From schola to cathedral;

Front matter

FROM

SCHOLA TO CATHEDRAL

Si ^tudp of

Chapter I. Page

The Christian Communities as Religious Associations under the roman empire.

The origin of Christian institutions — Connection of the Cliristians with the Jews, and with other associations of the time — Importance of this in protecting them during the ages of persecution — Influence on Christian forms of the Temple • and the Synagogue ; the Christians confused with the Jews — First recognition of the Christians as a distinct body in the letter of Pliny to Trajan, c. a.d. 110 — Christian meetings connected in this letter with those of clubs and assemblies in general — The associations of the Roman world — The relation to them of the Christians recognised by Tertullian — Its bearing upon the legal position of Christianity— Question of the legal position of the associations in general — Special favour shown by the law to the burial clubs — Their practices illustrated by inscriptions —These practices closely copied by the Christians — The Christian communities as burial societies — Their cemeteries protected, and meetings in them permitted — Special importance of meetings in honour of the martyrs — Christian burial ceremonies— Devotion to the martyrs, and worship at their tombs — The festivals of the martyrs in the ages of peace ; their survival in the modern Saints'-Day celebrations, . 1-32

Xll CONTENTS.

Chapter II. Page

The Earliest Christian Assemblies and Places of Meeting.

The earliest meetings of the Christians illustrated from the New Testament and from patristic writings — Use of the Synagogues by the Christians in the days of St. Paul — Meetings in private houses — The festal halls of the Roman house — Consecration of them to Christian worship— These meetings cease in the fourth century — Other meeting-places of the Christians during the ages of persecution — (1) Scholce — Form and character of the Schohe, Curice, or lodge-rooms used by heathen associations and by the Christians, illustrated from existing remains and inscriptions — (2) Cellce or memorial chapels in the cemeteries used for funeral ceremonies— existing remains at S. Callisto — A memorial cella reconstructed — (3) Subterranean chapels in the cemeteries.

Development from these structures of the Christian Church — Examples of such development from private halls and memorial Ccllce—The root-fibres of Christian architecture — Period at which the Christian Church came to assume its regular form— The age of Constantine and the revival of the arts, ...... 33-73

CHAPTER III. The Basilica, the Synagogue, and the Christian Church

Ecclesiastical buildings figured in early Christian mosaics — First appearance of the basilican plan — Connection of Christian architecture with the columned and vaulted

CONTENTS. xiii

PAOE

interiors of the ancient world — Origin and architectural development of the basilica, illustrated from Vitruvius and from existing remains — Early use of the basilican form by the Jews — The ancient Jewish synagogue — Its various forms — Description of a normal synagogue of the basilican type — The synagogue as the expression of the national life of the Jews — The Christian basilica of the fourth or fifth century — Its precinct, atrium, and vestibule — Its basilican interior — The terminal apse its important feature — Essential diflference between the Christian and the pagan basilica ; the latter not apsidal — The private basilica — Summary.

The materials and decoration of the Christian basilica — The art of the catacombs and its distinction from that of the mosaics — Lyric and epic expression — Pictorial decoration in the churches, its origin and intention illustrated from Paulinus of Nola, . . . . . .74-1.34

CHAPTER IV. The Domed Church and Byzantine Art

Problem of the history of the dome — The Pantheon the earliest monumental dome known — Traces of dome construction on a small scale in Egypt and Assyria — Is the dome Eastern or Roman? — Use of the dome by the Romans, and by the Christians — The earliest domed church built at Antioch — The dome in the East and West in early Christian and mediteval times— Progressive development of dome-construction from the fourth century — Its culmination in Justinian's church of S. Sophia — Description of S. Sophia — Solution in it of problems in dome-construction — Its lighting and decoration — Byzantine culture and art.

Later use of the dome — The dome as a Christian form, . 1.35-178

XIV CONTENTS.

Chapter V. Page

Christian Architecture in the West, from the Early Christian to the Medi.^val Period.

