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.

995/1096 (page 975)

$to the relief of the poor.* (Augustine, Senn. 205, § 2, vol. V. 1357, ed. Gauine ; Senn. 207, § 2, ib. 1341; Senn. 210, § 10, ih. 1353; Leo, Senn. 3, de Jejuniu Pentecostes, vol. i. 319, ed. Ballerini.) The same kind of reaction of feeling manifested itself in the indulging in special enjoyments in the days before the fast, and of this the carnival may serve as an illustration.*' It is not, however, to be supposed from all this, that there is an absence of positive enactments on the subject.! Thus one of the so-called apostolical canons orders that all clerics shall fast in Lent under penalty of deposition, unless they can plead bodily infirmity; a layman to be ex- communicated (can. 69). The fourth council of Orleans (a.D. 541) also enjoins the observance of Lent, adding a rule that the Saturdays are to be included in the fast. (Cuncil. Au>e(. iv. can. 2 ; Labbe, v. 382; cf. Concil. Toletanurn viii. [a.d. 653], can. 9 ; Labbe, vi. 407.) It may be noted that Aurelian, bishop of Arles (app. A.D. 545) in laying down the rule for monks, orders that the fast shall be observed every day from Epiphany to Easter, save upon Saturdays and Sundays and greater festivals (^Patrol, lx viii. 396). It was evidently considered that there should be a stricter rule for such than for Chris- tians generally. The last part of the order refers to an increasfed severity of the fast during the last week; see e. g. Epiphanius, Expos. Fidei c. 22 ; vol. i. 1105, ed. Petavius. On this part of the subject reference may be made to the special article. [Holy Week.] ()8) A second point which characterised the season was the forbidding of all things which were of a festal character. Thus the Council of Laodicea (circa A.D. 365) ordered that the obla- tion of bread and wine in the Eucharist should be confined to Saturdays and Sundays during Lent (can. 49, Labbe, i. 1505). A later council, that in Trullo (a.d. 692) ordains that on days other than the above two and the day of the Annunciation, there may be a communion of the presanctified elements (can. 52 ; Labbe, vi. 1165). Again, the Council of Laodicea forbids the cele- bration of festivals of martyrs in Lent, except upon Saturdays and Sundays (can. 51); and the following canon forbids the celebration of marriages and of birthday festivals in Lent, without any reservation. This last, however, perhaps only gradually came to be observed, for in the collection of Eastern canons by Martin, bishop of Braga in Spain, he cites no other canon for this use but that of the Council of Laodicea. Cf. also as to this point Augustine, Senm. 205, § 2 (vol. V. 1336); Egbert, i. 21 (^Patrol. Ixxxix. 406); Theodulfus of Orleans, Capitul. 43 (^Patrol, cv. 205); Nicolaus 1. Resp. ad consult. Bulg. c. 48 ; {Patrol, cxix. 1000). A fortiori all public games, theatrical shows, and the like, were forbidden at this season. i Thus Augustine {Senn. 205, 1. c.), “ ut preliosos cibos quaerat, quia came non vescitur, et iuusitatos liquores, quii vinum non bibit.” k On this point, see J. C. Zeumer, Bacchanalia Christianoruni, vulgo das Carneval, Jenae, 1699. * The subject of dispensations relaxing the strictness of rules as to diet in Lent falls outside our present limits. We may perhaps just call attention to the word LacTt- crsiA (cf. French Laitage), often occurring in such docu- ments for a mainly milk diet, as a curious parallel to the Tvpi(j>ayoi of the Greeks. Gregory of Nazianzum reproves one Celeusius, a judge, who had authorised spectacles during the fast {EpPt. 112; vol. ii. 101, ed. Bened.). Chrysostom, in a homily delivered in Lent, asks his hearers what profit they have gained from his sermons, when through the in.stigations of the devil they all have ‘‘ rushed off to that vain show (TTO/j.-irff') of Satan, the horse-race ” {^Hum. vi. in Gen. c. 1 ; vol. iv. 48); and again he speaks of the great injury men who follow such practices do to themselves, and the scandal ther are to others “ {Horn. vii. in Gen. c. 1 ; vol. iv. 59). (7) The severity of the laws was relaxed during Lent. Thus the Theodosian Code in a law promulgated in A.D. 380 prohibits all hearing of criminal cases during that season (Coci. Theodos. lib. ix. tit. 35, leg. 4; vol. iii. 252, ed. Gotho- fredus). Another law, published in A.D. 389, for- bids the infliction of punishments of the body “ sacratis Quadragesimae diebus ” {op. cit. 253). As a parallel case, probably referring to the Lent season, we may allude to what' is said by Ambrose, in his funeral eulogy of the younger Valentinian, where he praises him in that when some noblemen were about to be tried in a cri- minal case, and the prefect pressed the matter, the emperor forbade a sentence of death during a holy season {de Obitu Valentin. Consolatio, c. 18, Patrol, xvi. 1424). See also Nicolaus 1. {op. cit. c. 45, col. 998), Theodulfus of Orleans {op. cit. c. 42, col. 205). A rarely occurring exception onU’- serves to bring out more sharply the general observance of the rule, and thus it may be noted that the younger Theodosius orders (a.d. 408) that in the case of the Isaurian robbers, the examinations by torture should be held even in Lent or at Easter {Cod. Theodos. lib. ix. tit. 35, 1. 7 ; p. 255, ed. cit.), on the ground that the suftering of the few was expedient for the benefit of the many. Not only the criminal, but also the civil code was relaxed, for Ambrose speaks of the sacred season of the week before Easter when solebant debitorum laxari vincula ” {Epist. 20, c. 6; Patrol, xvi. 1038). (S) Besides all these negative characteristics, we find also the endeavour to maintain a higher spirit of devotion, by an increased number of religious services. Thus in many cases, it would appear, sermons were delivered to the people daily throughout Lent, and Chrysostom’s Homi- lies on Genesis, to which we have already often referred, and those els rovs arSpidvras were of this kind. (See esp. Horn. xi. in Gen. c. 3 ; vol. iv. 102).® We may also cite here Theodulfus of “> A curious extension of this idea is found in the Scarapeus of abbat Pirminius (ob. a.d. 758), who among other things deprecates the use of v< hides in Lent {Patrol. Ixxxix. 1041). Again Nicolaus I. protests against the practice of hunting at that season {op. cit. c. 44, col. 997). “We may note here that the council of Nicaea (a.d. 325) appoints Lent as one of the two periods in the year for the sitting of a synod of the bishops of the province to revise the sentence of excommunication inflicted by any of the number in the preceding season, as a check upon undue severity (can. 9, Labbe, ii. 32). ° For another special manifestation of the same idea, see the rule laid down by the third council of Braga, that the three days at the beginning of Lent should be devoted to special Ibrms of prayer, with litiinies and psalms, by$