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.

992/1096 (page 972)

$nature of a “ memoria technica ” of the date.® There is usually more than one synaxarion to a day, each in commemoration of a different saint; in which case, with few exceptions, each has its own iambic stichos; but the first alone the hexameter line. Other saints of the day are commemorated by the simple reciting of their names and death, stating usually its manner, followed by a stichos, but with no synaxarion. These readings and commemorations are con- cluded with the clause—“By their holy inter- cessions, 0 God, have mercy upon us. Amen ” (rats auTcou ay'iais Trpea/Seiais, 6 dehs, (Top 7}fMas. 'Afirip).^ There are great variations in difterent menologies. The emperor Basil the Macedonian directed one to be compiled, A.D. 886, which may be taken as a type of others. Baronius, Fra/ f. ad M irtyr. Bom. Paris, 1607 ; Bona, de Div. Psal. c. xvi. 19 ; Durant, de Bit. Egg . iii. c. 18 ; Gavanti, Comm, in Bub. Miss. Bom. sec. v. c. 21; Martene, de Ant. Bit. iv. 8; and the Breviaries and the Menaea passim; Cavalieri, Op. Lit. vol. ii. cap. 37, Dec. 2, and c. 41, Dec. 12 and 17, &c. See aisoAugusti, Christ. Archaeologie, vol. vi. p. 104. [H. J. H.] LEGER, ST. [Leodegarius.] LENEY, COUNCIL OF {Leniense Con- cilium), held at Leuey in Ireland, A.D. 630, or thereabouts, respecting Easter, which was kept differently then in Scotland and Ireland from what it was in Rome. In other words, if the fourteenth day of the moon fell on a Sunday, it was kept on that Sunday, and not the following. St. Fintan here prevailed with his countrymen in favour of the old rule; but it was unfair of contemporaries to call them ‘ Quartodecimans ’ on that account. (Ussher, Brit. EggI. c. 17 ; comp. Mansi, x. 611.) [E. S. Ff.] LENT (reo'a'apaKoa'T'f}, Quadragesima. The English name is derived from the Anglo-Saxon Leneten, spring; with which may be compared the German Lenz, and the Dutch LenU. The titles for this season in languages of Latin deri- vation are merely corruptions of the name Quadragesima, as the French Careme, Italian Qaaresima, etc. So also in the Celtic languages, as the Welsh (Jarauys, Manx Kargys, Breton Corayz, etc. In Teutonic and allied languages, the name for the season merely indicates the fast, as the German Fa>,tcnzeit, Dutch Vaste, etc. So also in the Calendar of the Greek church it is y pricTTfia). 1. History of the ob'errance.—We can trace up to very early times the existence of a prepa- ratory fast to Easter, for it is mentioned defin- itely by Irenaeus and Tertullian. While, however, the fast seems to have been one universally kept, there seems to have been very great latitude as 8 The following, for St. I’olycarp (Feb. 23), niuy serve as a specimen; Stichoi. cot noAv'/capTTO? wAoKavrw^Tj Aoye, Kapnop ttoAvp Sows ck rrvpbg ^tPorpoTrcJi. ei/caSi er TpirTarr} /card <t>\b( IIoAufcapn-ow e(cau<rev. » Tins is the usual form oi words and the Invariable purport of the clause. Sometimes it runs “By the prayers of thy martyrs, 0 Lopj Clirist, have mercy \ipon us and save us. Amen (ral? tup <tup p-aprvpwp fvxal<;, Xpicrre 6 ©ebs, eA^aow Kal cruvop. 'A/aTjv). to the duration of the fast. Thus Irenaeus writ- ing to Victor, bishop of Rome, and referring to the disputes as to the time of keeping Easter, adds that there is the same dispute as to the length of the preliminary fast. “ For,” he says, “some think they ought to fast for one day, others for two days, and others even for several, while others reckon forty hours both of day and night to their day ” (of 8e TecrarapaKOpra ojpas iipepipas re Kai pvKTepipas (Tvpp.^rpov(ri r^p r)p.epap‘ avrup). Irenaeus then goes on to say that this variety is not merely a thing of his own time, but of much older date (ttoAu irp6Tcpop); an important statement, as carrying back the existence of the fast practically up to apostolic times (Irenaeus, Ep. ad Viet.; apud Euseb. Hid. Eccles. v. 24). ' Before, however, we pass on to consider the references in Tertullian, it must be noted that much discussion has arisen as to the punctuation of the above pas.sage; for the translation of Ruffinus puts a full stop after reacrapaKopra, a plan which is adopted by some, as by Stieren and Harv'ef^, the most recent editors of Irenaeus. We must remark, however, that not only are the MSS. said to be unanimous in giving the first- mentioned reading, but as Vale.sius (nut. in loc.) justly points out, the general run of the Greek is palpably in favour of the same way.** (For a defence of the opposite theory, see Massuet, Biss, in Iren. ii. 23.) We pass on next to consider the evidence fur- nished by Tertullian, who in one place speaks of the fast “die Pa.schae,” as “communis et quasi publica jejunii religio ” (De Orut.c. 18). This, of course, would be a fast on Good Friday. That the fast, however, was not confined to this day only, we learn from another place, where writing as a Montanist he says of the Catholics that they considered that the only fasts which Christians should observe were those “ in which the bride- groom was taken away from them ” (De Jejunio, c. 2 ; cf. al.so c. 13, where he draws a distinction between the obligation of the fast of the above-' mentioned days and other lasts, especially the Stations, so called). Here then we have a fast for the period during which our Saviour was under the power of death. Thus far it would ajjpear that there was in any case a fast, whether on the day of our Lord’s death, or for the above longer period ; but in some cases extra days were added, varying in different churches. At a later period the same kind of variation prevailed, as we find, from Socrates and Sozomen. Thus the former (IJist. Koclcs. v. 22) speaks of those in Rome as fasting for three “ For T\p.4pav, Valesius (vot. in lac.) conjectured that vria-Ttiap should be read, on account of the difficulty of understanding the e.xpre.ssion “day,” as applied in any sense to a period of 40 liours. ihere is, however, no MS. authority’ for this, and it cuts the knot of the difficulty rather than solves it. *> Thus a climax seems indicated in the koX of ol Se Kal nXeiopag, and we should l'*ok for some connecting par- ticle with the upxg. The Latin of Ruffinus is “ nonnulli etiam quadraginta, ita ut horas diurnas ....”: the ita has a decidedly su^pi^:ious apjiearance after the teimina- tiou of the preceding word. Moreover, the fact Intro- duced by ita ut, as to i he fast Ijeing observed during the hours both of d.iy and night, is simply inexplicable when taken in connexion w ith the preceding “ nonuulU etiam quadraginta.”$