Description of an early Christian church in the Apostolical Constitutions — Evident eflfort to secure order in churchorganisation — Inheritance of this principle from Rome.

Effect on Christian architecture of the Teutonic invasions — Attitude of the barbarians towards Roman culture — Patronage of the Church continued by Teutonic chieftains — Church-building not interfered with — Testimony of Gregory of Tours — The Teutonic genius and Christian architecture — Primitive Celtic and Teutonic building — The 'Roman manner.'

The early Christian church a Schola enlarged, not a basilica simplified — Its development to the Romanesque minster — Successive appearance of Romanesque forms — New movements of the twelfth century — Change in the spirit of architecture — Gothic as the true expression of the Teutonic spirit — .Esthetic character of Gothic — Conclusion, . 17.9-216

Appendix

NOTE I.

The pagan basilica and the Christian church. . . . 217-225

NOTE II.

Sassanid architecture, ...... 226-228

LIST OF ILLUSTEATIONS.

FIG. PAGE

Chronological Table, . . . .to face, xvi

Memorial Cella in a Christian Cemetery at the time of the preparation for a Feast in honour of a Martyr, about 270 A.D. Conjectural restoration, . . {Frontispiece)

1. Private Houses, from the Capitoline Plan of Eome, . . 40

2. 'Insula,' from the Capitoline Plan, . . .41

3. Normal Eoman House, . .43

4. Curiae or Scholse at Pompeii, from Overbeck, . . .52

5. Scholae (?) from the Capitoline Plan of Eome, . . .53

6. SmaU Synagogue or Schola, from a mosaic of the Fifth

7. Schola beside the INIetroon at Ostia, . . . .55

8. Plan of IVIemorial CeUa in the Cemetery of S. CaUisto, Eome, 56

9. Fimeral Triclinium at Pompeii, from Overbeck, . . 58

10. Underground Meeting-place in a Eoman Cemeteiy, . . 60

11. CeUa and Basilica of S. Sinforosa, near Eome, from Stevenson, 65

12. Early Christian buildings, from a carved sarcophagus : Fourth

13. Ecclesiastical structures, from a fifth-century mosaic in S.

Maria Maggiore at Eome, . . . . .75

14. Basilica and Baptistery at Eavenna : Sixth century, . . 75

15. Section of part of Basilica in its (conjectured) earliest form, . 88

16. Section of part of Basilica. Normal form, . . .89

17. Basilica Ulpia from Capitoline Plan, . . . .91

18. Basilica Julia, from Dutert, Le Forum Eomain, . . 92

19. Conjectural Plan of the Basilica at Alexandria, as an example

of the .Jewish Synagogue of the grandest type, . . 107

XVI

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.

20. A Pagan Basilica, ....

21. A Christian BasUica, ....

22. Private Basilica in Palace of Domitian at Rome,

23. Model illustrating Dome Construction,

24. Model illustrating Dome Construction,

25. Ground-Plan of S. Costanza,

26. Ground-Plan and Section of S. Lorenzo at Milan,

27. Ground-Plan and Section of S. Sophia at Constantinople,

28. Plan of a Romanesque church, simplified from that of Hect

PAGE

124 125 127 154 155 157 158 161 meet in Private Rooms, Mem- ; in the cemeteries, and probably E Rooms or Schol^ after the gan associations.

XANDER Severus occurs the first Tie acquisition of land, for buildody of Christians in common.

id churches and places of as- )w constructed in the cemeteries etings. These become for the :es of hiding.

period of prosperity the ancient ivate Halls, Scholse, etc.), no for the throngs of converts, and by spacious churches (Eusebius) he form afterwards used in the mtine.

truction of Christian edifices, [riven to the subterranean meetihe cemeteries.

Pkofane Architecture.

Fii'st Basilica erected at Rome, B. c. 184. Pantheon of Agrippa, b.c. 27.

Architectural magnificence under the Roman Emperors, chiefly in relation to secular buildings, such as — Circuses, Thermse, Basilicas, Palaces.

Therms of Caracalla, c. a.d. 215.

