A church dictionary

by Walter Farquhar Hook

ALTAR RAILS, as such, and as distinguished from the chancel screen, were not known in the Western Church before the Reformation. We probably owe them to Archbishop Laud, who, in order to guard against a continuance of the profanations to which the holy table had been subjected, while standing in the nave of the church, or in the middle of the chancel, ordered that it should be placed at the east end of the chancel, and protected from rude approach by rails. As the use of altar rails arose out of, and visibly signified respect for, the great mysteries celebrated at the altar, they were, of course, a mark for the hostility of the Puritans; and accordingly, in the journal of William Dowsing, parliamentary visitor of churches in the great rebellion, we find that they were everywhere destroyed. They have generally, however, been restored; and there are now few churches in England where they are not found. In the East, the altar has been enclosed by a screen or an enclosure resembling our rails, from ancient times. These were at first only the cancelli, or κίγκλιδες, or, as Eusebius styles them, reticulated wood-work. They were afterwards enlarged into the holy doors, which now wholly conceal the altar, and which Goar admits to be an innovation of later times. (pp. 17, 18.) These are not to be confounded with the enclosure of the choir; which, like the chancel screen, was originally very low, a mere barrier, but was enlarged afterwards into the high screens which now shut out the choir from the church.—Jebb.

ALTAR SCREEN. A screen behind the altar, bounding the presbytery eastward, and in our larger churches separating it from the parts left free for processions between the presbytery and the Lady Chapel, when the latter is at the east end. (See Cathedral.) These screens were of comparatively late invention. They completely interfered with the ancient arrangement of the Apsis. (See Apsis.) The most magnificent specimens of altar screens are at Winchester cathedral, and at St. Alban’s abbey. In college chapels, and churches where an apse would be altogether out of place, and where an east window cannot be inserted, as at New College, and Magdalene, Oxford, they are as appropriate as they are beautiful.—Jebb.

AMBO. A kind of raised platform or reading desk, from which, in the primitive Church, the Gospel and Epistle were read to the people, and sometimes used in preaching. Its position appears to have varied at different times; it was most frequently on the north side of the entrance into the chancel. Sometimes there was one on each side, one for the Epistle, the other for the Gospel, as may still be seen in the ancient churches of St. Clement and St. Lawrence, at Rome, &c. The word Ambo has been popularly employed for a reading desk within memory, as in Limerick cathedral, where the desk for the lessons in the centre of the choir was so called. The singers also had their separate ambo, and in many of the foreign European churches it is employed by the precentor and principal singers; being placed in the middle of the choir, like an eagle, but turned towards the altar.—Jebb.

AMBROSIAN OFFICE. A particular office used in the church of Milan. It derives its name from St. Ambrose, who was bishop of Milan in the fourth century, although it is not certain that he took any part in its composition. Originally each church had its particular office; and even when Pope Pius V. took upon him to impose the Roman office on all the Western churches, that of Milan sheltered itself under the name and authority of St. Ambrose, and the Ambrosian Ritual has continued in use.—Brouqhton, Gueranger.

AMEDIEU, or Friends of God. A kind of religious congregation in the Church of Rome, who wore grey clothes and wooden shoes, had no breeches, girding themselves with a cord; they began in 1400, and grew numerous; but Pius V. united their society partly with that of the Cistercians, and partly with the Soccolanti.—Jebb.

AMEN. This, in the phraseology of the Church, is denominated orationis signaculum, or devotæ conscionis responsio, the token for prayer—the response of the worshippers. It intimates that the prayer of the speaker is heard, and approved by him who gives this response. It is also used at the conclusion of a doxology. (Rom. ix. 5.) Justin Martyr is the first of the fathers who speaks of the use of the response. In speaking of the sacrament he says, that, at the close of the benediction and prayer, all the assembly respond, “Amen,” which, in the Hebrew tongue, is the same as, “So let it be.” According to Tertullian, none but the faithful were permitted to join in the response.

In the celebration of the Lord’s supper especially, each communicant was required to give this response in a tone of earnest devotion. Upon the reception, both of the bread and of the wine, each uttered a loud “Amen;” and at the close of the consecration by the priest, all joined in shouting a loud “Amen.” But the practice was discontinued after the sixth century.

At the administration of baptism also, the witnesses and sponsors uttered this response in the same manner. In the Greek Church it was customary to repeat this response as follows: “This servant of the Lord is baptized in the name of the Father, Amen; and of the Son, Amen; and of the Holy Ghost, Amen; both now and for ever, world without end;” to which the people responded, “Amen.” This usage is still observed by the Greek Church in Russia. The repetitions were given thrice, with reference to the three persons of the Trinity.—Coleman’s Christian Antiquities.

It signifies truly or verily. Its import varies slightly with the connexion or position in which it is placed. In the New Testament it is frequently synonymous with “verily,” and is retained in some versions without being translated. At the conclusion of prayer, as the Catechism teaches, it signifies So be it; after the repetition of the Creed it means So it is.

It will be observed, that the word “Amen” is at the end of some prayers, the Creed, &c., printed in the same Roman letter, but of others, and indeed generally, in Italics—“Amen.” This seems not to be done without meaning, though unfortunately the distinction is not correctly observed in all the modern Prayer Books. The intention, according to Wheatly, is this: At the end of all the collects and prayers, which the priest is to repeat or say alone, it is printed in Italic, a different character from the prayers themselves, probably to denote that the minister is to stop at the end of the prayer, and to leave the “Amen” for the people to respond. But at the end of the Lord’s Prayer, Confessions, Creeds, &c., and wheresoever the people are to join aloud with the minister, as if taught and instructed by him what to say, there it is printed in Roman, i. e. in the same character with the Confessions and Creeds themselves, as a hint to the minister that he is still to go on, and by pronouncing the “Amen” himself, to direct the people to do the same, and so to set their seal at last to what they had been before pronouncing.