Last night a reader referenced me to what appears to be a new blog by Bill Hamblin, a well-known LDS scholar and Associate Professor of History at BYU, and particularly about a post of his of a couple week ago. Dr. Hamblin talks about early Byzantine veils, and especially one that he has photographs of in an old church, the Agios Eleftherios, in Athens.
We have examined the iconostasis on this blog previously, an icon wall which stemmed from an earlier chancel screen or templon, a barrier or partition which separated the holy area where only the priests could go from the area of the laity.
This ancient Athens church retains its original chancel screen, including a curtain or veil. This veil is particularly interesting in that it includes the original gammadia marks, right-angled symbols like the Greek letter gamma (Î"), which we’ve also mentioned before. As Dr. Hamblin notes, these gammadia were often used to mark veils, altar cloths, and priestly robes in early Byzantine Christianity. Almost all of these veils have now been replaced by iconostases in modern churches.
Read the whole post at Bill Hamblin’s Things Unutterable. Thanks Reed!
4 Comments
So, Bryce, is the altar where the eucharist is blessed behind the veil/ iconostases?
Yes. The altar is in the sanctuary which is behind the iconostases, and only the clergy are allowed there. Here is a picture with the Holy Doors open in the Church of the Savior on the Blood in St. Petersburg, and you can see the altar in the sanctuary.
I’m not sure I could worship where I could not see the clergy peforming one of the most sacred rites of my religion. I wonder how the congregants deal with this? Is it like the exclusion of the Bible to only clergy before the printing press?
Secrecy beckons my curiousity and is what drove me to read so much about the temple before I went for my endowment. For my 11th birthday, I asked my parents to buy me “House of the Lord.” I wanted to know what was happening in the temple.
I too have often pondered that. Why not allow the congregation to see what the clergy are doing? Why not allow the congregation to come before God in the Holy Place? I think the answer that would be given is that these things are too holy for the lay people to witness and participate in. There is a qualification to enter there, just as in our temples. Basically, the separation between the sanctuary (temple) and the synagogue (church) in early Christianity was lost, and the two were somewhat combined into one. The front door of the temple was moved to be in front of the congregation, so most of all ordinances of the church were performed behind those doors.
The restored gospel separates the two again, and allows all members to become priests and priestesses and enter the sanctuary. The LDS temple is wholly within the sanctuary, and every member that enters there has a worthiness recommend. Whereas the chapels are where the world may witness other sacred ordinances appropriate to that location.
One Trackback
[...] Kapnikarea Church in Athens has a restored interior. Â They put the altar behind a veil with interesting right angle marks on it [gammadia]. [...]