Synagogue

Synagogue (συναγωγή; other equivalent terms are προσευχή or προσευκτήριον, i.e. chapel; Heb. אֵל מוֹעֵד, or assembly of God; Aramaic בי כנשתא, כנשתא), in the Jewish place of worship in post-Biblical and modern times. However obscure the origin of these establishments, they eventually became so important and characteristic as to furnish a designation of the Jewish Church itself in later literature.

It may be well to note at the outset the points of contact between the history and ritual of the synagogues of the Jews, and the facts to which the inquiries of the Biblical student are principally directed. 1. They meet us as the great characteristic institution of the later phase of Judaism. More even than the Temple and its services, in the time of which the New Test. treats, they at once represented and determined the religious life of the people. 2. We cannot separate them from the most intimate connection with our Lord's life and ministry. In them he worshipped in his youth and in his manhood. Whatever we can learn of the ritual which then prevailed tells us of a worship which he recognized and sanctioned; which for that reason, if for no other, though, like the statelier services of the Temple, it was destined to pass away, is worthy of our respect and honor. They were the scenes, too, of no small portion of his work. In them were wrought some of his mightiest works of healing (Mt 12:9; Mark 23; Lu 13:11). In them were spoken some of the most glorious of his recorded words (4:16; Joh 6:59); many more, beyond all reckoning, which are sot recorded (Mt 4:23; Mt 13:54; Joh 18:20, etc.). 3. There are the questions, leading us back to a remoter past. In what did the worship of the synagogue originate? What type was it intended to reproduce? What customs, alike in nature, if not in name, served as the starting-point for it? 4. The synagogue, with all that belonged to it, was connected with the future, as well as with the past. It was the order with which the first Christian believers were most familiar, from which they were most likely to take the outlines, or even the details, of the worship, organization, and government of their own society. Widely divergent as the two words and the things they represented afterwards became, the ecclesia had its starting- point in the synagogue.

I. Name and its Signification. — The word συναγωγή, which literally signifies a gathering, is not unknown in classical Greek (Thucyd. 2, 18; Plato, Republ. 526 D), but became prominent in that of the Hellenists. It appears in the Sept. as the translation of not less than twenty-one Hebrew words in which the idea of a gathering is implied (Tromm, Concordant. s.v.). But, although the word is there used to denote any kind of gathering, heap, mass, or assemblage, such as a gathering of fruits (for the Heb. אסŠ, אסיŠ, Ex 23:16; Ex 34:22), of water (מקום, מקוה, Ge 1; Ge 9; Le 11:36), a heap of stones (גל, Job 8:17), a band of singers (מחול, Jer 31:4,13), a mass or multitude of people or soldiers (אספה, חיל, Isa 24:22; Eze 37:10), a tribe or family (בית, 1Ki 12:21), etc., yet its predominant usage in this version is to denote an appointed meeting of people either for civil or religious purposes, thus being synonymous with ἐκκλησία. This is evident from the fact that the Sept. uses συνάγωγή 130 times for the Hebrew עֵדָה, and twenty-five times for קָהָל, which in seventy instances is rendered in the same version by ἐκκλησία. The synonymous usage in the Sept. of these two expressions is also seen in Pr 5:14, where ἐκκησία and συναγωγή stand in juxtaposition for the Hebrew קהל and עדה. In the books of the Apocrypha, the word, as in those of the Old Test., retains its general meaning, and is not used specifically for any recognized place of worship. For this the received phrase seems to be τόπος προσευχῆς (1 Macc. 3, 46; 3 Macc. 7:20). In the New Test., however, we find συναγωγή, like ἐκκλησία, used metonymically, more especially for an appointed and recognized Jewish place of worship (Mt 4:23; Mt 6:2,5; Mt 9:35, etc.). Sometimes the word is applied to the tribunal which was connected with or sat in the synagogue in the narrower sense (Mt 10:17; Mt 23:34; Mr 13:9; Lu 21:12; Lu 12:11). Within the limits of the Jewish Church it perhaps kept its ground as denoting the place, of meeting of the Christian brethren (Jas 2; Jas 2). It seems to have been claimed by some of thepseudo-Judaizing, half-Gnostic sects of the 'Asiatic churches for their meetings (Re 2; Re 9). It was not altogether obsolete, as applied to Christian meetings, in the time of Ignatius (Fp. ad Trall. c.v; ad Polyc. c. 3). Even in Clement of Alexandria the two words appear united as they had done in the Sept. (ἐπὶ τὴν συναγωγὴν ἐκκλησίας, Strom. 6:633). Afterwards, when the chasm between Judaism and Christianity became wider, Christian writers were fond of dwelling on the meanings of the two words which practically represented them, and showing how far the synagogue was excelled by the ecclesia (August. Enarr. in Psalm 80; Trench, Synonyms of N.T. § 1). The cognate word, however, σύναξις, was formed or adopted in its place, and applied to the highest act of worship and communion for which Christians met (Suicer, Thesaur. s.v.).

⇒"Synagogues." topical outline.

