behind the screen that cut off the sanctuary from the church. The preliminary prayers (before the "Little Entry") had not yet been added to it; otherwise hardly anything has changed since, so that any Orthodox church to-day will show almost exactly the same vestments, ceremonies and rites as those that Justinian knew (p. 412). Besides the liturgy in every church the Divine Office (p. 418) was sung daily.
6. Byzantine Piety and Morals.
Pilgrimages to the tombs of saints, famous sanctuaries, most of all to the holy places of Palestine, were very popular. There were a great number of Sacramentals. The sign of the Cross is used by every one continually. At Constantinople was a large piece of the true Cross on which people swore to keep their engagements, and they wore relics of it in little crossshaped reliquaries of gold or silver round their necks. Holy water was blessed on the Epiphany (the Feast of our Lord's baptism)[1] and used for sprinkling houses, ships, and anything that was to be blessed. Water was poured into a chalice and then out again, and became holy water; even water used by any specially holy monk for washing was kept as sacred.[2] Oil taken from lamps that burned before sacred pictures and relics was used as a Sacramental; so also the holy bread (Ἀντίδωρον) broken oif from the host before consecration and given to the people who did not receive Holy Communion. A favourite devotion was the Metanoia (Μετάνοια, repentance). It consists in prostrating oneself till the forehead touches the ground, while the weight of the body rests on the feet and hands; this was repeated a great number of times, and each time the penitent said, "Kyrie eleison," or some such formula.[3]
- ↑ On the Epiphany both East and West keep the memory of three things—the coming of the Wise Men, our Lord's baptism, His first miracle. The first of these things has become the most important to us, the second to them.
- ↑ All Eastern people, especially Mohammedans, follow this unclean custom. In the days of the Mahdi in the Sudan his followers drank the water in which he had washed as a protection against sickness. Cf. Ohrwalder: Ten Years in the Mahdi's Camp (1895), p. 182.
- ↑ This also is a common practice among Eastern people of every religion. Every one knows how much Mohammedans use it.
