Le Corbusier’s pilgrimage chapel at Ronchamp, France. Photo: Groucho / CC BY-NC-ND 2.0 / https://www.flickr. com/photos/grou- cho/13556662883 LIVING STONES The Vernacular in Church Architecture Alexis Vinogradov 1 Gregory Dix, The The liturgy of the Early Christian era the heart of worship that is ultimately Shape of the Lit- was about doing rather than saying. to be expressed and enhanced by both urgy (Westminster: Dacre Press, 1945), This distinction is borrowed from Dom art and architecture. Of course this con- 12–15. Kiprian Kern, Gregory Dix by Fr. Kyprian Kern, who sideration must include literature, mu- Евхаристия (Paris: was responsible for the first major Or- sic, and ritual movement and gesture. YMCA-Press, 1947). thodox investigation of the sources 2 and practices of the Christian eccle- Our earliest archaeological discover- Marcel Jousse, L’An- 1 thropologie du geste sia. The Jesuit scholar Marcel Jousse ies substantiate the nature of the “do- (Paris: Gallimard, reinforces this assertion in writing of ing” performed by the Church. The 2008). the early Christian practice and un- celebrants did not initially constitute derstanding of “eating and drinking” a distinct caste, for all who were gath- the word, rooted in a mimesis of ges- ered were involved in the rites. One tures passed on through generations.2 can therefore understand the emer- “Do this in remembrance of me,” says gence throughout Christian history of Christ at the last gathering with his anti-clerical movements, which have disciples (Lk. 22:19). pushed back against the progressive exclusion of the faithful from areas The present essay is about the ver- deemed “sacred” in relation to the nacular in church architecture. It is “profane” precincts of the laity. Al- not an examination of those earlier ready at the close of the first century, Church practices, but no exploration Clement of Rome speaks about the of religious art and architecture can be liturgy of the bishop, the liturgy of the meaningful without consideration of priest, the liturgy of the deacon, and the 24 liturgy of the laity. In this designation is ing against the excessive carpeting of presupposed the appropriate training churches, writes: “One comes to the lit- (as much as three years for the laity!) urgy to transact the public business of for all the ranks of faithful. Liturgy, for death and life rather than to be tucked Clement, refers to actions performed in in with fables and featherpuffs.” In a kind of ritual choreography of a har- describing the late medieval introduc- monious whole. tion of pews into worship, he likens it to the placement of bleachers directly For the most part, we have today a bi- on the basketball court, writing that “it furcated liturgy, in which a trained and changes the event into something en- active clergy perform the celebration tirely different.”3 according to arcane rules that exclude 3 Aiden Kavanagh, an essentially passive “audience,” no Elements of Rite: A longer engaged in the sacral choreog- Handbook of Liturgical raphy. Whether tethered in immobile While today we are rarely, if ever, able Style (1966; New pews or rows of chairs or somewhat to experience what the early liturgical York: Pueblo Publish- ing Company, 1982), liberated in a clear floor space, the practices felt like, we can still examine 21–22. In the same faithful nonetheless remain in basically what we know about them and create volume, Fr. Kava- fixed locations as passive observers of a language of architectural space that nagh explores the the cult. This is not to say that silent provides, at the very least, an oppor- great decline in ritual beauty: see especially standing in church is not a form of tunity to restore the spirit of those the chapter “Some participation—in a non-stop age, such practices. There is absolutely no need Common Mistakes,” opportunity for pious standing may be to ape what we discover in archaeo- 72–80. the one antidote to be treasured, and logical research, because the Church’s not countered with concocted liturgi- tradition is a living reality, informed cal “ministries” designed for dubious continually by the Holy Spirit. Early aims of inclusiveness! history already perfectly demonstrates this dynamism and resistance to the It would not do justice to the depth of dogmatization of forms and materials. liturgical theology and history to make any summary assertion about how lit- The purpose of both church architec- urgy was once and now ought to be ture and iconography, as they combine done, and on its heels to institute a quick with music and aromas and light, con- liturgical reform. Liturgy is not a game sists not in bringing us to an exalted for scholars and experts. Its evolution perception of external delights, but reflects a slow appropriation of pre- rather