Development of Roman art of vaulting, both in domes and cross and barrel vaults of large span.

Polygonal domed building, so-called temple of Minerva Medica, date uncertain.

Thernice of Diocletian. Basilica of Maxentius (or Constantine).

Grand achievements in vaulting

Christian Architecture.

V^estern Empire. ) (Eastern Empire.)

IS everywhere built in place of those destroyed under Diocletian, e.g.

m churches.

Costanza near Rome, circular

ction of S. Lorenzo at Milan

Df Christian architecture con-

en imder the Teutonic kings.

develops gradually into the ihurch, through the transitional arolingian period.

Basilicas at Tyre and Nicomedeia, at Byzantium, in Palestine and Syria.

c. 327. Erection at Antioch of first important domed church in the East, and introduction of domical construction to what became afterwards the Byzantine Empire.

This is perfected in

S. Sophia. 532.

Dome Construction continues at Byzantium through the Middle Ages.

CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE.

Main Periods.

A.D.

to

Position of the Christian Communities.

»l

Christians treated as a sect of the Jews and sharing in the general toleration accorded to them.

Christians recognised as a distinct body, and rendered liable to persecution : —

1st. For treason and impiety,

2nd. As belonging to illegal associations,

but

at the same time protected in their capacity of members

OF Friendly or Burial Societies of a kind allowed

BY the Law.

Free use of cemeteries permitted to them. Christians in danger from outbreaks of popular violence.

Christianity recognised as a formidable power by the state.

Commencement of an open struggle between Christianity and the secular authority.

Systematic persecutions now carried on by Decius and Valerian, to be renewed later more effectively by Diocletian.

The cemeteries of the Christians now for the first time interfered with and become places of hiding and secret assembly.

Persecutions cease for a time. 40 years' Peace of the Church.

Time of much prosperity when, as Eusebius writes, 'great multitudes flocked to the religion of Christ.'

Last decisive struggle uuder

DIOCLETIAN.

Events relating to the Christians.

Partial and local persecutions under

Nero, a.d. 64.

Domitian, a.d. 96.

Flint's Correspondence about the Christians with Trajan, c. 110.

202-211. Partial persecution under Septi- Mius Severus.

Alexander Severus (222-235), friendly to the Christians.

250-251. Systematic attempt of Decius to destroy Christianity.

257. Valerian forbids the assemblies of the Christians, and all visits to the cemeteries, and confiscates cemeteries and meeting-places.

258. Valerian decrees death to all priests, and death or other punishments to all persisting Christians.

260. Gallienus gives back to the Christians the use of their cemeteries, but it is doubtful whether Christianity is now recognised as a 'Religio Licita,' and whether the Christians would legally hold property other than cemeteries in common.

303. Diocletian issues edicts for the destruction of churches, and confiscation of sacred writings.

Christians degraded from office and outlawed.

Severer measui'es against the clergy.

CONSTANTINE the great, 306-337. 313. EDICT OF MILAN— Full toleration of Christianity.

Triumph ok the Church and its worldly prosperity under Imperial favour; rapid acquisition of riches through legacies.

Irruption of Teutonic tribes into the West.

c. 500. Establishment of Teutonic kingdoms on the ruins of the Western Empire.

Patronage of the Church continued by barbarian chieftains.

Byzantine culture and art take definite form under JUSTINIAN, 527-565.

Constantine encourages artists, erects numerous churches at Rome and Constantinople, in Palestine, etc.

330. Dedication of Constantinople.

378. Defeat of Emperor Valens by the Goths at Hadrianople.

Artistic importance of Ravenna, c. 430- 550.

Reign of Theodoric the Ostrogoth, 493- 526 ; he patronises the Church and protects ancient works of art.

Christian Architecture.

Christians meet in Private Rooms, Memorial CelLjB in the cemeteries, and probably also in Lodge Rooms or Schol* after the manner of Pagan associations.

Under Alexander Severus occurs the first mention of the acquisition of land, for building (?) by a body of Christians in common.

