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.

35/1096 (page 15)

$in order, form another class of acrostics. Such is the well-known hymn of Sedulius, “4 solis ortus cardine,” a portion of which is introduced in the Roman offices for the Nativity and the Cir- cumcision of the Lord; and that of Venantius Fortunatus (Carm. xvi.), which begins with the words “ Agnoscat omne saeculum.” St. Augustine composed an Abecedarian Psalm against the Do- natists, in imitation of the 119th, with the con- stant response, “ Omnes qui gaudetis de pace, modo verum judicate.” I 4. A peculiar use of the acrostic is found in the Office-books of the Greek Church. Each Canon, or series of Troparia, has its own acrostic, which is a metrical line formed of the initial letters of the Troparia which compose the Canon. To take the instance given by Dr. Neale {Eastern Church, Introd. p. 832); the acrostic for the Festival of SS. Pi-oclus and Hilarius is, SenToZ? a9\riTaU (Tenrov eUif>€fxo The meaning of this is, that the first Troparion of the Canon begins with 2, the second with E, and so on. These lines are generally lambic, as in the instance above; but occasionally Hex- ameter, as, Tbi/ ^LKr)<f>6pov o)i VKri^opov a(TpM<Tt fieKnoi. They frequently contain a play on the name of the Saint of the day, as in the instance just given, and in Aupov 0eov <re irafi/idKop Uarep tre^to, for St. Dorotheus of Tyre. The Troparia are sometimes, but rarely, arranged so as to form an alphabetic acrostic, as on the Eve of the Transfiguration (Neale, u. s.). 5. The word aKpoarixioL, in the Apostolical Constitutions (ii. 57, § 5) denotes the verses, or portions of a verse, which the people were to sing responsively to the chanter of the Psalm, “ 6 \ahs TO OKpoTTiX• ** vTro\pa\\er(t>” The constantly repeated response of the 136th Psalm (“For His mercy endureth for ever”), or that of the ‘ Benedicite omnia Opera ’ (“ Praise Him, and magnify Him for ever”), are instances of what is probably intended in this case. Compare Antiphon, Psalmody (Bingham’s Antiq. xiv. 1, § 12). [C.] ACROTELEUTIC. [Doxology; Psalmody.] ACTIO. A word frequently used to desig- nate the canon of the mass. The word “ agere,” as is well known, bears in classical writers the special sense of performing a sacrificial act; hence the word “ Actio ” is ap- plied to that which was regarded as the essential portion of the Eucharistic sacrifice ; “ Actio dici- tur ipse canon, quia in eo sacramenta conficiuntur Dominica,” says Waiafrid Strabo (De Debus Eccl. c. 22, p. 950, Migne). Whatever is included in the canon is said to be “ infra actionem ;” hence, when any words are to be added within the canon (as is the case at certain great festivals), they bear in the liturgies the title or rubric “ infra actionem ;” and in printed missals these words are frequently placed before the prayer “ Communicantes.” Compare Canon. (Bona, de Debus Liturgicts, lib. ii. c. 11; Macri, Hiero- lexicon, s. v. “ Actio ”.) Honorius of Autun supposes this use of the word “ actio ” to be derived from legal termino- logy. “ Missa quoddam judicium imitatur ; unde et canon Actio voc atur ” (lib. i., c. 8); and “ Canon . . . etiam Actio dicitur, quia causa populi in eo cum Deo agitur” (c. 103). (In Du Cange’s Glossary, s. v. “ Actio.”) But this derivation, though adopted by several mediaeval writers, does not appear probable. [C.j ACTORS AND ACTRESSES.—The ia- fluence of Christianity on social life was seen, as in other things, so specially in the horror with which the members of the Christian Church looked on the classes of men and women whose occupations identified them with evil. Among these were Actors and Actresses. It must be re- membered that they found the drama tainted by the depravity which infected all heathen society, and exhibiting it in its worst forms. Even Au- gustus sat as a spectator of the “scenica adulteria ” of the “ mimi,” whose performances were tho favourite amusement of Roman nobles and people (Ovid, Trist. ii. 497-520). The tragedies of Aeschylus or Sophocles, or Seneca,“ the comedies even of Menander and Terence could not compete with plays whose subject was always the “ vetiti crimen amoris,” represented in all its baseness and foulness (Ibid.'). What Ovid wrote of “ob- scaena” and “ turpia” was there acted. The stories of Mars and Venus, the loves of Jupiter with Danae, Leda, and Ganymede, were exhibited in detail (Cyprian, De Grat. Dei, c. 8). Men’s minds were corrupted by the very sight. They learnt to imitate their’gods. The actors became, in the worst sense of the word, effeminate, taught “gestus turpes et molles et muliebres exprimere” (Cyprian, Ep. 2, ed. Gersdorf. 61, ed. Rigalt). The theatre was the “sacrarium Veneris,” the “ consistorium impudicitiae ” (Ibid. c. 17). Men sent their sons and daughters to learn adultery (Tatian. Orat. adv. Gruec. c. 22 ; Tertull. De Spect. c. 10). The debasement which followed on such an occupation had been recognized even by Roman law. The more active cen- sors had pulled down theatres whenever they could, and Pompeius, when he built one, placed a Temple of Venus over it in order to guard against a like destruction (Ibid. c. 10). The Greeks, in their admiration of artistic culture, had honoured their actors. The Romans looked on them, even while they patronised them, with a consciousness of their degradation. They were excluded from all civil honours, their names were struck out of the register of their tribes; they lost by the “ minutio capitis” their privileges as citizens (Ibid. c. 22 ; Augustin. De Civ. Dei, ii. 14). Trajan banished them altogether from Rome as utterly demoralized. It cannot be wondered at that Christian writers should almost from the first enter their pro- test against a life so debased.** They saw in it part of the “ pompae diaboli,” which they were called on to renounce. Tertul- • Augustine, who in his youth had delighted in the higher forms of the drama {Confess, iii. 2), draws, after his conversion, a distinction between these (“scenicorum tolerabiliora ludorum ”) and the obscenity of the mimes {De Civ. Dei, ii. 8). •> No specific reference to this form of evil is found, it is true. In the N. T. The case had not yet presented Itself. It would have seemed as impossible for a Christian to take part in it as to join in actual idolatry.$