Dedication of churches

From them we gather that every consecration was accompanied by a celebration of the Holy Eucharist and a sermon, and special prayers of a dedicatory character, but there is no trace of the elaborate ritual of the medieval pontificals dating from the 8th century onwards.

[1][4] There was an annual commemoration of the original dedication of the church, a feast with its octave extending over eight days, during which Gregory the Great encouraged the erection of booths and general feasting on the part of the populace, to compensate them for, and in some way to take the place of, abolished pagan festivities.

A good idea of the general character of the service can be obtained from a skeleton of it as performed in England after the Reformation according to the use of Sarum.

The service is taken from an early 15th-century pontifical in the Cambridge University Library as printed by W. Makell in Monumenta ritualia ecclesiae Anglicanae.

Next, reentering the church and taking up a central position, he sprinkles holy water to the four points of the compass, and up towards the roof.

The transcription and description of the various collects, psalms, anthems and benedictions which make up the order of dedication have been omitted.

There a sermon is preached and two decrees of the council of Trent are read together with the founder's deed of gift or endowment.

Then the bishop, anointing the door with chrism, enters the church with the relics and deposits them in the cavity or confession in the altar.

But though ancient, the custom of enclosing relics was not universal, and where found in English church orders, as it frequently is found from the pontifical of Egbert onwards, it is called the Mos Romanus as distinguished from the Mos Anglicanus (Archaeologia, liv.

It is absent from the description of the early Irish form of consecration preserved in the Leabhar Breac, translated and annotated by Rev.

This interprets the St Andrew's cross as the initial Greek letter of Christus, and the whole act as significant of taking possession of the site to be consecrated in the name of Christ, who is the Alpha and Omega, the word of God, combining in himself all letters that lie between them, every element of human speech.

[8] The disentangling the Gallican from the Roman elements in the early Western forms of service was undertaken by Louis Duchesne, who shows how the former partook of a funerary and the latter of a baptismal character.

[11] The dedication service of the Eastern Orthodox Church is likewise long and elaborate.

The relics which will be placed in the Holy Table (altar) and the antimension are to be prepared and guarded on the previous day in some neighboring church (if there is no neighboring church, the relics are placed on a small table in front of the icon of Christ on the iconostasion).

The night before the consecration, an all-night vigil is celebrated; however, no one will enter the altar (sanctuary) of the new church yet, and the Holy Doors remain closed.

are prepared on a table placed in front of the Holy Doors, together with a Gospel Book and blessing cross.

A procession is formed and advances thence with the relics, which are borne by a priest in a diskos (paten) on his head; the church having been entered, the relics are placed by him with much ceremonial in the confession (the recess prepared in or under the altar for their reception) which is then anointed and sealed up.

In the Diocese of London the bishop, attended by clergy and churchwardens, receives outside the west door a petition for consecration; the procession then moves round the whole church outside, while certain psalms are chanted.

[16] The Catechsim of the New Apostolic Church teaches: The dedication service is based upon a Bible text that is in keeping with the occasion.

In most cases, thanks is also expressed to the members for their willingness to make sacrifices, thus enabling the church to be built, as well as to all those who worked on its construction.

All activities performed in this house are to serve for the perfection of souls longing for salvation, and to prepare them for the return of Jesus Christ.

The dedicated church is now a place for the worship of God and a sanctuary for those who seek salvation.