Undergi'ound churches and places of assembly are now constructed in the cemeteries for secret meetings. These become for the first time places of hiding.

During the period of prosperity the ancient buildings (private Halls, Scholae, etc.), no longer suffice for the throngs of converts, and are replaced by spacious churches (Eusebius) probably in the form afterwards used in the days of Constantine.

General destruction of Christian edifices. Christians driven to the subterranean meeting-places in the cemeteries.

Profane Architecture.

First Basilica erected at Rome, b. c. 184. Pantheon of Agrippa, b.c. 27.

Architectural magnificence under the Roman Emperors, chiefly in relation to secular buildings, such as — Circuses, Therm;e, Basilicas, Palaces.

Thermae of Caracalla, c. a.d. 215.

Development of Roman art of vaulting, both in domes and cross andbaiTel vaults of large span.

Polygonal domed building, so-called temple of Minerva Medica, date uncertain.

Thermae of Diocletian. Basilica of Maxentius (or Constantine).

Grand achievements in vaulting

Christian Architecture.

(Western Empire. ) (Eastern Empire.)

Basilicas everywhere built in place of those destroyed under Diocletian, e.g.

Old St. Peter's ) ^j,

StJohnLateran, Vj^^^g etc. etc. )

Many African churches.

c. 336. S. Costanza near Rome, circular domed building.

c. 390. Erection of S. Lorenzo at Milan (domed churcli).

Traditions of Christian architecture continued unbroksn under the Teutonic kings.

The basilica develops gradually into the Romanesque Church, through the transitional forms of the Carolingian period.

Basilicas at Tyre and Nicomedeia, at Byzantium, in Palestine and Syria.

c. 327. Erection at Antioch op first important domed church in the East, and introduction of domical construction to what became afterwards the Byzantine Empire.

This is perfected in

S. Sophia. 532.

Dome Construction continues at Byzantium through the Middle Ages.

CHARLES THE GREAT, Roman Emperor, 800.

Chapter I

THE CHRISTIAN COMMUNITIES AS EELIGIOUS ASSOCIATIONS UNDER THE ROMAN EMPIRE.

In the familiar record of the first days of the Christian Church we read how the men of Galilee, who returned to Jerusalem after the ascension, 'went up into the upper' chamber,' which was at once their dwelling-place and their house of prayer and of assembly. There, at the first common meal, the bread was broken and the cup passed round in solemn remembrance of the last occasion on which they had sat at meat with Christ, There, too, they assembled together for their first act of church-government, the election of a successor to the apostate Judas. All is simple and domestic, yet we have here the beginnings of what became in time the most wide-reaching and highly organised of human systems. An elaborate hierarchy, a complicated theology of the sacraments, were to arise out of the informal conclave, the memorial meal ; and in like manner, out of the homely meeting-place of the disciples would be developed the costly and beautiful forms of the Christian temple.

It is with the growth and the details of this organised system that the student of Christian antiquities has to deal. His task it is to trace the development of Christianity in its manifold connections as an institution with the world about

A

2 CHRISTIAN FORMS NOT INVENTED BUT BORROWED.

it, and to attempt to discover the origin and early use of those numerous forms, of which ecclesiastical architecture is one, adopted by it as the apparatus of its outward life. Tlie fundamental fact from which any investigation into these outward forms must start is the following : — that the invention of them is not as a rule to he ascribed to Christianity itself. Christianity, it is true, made certain forms and ordinances its own. At first few and simple, they became in after time very elaborate and numerous ; but when their history is pursued backward to its origins, it is found that they were not at first distinctively Christian, but were inherited or borrowed from Jewish sources, or adopted from the practice of other associations, religious and secular, existing at the time in the pagan world.