in a transformation within the cisely those gestures and forms exam- hearts of the assembled faithful. The ined by Dix, Kern, and Jousse. A certain question for architecture is how it can ritual conformity is not a slavishness to serve its own iconic purpose. In the form, but what they call a unitive “lan- icon we must pass through the paints guage” that speaks across the province and lines to the prototype, just as the of precise verbal semantics. pieces of a parable must move us be- yond the immediate story towards its By the same token, neither the ico- central revelation. Architecture cannot nographer nor the architect is free to satisfy participants by dazzling with pull arbitrary elements out of a file formal and technical gymnastics. The of “Orthodox styles” and apply them forms themselves must move us to- at whim for the sensual satisfaction ward their hidden content, bringing of the community. The Roman Cath- us to Paul’s affirmation of “Christ who olic scholar Aiden Kavanagh, argu- lives in me” (Gal. 2:20). THE WHEEL 5 | Spring 2016 25 is the potential word and manifesta- tion of its creator. The Savior arrives in a humble setting. Nothing remains “common,” and that means that dis- tinctions between vernacular and sa- cred are artificial in light of the incar- nation. The Church’s decline in history began when, from her goal of the salvation of the world so loved by God, she shifted her attention onto herself. One can be a specialist in ecclesiology with little or no interest in one’s surrounding culture. From a living historical and eschatological body reaching outward in mission, Christians made a “choice” (which is the meaning of “heresy”) to idolize particular historical expres- sions of their religious life in self-sat- isfied tribal enclosures. Hence, we can speak of a kind of Byzantine or Russian or Greek captivity regarding liturgy, dress, art, music, architecture, and even an ethos of daily discipline and life unrelated to the prevailing culture. Church of St. Gregory Gothic cathedrals such as the one in It is in fact a denial of history not to the Theologian, Cologne tower 50 stories into the sky see that these forms had their “place” Wappingers Falls, New York. Deisis trying to reach that kingdom which and expression adequate to that histor- mural behind open the Savior says is actually within each ical moment and no other. Our work iconostasis. of us. In my small parish church, the is to examine how those architectonic 16 by 17-foot Deisis mural icon in the “words,” that particular language of sanctuary depicts some 26 figures from architecture and art, “spoke” in and sacred tradition surrounding the glo- thereby transfigured their context— rified Savior enthroned. He is there but all this in order to know what to among them, and yet their individual do with the cultural word particular to gazes are not focused adoringly on him our own time and cultures. in expression of a sentimental delight, but are rather oriented inward. They Students and theologians of early are calm, at peace, knowing that he is Christianity insist that Christians did in them and they in him. not create new rites and symbols, but rather filled old symbols with the new Iconographers and architects may de- meaning imparted in Christ. All sub- bate styles and schools, but the living sequent ecclesial evolution implied tradition offers a challenge at every this now familiar duality of the conti- moment to transfigure the historical nuity of the old and the discontinuity “flesh” that is presented to the Church. brought about by the radical newness The Christian Church is material be- of the incarnation, death, and resur- cause its savior is the Word and Son rection of the Son of God. So how are of God become incarnate. All matter we to find an expression adequate to 26 worship today, somewhere between worship could become public, this the third-century house church of Du- form proved exquisitely accommo- ra-Europos on the one hand and the dating to Christian mural art—whose grandeur of cathedrals and Byzantine origins had appeared already in Dura domes on the other? and the catacombs—and evolved pri- marily in its internal articulation. A short essay is not the place to delin- eate principles shaping an architec- Only one major variant ever evolved ture that can take what is perceived to rival this type: the Greek cross, the as vernacular and render it sacred. arms of which accommodated antiph- Often we must look at architecture onal choirs and eventually subsidiary purely, putting aside for a moment its chapels, memorials, baptisteries, con- specific programmatic purpose. Good fessionals, and the diakonikon or place music, good literature, and good art of proskomide (the preparation of the have an “epiphanic” quality, reveal- Gifts).