>Jim Bugslag wrote:
>Dear Josef,
>This is very interesting. Presumably, this lies behind the
>distinctive Byzantine, and Orthodox, practice of having multiple,
>small churches in, say, a monastery, rather than one large one?
Jim.
Certainly I agree that this is the later and ultimate
theological justification for such praxis.
I suspect however, the reality of multiple, smaller churches
within a larger "community" was more a "practical" , political, and
by no means final, solution to the greater problem of the
union/uniting of divergent Cenobitic communal paradigms/traditions,
Idiorrhythmic models ( by definition diverse and idiosycratic) with
Eremetical and Semi-Eremetical patterns. There were violent disputes
and conflicts which arose in this process, in which the acknowledged
and affirmed principle of coming together at some appointed times to
some general spatial center could only be achieved through multiple
smaller physical
epi-centers ( these individual churhes).
>
>hope you can, as promised, dig up some more information on this,
I will do my best. I have in the past offered a course called "Worlds
Within Worlds": The Cultures of Monasticism, which included some
atricles on the ecclesio-political and practical problems of the
Great Lavra on Athos. I will dig out the bulk pack and send on the
references. These might interest you.
> for
>I, like Christopher, am very interested in this business of altars
>and masses. In relation to Cluny, which I believe Christopher
>mentioned, certainly one related aspect of the multiplication of
>altars in western churches was the increasing numbers of private
>masses - obits and anniversaries - that churches were obligated to
>perform. Cluny collected such masses earlier than most churches, but
>they became rather widespread in western Europe through the 12th
>century, I believe. At Durham Cathedral, for example, in 1244, two
>years after construction of the so-called Chapel of the Nine Altars,
>the monks there were pledged to no less than 7332 masses a year. If
>only one mass per day could be celebrated at each altar, that would
>require at least 21 altars operating full speed ahead to fulfil this
>enormous obligation. This is also the reason for the increasing
>decrees specifying that monks had to take orders and say daily
>masses, that appeared through the later 13th and 14th centuries.
>Presumably, the inception of this practice of churches accepting
>private donations in return for anniversary masses could only develop
>after the principle had been well established that churches could
have as many altars as they could physically stuff in.
<<<
While the lists of commemorations of the departed and the living were
important in the life of Orthodox monastics, these were done
primarily at non-Eucharistic
services celebrated precisely for this purpose___ the Litiya prayers
for the departed, the Pannychis ( Parastasis) {lengthier service for
the departed based on an interpolated matins ordo}, the full Matins
for the Departed, all of which included the individual naming of all
on the lists. At the Eucharistic Liturgy there were petitions offered
for the departed in the Pre-Anaphoral sequece of litanies, in which
the names of all the departed entrusted to the monastery might be
read.In all of the examples I cited, the practice of assigning these
lists to multiple readers/deacons,or priests, often read
simultaneously, or in sequence was not uncommon. There was however,
only one Eucharistic Liturgy being celebrated, on one altar, with
one chief celebrant, and one Eucharistic offering. There did however
emerge the development of small kiosks ( often, but not always, a
table or extended shelf, with icons, cross, taper stands, etc
specifically for the celebration of the memorial services. These
kiosks were placed just about anywhere within the nave of the church.
These memorial services could be offered daily, but did not require
an altar, nor a Eucharistic Liturgy (Mass) for their celebration. It
was also often given to the individual monks to commemorate these
official lists of departed, along with any such commemorations asked
privately of them in their daily private prayers.
I hope I have not gotten too far off track from your original observation.
I didn't intend to; it just happened!
Best wishes for the New Year
Josef Gulka
Josef Gulka
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215- 732-8420
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