Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 8.djvu/850

Rh 814 E Y C E Y C orders, as well as for the purpose of promoting the general health of the body. According to the narrative of Mark, it was employed by the disciples of Jesus apparently for the purpose of effecting miraculous cures (Mark vi. 13). The apostle James also exhorts Christians to make use of it, accompanied with prayer, in the case of sick persons. &quot; Is any sick among you, let him call for the elders of the church; and let them pray over him, anoint ing him with oil in the name of the Lord; and the prayer of faith shall save the sick, and the Lord shall raise him up ; and if he have committed sins, they shall be forgiven him&quot; (James v. 14, 15). Unction is not referred to by any of the fathers as a sacrament, but Origen, in his second homily on Lev. iv., implies that in his time it was conjoined with the imposition of hands in the restoration of the lapsed; and Irenaeus (i. 21, 5) states that among some of the Gnostics it was common to anoint the dying with a mixture of oil or opobalsam and water, to render their souls invisible to their spiritual enemies in the other world, and proof against their machinations. There is evidence that among the Christians of the 4th century a superstitious efficacy was ascribed to the use of oil in cases of sickness, and instances are recorded in which the oil used in the lamps of the churches was stolen in order to be applied in sickness, or to ward off attacks of disease. The first proof of the use of the rite in the Roman Church is contained in a letter of Innocent I. to Decentius, bishop of Eugubium (Gubbio), in the year 41 G, in which he speaks of it as &quot;a kind of sacrament;&quot; but he adds that after the oil has been blessed by the bishop, it may be used, not merely by the bishops and priests, but by Christians generally. From the 8th century the rite is often mentioned in the acts of the councils, and has been the occasion of a considerable amount of discus sion and difference of opinion, at least in regard to details. In 850 it was declared by the synod of Regiaticinum (Pavia) to be a sacrament by which sins were forgiven, and conse quently bodily health restored, but its chief purpose was represented to be the restoration of the sick person. In the 12th century the question whether the rite could be repeated was raised, and began to be answered in the negative; and an attempt was made by some to obtain a decision that the person to whom it had been adminis tered should not afterwards touch the earth with his bare feet, nor indulge in any of the pleasures of the flesh; and although these proposals were not carried, the general re sult of the discussions was to deepen the impression that it was a rite of unusual solemnity, to which recourse should not be had except in cases of great necessity. About this time the rite came to be known as sacramentum exeuntium or extrcma tmctio. By Peter the Lombard it was placed fifth in the list of the seven sacraments, and its spiritual significance was further developed by the scholastic theologians, especially by Thomas Aquinas. According -to him, its principal end was the removal of the spiritual weakness resulting from the sins of the past life, and the healing of the body was only its secondary end; but among other theologians of his time discussions as to the purpose of the rite were the cause of considerable difference of opinion. It was, however, regarded by most as having only a relative necessity, its omission not entailing any positive spiritual evil. According to the decrees of the Council of Trent, it confers the pardon of any faults that may previously have been unexpiatecl, and it removes the remains of sin; it relieves and strengthens the soul, and enables it better to bear up under pain, and more suc cessfully to withstand the assaults of the devil bodily ease and health following so far as these are advan tageous to the soul s welfare. As to it-s repetition the council contented itself with declaring that it might be repeated in cases of similar peril. According to the Romish catechism, two ends are obtained by its observ ance, 1st, the pardon of venial sins, it not possessing the highest efficacy in regard to mortal sins ; 2d, the removal of the spiritual infirmity resulting from sin, and of all the other remains of sin. For the observance of the rite the Romish Church appeals to the authority of Christ, as im plied in Mark vi. 13, and to the authority of the apastles, as implied in James v. 14, 15. The Council of Trent has decreed extreme unction to be a sacramsnt, and declares that &quot; whosoever shall affirm that extreme unction is not truly and properly a sacrament, instituted by Christ our Lord, and published by the blessed apostle James, but only a ceremony received from the fathers, or a human invention, is to be accursed.&quot; And it denounces a similar anathema against all who &quot;shall affirm that the sacred unction of the sick does not confer grace, nor forgive sin, nor relieve the sick, but that its power has ceased, as if the gift of healing existed only in past ages.&quot; The ceremony is performed in the following way. When a person s recovery is despaired of, his eyes, ears, nostrils, mouth, hands, feet, and reins are succes sively anointed with the sacred oil by the priest. At each anointing the priest says, &quot;By this holy unction, and through His great mercy, Almighty God forgive thee whatever sins thou hast committed by sight&quot; (or smell, hearing, touch, arc.). The oil used in extreme unction is supposed to represent the grace of God poured down into the soul, and conferring pardon and spiritual strength. It is blessed by the bishop on Maundy Thursday, and delivered to the parochial clergy to be used by them throughout the year. If any oil is left after the expiry of the year it is burned, and if the supply threatens to become exhausted, other oil may be added to that which has been consecrated, but only a small proper, tion of new oil is permitted. In the Greek church the rite is called Ei^e /Woy, or &quot;Ayiov ZXaiov, The oil is not con secrated by the bishop, but is taken out of the sanctuary lamps as required and blessed by seven priests, or, if that number cannot be gathered together, by not less than three. The rite is administered in diseases of all kinds; and such sick persons as are able are expected to visit the church, especially on Maundy Thursday, to experience its bodily and spiritual blessings. Only in extreme cases does the anointing take place in the sick chamber. EYCK, VAX, the name of a family of painters in whose works the rise and mature development of art in western Flanders are represented. Though bred in the valley of the Meuse, they finally established their professional domi cile in Ghent and in Bruges.: and there, by skill and inven tive genius, they changed the traditional habits of the earlier schools, remodelled the primitive forms of Flemish design, and introduced a complete revolution into the technical methods of execution familiar to their countrymen. 1. HUBERT VAN EYCK was the oldest and most remork- able of this race of artists. The date of his birth and tho records of his progress are lost amidst the ruins of tho earlier civilization of the valley of the Meuse. He was born about 13GG, at Maeseyck, under the shelter or protection of a Benedictine convent, in which art and letters had been cultivated from the beginning of the 8th century. But after a long series of wars,- when the country became in secure, and the schools which had flourished in the towns decayed, he wandered to Flanders, and there for the first time gained a name. As court painter to the hereditary prince of Burgundy, and as client to one of the richest of the Ghent patricians, Hubert is celebrated. Here, in middle age, between 1410 and 1420, he signalized himself as the inventor of a new method of painting. Here he lived in the pay of Philip of Charolais till 1421. Here he painted pictures for the corporation, whose chief magistrates honoured him with a state visit in 1424. His principal masterpiece, and the only picture that can be traced to his