The hypothesis, that Christianity rather adopted from without than created independently for itself this apparatus of outward life, is one which commends itself to the historic sense of the day,^ and is in full accordance with the great principle of the economy of causes, which we see at work all about us. It may be argued, indeed, that a special provision of that Divine Providence which guided the fortunes of the Early Church led it to clothe itself in outward forms tending to conceal for a time from public view its unique, original, and, as Hegel has phrased it, revolutionary character. For Christianity was not left to develop in peace and independence. It grew up under the shadow of a colossal despotism, the wielders of which would inevitably regard its claim to universal dominion as insolent defiance. The relation which Christianity was to occupy to the Eoman Empire must have been a subject of the most anxious thought to the statesmen of the Early Church, and a dread

' The Bamptou Lectures of Dr. Hatcli, ou the Organisation of the Early Christian Churches — a work to which the author desires to express his great obligation — may be cited in ilhistratioii.

THIS FACT AN ELEMENT OF STRENGTH 3

of provoking a conflict explains much of the prudent conservatism of St. Paul on social and political questions. But a conflict more or less open must necessarily arise, and how would Christianity fare ? It is here that we find the importance of the conforming tendency just noticed in the Church. The connection of Christianity with Judaism, and with other associations of the time, had a twofold value. If, on the one hand, the Church borrowed largely from these sources both ceremonies and details of organisation, on the other, it owed to them a still more important debt, a debt which it is hardly going too far to call the debt of life itself. During the ages of persecution the Christians were indebted to an incalculable extent to the connections just mentioned. At first they were sheltered through the fact that they were identified by the authorities with the Jews, and the Jews were a privileged sect. Later on, their conformity to many of the proceedings of permitted associations in the Eoman world was a source of advantage of a similar kind. The gain in both cases cannot be over-estimated. One cannot speak of the possibility of Christianity passing out of existence altogether under the blows of persecution, but there can be little doubt that, had the gigantic power of the empire been from the first brought steadily to bear against the infant Church, a loss to Christianity only less vital than that of life itself must have ensued. Eome could not have killed Christianity, but she probably could have driven it away from the centres of her civilisation, and in this case the new religion, proscribed at the seat of Empire, would have retired to the East, and have grown up to maturity surrounded by influences tending to develop unduly its mystical and ascetic side. That eminently rational and human character which belongs to Christianity was preserved and strengthened by its position in the very foci of the political and intellectual life of the West — at Antioch o

4 IN THE WORLDLY POSITION OF THE CHUKCH.

and Alexandria, at Corinth, Carthage, and Eonie. How remarkable is the growth of the community of Eoman Christians I Founded perhaps by some of the ' sojourners from Eome ' who witnessed the miracle of Pentecost, by the middle of the first century the faith of its members ' is proclaimed throughout the whole world,' and they number among them some who are ' of Csesar's household.' A little later, in the time of the Flavii, scions of the imperial family itself have embraced the faith, and men of consular rank are ready to lay down their lives for Christ.^ In the days of Aurelian, the Bishop of Eome already occupies a prominent position in relation to the Church at large.^ Well did the Churcli, thus planted and watered at the centre of the world's affairs, justify its privilege. The leaders of its community learned there the lesson which they have never to this day forgotten — the Eoman art of ruling men. There they based upon Eoman traditions the foundations of a rule more wide and absolute than any which Csesar dreamed of, and, faithful throughout to the ancient capital, they stood forth amidst the ruins of the Western Empire vigorous in a new life, but encircled still with the prestige of the old. Catching the torch of civilisation from the failing hands of the Csesars, they bore it forward in the face of the awestruck barbarians, and following still the Imperial motto, ' Incorporate into the State all that anywhere is excellent,'^ they gathered and united them in a spiritual empire, in which the majesty and policy of Eome were to endure unbroken for another thousand years. The cardinal fact of the Middle Ages — a fact form-

- Aurelian (270-275) decrees that certain Church property at Antioch

' shall belong to those to whom the Bishops of Italy and of Rome shall

assign it.' — Eusebius, Hist. Eccl. vii. c. 30.

^ See the speech of Claudius to the Roman Senate. — Tacitus,

Ann, xi. 24, and the original in Gruter, Dii.

