§ 174. Sacred Places

[…] and lays in the new church the antimins, which has been consecrated by the bishop.[1] Likewise, the laying of the foundation of a new church (πῆξις τοῦ ϑεμελίου) belongs to the authority of the bishop, who, if he is prevented, may authorize a priest to do this.[2] The consecration of a church may not take place on the very day on which the memory of the saint or sacred event in whose name the church is being built is celebrated, but either before or after, so that the service for the consecration of the church (ἐγκαίνια) is not confused with the service of the temple feast.[3] The consecration must also be repeated for an already-consecrated church if it happens to have been desecrated by unbelievers, or if human blood has been shed in it.[4] In the building of a church it is a rule that must be observed that the altar always face east.[5]

At the consecration of a church it is an absolute rule that the relics of saints (ἐνσοριασμὸς τῶν ἁγίων λειψάνων) must be placed at the spot where the Eucharist is to be offered, for whoever consecrates a temple without holy relics must be deposed, as the 7th canon of the Seventh Ecumenical Council ordains. Holy Scripture of the New Testament contains an indirect instruction to this effect. The Apostle John speaks of the souls of the martyrs who are under the heavenly altar, and thereby already gives guidance for earthly altars, indicating the bond that must exist between the sacrifice of the holy martyrs and the eternal sacrifice of Christ the Savior.[6] In the sense of that mysterious bond between the holy martyrs and the sacrifice of Jesus Christ, the eucharistic sacrifice was, from the very beginning of the Christian church, regularly offered on the graves of martyrs, or at least where some part of a martyr’s holy body—martyrs’ relics—was present.[7] What was thus introduced by the guidance of Holy Scripture in the church, and preserved through the centuries of persecution, later passed into the positive law of the church. At a council in Carthage in the year 401 a strict rule was established, that every church must be pulled down if it is not found that a body or relics of a martyr have been laid in it.[8] Ambrose of Milan would not consecrate a church until martyrs’ relics had been brought so that he could lay them in the foundation.[9] John Chrysostom, in one of his homilies, emphasizes the sublimity of the fact that the bloodless sacrifice is offered upon the relics of martyrs, and regards this as a church law absolutely binding on everyone.[10] And in the eighth century, as we have mentioned, the Seventh Ecumenical Council subjects to deposition the bishop who consecrates a church without laying holy relics beneath the altar.

When the foundation of a new church has been laid and that foundation consecrated according to the ritual, the building of the church itself must proceed without interruption until it is entirely finished, and this building may take at most three years.[11] The church itself must be built according to a plan approved by the church authority, and according to the iconography adopted in the Eastern Orthodox Church.[12] In general the church must be divided into two parts: the altar (βῆμα, ϑυσιαστῆριον) and the nave (ἐχκλησία, ναός). The second part is intended for the faithful, the first for sacred persons only. It is an ancient rule, of both the Eastern and the Western church, that only sacred persons are permitted to enter the altar, and this on account of the mysterious character of the bloodless sacrifice offered at the altar—a rule confirmed by the 69th canon of the Trullan Council. The same canon permits an exception to this general rule only for the rulers of the land, and this by virtue of a very ancient tradition (κατά [τινα] ἀρχαιοτάτην παράδοσιν), when they wish to bring a gift to God.[13]

II. Sacred places are also cemeteries (κοιμητήρια). In the early church, when she was persecuted, the Christian dead were buried in catacombs and crypts, and later in specially enclosed places, which we today call cemeteries. These places are called χοιμητῆρια (“sleeping-places”), for Christians believe that death is nothing other than a temporary sleep, in which a man abides until the day when all shall rise again.[14] Cemeteries become a sacred place through prayer and the church rite performed at their founding. A cemetery must be enclosed by a solid wall, so that animals cannot enter, and must be kept free from every defilement. Should it be in any way defiled, the church rite of blessing must then be performed anew.

In the early times of the church it was forbidden to bury the departed within churches, and this for the reason that the relics of saints were kept there.[15] But afterward, in the sixth century, this came into custom, and only in more recent times has it again been forbidden, permitting only that bishops and members of ruling families be buried in churches.[16]

In a cemetery that has been consecrated by the prescribed rite and has thereby become a sacred place, only one who is a member of the church may be buried.[17] Only in case of necessity may the competent diocesan bishop permit a person who did not, during his life, belong to the church, to be buried in a church cemetery.[18]

According to the sanitary conditions that must be taken into account with regard to cemeteries, the civil authority today, alongside the church authority, exercises oversight of cemeteries, and they are today for the most part the property of the respective political municipalities, for which reason they are usually called municipal cemeteries. The civil authority determines all the conditions that a place designated for a cemetery must satisfy, how cemeteries must be laid out, how they must be maintained, how and when the dead are to be buried, and so forth.[19]

III. Sacred places, in accordance with the pious purpose for which they exist, must be honored by everyone, and this is required of all not only by the church authority but also by the civil authority.

The honoring of the church, as the house of God, derives from divine right, which Christ demonstrated when He drove out of the temple those who profaned it by trade. This later became also a matter of church legislation, and many canons prescribe deposition for sacred persons, and excommunication for laymen, should they presume in any way to profane a church and use it for any purpose, however pious, other than divine service.[20] Greco-Roman legislation prescribes the same.[21] This legislation held the sanctity of the temple in such high regard that it recognized in the temple, and in sacred places generally, the so-called right of asylum (jus asyli).[22]

Just as everyone must honor the church, the house of God, so must the same be done with regard to all sacred places. “In preserving the reverence (τὸ σεβάσμιον) due to the church, nothing must be done within the sacred enclosures (ἔνδον τῶν ἱερῶν περιβόλων) that would offend its sanctity; and whoever thoughtlessly turns a sacred place into a place of public resort, and behaves in those places with disregard (χαταφρονητικῶς), if he be a sacred person let him be deposed (χαϑαιρείσϑω), and if he be a layman let him be excommunicated”—so ordains the Trullan Council.[23] By “sacred enclosures” (ἱεροὶ περίβολοι) is understood everything that surrounds the sacred temples, and in particular the cemeteries, which are usually adjacent to the temples. Greco-Roman legislation likewise subjected to penalties every profanation of such places, forbidding that judicial proceedings be held in them, that entertainments be held there, that trade or tavern-keeping be carried on there, and so forth.[24] This the laws of the state forbid to this day in every civilized state.[25]