Regional Synod of Canada - Reformed Church in America

Pioneer Christian Monthly

Date - June/75

Contributor - R. A. Hartmans

Title - A Series of Articles on Church History

Topic - Church History

This time I will not tell you the story of a person, but instead, I suggest that we have a look at the first church buildings. The reason is that there are few concrete facts known about the early leaders of the Christian Church who came after the Apostles. Also, the church building has always been a silent witness to the faith of the believer. Even today thousands of church buildings tell us something about the faith and the sacrifices of those who went before us.

From its earliest beginnings one of the marks of the Christian religion was its corporate character. The gathering of the faithful for prayer, Scripture reading, exhortation, singing of hymns, and celebration of the sacraments were essential to Christian Worship. These practices have determined to a large extend the development of church architecture even to this day. It also channeled the development of the early Christian church into a house of meeting like the Jewish synagogue rather than into a temple like the shrine in Jerusalem.

The celebration of the Lord's Supper formed the center of the Christian service of worship. Since our Lord had not given specific instructions concerning its celebration and interpretation, the local churches showed a great variety in their liturgy. Nevertheless, a basic pattern and interpretation existed in all churches. The Lord's Supper was seen as a communal action in which all the different orders of the congregation had their proper- task to perform.

Since the emphasis was on the participation of all confessing Christians, the place of worship needed to be rather spacious.

At the same time we must not overlook the fact that the church building found its origin in the home of the believer.

At first there simply was no need for special buildings. The New Testament teaches that after the resurrection of our Lord the Church met in the synagogue or in the Temple or other public places. Gradually Christians were banned from the synagogue and worship in the Temple at Jerusalem was terminated at the time of its destruction.

It must also be pointed out that, in the beginning, a good part of the Christian worship was seen as a private activity. "Friends" might be admitted to the Scripture reading and the sermon, but they were excluded from the celebration of the Lord's Supper or the services of prayer.

Because of the exclusiveness of Christian worship, as well as the limited number of Christians, and under the pressure of persecution the Church would often meet in' private homes which, if necessary, were adapted for the purpose of holding larger congregations. Yet, at a relatively early time, long before Christianity became an accepted religion in the Roman Empire, sanctuaries were built.

These first sanctuaries were often built with the most important part of the building facing East. Clement of Alexandria gives us the Christian interpretation of orientation when he writes, "Pray to God Eastward, who ascended up to the Heaven of Heavens to the East. Remembering also the ancient situation of Paradise in the East

The projecting semicircular part at one end of the building was called the apse. It was usually considered to be the most important part of the building, and, therefore, faced East.

The position of the bishop's seat, the cathedra, in the apse reflects the cultural and theological understanding of authority in the Early church. The understanding of authority determined the place of the father at the head of the family gathering, just as the seat of the magistrate was placed in front of the people. Christian theology helped to shape and influence the place of the believer in the Christian assembly. Ignatius wrote, around the turn of the first century:

Let the bishop preside in God's place, and the presbyters take the place of the apostolic council, and let the deacons (my special favorites) be entrusted with the ministry of Jesus Christ.**)

The cathedral of the bishop was located in the very back of the apse. The presbyters were seated on each side of him. Their seats were the first fixtures to appear in stone in the early church. They stressed the importance of church order.

The bishop preached in seated position as a sign of his authority. This was a Jewish custom which was reflected by the author of the Gospel of Luke (1 :52; 4 :20) and in the Creeds, "and sitteth on the right hand of the Father". The position in the back 'of the apse was not always very convenient, and at times the cathedra was moved forward, if possible into the fenced off space in front of the apse called the chancel.

Chrysostom appears to have delivered his sermon from the ambo in order that the people might hear him better. The ambo is more closely related to the pulpit than the bishop's chair. It was similar to the ambo of the synagogue. At first it was used for the reading of the Scriptures, and its location and use was not yet bound by convention and symbolism. Sometimes it was placed in the middle of the church; more frequently it appeared on one of the long sides. This indecision about the location of the ambo indicates that it was considered less important than the bishop's cathedral or the Communion table.

The celebration of the Lord's Supper took place around an altar or table. At first this was a simple wooden table. Compared with the elaborate stone structures of paganism it was negligible. In fact, the absence of sacred objects in their gatherings caused Christians to be accused of atheism for they had no altars, no temples no famed images".***) Of course, to the early Christian the gathering around the table and the celebration of the Lord's Supper were what mattered - not the table itself. Therefore, the liturgy of the community rather than the table determined the shape of the building. Indecision concerning the location of the table attested to this theory. At times it was placed at the point where the apse and the main building were connected. In Greek churches it stood before the apse. Indeed, in one church the table was located twenty-five feet away from the apse.

The church was often one room of the Dmus Ecclesiae. There were rooms for the clergy, for the choristers, and of course, the baptistry. From the New Testament we learn that baptism took place outside in a natural body of water. Due to the persecutions, however, baptism began to be administered indoors.

The baptisery was a round or polygonal domed building with a sunken font in the center. The font was reached by a number of steps which symbolized the decent of Christ into the Jordan. The ver shallow pools indicate that baptism took place in a standing position, and that it was administered by sprinkling rather than submersion. At later times, when infant baptism became the accepted practice, baptismal fonts were changed into the comparatively small containers which we know today. The fonts were placed within the church building at the main entrance door symbolizing the admission of the faithful into the Church of Christ through baptism.

From the above we learn that church architecture was primarily functional in the beginning. The convictions of the congregation required a specific environment, which was -characterized by its simplicity. When the church grew older the institutional needs became more complicated and the plans of the church buildings developed into more elaborate designs. Symbolic significance began to be applied to certain elements of the church building and its furniture. Christians began to feel the need of witnessing to the Faith through the interior and exterior of the church building, and every ornament and aspect was regarded as having a symbolic meaning.****) This tendency was continued into and through the middle ages in the Roman and Gothic churches.

*) Clement, The Constitution of the Holy Apostles (London: William Whiston), II., 57.

**) Cyril C. Richardson and others (trans.), "Ignatius: Epistle to the Magnesians", Early Christian Fathers (Philadelphia: the Westminster Press, 1953), I, p. 95.

***) Andrew Lansdale Drummond, The Church Architecture of Protestantism; An Historical and Constructive Study (Edinburgh: T. & T. Clark, 1934), p. 187.

****) G. van der Leeuw, Liturgiek (Nijkerk: G. F. Callenbach, N.V., 1946), p. 112.

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