Elucidations - Clement of Alexandria

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I

(Paedagogue, book II. chap. 3, p. 247.)

This fine paragraph is in many ways interesting. The tourist who has
visited the catacombs, is familiar, among tokens of the first rude art
of Christians, with relics of various articles, realizing this idea of
Clement's, that even our furniture should be distinctively Christian.
In Pompeii, one finds lamps and other vessels marked by heathenish
devices, some of them gross and revolting. On the contrary, these
Christian utensils bear the sacred monograms ChR, AO, or the figure of
the fish, conveying to the user, by the letters of the Greek word for a
fish (IChThUS), the initials of the words "Jesus Christ, Son of God,
The Saviour." Often we have the anchor, the palm-branch, or the cross
itself. But I never looked at one of those Christian lamps without
imagining its owner, singing, as it was lighted, the eventide hymn (of
which see Elucidation III.), and reciting probably, therewith, the
text, "Let your loins be girded, and your lamps burning," etc. For a
valuable elucidation of subjects illustrated by Christian art, see
Testimony of the Catacombs, by the late Wharton B. Marriott (London,
Hatchards, 1870).

II.

(Book iii. Going to Church. p. 290, supra.)

Frequent references become necessary, at this point, to the
ecclesiastical usages of the early Christians. These have been largely
treated of by the great Anglican divines, whose works are recognised as
part of the standard literature of Christendom; but the nature of this
publication seems to impose on me the duty of choosing from external
sources, rather than from authors who have been more or less associated
with the controversies of our great "Anglo-Saxon" family. Happily the
writings of the late Dr. Bunsen supply us with all that is requisite of
this sort. In that very curious and characteristic medley, Hippolytus
and His Age, he has gathered into a convenient form nearly every point
which requires antiquarian elucidation, under the title of The Church
and Home Book of the Ancient Christians. Its contents he professes to
have rescued "from the rubbish in which they were enveloped for
centuries, and disencumbered of the fraud and misunderstanding by which
they are defaced." Now, while by no means satisfied with this work
myself, it affords an interesting specimen of the conclusions to which
an earnest and scholarly mind has been brought, in the course of
original and industrious research. It is the more interesting, as
illustrating a conviction, which he expresses elsewhere, that, in
shaping "the Church of the future," all Christians must revert to these
records of primitive antiquity, as of practical interest for our own
times. The proverbial faults of its author are indeed conspicuous in
this work, which, though the product of a mere inquirer, is presented
to us with entire self-reliance, as if he were competent to pronounce
upon all questions with something like pontifical infallibility. It is
also greatly mixed up with his personal theories, which are always
interesting, but rarely satisfactory to his readers. In spite of all
this, he has brought together, in a condensed form, what is undoubtedly
the result of patient investigation. It is the rather useful, because
it is the work of a genuine disciple of Niebuhr, who doubts and
questions at every step, and who always suspects a fraud. He is
committed, by his religious persuasions, to no system whatever, with
respect to such matters, and he professes to have produced a manual of
Christian antiquity, entirely scientific; that is to say, wholly
impartial, indifferent as to consequences, and following only the lead
of truth and evidence. In my references to Bunsen, therefore, let it be
understood, that, without accepting him as my own master, I yet wish to
respect his opinion and to commend his performance to the candid
investigation of others.

III.

The one ancient hymn, not strictly liturgical, which probably was not
new even to Clement, and to which we have already made reference once
or twice, is the following, which we give from Bunsen. He calls it "The
Evening Hymn of the Greek Christians," but it was not confined to the
Greeks any more than was the Greek of the Gospels and the Creeds. Its
proper name is "The Eventide Hymn," or "The Hymn for the Lighting of
the Lamps," and was doubtless uttered in the family at "candlelight,"
as we say a grace before meat. It is thus rendered:--

Hymn.


Serene light of the Holy Glory

Of the Father Everlasting,

Jesus Christ:

Having come to the setting of the sun,

And seeing the evening light,

We praise the Father and the Son,

And the Holy Spirit of God.

It behooveth to praise Thee,

At all times with holy songs,

Son of God, who hast given life;

Therefore the world glorifieth Thee.

The modern Italians, at sunset, recite the Ave Maria, which has been
imposed upon them by mediaeval Rome. Nothing but the coincidence of the
hour reminds us of the ancient hymn which it has superseded; and a
healthy mind, one would think, would note the contrast. This pure "hymn
to Christ as God," and to the Godhead in unity, gives place to an act
of worship addressed to the creature, more than to the Creator. One
might indeed call this Ave Maria the eventide hymn of modern Italy; but
the scatter-brain processes of Dr. Bunsen come out in the strange
reversal of thought, by which he would throw back the utterly
incongruous title of its Italian substitute upon a primitive hymn to
the Trinity,--"the Ave-Maria hymn, as we might call it from the present
Italian custom," etc. The strange confusion of ideas which constantly
characterizes this author, whenever some association, however remote,
strikes his fancy, is well illustrated by this instance. Let it serve
as a caution in following his lead. See Hippolytus (vol. iii. pp. 68,
138, etc.) and also Routh (Reliquiae, vol. iii. pp. 515-520).
Concerning the morning hymn, Gloria in Excelsis, which Dr. Bunsen gives
from the Alexandrian ms., and to which reference is made in his
Analecta Ante-Nicaena (iii. 86), see Warren's Celtic Liturgy (p. 197,
and index references. Ed. Oxford, 1881).

The Pastor of Hermas - Introductions

The Pastor of Hermas: Book 1

The Pastor of Hermas: Book 2

The Pastor of Hermas: Book 3

Tatian the Assyrian's Address to the Greeks

Fragments - Tatian the Assyrian

Theophilus of Antioch - Introduction

Theophilus of Antioch to Autolycus: Book 1

Theophilus of Antioch to Autolycus: Book 2

Theophilus of Antioch to Autolycus: Book 3

Athenagoras

A Plea for Christians by Athenagoras the Athenian: Philosopher and Christian

The Treatise of Athenagoras the Athenian, Philosopher and Christian, on the Resurrection of the Dead

Clement of Alexandria - Introductory Note

Exhortation to the Heathen

The Instructor (Paedagogus) - Book 1

The Instructor (Paedagogus) - Book 2

The Instructor (Paedagogus) - Book 3

Elucidations - Clement of Alexandria

The Stromata, or Miscellanies - Book 1

Elucidations - Purpose of the Stromata

The Stromata, or Miscellanies - Book 2

Elucidations - The Stromata, Book 2

The Stromata, or Miscellanies - Book 3

The Stromata, or Miscellanies - Book 4

Elucidations - The Stromata, Book 4

The Stromata, or Miscellanies - Book 5

Elucidations - The Stromata, Book 5

The Stromata, or Miscellanies - Book 6

Elucidations - The Stromata, Book 6

The Stromata, or Miscellanies - Book 7

Elucidations - The Stromata, Book 7

The Stromata, or Miscellanies - Book 8

Elucidations - The Stromata, Book 8

Fragments of Clemens Alexandrinus

Clemens Alexandrinus on the Salvation of the Rich Man

Elucidations - Clemens Alexandrinus on the Salvation of the Rich Man