Durham E-Theses The feast of the Encaenia in the fourth century and in the ancient liturgical sources of Jerusalem Fraser, Michael Alexander How to cite: Fraser, Michael Alexander (1995) The feast of the Encaenia in the fourth century and in the ancient liturgical sources of Jerusalem, Durham theses, Durham University. Available at Durham E-Theses Online: http://etheses.dur.ac.uk/5431/ Use policy The full-text may be used and/or reproduced, and given to third parties in any format or medium, without prior permission or charge, for personal research or study, educational, or not-for-prot purposes provided that: • a full bibliographic reference is made to the original source • a link is made to the metadata record in Durham E-Theses • the full-text is not changed in any way The full-text must not be sold in any format or medium without the formal permission of the copyright holders. Please consult the full Durham E-Theses policy for further details. Academic Support Oce, Durham University, University Oce, Old Elvet, Durham DH1 3HP e-mail: [email protected] Tel: +44 0191 334 6107 http://etheses.dur.ac.uk 2 Michael Alexander Fraser The Feast of the Encaenia in the Fourth Century and in the Ancient Liturgical Sources of Jerusalem Doctor of Philosophy 1995 ABSTRACT The central concept in this thesis is the Encaenia, particularly the Jerusalem Encaenia of the Martyrium Basilica and the anniversary feast of the same name, but also other, lesser known, inaugurations of churches which occurred in the fourth century. The thesis commences with a review of the recent scholarship on early Christian buildings, the Holy Land, and the Jerusalem Encaenia feast. Chapter two discusses the appearance of "eyKatvia" in the Septuagint and early Christian literature before considering the first documented occasion of an encaenia feast, the inauguration of the basilica in Tyre. Chapter three is a detailed study of Constantine's 'New Jerusalem' from the finding of the Cross to the inauguration of the Martyrium basiKca in 335. A distinction is drawn between the work of Constantine and the interpretation of Eusebius. The subsequent chapter draws attention to the growth and uniform pattern of imperial involvement in the inauguration of churches under Constantius, paying particular attention to the alleged Encaenia of an Alexandrian basilica by Athanasius without imperial consent. The study of the Jerusalem Encaenia, the anniversary of the Martyrium inauguration, commences in chapter five with an analysis of the feast in the Journal of Egeria and the brief account recorded by Sozomen. Both writers portray the Encaenia as a pilgrim feast. Chapter six examines the liturgical content of the feast reconstructed from the earliest Jerusalem lectionaries and calendar. The theology of the feast is discerned from the biblical texts prescribed for the liturgy. Many of the observations made in previous chapters are drawn together in chapter eight which proposes the Encaenia as a Christian interpretation of the Jewish feast of Tabernacles. The conclusion to the thesis discusses the prominence of the Jerusalem Encaenia in the liturgical calendar, and locates the rite and feast of the Encaenia within the wider context of the dedication of churches in the east and western liturgy. Further avenues of research are outlined regarding the rites and surviving homilies for the dedication of a church. The Feast of the Encaenia in the Fourth Century and in the Ancient Liturgical Sources of Jerusalem Michael Alexander Eraser The copyright of this thesis rests with the author No quotation from it should be published without his prior written consent and information derived from it should be acknowledged. Submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy University of Durham Department of Theology 1995 2 2 MAY 1996 Table of Contents Acknowledgements 5 Declaration 6 Abbreviations 6 Chapter One: Introduction 7 The dedication of churches 7 The encaenia and the emperor 8 The Encaenia and the liturgical memory 9 Early Christian Places of Assembly 10 From Domus Dei to Basilica 11 Holy Places and Pilgrimage 17 The Holy Land 21 Holy Places 22 The Feast of the Encaenia 24 The sources 24 Matthew Black and the Encaenia 25 Hilarius Emends 26 Recent scholarship 27 The present study 29 Chapter Two. The Feast of the Encaenia in Tyre, 315AD 30 Introduction 30 Eusebius and the Events of 313 30 The Ecclesiastical History of Eusebius 33 Book Ten of the History 34 The 'EyKaivicov eopTai' 37 The Septuagint 37 The New Testament 39 The interpretation of Eusebius 40 The Feast of the Encaenia at Tyre 42 Eusebius' panegyric 42 The great victory 44 The restoration of the church at Tyre 45 The new church of Tyre 46 The spiritual building 47 P. Aelius Aristides' Oration in Cyzicus: A comparative view 50 Classical praise of architecture 50 Aristides and the temple of Asclepius 52 Conclusions 54 An imperial foundation? 