APPENDIX

Angels. The Jewish belief in good and bad angels was probably borrowed from Zoroastrianism during their exile. St. Paul speaks of Thrones, or Dominions, or Principalities, or Powers (Col. i., 16), and from this and a few other scriptural texts the imagination of the early theologians arranged the angelic host into nine choirs—or three hierarchies of three choirs each. To each of these were given fanciful and mystical powers. The first hierarchy are the Councillors; to this belong the Seraphim, Cherubim, and Thrones. The Seraphim—love—stand nearest the throne of God, next come the Cherubim—knowledge,—and then the Thrones who support the seat of the Most High. These receive their glory direct from God and transmit it to the second who in turn shed the radiance of divine light upon the third and lowest hierarchy.

The second hierarchy are governors, who reign over and control the stars and the elements.

The third are the only ones that have concern with the earth. They are the messengers of God, and the protectors and guardians of the children of men.

A fourth century Byzantine manual gives the following directions to painters according to the order laid down by Dionysius the Areopagite:

1st— Seraphim. Six wings covered with eyes.

Cherubim. Head only, two wings.

Thrones. Fiery wheels surrounded by wings

filled with eyes. The whole

symbolising a royal throne.

2d— Dominations. These wear albs to feet, golden

Virtues. girdles, and green stoles. Hold

Powers. a golden staff in right hand and

seal of God in left.

3d— Principalities. In soldier’s garb, golden girdles,

Archangels. and holding lance-headed javelins

Angels. in their hands.

The early artists followed the description of the Seraphim given in Isa. vi., 2: “Each one had six wings; with twain he covered his face, and with twain he covered his feet, and with twain he did fly.”

In very old pictures and illuminated manuscripts, the hierarchies of angels are represented by circles. The innermost circles, the Seraphim and Cherubim, are commonly depicted with heads only, and with two, four, or six wings. The Seraphim are the colour of red—fire, meaning love. The Cherubim blue, the colour of the firmament or light, that is, knowledge. In these representations of the celestial hierarchy the Seraphim have the highest rank of all, and angels the lowest. Then follow apostles, martyrs, confessors, and virgins.

Didron says that “the hierarchy thus figured in rose windows and sculptured on vaulted roofs of cathedrals, exhibits in a palpable form ... the system of ethics and cosmogony embodied in the Hindu doctrine of emanation.”

The angels in the architectural decoration of old Christian churches have for their authority the Cherubim that adorned the temple of Solomon (1 Kings vi., 23-29).

Angels are sometimes placed on winged and fiery wheels, to typify extreme swiftness and buoyancy.

“The seven angels which stood before God” (Rev. viii., 2) are occasionally represented in pictures of the Last Judgment and of heaven, and can be recognised by their seven trumpets. These seven archangels are thus defined:

1. Michael (“like unto God”), captain of the host of heaven and protector of the Hebrews.

2. Gabriel (“whose strength is in God”), guardian of the heavenly treasury, and Joseph the patriarch’s preceptor.

3. Raphael (the healing of God), chief guardian angel, and the leader of Tobias.

4. Uriel (the light of God), who taught Esdras, explaining the prophecies.

5. Chamuel (the wrath of God), who wrestled with Jacob.

6. Jophiel (the beauty of God), guardian of the tree of knowledge and the same who drove Adam and Eve out of Paradise, and the preceptor of the sons of Noah.

7. Zadkiel (the righteousness of God), who stayed the hand of Abraham when about to sacrifice Isaac.

Only the names of the first four are given in the Bible, and these four are seldom represented together except in architectural decoration.

Badge of Trinitarians. “His Holiness [Pope Innocent, III.] did forthwith ratify the Order, and, by his command, they assumed the white habit, having on the breast a Greek cross of red and blue; the three colours signifying the Three Persons of the Most Holy Trinity; the white, the Father Eternal; the blue, which was the traverse of the cross, the Son as Redeemer, and the red, the charity of the Holy Spirit.”

Basket. Liberality to the poor.

Bear. Solitary life and self-restraint.

Bee. Originally a pagan symbol, the bee was adopted by the early monks as a symbol of chastity and industry. Peter of Capua alludes to the risen Saviour as apis ætherea. (In this connection it is interesting to note that Vishnu incarnate as Krishna is represented with a blue bee hovering about his head symbolising the ether.) Chrysostom, Isidore of Seville, Ambrose, and Bernard of Clairvaux were said to have lips flowing with honey (mellifluus) typifying their eloquence. The virgin queen of the hive became a favourite type of the Virgin Queen of Heaven. The bee is rarely found in art, however, but is occasionally seen carved on tombs in the catacombs as a symbol of immortality.

Beehive. Eloquence.

St. Bernardino of Siena. “So much was he affected by the mysteries of the incarnation and sufferings of the Son of God that he could never pronounce his sacred name without appearing in transports of love and adoration. Often at the end of his sermon he showed to the people the sacred name of Jesus curiously cut on a board with gold letters, inviting them to adore Christ with him on their knees, reciting a pious doxology.”⁠[12]⁠

Christ in early art was typified by Orpheus seated among beasts and birds playing on a lyre.

