 226). Paulinus in Italy, 393 : “ There is every where one cup and one food of the Lord, and one Table and house of God ” (Poema 17). Pru- 68$