55 A feast of unity 58 Chapter Three. Constantine, the Cross and the Encaenia in Jerusalem. 59 Introduction 59 Eusebius, Constantine and the Saving Trophy 61 The Saving Sign and Constantine's victory over Maxentius... 62 The military context of the trophy of victory 67 Constantine's interpretation of the sign 69 Eusebius' interpretation of the sign 70 Constantine and the vision of Apollo 70 The deliberate ambiguity 71 Eusebius' sources for the labarum and vision of Constantine. 72 The Finding of the Saving Sign 74 Jan Willem Drijvers and Stephan Borgehammar 74 Imperial movements 324-326 and Helena's tour 75 The destruction of pagan shrines 81 The Cross and Constantine's Christian development 83 John Henry Newman and the Finding of the Cross 84 Using Eusebius to discern Constantine's interpretation of the Cross 85 Constantine at Nicaea 86 Images of the Saving Sign at Constantinople 88 The Oration on the Holy Sepulchre and the Laus Constantini 89 Differences regarding the Saving Sign in the Laus and the Oratio 90 The different contexts of the Laus and the Oratio 91 The Vita Constantini 93 The uncovering of Christ's tomb 93 Constantine's letter to Macarius 95 The position of the basilica in relation to the tomb and Golgotha... 95 Recent scholarship and the Finding of the Cross 98 Eusebius' theology of the Cross 100 The Buildings of the New Jerusalem 102 The constituent parts of the basilica 102 The basilica and the Hadrianic structures 104 The Feast of the Encaenia 106 The Bordeaux pilgrim.. 106 The emperor, the bishop, and the architects 107 The church and empire between 326-335 108 The see of Antioch and the council of Nicomedia 108 Athanasius and the Meletians 109 The council of Tyre Ill The council and encaenia in Jerusalem 112 Eusebius' role at the encaenia: the oration on the Holy Sepulchre 114 Eusebius' oration at Tyre and his oration at Jerusalem 116 The imperial offerings for the new basilica 117 The Date of the Encaenia 119 The Roman calendar of 354 121 The Encaenia and the Day of Atonement 123 Constantine and the Jerusalem Encaenia: conclusions 126 Chapter Four. Constantius and the Encaenia 129 Introduction 129 Providing the Context: Constantius and the Church 130 The personality of Constantius 130 The rebellion of Magnentius 132 The Council of the Encaenia at Antioch 133 The date of the Antioch encaenia 134 The council of Antioch 136 Constantius and Jerusalem 137 The significance of the apparition for Cyril and Constantius.. 139 Constantius, the Caesareum and Athanasius 141 The Caesareum temple complex 142 The charge of holding a premature encaenia 143 Biblical precedents for holding worship before an encaenia... 147 The rites of encaenia and of consecration 148 The Caesareum after 354 148 The Inauguration of the Great Church in Constantinople 152 The Constantinople encaenia 153 Conclusion 154 The encaenia and episcopal councils 154 Chapter Five. The feast of the Encaenia in the Journal of Egeria and the Church History of Sozomen 155 Introduction 155 The Journal of the Pilgrim Egeria 155 The dating of Egeria's Journal 157 The identity of Egeria 158 Egeria's movements after Jerusalem 160 The record of the liturgical year in Jerusalem 161 The description of the Encaenia 162 The constituent parts of the Martyrium-Anastasis site 163 The Encaenia and the feast of the Cross 166 The Encaenia and the temple of Solomon 167 The octave of the Encaenia 168 The stations of the Encaenia 170 The Encaenia as a pilgrim festival 172 Conclusion 174 The Feast of the Encaenia in the Church History of Sozomen 175 The Church History of Sozomen 176 Sozomen's description of the feast of the Encaenia 177 The Encaenia and baptism 178 The eschatological perspective of Sozomen's description 178 Conclusion 179 Chapter Six. The Feast of the Encaenia in the Ancient Liturgical Sources of Jerusalem 181 Introduction 181 The Armenian-Jerusalem Lectionary 182 Dating the Lectionary 182 The Encaenia in the Armenian Lectionary 186 Two days or an ocatve? 187 The Encaenia and the Cross 189 The theology of the Encaenia 190 The dedication of all altars 192 The Georgian-Jerusalem Lectionary 194 The Georgian-Jerusalem lectionary sources 195 The Georgian-Jerusalem Calendar 195 The Georgian Index of Gospel readings 197 The Georgian chantbooks 198 The Feast of the Encaenia in the Georgian Sources 199 The second day of the Encaenia 203 Days three to eight of the Encaenia 205 Conclusions 212 The liturgical development of the Encaenia and the feast of the Cross 213 The feast of the Cross in the Western liturgy 214 Chapter Seven. The Feast of Encaenia and the Feast of Tabernacles 216 The Encaenia and the Feast of Tabernacles 218 Zach 14:16 and the Encaenia 220 Jewish practices and Christian self-identity 222 The Christian appropriation and re-interpretation of Jewish feasts 225 Chapter Eight.