Page:Archaeological Journal, Volume 5.djvu/262

 203 NOTICES OF ANCIENT ORNAMENTS laden with the tissues of Baldak or Tarsus, the gems and oriental rarities, the horn of the unicorn, or the egg of the griffin, to be offered at the altar in token of devotion, or grateful memorial of their preservation through manifold perils. To such causes, likewise, we may doubtless trace the introduction into the simple churches in Britain of observances of sacred repute in other climes ; these usages, like the novel architecture of the fabric reared by the pious founder of AVeremouth, Biscopius, claimed reverential admiration, be- cause conformable to the " manner of Home." The use of the fabeUum, called in the Greek Church piirl- Scov, has been traced by liturgical writers to a very early age. Cardinal Bona observes that it is mentioned in the " Apo- stolical Constitutions," in the liturgies of St. Basil and St. Chrysostom*, and other ancient Greek and Syriac rituals. In the liturgy of James, included by Pope Clement I, in the " Constitutions," its purpose is thus expressed. Two deacons, one on either side of the altar, were directed to hold fans formed of thin membrane (e^ vfiepwv XeTTTMv pcTrlSta) oi the feathers of the peacock, or of linen tissue, to drive away any little flying creatures, lest they should fall into the sacred vessels. It can scarcely be questioned that these writings, although of great antiquity, and comprising probably much that is of primitive authority, had been handed down with many additions and interpolations. It is, however, highly probable that in the hot climate of the east, or of southern countries, the use of such an object might have been adopted from a very early period, in churches open to the exterior air, and where the atmosphere teems with insect life. The large size moreover, and number of the vessels used in earlier ages of the Church, when the congregation of communicants was very great, rendered such precaution the more indispensable. Much has been written on the antiquity of this usage, and without entering further into the enquiry, it may suffice for the present purpose to refer to the learned observations of Bona, Goar, Suaresius, Sebastian Paulius, Catalanus and Macer''. In the Greek Church it was customary to depict upon the sacred fan the semblance of a cherub, and Goar ^ Divina Missa S. .loan. Chrysostomi, fiabelHs Pontificiis et Muscariis Pavoni- Goar, Rituale Graecorum, p. 7G. See also nis ; Seb. Paul, de Patena argentea Foro- the notes on this subject, ibid., p. I3ti. corneliensi, Neap. 174.'); Catalan, in Pon- " Card. Bona, Ilernm Ivituro;'., lib. i. c. tificali Roman. Ilomae, 1738; Macri Hie- 25; Goar, p. l'6(i; Suaresii Diatriha de rolexicon, &c. See aUo Ducange.