Illumination

Summary.  Jesus said he was the light of the world. Baptism occurred at Eastertime in a new Spring light. Early Gospels contained glistening gold and silver and were called illuminated texts. Gothic architecture included large windows to let in much light, particularly onto the altar.

 Jesus said, “I am the light of the world: he that follows me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life”.[1] Light for Christians is a symbol for holiness, wisdom, grace, hope, and God's revelation, whereas darkness has been associated with evil, sin, and despair.

 

There is no mention of lights in Christian worship during its first two or three centuries, which is no surprise since it had to be a secretive religion.[2] There were Christian practices hidden away in catacombs and for this purpose small terra-cotta lamps, plain or decorated with Christian symbols, were used, as attested by numerous discoveries. 

St Paul’s catacomb in Malta where an agape meal was held on a stone table close to tombs. The tombs had wall niches which would have held an oil or fat burning lamp. Christian signs were scratched on the walls and the one shown is thought to have been 4th or 5th century. It could be a trident and symbolising the Trinity.

    Early baptised Christians were known to have been ‘illumined’ and Easter was the time for this life changing event. The apostle Paul wrote: “For it is impossible for those who were once illuminated, have tasted also the heavenly gift and were made partakers of the Holy Ghost”.[3] In modern translations the word inluminati becomes enlightened and it has been questioned whether a light was physically present at baptism. Some think those baptised were given a lighted taper in the way a candle is given today.

When the Romans accepted Christianity as their religion in the 4th-century new well-lit churches were built. A 4th century inventory of items in the church of Cirta, in Algeria, listed 7 silver lamps, two chandeliers, 7 small brass candelabra with lamps and 11 lamps with chains. Lamps were beginning to be used in large churches in the early 4th century.[4]  Constantine I gave to the Archbasilica of the St John Lateran Church, Rome, two sets of seven 10 ft bronze candelabra with as many as 120 dolphin-shaped branches, each supporting one or more lamps.[5] When Constantine's body lay in state, lighted candles on golden stands were placed around.

     Sometime after 630, a change in furnishing the church occurred in Britain.  A rough timber oratory changed into a rectangular stone church. Windows could be glazed. Books were illustrated and pages painted with colourful pigments.  Singing and playing music was encouraged. If God was the light of the world, then the church would reflect his illumination. It contrasted with dark pagan temples. Aldhelm, Abbot of Malmesbury and Biship of Sherborne, wrote a poem, 689–709, and described the church of St Mary built by Bugga, possibly his sister, and gave an insight into a late 7th-century church. It was described as rectangular, lofty and with 12 altars. It glowed within with gentle light, presumably from oil lamps or bee’s wax candles. It had glass windows. The altar cloth glistened with gold twisted threads. A gold chalice had jewels attached and the paten was silver. A main cross was burnished gold and silver and had jewels attached. A metal censer embossed on all sides hung down by chains and through openings, it let out the smell of frankincense.

           Eighth century Gospel books, such as St Chad’s Gospels, were illuminated. They had painted pages to illustrate symbolically parts of the Bible. Some hold such texts must be enhanced with gold and silver pigments which can reflect the light. The presence of such metals in the St Chad’s Gospels has still to be detected, but if the Gospels follow convention they were once present.

The timing of church events was important in the 7th-century. The Synod of Whitby settled the dating of Easter. It was established that at the Spring Equinox, falling on the 19, 20 or 21 March, the length of day equalled the length of night. At the first full moon that followed, the 24 hours for that day was filled with full moonlight and full sunlight (assuming no clouds) and thus light had overcome darkness. Easter was then the first Sunday to follow. This calculation, Computus, emphasised Jesus’s word.

Having strong light in a church was essential for Gothic architecture. Large windows let in much light, especially shining on the altar. This has been traced to the greater use of the eucharist in worship. See the post, ‘Lady Chapel’, Similarly the transepts had their narrow lancet windows replaced with wider compound windows with fine tracery. The triangular windows near the roof of the nave brought much light into the upper clerestory. Opening up the dark inner church, choir and presbytery, by G. Gilbert Scott in the 1850s by removing plaster between the columns and taking down the wall by the crossing was part of this move to lighten the cathedral.

 

The use of ceremonial candles was either greatly modified, or totally abolished with Reformation. After the Victorian Revival churches placed two candles on the altar during the Eucharist and two candles either side of someone reading the Gospels. Today visitors frequently light a candle.    

    Choir stalls with candles and overhead electric lighting

 

                                               High altar candle. Candles on the altar did not occur before the 12th-century.       

        Candles lit for remembering Ukraine 

 Paschal candle lit either in the late Saturday or early Easter Sunday morning service. It is also used for lighting baptismal candles.

[1] John 8 v 12.

[2] The ceremonial use of light occurs in the Jewish, Zoroastrian and Hindu rites and customs. Jewish temples can have an eternal lamp. Certain religions have fire-worship.

[3] Vulgate Hebrews 6 v 4.

[4] Recorded in the Liber Pontificalis. Volume 1 173–6. Also called the book of the popes.

[5] Ibid, 173–6.