KELATION OF TEE FIRST CHRISTIANS TO THE JEWS. 5

ing, as we shall see, the basis and explanation of mediseval architecture — is this wide extended dominion of the Eomish Church, the foundations of which were laid in centuries when the Emperors, had they so determined, could have driven out the infant community into the desert. That they did not so determine is largely due to the familiar and unobjectionable character of the" ordinances adopted by growing Christianity, when it ceased, like ' a new-born babe,' to desire only the sincere milk of the gospel, and came to clothe itself in human institutions, and to take its place as a citizen of the world.

It is with these external relations of Christianity, treated as the necessary basis for a study of early Christian architecture, that the present chapter will be occupied. And lirst, as to the relation of the early Church to the Jewish social and religious system in the midst of which it arose.

For the present purpose two aspects only of this relation need be noticed, on the one hand the actual derivation of Christian forms from Jewish, on the other the historical connection of Jews with Christians and its influence on the outward history of the Church.

It must in the first place be remembered that the original members of the Christian brotherhood were Jews, and were in no haste to abandon the religious customs of their nation. Christ had come 'not to destroy, but to fulfil,' and the example of the Master strongly inculcated respect for the ancient forms. He frequented with his disciples the modest synagogues of Galilee, remains of some of which have recently been investigated.^ He went up to Jerusalem at the solemn feasts, and while at Jerusalem 'taught daily in the Temple.' The sanctity possessed by these venerable institutions in the mind of every pious Jew was increased to the disciples by these more dear associa-

1 Palestine Exploration Fund. Quarterly Statement, 1869.

tious, and when they started forth on their independent career it was with no desire to parade their differences from their brethren of the stock of Abraham. A remarkable ilhistration of the hold which Judaism retained on even tlie most liberal of the early Christian leaders is afforded by the story of St. Paul's connection with the four men which had a vow. The incident, as recounted in the twenty-first chapter of the Acts, arose out of a rumour that the Apostle was accustomed to teach the Jews in Gentile cities to ' forsake Moses.' There were at that time (verse 20) thousands of Jews converted to tlie faith who were at the same time ' zealous for the law,' and in deference to their feelings St. Paul thought it well to follow the advice of his brethren and to give a public proof that he himself also ' walked orderly, keeping tlie law.' ^ This was not, it must be noticed, an incident of the earliest days of the Church. The Christian preachers had already ' turned the world upside down.' - Gentile converts were already numerous, and upon them also ' was poured out the gift of the Holy Ghost.' ^ The hostility of the Jews, both rulers and people, to the new sect had frequently broken out in violent and murderous riots. Yet to the end of his career we find the great Apostle to the Gentiles asserting, both in act and word, his undiminished reverence for ' all things which are according to the law, and which are written in the prophets.'^ We should naturally, therefore, be prepared to find in Jewish forms the starting-point of the development of those adopted by the Christians.

The religious ordinances of the Jews in the time of our Lord had two aspects. They were in part ceremonial, but in part of a decidedly open and democratic type. The two institutions of the Temple and the Synagogue corre-

* Acts xxi. 24. ^ IblrL xvii. 6.

3 Ihhl. X. 45. '» Ibid. xxiv. 14.

AND ON CHRISTIAN FORMS. i

spond to this distinction, and from both of these the Church borrowed largely. The spirit of formalism, of which we see strong signs in some of the first Christian leaders, was nourished from the traditions of the ceremonial law of the Hebrews, and to take one instance, the rite of baptism, appearing in its original simplicity in scenes in the Acts like the impromptu immersion of the Ethiopian eunuch, or the baptism of the household of Cornelius, is already, in the early Patristic writing, the Teaching of the Tivelve Aiwstles, encumbered with the Jewish obligation of fasting.^ The immense importance of this Hebrew rite of baptism, and the various ceremonies involved in it, led to the construction by the Christians of special buildings for its administration, and with these buildings are connected some of the most interesting chapters in the story of ecclesiastical architecture. Another instance in which Jewish temple-ceremonial affected the development of Christian buildings concerns the treatment of the altar. When the Christian Church assumed its distinct form in the third or fourth century, the j^i'^'shyterium, or portion reserved for the clergy and for the altar, had borrowed much of its sanctity from the Holy Place of the Temple of the Hebrews, while equally Jewish was the association of the idea of sacrifice with the Christian altar, in its origin nothing more than a simple table recalling that employed by Christ and His disciples at the Last Supper. Lastly, the sundering of the clergy as a distinct body from the people, which, together with the mystical view of the altar, has had so important an influence upon Christian architecture, is enforced in the Patristic writings by arguments drawn from the Jewish institution of Priests and Levites.^

