decimanians, who, as he says, were orthodox, indeed, in doc trine, but in ritual were addicted to Jewish fables, and built upon the principle: "Cursed is every one who does not keep nis passover on the fourteenth of Nisan." They kept the day with the Communion and with fasting till three o'clock. Yet they were divided into several parties among themselves. A peculiar offshoot of the Quartodecimanians was the rigidly ascetic Audians, who likewise held that the passover must be kept at the very same time (not after the same manner) with the Jews, on the fourteenth of Nisan, and for their authority appealed to their edition of the Apostolic Constitutions.

And even in the orthodox church these measures did not secure entire uniformity. For the council of Nicæa, probably from prudence, passed by the question of the Roman and Alexandrian computation of Easter. At least the Acts contain no reference to it. At all events this difference remained: that Rome, afterward as before, fixed the vernal equinox, the terminus a quo of the Easter full moon, on the 18th of March, while Alexandria placed it correctly on the 21st. It thus occurred, that the Latins, the very year after the Nicene council, and again in the years 330, 333, 340, 341, 343, varied from the Alexandrians in the time of keeping Easter. On this account the council of Sardica, as we learn from the recently discovered Paschal Epistles of Athanasius, took the Easter question again in hand, and brought about, by mutual concessions, a compromise for the ensuing fifty years, but without permanent result. In 387 the difference of the Egyp tian and the Roman Easter amounted to fully five weeks. Later attempts also to adjust the matter were in vain, until the monk Dionysius Exiguus, the author of our Christian calendar, succeeded in harmonizing the computation of Easter on the basis of the true Alexandrian reckoning; except that the Gallican and British Christians adhered still longer to the

1

Epiphanius, Hær. L. c. 1. Comp. Ex. xii. 15.

'Hefele thinks, however (i. p. 818 f.), from an expression of Cyril of Alexandria and Leo L, that the Nicænum (1) gave the Alexandrian reckoning the preference over the Roman; (2) committed to Alexandria the reckoning, to Rome the announ cing, of the Easter term; but that this order was not duly observed.

old custom, and thus fell into conflict with the Anglo-Saxon. The introduction of the improved Gregorian calendar in the Western church in 1582 again produced discrepancy; the Eastern and Russian church adhered to the Julian calendar, and is consequently now about twelve days behind us. Ao cording to the Gregorian calendar, which does not divide the months with astronomical exactness, it sometimes happens that the Paschal full moon is put a couple of hours too early, and the Christian Easter, as was the case in 1825, coincides with the Jewish Passover, against the express order of the council of Nicma.

§ 80. The Cycle of Pentecost.

The whole period of seven weeks from Easter to Pentecost bcre a joyous, festal character. It was called QUINQUAGESIMA, or PENTECOST in the wider sense,' and was the memorial of the exaltation of Christ at the right hand of the Father, His repeated appearances during the mysterious forty days, and His heavenly headship and eternal presence in the church. It was regarded as a continuous Sunday, and distinguished by the absence of all fasting and by standing in prayer. Quinqua gesima formed a marked contrast with the Quadragesima which preceded. The deeper the sorrow of repentance had been in view of the suffering and dying Saviour, the higher now rose the joy of faith in the risen and eternally living Redeemer. This joy, of course, must keep itself clear of worldly amusements, and be sanctified by devotion, prayer, singing, and thanksgiving; and the theatres, therefore, remained closed through the fifty days. But the multitude of nominal Christians soon forgot their religious impressions, and sought to compensate their previous fasting with wanton merry-making.

The seven Sundays after Easter are called in the Latin church, respectively, Quasimodo-geniti, Misericordia Domini Julilate, Cantate, Rogate (or, Vocem jucunditatis), Exaudi

1 DEVTEKOSTÍ. Comp. the author's Hist. of the Apost. Ch. § 54.

and Pentecoste. In the Eastern church the Acts of the Apos tles are read at this season.

Of the fifty festival days, the fortieth and the fiftieth were particularly prominent. The fortieth day after Easter, always a Thursday, was after the fourth century dedicated to the ex altation of Christ at the right hand of God, and hence named ASCENSION DAY.' The fiftieth day, or the feast of PENTECOST in the stricter sense,' was the kernel and culminating point of this festival season, as Easter day was of the Easter cycle. It was the feast of the Holy Ghost, who on this day was poured out upon the assembled disciples with the whole fulness of the accomplished redemption; and it was at the same time the birth-day of the Christian church. Hence this festival also was particularly prized for baptisms and ordinations. Pentecost corresponded to the Jewish feast of that name, which was primarily the feast of first-fruits, and afterward became also the feast of the giving of the law on Sinai, and in this twofold import was fulfilled in the outpouring of the Holy Ghost and the founding of the Christian church. "Both revelations of the divine law," writes Jerome to Fabiola, "took place on the fiftieth day after the passover; the one on Sinai, the other on Zion; there the mountain was shaken, here the temple; there, amid flames and lightnings, the tempest roared and the thunder rolled, here, also with mighty wind, appeared tongues of fire; there the sound of the trumpet pealed forth the words of the law, here the cornet of the gospel sounded through the mouth of the apostles."

