The American Church Dictionary and Cyclopedia

by William James Miller

Dossal. Hangings of silk or other material placed at the back of the Altar as a decoration and to hide the bare wall. The dossal is used where there is no reredos and usually is of the Church color for the Festival or Season. Derived from the Latin word dorsum, meaning back.

Doxology.—Any form or verse in which glory is ascribed to God or the Blessed Trinity, for example, the Gloria in Excelsis, which is called the greater Doxology, and the Gloria Patri, the lesser Doxology. The concluding words of the Lord's Prayer beginning, "For Thine is the kingdom," etc., is also called the Doxology. Derived from the Greek word Doxologia, from doxa, praise and logos, meaning word.

Duly.—In the prayer of Thanksgiving in the Holy Communion, the acknowledgment is made, "We heartily thank Thee, for that Thou dost vouchsafe to feed us who have duly received." The word duly as here used is the English word for the Latin rite, which means according to proper form and ordinance, i.e., as prescribed by and universally used in the Church Catholic; without which there can be no proper Sacrament. The word also occurs in the definition of the Church in the {89} XIX Article of Religion and has there the same interpretation.

E

Eagle.—The figure of an eagle is often used in the Church as an emblem to symbolize the flight of the Gospel message over the world. To this end the lectern from which the Holy Scriptures are read is generally constructed in the form of an eagle with outstretched wings on which the Bible rests. It is usually made of polished brass, but sometimes carved in wood. The eagle is also used as an emblem of the Evangelist St. John, who more than any other of the Apostles, was granted a clearer insight into things heavenly, as may be seen from the Gospel, Epistles and the Revelation which he was inspired to write.

Early Communion.—From the very earliest ages of the Church it has been the custom to begin the devotions of the Lord's Day with the Holy Communion celebrated at an early hour. Through the influence of the Puritans in England this beautiful and helpful custom fell into abeyance for a while, but through the growing devotion of the revived Church both in England and America it has been restored. To-day there are very few parishes where the early Communion is not to be had, and the practice is growing and spreading as the result of increased knowledge of the Church's devotional system. The motive of the early Communion, especially on the Lord's Day, may be said to be twofold: First, the recognition of the Holy {90} Communion as the distinctive act of worship for each Lord's Day, without taking part in which no primitive Christian would have been considered to have properly kept Sunday, and secondly, the reverent desire to receive fasting, or as Bishop Jeremy Taylor has said, "to do this honor to the Blessed Sacrament, that It be the first food we eat and the first beverage we drink on that day." (See HOLY COMMUNION, also FREQUENT COMMUNION.)

East, Turning to the.—By this expression is meant turning to the Altar in saying the Creed and Glorias and in celebrating the Holy Communion, this last being called the Eastward position. This practice arose from a custom in the early Church. When converts to Christianity were baptized, which was usually in the early morning, they first turning to the west where the night was fast receding, renounced the world and the powers of darkness, then turning to the east where the sun was rising as the source of all light, they confessed their belief in Christ who, in Holy Scripture is Himself called the EAST, "the Dayspring from on high." For this reason they prayed facing the east, and when they came to build their churches they built them running east and west; the Chancel, in which the Altar is placed, being in the east and towards it they made their prayers and confessed their belief. Thus it came about that the Altar in our churches is always regarded architecturally and ecclesiastically as the east whether it is so in reality or not.

Easter Day.—A festival in honor of our Lord's Resurrection has been observed from the very {91} foundation of Christianity. This is evident from the early disputes had concerning it, not as to whether such a day should be kept, but as to the particular time when the Festival should be observed. The eastern Christians wished to celebrate the Feast on the third day after the Jewish Passover, on whatever day of the week this fell. The western Christians contended that the Feast of the Resurrection ought always to be observed on a Sunday. This controversy was finally settled by the Council of Nicea, A.D. 325, which decreed that everywhere the great Feast of Easter should be observed upon one and the same day and that a Sunday. In accordance with this decision Easter Day is always the first Sunday after the full moon, which happens upon or next after, the 21st of March; and if the full moon happens upon a Sunday, Easter Day is the Sunday after. By this rule Easter will always fall between the 22d of March, the earliest date, and the 25th of April, the latest day on which it can possibly fall.

The original name of the Festival was Pascha, derived from the Hebrew word for Passover. The more familiar name of Easter is traceable as far back as the time of the Venerable Bede, A.D. 700. The derivation of the word is uncertain. Some think that it is derived from a Saxon term meaning "rising"; others think the word Eost or East refers to the tempestuous character of the weather at that season of the year and find its root in the Anglo-Saxon YST, meaning a storm. Again others derive the word from the old Teutonic urstan, to rise. It is worthy of note that "the idea of sunrise is self-evident in the English {92} name of the Festival on which the Sun of Righteousness arose from the darkness of the grave."

Easter was always accounted the Queen of Festivals the highest of all Holy Days, and celebrated with the greatest solemnity, and the Prayer Book provisions are in keeping with this fact. Churches are decorated with flowers and plants as symbolical of the Resurrection. White hangings for the Altar and White vestments have always been used at Easter in reference to the angel who brought the tidings of the Resurrection, who appeared in "garments white as snow" and "his countenance was as lightning." In the early Church Christians were wont to greet one another on this day with the joyous salutation, "Christ is Risen," to which the response was made, "Christ is risen indeed." This custom is still retained in the Greek Church. This joyous salutation seems to be retained in our services, for instead of the Venite we have as the Invitatory, the Easter anthem, in which we call upon one another to "keep the Feast," for that "Christ our Passover is sacrificed for us," and is also "Risen from the dead; and become the first-fruits of them that slept."