^ Teaching, etc., vii. 4. Ed. De Romestin, Oxford, 1884.

- The inOuence of the Jewish Temple on Christian architecture is discussed by Weingilrtner : Ursprung und Entwicklung des christlichen Kirchengebiiudes. Leipzig, 1858.

8 llESULT OF THIS CONNECTION ;

The Synagogue, on the other hand, knowing nothing of Priest and Levite, offered a form of religious worship of a simple and popular kind, familiar and dear to every born Hebrew, and at the same time, it might be thought, exactly suited to Christian needs. The architectural form and arrangement of the Jewish meeting-place are of importance to the present subject, and will be noticed in the following chapters. It is enough to refer here to one or two points of general resemblance between the Hebrew and Christian institutions. In the first place, the habit itself of constant assembly for devotional purposes, at appointed times and places, so characteristic of the Christian communities, is only a continuation of the practice of the synagogue. The Apostolic and Patristic writers exhort the brethren to let their ' assembling together be of frequent occurrence,'^ by similar arguments to those used in the Talmud to enforce the duty of frequenting the synagogue,- and it is the writer of the Epistle to the Hebrews who exhorts his hearers not to forsake the wholesome custom of congregational meeting.^ The component parts of the service in the synagogue — reading of tlie Scriptures, singing of psalms, prayer, exhortation — were retained in the churches,^ though the hierarchical organisation of the latter gave them soon an ordained ministry, and left no room for the pleasant custom of the synagogues, where strangers entering to worship might receive the kindly summons, ' Brethren, if ye have any word of exhortation for the people, say on.'^ The Synagogue and the Christian (Jhurch agreed also in another characteristic. The buildings were by no means only used for Divine service, but were gathering places for the Community, affording opportunity for

1 Ignatius, Ep. ad Pohjc. iv.

- E.ii. S. Chrysostom., Migue's eel. i. j). 725. Babylon Bfrakhoth, 6 a, in Le Tahainl de Jerusalem, translated by M. Schwab, Paris, 1871, etc., vol. i. p. 240.

^ Heb. X. 2.1. ■* Apost. C'onnt. ii. .'")7. ^ Acts xiii. l.j.

THE CHRISTIANS CONFUSED WITH THE JEWS, 9

neighbourly intercourse, for teaching and discussion, and also for judicial proceedings. Innumerable stories in the Talmud exhibit to us the Synagogue as the centre of the daily life of the people, in the same way that the early Christian Church was the common resort of the faithful who dwelt in its vicinity. The synagogues, moreover, unlike the Temple and the shrines of the heathen, were often connected witli the tombs of the founders, or of local worthies, and we have here a notable point of correspondence with the Christian Church.^

It need not be said that this close connection which existed in many respects between Synagogue and Church did not prevent a feeling of intense antagonism between their respective adherents. The first cause of open separation between Christians and Jews was the violent popular onslaught made by the latter upon the followers of Jesus of N^azareth, while Christian apologists, from the author of the Teaching downwards,^ in their bitter criticism on the Jews, laid the foundation for the disgraceful persecutions whicli stain the history of Christendom. Hence the Synagogue and the Ecclesia were sundered, and their well-known effigies in early Christian art stand apart in antagonism ; but it does not follow that the outside observer would at once notice the separation. On the contrary, the connection between Christianity and Judaism was far more patent than the severance which seemed so vital to those actually involved in the controversy, and during the first age of the Church the connection was sufficiently close to make it inevitable that the secular powers should fail to see wherein the difference