E C C

321

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P' aoes * ie had visited ; and the “ Sebellus de Locisih n . (i | Con tains his narrative.

f ity i 8 an 7 'voi'k been transmitted with more pecu-, r °tH ^ a authenticity. Adamnan wrote upon his tablets,■'’"e t f' 0t,lal dictation of the stranger: the notes so taken1 1 b t,le hook we now possess. The Holy Sepulchre, asi S ® an tieipated, was the main object of Adamnan ’s

!; an d in addition to the verbal description, Arcul-

his

l " han/ a P* an ^ ie buildings upon the tablets with•Peal ' ^his plan Adamnan copied in his manuscript;V jle f ln is °/ his drawing with extreme humility, calling it av" of § atlon > hut, as will be seen by comparing it with thert..!„ aa Stefano Rotondo, it affords valuable information.

as wholly of stone, of “ wonderful rotundity,”

i 8 ^; it ^ twe ^ ve ,........ s ,.

k 8 illn ' Vas ent ered by four doors ; and the sepulchre itself

until-. _ ■ ■■ -

^ r ep

tl ® 'Wan

j le c°l u 3 ’ We must suppose that the interior circle marksIt :ir| Un nS> and tlle hues were probably staircases, leadingJj°ly Sg e f ohurch or gallery. When Aculphus saw they^’ans l lre ’ had been somewhat damaged by the

; columns ; having, as it would seem, threeUni* w *.....ed by ft

%n r 0 p nate d by twelve lamps, burning day and night in,. the twelve apostles. Since Adamnan speaks of

> as

tl| an d. it was subsequently ruined by the Arabs ;f 8 aot 6 ^ 6 ^ 8 *'* 11 ® church still retains the original shape,

a °uht but that it was rebuilt upon the originalA ^tllpj. f"

■ tio ch, N; Urches were built by Constantine, at Jerusalem ,thirwi '^cntedia, Mambre, Heliopolis, Rome , and Con-

few remain to the present day, few, at least,Perhaps the most

Nit*..

S hJJs. but f,

tli*^® c t sp 1101 been materially altered.

I it) 6 ^ Ur ial? Cl i men rem aining is the church of S. Constantia ;i anP r e .°^ t * le daughter of Constantine; it is circular

: \ l(1 g a rc ] divided by concentric rows of pillars, from whichSp c °ii3tr| l , eS *° su PP ort the roof. The model from which itOi/^Hre Cte< ^ Was evidently identical with that of the Holy0 p 6Ven were it not that structure itself. It is the8s f r Some > that the form of circular churches was: tiot Us e ofV“ at i leat hen temples of the same kind, such' in 8e etn t 0 est a, or Minerva Medica ; this, however, does8ft ^ an > tl be *^ le case > f°r although they are both circular1 hof Seta en j ^ are of entirely different construction and. '!,.(/ s„ p •, The temple has its columns on the exte-, an entablature, while the church has its

V®d b v „ Uln ns arranged in concentric circles within, con-r e a, ‘ches

Sll-* 81

springing from the capitals, forming one or

i ' v ein,i^" disshYri”* 10 arrangement, it will be acknowledged, is| j? h ip .. 1 ar, and the mere outline cannot have muchI 'p c °nsideration

'\v th i e J aVe ? onestillf

tlin.® >s 9l ._ Ves f° r heathen temples: the building mentioned

! gone still further, and claimed the very struc-

g.. nt-amcu _

W as M Se< ^ 8uc 'h t0 he an ancient temple of Bac -* 0 o ’ , s ny s Knight, in his beautiful work on this sub-

h.t ^lf*o \ J I Ho _ • _■ • _ 11_ i? _J_3__

Hi> This opinion is principally founded on the. e pres W ^ c h fhe ceiling of the aisles is adorned, and^yhati emt!? 1 v ‘ ne "leaves and grapes. But the vine is a% a hop o p and is so frequently introduced in the

att ac ) ^ lrist *an places of worship, that little weightil.i:. le d to this circumstance. The architecture of.'< 1 , -■•'intia 711 conformity with the style of the timei dute.» 6 ’, an d n °t in conformity with that of a muchs ep () i fact is, the circular is the most natural^'8fp ’ a th» C >ra ^ c hapels, where the chief object is a tomb,

; '5 8, of ? entr e. Other similar chapels are still inI f P r °hably, the most remarkable, is that

j ™^|(] 0| 'rp i a ‘ .baptisteries were likewise frequently of they <i... 13 that of S. John Lateran, but more fre-

°Ct;

a Sonal,

and

sometimes

4 N

octagonal within and

circular without. All such buildings seem to have beensimply baptisteries or sepulchral chapels; the form is totallyunfitted for the requirements of the Christian liturgy,nor do they seem to have been employed for such pur-pose, with the exception, perhaps, of the church of theHoly Sepulchre , and this was not purely circular, but hadparts of different plan attached to it, something like to theTemple Church, London . The form is very suitable for abaptistery. See Round Chuuches.

The more usual plan of Christian churches is that of %parallelogram, which form is said to have been derived fromthe heathen courts of justice; but. ere entering upon theconsideration of this matter, it will be well to give somedescription of the parts and arrangement of the early Chris-tian churches, as collected from the descriptions of Eusebius above given, and from the writings of other authors whoallude to the subject.

From such authorities, it would seem that churches of thisperiod consisted not merely of a building for public service,but also of exliedra or out-buildings, employed for the secularas well as religious concerns of the church; such asschools, libraries, houses of residence for the clergy, &c.;the who 7 ", being surrounded and enclosed by an outer wall.This arrangement is very similar to that of our existingcathedrals. That all within this outer wall was consideredas belonging to the church, and consecrated ground, is evidentfrom the fact of its being acknowledged as a sanctuary inafter times. The position of the church within this enclosure,was generally east and west, having the altar toward theeast; but this custom was not always observed, as we meetwith many exceptions. That such a custom did prevail inspite of such exceptions, we have the authority of severalwriters. Socrates , noticing an example of the contrarypractice, says, that the church at Antioch stood in a differentposition to other churches, for that the altar did not looktowards the east, but to the west; and a similar observationis made by Paulinus Nolan us, respecting one of his ownchurches, and he gives the reason for his departure from theusual custom, namely, that the structure was made to looktowards another, in memory of the Saint in whose name thelatter was dedicated. The Apostolical Constitutions directthat churches should be built toward the east, but WalafridasStrabo says, “ The ancients were not nicely curious whichway their churches stood, but yet the most usual custom wasfor Christians to pray toward the east, and therefore thegreater proportion of churches were built with respect tothat custom.”

Allowing this custom to have- prevailed then, we shallhave our first or outer entrance in the west wall of theenclosure, and this is called by Eusebius the 7 rpoirv\oy fuyaand irpoTTi eicrotii). Through this vestibule, admittance wasobtained into a large quadrangle or open area, surroundedby cloisters, which is called by Eusebius , cuOptov and av Aij,and by the Latins, atrium ; the cloisters being distinguishedin the former case by the name of oroai, and consisting ofa covered way, the roof supported by pillars or an open arcade.The object of this court seems to have been to receive the peni-tents of the first order, or mourners, who were not permittedto enter the main body of the church ; in after times it wasused for a place of burial, but then only for persons ofdistinction ; kings thinking it a great honour to be buriedwithin the gates. This place was sometimes named impluvium.In the centre of the open area was a fountain or large basinof water, in which it was customary for the Christians towash their hands and face, and perhaps their feet, ere theyentered the church, such practice being a symbol of thepurity of heart which should attend them there. Tertullian