The celebration of Pentecost lasted, at least ultimately, three days or a whole week, closing with the Pentecostal Octave, which in the Greek church (so early as Chrysostom) was called THE FEAST OF ALL SAINTS AND MARTYRS,' because the martyrs are the seed and the beauty of the church. The Latin church, on the contrary, though not till the tenth century, dedicated the Sunday after Pentecost to the HOLY TRINITY,

3 Dies ascensionis; ἑορτὴ τῆς ἀναλήψεως.

• Dies pentecostes; πεντεκοστή, ἡμέρα τοῦ Πνεύματος.

Κυριακὴ τῶν ἁγίων πάντων μαρτυρησάντων. The Western church kept a similar feast on the first of November, but not till the eighth century

and in the later times of the Middle Age, further added to the festival part of the church year the feast of CORPUS CHRISTI, in celebration of the mystery of transubstantiation, on the Thursday after Trinity. It thus invested the close of the church year with a purely dogmatic import. Protestantism has retained the feast of Trinity, in opposition to the Antitrinitarians; but has, of course, rejected the feast of Corpus Christi.

In the early church, Pentecost was the last great festival of the Christian year. Hence the Sundays following it, till Advent, were counted from Whitsunday.' The number of the Sundays in the second half of the church year therefore varies between twenty-seven and twenty-two, according to the time of Easter. In this part of the year we find even in the old lectionaries and sacramentaries some subordinate feasts in memory of great men of the church; such as the feast of St. Peter and St. Paul, the founders of the church (June 29); the feast of the chief martyr, Laurentius, the representative of the church militant (August 10); the feast of the archangel Michael, the representative of the church triumphant (September 29).

§ 81. The Exaltation of the Virgin.

Mariology.

CANISIUS (R. C.): De Maria Virgine libri quinque. Ingolst. 1577. LAM BERTINI (R. C.): Comment. duæ de J. Christi, matrisque ejus festis. Patav. 1751. PERRONE (R. C.): De Immaculata B. V. Mariæ conceptu. Rom. 1848. (In defence of the new papal dogma of the sinless conception of Mary.) F. W. GENTHE: Die Jungfrau Maria, ihre Evangelien u. ihre Wunder. Halle, 1852. Comp. also the elaborate article, "Maria, Mutter des Herrn," by STEITZ, in Herzog's Protest. Real-Encycl. (vol. ix. p. 74 ff.), and the article, "Maria, die hei!, Jungfrau," by REITHMAYR (R. O.) in Wetzer u. Welte's Kathol. Kirchenlex. (vi. 835 ff); also the Eirenicon-controversy between PUSEY and J. H. NEWMAN, 1866.

Into these festival cycles a multitude of subordinate feasts found their way, at the head of which stand the festivals of the holy Virgin Mary, honored as queen of the army of

saints.

So in the Roman church even after the introduction of the Trinity festival.

The worship of Mary was originally only a reflection of the worship of Christ, and the feasts of Mary were designed to contribute to the glorifying of Christ. The system arose from the inner connection of the Virgin with the holy mystery of the Incarnation of the Son of God; though certainly, with this leading religious and theological interest other motives combined. As mother of the Saviour of the world, the Virgin Mary unquestionably holds forever a peculiar position among all women, and in the history of redemption. Even in heaven she must stand peculiarly near to Him whom on earth she bore nine months under her bosom, and whom she followed with true motherly care to the cross. It is perfectly natural, nay, essential, to sound religious feeling, to associate with Mary the fairest traits of maidenly and maternal character, and to revere her as the highest model of female purity, love, and piety. From her example issues a silent blessing upon all generations, and her name and memory are, and ever will be, inseparable from the holiest mysteries and benefits of faith. For this reason her name is even wrought into the Apostles' Creed, in the simple and chaste words: "Conceived by the Holy Ghost, born of the Virgin Mary."

The Catholic church, however, both Latin and Greek, did not stop with this. After the middle of the fourth century it overstepped the wholesome Biblical limit, and transformed the "mother of the Lord" into a mother of God, the humble "handmaid of the Lord" into a queen of heaven, the “highly favored" into a dispenser of favors, the "blessed among wo men" into an intercessor above all women, nay, we may almost say, the redeemed daughter of fallen Adam, who is nowhere in Holy Scripture excepted from the universal sinfulness, into a sinlessly holy co-redeemer. At first she was

The Protestants, on the contrary, as far as they retained the ecclesiastical calendar (Lutherans, Anglicans, &c.), make the first Sunday after Pentecost the basis, and. count the First, Second, Third Sunday after Trinity, instead of the First, Second, to., Sunday after Whitsunday.

1 Η μήτηρ τοῦ κυρίου, Luke 1. 43.

1 Η δούλη κυρίου, Luke 1. 88.

• Kexapitwμévn (pass. part.), Luke i. 28.

• Εὐλογημένη ἐν γυναιξίν, Luke i. 28.