Page 208
Symbolism, Ecclesiastical THE NEW SCHAFF-HERZOG
water is a prominent part of the rite; but rather too much, it seems, has been made of the analogy drawn by L. Duchesne (Christian Worship, p. 413, London, 1904), following such medieval liturgists as Yvo of Chartres, between the consecration and the ceremonies of baptism. There is no attempt, however remote, to imitate the " form " of baptism; and it is safer to regard the lustration as merely a symbolized moral disinfection. It is the natural and logical order that purificatioff should precede embellishment. Even in pagan Greece, at the annual commemoration of those who fell at Platea, the archon washed the gravestones with water before anointing them with oil. So in the rite under discussion the consecration is symbolized and made eloquent to the spiritual sense by the use of oil, typical of God's benedictions.
III. Symbolism in Art.-1. Relation of Art and Symbolism: Throughout the entire history of Christian art more or less of symbolism has ever been present. This Christian art has on the one side been in agreement with the historic manifestations or forms of art in general, while on the other side religious fancy and the tongue of the Church and of Christendom have brought forth a wealth of symbols, comparisons, allegories, and types peculiarly their own which in turn have had an especially eventful influence upon art. In the early Christian period alongside of purely Christian conceptions earlier art traditions were still effective. In the discovery and interpretation of art symbols needful care has not always been exercised in distinguishing between what belongs to literature, what to literature and art combined, or what exclusively to art. Such men of the Middle Ages as Honorius of Autun, Sicard, and Durand, for example, in their symbolic interpretations concerned themselves all too narrowly with the emblematic speech of art. For the Middle Ages the most effective work has been done by such French scholars as Cahier and Didron, for the early Christian period by German Protestants.
2. The Early Period: For the period before Constantine this form of expression is limited to sepulchral monuments. The expression is essentially symbolic, and material from the Old and the New 1. Primitive Testament is used to express the
Forms. conceptions and hopes of that period,although with occasional peculiarities more or less loosely attached. Roses, branches of bloom, flowering meadows, and trees, especially the palm, represent paradise, the entrance being indicated by two pillars, or, later, by two great candlesticks. Still more significant was the lamb, standing upon a mountain from which gushed the four streams of paradise, and the Jordan also came into this connection. In very intimate connection with this was the favorite figure of the good shepherd, thought of as lord and protector of the dead, to which belonged also the sheep upon his shoulder. The sheep also appeared alone in this symbolism; the number twelve represented the apostles; the lamb stood for Christ and also for the sacrificial lamb; exceptionally upon the sarcophagus of Junius Bassus the lamb represents the
208wonder-working Jesus. The fish, one of the most ancient symbols, also belongs here so far as it expresses the mystical communion brought about through the Lord's Supper, the result of which is incorruption. The conversion of this into a confession as Ichthus (=lesaus Christos Theou huios sot'er) can be proven first in the fourth century, while the designation of the Christians as pisciculi seems never to have been taken up into art. The vine, appearing as early as the second century, either relates itself to the Lord's Supper or represents the living community with Christ (John xv. 1 sqq.). The dove, with or without the olive branch, as the symbol of heavenly peace belongs here; it may be purely ornamental, however, or it may represent the Holy Spirit. So mention may be made here of the palm, the wreath or crown, and the anchor. The peacock was a possession of the ancient, of Jewish, and of Christian sepulchral symbolism. The same may be said of the Sirens, the Dioscuri, Eros, and Psyche. The figure of Orpheus also was used, not because there was any relation to Christ, but possibly because of the connection in the Orphic mysteries with immortality. Ship and lighthouse portrayed the voyage to eternity; the shepherd suggested the sighing of the soul for eternal peace, and was employed in baptisteries. Whether the so-called Orantes (praying figures; generally female) represented Christian prayer as such is not absolutely sure, but they do not represent the Church. Religious regard restricted representations of the deity to a hand reaching down, later surrounded by a nimbus or giving rise to rays of light. From the secular life were taken such figures as the lion, eagle, horse, balance, and instruments of labor.
With the end of the fourth century began the downfall of sepulchral figuring and loss of its symbolism, replaced by a new series of symbols. To be named here are the monogram of Christ (see JESUS CHRIST, MONOGRAM or), the cross (see CROSS
AND ITS USE A6 A SYMBOL), the A and 2. Advanced Q the swastika, the phenix and the
Develop- eagle (both symbols of the resurrec-tion), the cantharus from which vine branches issue (recalling the Supper), while serpents, dragons, and other monsters either lie at Christ's feet or are transfixed by the emperor's bannered spear (recalling the fall or representing the devil and his companions). Other objects introduced more or less frequently were the lizard, squirrel, cypress, spring or well, dog, and ring. To be separated in category are the purely heathen symbols which owe their entrance into Christian art to purely mechanical causes, such as Eros (Cupid) with reversed torch (see MITHRA, MITHRAISM), Gorgon head, and pomegranate (an accompaniment of Persephone). A higher step in development was taken when by way of personification the human figure came to be used. So a half-figure, with a robe in folds over the head, upon which the enthroned Christ sets his foot, represents the heaven. While sun and moon appear as disk and crescent, the sun appears also as a youth going forth in his chariot with winged horses, likewise as a bust from the head of which issue rays; the moon is a woman with the sickle in her hair or with a garment blowing or falling in folds about her. Male