Fish, the eucharistic significance of. As the water turned into wine at the marriage of Cana was accepted by the early Church as symbolical of the Eucharist, so the fish as a symbol of Christ had also a eucharistic significance in commemoration of the miracle of the loaves and fishes. An early symbol of the Eucharist found in the catacombs is a cup containing three small loaves upon which are traced the cross. Speaking of the multitude who were fed with five loaves and two fishes, Paulinus of Nola says of Christ that “he himself is the true bread and the fish of living water”—panis ipse verus et aquæ vivæ piscis Christus. Eternal life and the Eucharist are inseparable ideas in the Church. “He that eateth my flesh and drinketh my blood hath eternal life and I will raise him up at the last day.” Prosper of Aquitane speaks of Christ as “giving himself as food to the disciples by the seashore and offering himself to the whole world as Ichthus.”

Font. According to Durandus the baptismal font in Christian churches was made octagonal because creation was complete in seven days; thus eight figured regeneration—the beginning anew.

Hands, two. In some paintings by the early Italian artists of the Baptism of Christ two hands are seen emerging from the clouds with the dove proceeding from them (see illustration, page 79). Thus when two hands crossed at the wrists are seen on certain houses and convents in Italy it should typify the blessing and protection of the Eternal Father.

Horns, symbol of strength, intelligence, and power. See Moses.

The Lion placed at the doors of churches as guardian of the sanctuary was symbolical of spiritual vigilance, as the lion was believed never to close its eyes in sleep. The lion, however, not only typified Christ triumphing over death and hell (Rev. v., 5), but was used also to typify the devil which “as a roaring lion walketh about, seeking whom he may devour” (1 Peter v., 8). Thus the lions used to support pulpits in churches, as in Siena, Pisa, Lucca, and elsewhere in Italy, represent Satan vanquished and subdued by the might of Christianity. The same idea of triumphing over the powers of evil was intended to be conveyed in the sculptured figures of deceased persons reclining on tombs with their feet resting on a dragon, a lion, or a dog—the dog being regarded by the Jew as the incarnation of the evil principle. The Hebrew misconception of the character of the dog is a very curious one and persists throughout the Bible, where he is rarely referred to except in terms of contempt. The substitution of the Aryan for the Semitic point of view, however, reversed the meaning of the symbolism at a later period, when a lion at the feet of a man typified courage and manly strength, and the dog at the feet of a woman indicated fidelity and undying love.

The Lizard according to the Physiologus when blind in old age creeps into the crevice of a wall facing east and stretches out its head to the rising sun whose beams restore its sight. Thus the lizard represented in ecclesiastical architecture is a symbol of the healing and illuminating effect of the gospel.

The Magi. “In the early art of the catacombs the three children of Babylon refusing to worship the image of Nebuchadnezzar were often associated with the three Magi who refused to obey Herod. It is not improbable that the number of the Magi became fixed by this association rather than by the gifts they bore of gold, frankincense, and myrrh. Previous to the fourth century they were represented as two, four, and in one case six. After that time they were invariably represented as three.”⁠[13]⁠

Majesty. A term denoting pictures of Christ seated upon a throne and surrounded by angels with the symbols of the four Evangelists and the Greek letters Α and Ω, alpha and omega, signifying that Christ is the beginning and the end of all things.

Oran, or Orant, designates the figures seen in the catacombs with hands uplifted in prayer.

The Ox symbolises toil and patient renunciation.

The Phœnix in Egyptian religion was the embodiment of Ra the Sun God. It was fabled to come out of Arabia every five hundred years to Heliopolis, where it burned itself on the high altar in the Temple of the Sun and rose again from its own ashes young and beautiful. This pagan emblem of the resurrection and of immortality was adopted by the Christians and is frequently found on early mosaics and sarcophagi and carved on church stalls, where it is often associated with the pelican.

The Sibyls. There are numerous Sibyls but the Cumæan Sibyl of whom Ovid and Virgil wrote is the most famous. According to a Roman legend this Sibyl appeared to one of the Tarquins and offered him nine books for sale. The king refused to buy them. She burned three and returned with six, demanding the same price. Upon his second refusal she burned three more and returning to the king again demanded the same price for the three remaining. Puzzled, and curious at last, the king paid the price and found them to contain the destinies of the Roman state. These Sibylline books were for centuries the oracles of Rome.

Tetramorph, a figure which combines the four heads with wings and fiery wheels described by Ezekiel (chap. x.). The same figure with six wings denotes extreme swiftness, the wheels also winged.

Three, the number. According to Pythagoras three was the primal perfect number and symbol of completeness. The cube of three being nine was regarded by him as the extent to which numbers would go, all others being comprehended by and revolving within it. The decade ten was called by him “Heaven” as being the boundary of nine and forming as it were a monad with which recommences a fresh series capable of infinite expansion. The number three among Greeks and Romans had a mystic import and later when the meaning was lost it was considered exceptionally lucky, as were all uneven numbers.

Tobias. See Tobit, Apocrypha.

Virgin of Pity. The Madonna as “dispenser of mercy on earth” is sometimes represented crowned, standing with outstretched arms from which depends her mantle, the corners of which are upheld by angels, while underneath its shelter kneel worshipping votaries of all ranks and conditions—the rich, the poor, the lame and halt.

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