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.

1080/1096 (page 1060)

$dentius in Spain, a.d. 405, “calls the altar dedi- cated to God ” poetically, ilia sacraraenti dona- trix Mensa {de Coron. Hymn. 9). St. Augustine in Roman Africa, writing probably in 416 : “ The sacrament is prepared on the Lord’s Table (in Dominica Mensa), and is taken from (de) the Lord’s Table” (7mcG 26 in Joan. Ev. § 15). Cyril of Alexandria not many years later speaks of the “holy Table” (cidv. Nestor. 4; vii. 116). Socrates, 439, relates of Alexander the bishop of Alexandria that in the distress caused by the apparent triumph of Arius, he “entered the altar-place and prostrated himself on his face oeneath the sacred Table” {Hist. Eccl. i. 37). At a later period the name of Mensa was, in the Latin church, generally given to the slab alone, while the whole structure was called an altar. In the east on the other hand, the latter name became unfrequent; the phrases “ holy Table ” ' (ayia rpuTre^a) or “ sacred Table ” (lepa rp.) being used instead. It will be sufficient to refer here to the rubrics of some ancient liturgies. That of St. James has, “ When the priest sets the cup on the holy Table” (Trollope, 111). St. Basil, “ The holy mysteries being removed from the sacred Table” (Goar, 175); “the setting down of the divine gifts upon the holy Table” (164). St. Chrysostom similarly has both “sacred” (82) and “holy (72, 73, 74, &c.) Table.” The Armenian, “ holy table ” only (Neale’s Fntnd. 562, 504, &c.). The rubrics of SS. Basil and Chi-ysostom do not employ the word “ altar ”; but it occurs in those of the earlier St. James (p. 36), St. Mark (Renaud. Liturg. Orient, i. 141) and St. Clement {Constit. Apost. viii. 12), the two latter using no other. We find it also in the Armenian rubrics (394, 432), in those of the Coptic St. Basil (Renaud. i. 4, 5, &c.); the Greek Alexandrian of St. Gregory {ibid. 91), the Ethiopian (500), the Syrian Onlo Comnamis (with “ table of life ’’) (ibid. ii. 42), and the Nestorian (i>id. 566, &c.). “ Table ’’ does not occur in the Nestorian rubrics. We cannot ascribe them to the age of Nestorius, but the fact witnesses to the early usage of the churches which became infested with his heresy. They adhered to the tradition of Ignatius and the sub-apostolic period, while the Syro-Jacobites, who separated from the church later, reflect the language of a later age. II. We have cited a poem of Paulinus, in which he calls the altar “ the table of God.” That such language was not usual in Italy in his time appears certain from the fact that the .same author in a prose composition gives the name of the “ Lord’s Table ” to a table, as it is thought, in the Gazophylacium on which were set the gifts brought fur the use of the ))oor. “ Let us not suffer the Lonl’s Table to be left void for ourselves and emi)ty for the poor” (Serm. 34, § 1); “Thou wilt know how much more profitable it is to ))ut money out to increase on the Lord’s Table ”(§ 2). Our inference will hold, if Paulinus by the “ Lord’s Table ” means a chest in the ti'easury, or even if it be a figure for the alms themselves. III. The phra^e “Lord’s Table,” “mystical Table,” &c., are frequently used by ancient writers to denote not the s.*^ructure (the use of which is, however, implied in them), but the Holy Communion itself. This usage may have arisen from the langunge of St. Paul (1 Cor. x. 21); it would certainly be fostered by it. Eor while some, as Hilary the deacon (Comm, in loco, “ Men- sae Domini, i.e. altari ”), understood “ the Lord’s Table ” of the altar, others, as Theodoret (in loc.y, supposed the sacramental feast to be intended. Thus the latter paraphrases, “How is it possible for us to have communion with the Lord through His precious body and blood, and with the devils too, through the food that has been oflered to idols?” This use of those terms is, however, common without any reference to 1 Cor. x. 21. Thus Gregory Nazianzen, A.D. 374: “Rever- ence the mystic table to which thou hast come; the bread thou hast received, the cup of which thou hast partaken” (Orat. 40, de Baptismo, i. 660). St. Ambrose, 374: “The mystical table is prepared for by fasting . . . That table is attained at the cost of hunger, and that cup . . . is sought by a thirst for the heavenly sacra- ments ” (de Eli 1, X, § 33). St. Augustine, 396 : “Thou hast sat down at a great table (Prov. xxiii. 1). . . What is that great table, but that from which we receive the body and blood of Christ? ” (Serm. 31, §2 ; Sim. S. 304, § 1; 329, § 1 ; 332, § 2 ; Tract. 47, in St. Joan. Ev. § 3.) On the words “ the poor shall eat and be satis- fied ” (Ps. xxii. 30), “for they have been brought to the table of Christ, and received of His body and blood” (de Gratia, N. T. 27, § 66). Again, after speaking of a “life-giving fea.st ” which Christ gave to His church, “satiating us with His body, inebriating us with His blood,” he says, “the church exults, fed and quickened by this table, against them that trouble her ” (Perm. 367, § 6). St. Chry.sostom, 398: “ With a pure conscience touch the sacred table, and par- take of the holy .sacrifice” (Horn. v\. in B(.en t. ii. 326). “On the festivals they come anyhow to this table” (Horn. vi. de Philog. i. 499). St. Hilary, 430: “There is a table of the Lord from which (ex qua) we take food, to wit, of the Living Bread . . . There is also the table of the Lord’s lessons, at which we are fed with the meat of spiritual teaching ”( ZmcL in Ps. 127, §10). Anastasius Sinaita, 561 : “Many never trouble themselves about the self-cleansing and rei)entance with which they come to the sacred table; but with what garments they are adorned” (de Sadra Sijnaxi; I\Iigne, 120. 89, col. 830). As the lay communicants did not “ sit at,” “ touch,” or even “come to” the material table or altar (see Scudamore, Notitia Eucha- ristica, 361, 702, ed. 2), the foregoing passages cannot be understood of that. There are many, however, which must be understood of it, though from the inappropriate epithets emjtloyed, they aj)pear at first sight to speak of the sacrament, e.g., “ I am not worthy to look towards this thy sacred and spiritual Table.” This occurs in a ])rayer or ))reparation said before the j)riest places himself at the altar in the liturgy of St. James (Trollope, p. 27). [W. E. S.] LOT. [Sortilege.] LOUTIERN is invoked in the Breton liturgy given by Haddan and Stubbs (ii. 8i). [C. IL] LOVE-FEAST. [Agapae.] liUBENTITJS, ])resbyter and confessor of Treves, commemorated Oct. 13 (Usuard. Anct. Boll. Acta SS. Oct. vi. 202). [C. H.J$