What is the origin of how people are arranged in Mass/Worship Service?
score:5
The arrangement of modern Christian gatherings is the result of the development of early church architecture.
In the early days, up to the fourth century, Christians worshipped along with Jews in synagogues and private houses. After Jewish and Christian worship separated, Christians continued to worship in people's houses (known as house churches), often the homes of the wealthier members of the community in a particular town.
In the smaller gatherings, the evidence (for example the testimony of the apologist Justin Martyr) suggests that everyone participated in the act of worship. This changed as the church became increasingly "clericalised". Clerics carried out the act of worship at the alter, the congregation observed from a distance.
This gave rise to the "two-room" church, with the mass being celebrated in the Sanctuary and the congregation in the Nave observing through the arched "doorway" between the rooms. In the medieval period, the doorway was partially blocked by a wooden "rood screen" with holes to allow the congregation to observe.
The congregation was arranged in rows. Initially, people seem to have stood to observe the ceremonies before backless stone benches were introduced for the congregation (from about the 13th century in England. Some on the continent were earlier). These were often subsequently replaced with wooden pews. Wealthier members were often seated in private "family pews" (which they paid for).
Rood screens went out of fashion with the Reformation, but the basic layout - with the clerics at the front being observed by the congregation in rows - remained. Aisles allowed processions to run the length of the church and also easier access to the seating. As an architectural feature in churches, aisles were inherited (together with much else) from the design of the Roman basilica (e.g. Trajan's Basilica in Rome).
The issue of "clericalisation" of Christian worship actually remains a subject for debate. Some reformers are still calling for wholesale changes to the current "medieval" form of Christian worship characterised by the layout you described.
More post
- 📝 Who first conceived and developed the acoustic homing torpedo, and when?
- 📝 What was the term to serve for 1861 confederate volunteers?
- 📝 Mystery of the many-loaded muzzles
- 📝 How do I interpret this 17th century English ledger?
- 📝 Why did Joseph Stalin, Nikita Khrushchev and Leonid Breznev wear military uniforms when Lenin and the later Soviet leaders did not?
- 📝 Did any armies systemically favor axes/hammers over swords?
- 📝 Was there really a Communist presidential nominee or political party in the 1876 election?
- 📝 How did the Chinese Self-Criticism work in practice?
- 📝 Were Cypriots able to pay their bills during the "bail in" of March 2013?
- 📝 Why did Robert F. Kennedy loathe Lyndon B. Johnson?
- 📝 Where can I research fifteenth century French and Italian coats of arms?
- 📝 Why didn't Mao Zedong order to kill locusts initially in the 4 pests campaign?
- 📝 Why didn't the Chinese repeating crossbow dominate?
- 📝 Why wasn't there French irredentism or pan-fransicm?
- 📝 How does the amount of equipment carried by various historical infantries compare?
- 📝 Why didn't the WWI Allies attack through the Vosges Mountains after 1915?
- 📝 Tricolore: Why have the colors been chosen that way?
- 📝 When has the U.S. refused to pay its debts?
- 📝 Are there sources that record ancient women in patriarchal societies' thoughts about patriarchy?
- 📝 When did Aurochs (large wild cattle) become extinct in Britain?
- 📝 When did Frankfurt am Main adopt the Gregorian Calendar?
- 📝 Why was Tegh Bahadur executed by the Mughal Emperor Aurangzeb?
- 📝 Framers and Criminal Voting Rights
- 📝 What was the average age of tank crews, in particular commanders, in WW2?
- 📝 How did historical peoples deal with choking?
- 📝 Was Reagan Disliked By Establishment Republicans?
- 📝 Did liberalism in the USA degenerate into something more totalitarian than liberal?
- 📝 Where and how did scientists of the 18th and 19th century learn foreign languages?
- 📝 Were there any top Nazi generals who opposed the idea to invade the USSR?
- 📝 What was the military background of the Irish company at the Siege of Jadotville?
Source: stackoverflow.com
Search Posts
Related post
- 📝 What is the origin of how people are arranged in Mass/Worship Service?
- 📝 What is the origin of the stereotype that Polish people lack intelligence?
- 📝 Are there any documented examples of wooden ships which were in active service for 100 years or more? If not, what is the longest?
- 📝 Are there any hypotheses on how the Dorset people disappeared?
- 📝 How did AIDS generate losses? And what are the methods to compensate for them?
- 📝 What is the primary source evidence for the theory that the African Ancient Egyptians are not black Africans whose origin is sub-Saharan Africa?
- 📝 What is the origin of 3 meals a day?
- 📝 What are the factors that caused the new world civilizations to be less technologically advanced than the old world?
- 📝 How did 300,000 people survive the 3 1/2 year siege of Sarajevo?
- 📝 What led some people to (correctly) believe that there was no land under the ice cap at the North Pole?
- 📝 What is the oldest authentic example of people complaining about modern times and the young?
- 📝 What was the religion of the Arabic people before conversion to Islam?
- 📝 How many people in the US starved to death during the Great Depression?
- 📝 How would a king's servants prove that they are on a task given by the king?
- 📝 How did the American Civil War help the U.S economy recover from the Panic of 1857 given that civil wars are extremely destructive?
- 📝 Is there a historical explanation as to why the USA people are so litigious compared to the French?
- 📝 What do the modern Japanese people think about the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki?
- 📝 How did people deal with ice on the roads during the horse-and-buggy era?
- 📝 How did people react to Cavendish bananas when they first replaced the Gros Michel strain?
- 📝 What are the text and subtext of this 1949 Soviet cartoon?
- 📝 What is the meaning of people "looking elsewhere" on medieval paintings?
- 📝 What evidence is there of the vision aids people used before the invention of eyeglasses in about 1286?
- 📝 What is the origin of the "wheat and chessboard" legend?
- 📝 What are some Chinese sources testifying the extreme weather events of 535-536 CE?
- 📝 What is the origin of the names of planets in Arabic?
- 📝 How did people have access to ice in warm areas before the industrial revolution?
- 📝 What is the last historical mention of people worshipping the Roman gods?
- 📝 What did the people of the Middle Ages call their period?
- 📝 Who are the three men standing and what are they holding at this University of Paris Doctors' Meeting?
- 📝 What was the first successful mass tank battle of WW1?