More definite than the Greek term synagogue is the ancient Hebrew name, beth tephillah (בֵּית תּפַלָּה, τόπος προσευχῆς, or simply προσευχή) = house of prayer (Ac 16:13, for which the Syriac rightly has ביה צלותא; Josephus, Life, 54), which is now obsolete, or beth hak-keneseth (בֵּית הִכּנֵסֵת) = house of assembly, which has superseded it. This definite local signification of the term synagogue among the Jews has necessitated the use of another expression for the members constituting the assembly, which is כנישתא or צבור, to express our secondary sense of the word ἐκκλησία.

II. History of the Origin and Development of the Synagogue.

⇒Bible concordance for SYNAGOGUE.

1. According to tradition, the patriarchs Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob instituted the prayers three times a day (Berakoth, 26 b), and had places of worship (comp. the Chaldee paraphrases of Onkelos, Jonathan ben-Uzziel, and the Jerusalem Targum on Ge 24:62-63; Ge 25:27). We are informed that there were synagogues, in the time of the pious king Hezekiah (Sanhedrin, 94 b); that the great house (בית גדול) was a stupendous synagogue; that the many houses of Jerusalem (בתי ירושלים) which Nebuchadnezzar burned (2Ki 25:9) were the celebrated 480 synagogues that existed in Jerusalem (Jerusalem Megillah, 3, 1), and that in Babylon the synagogue was to be seen in which Daniel used to pray (Erubin, 21 a). We have thetestimony of Benjamin of Tudela, the celebrated traveler of the Middle Ages, that he himself saw-the synagogues built by Moses, David, Obadiah; Nahum, and Ezra (Itinerary, 1, 90, 91, 92, 106, 153, ed. Ascher [London, 1840]). It is in harmony with this tradition that James declares "Moses of old time hath in every city them that preach him, being read in the synagogues every Sabbath day" (Acts 15,: 21; comp. Philo, 2. 167, 630; Josephus, Apion, 2, 18; Baba Kama, 82 a; Jerusalem Megillah, 4,1). But these are simply traditions, which love to invest everything with the halo of the remotest antiquity.

2. In the Old Test. itself we find no trace of meetings for worship in synagogues. On the one hand, it is probable that if new moons and Sabbaths were observed at all, they must have been attended by some celebration apart from, as well as at, the tabernacle or the Temple (1Sa 20:5; 2Ki 4:23). On the other, so far as we find traces of such local worship, it seems to have fallen too readily into a fetich religion, sacrifices to ephods and teraphim (Jg 8:27; Jg 17:5) in groves and on high-places, offering nothing but a contrast to the "reasonable service," the prayers, psalms, instruction in the law, of the later synagogue. The special mission of the priests and Levites under Jehoshaphat (2Ch 12:7-9) shows that there was no regular provision for reading the "book of the law of the Lord" to the people, and makes it probable that even the rule which prescribed that it should be read once every seven years at the Feast of Tabernacles had fallen into disuse (De 31:10). With the rise of the prophetic order we trace a more distinct though still a partial approximation. Wherever there was a company of such prophets, there must have been a life analogous in many of its features to that of the later Essenes and Therapeutse, to that of the coenobia and monasteries of Christendom. In the abnormal state of the polity of Israel under Samuel, they appear to have aimed at purifying the worship of the high-places from idolatrous associations, and met on fixed days for sacrifice and psalmody (1Sa 9:12; 1Sa 10:5). The scene in 1Sa 19:20-24 indicates that the meetings were open to any worshippers who might choose to come, as well as to "the sons of the prophet," the brothers of the order themselves. The only pre-exilian instance which seems to indicate, that the devout in Israel were in the habit of resorting to pious leaders for blessings and instruction on stated occasions is to be found in 2Ki 4:23, where the Shunammite's husband asks, "Wherefore wilt thou go to him (Elisha) today? It is neither new moon nor Sabbath." Yet 2Ki 22:8, etc.; 2Ch 34:14, etc., testify undoubtedly against the existence of places of worship under the monarchy. The date of Psalm 24 is too uncertain for us to draw any inference as to the nature of the "synagogues of God" (מוֹעֲדֵי אֵל, meeting-places of God), which the invaders are represented as destroying (ver. 8). It 'may have belonged to the time of the Assyrian or Chaldaean invasion (Vitringa, De Synag, p. 396-405). It has been referred to that of the Maccabees (De Wette, Psalmen, ad loc.), or to an intermediate period when Jerusalem was taken and the land laid waste by the army of Bagoses, under Artaxerxes II (Ewald, Poet. Biich. 2, 358). The, "assembly of the elders," in Ps 107; Ps 32, leaves us in like uncertainty.

⇒Definition of synagogue

3. During the Exile, in the abeyance of the Temple worship, the meetings of devout Jews probably became more systematic (Vitringa, De Synag. p. 413-429; Jost, Judenthum, 1, 168; Bornitius, De Synagog. in Ugolino, Thesaur. 21), and must have helped forward the change which appears so conspicuously at the time of the Return. The repeated mention of gatherings of the elders of Israel, sitting before the prophet Ezekiel and hearing his word (Eze 8:1; Eze 14:1; Eze 20:1; Eze 33:31), implies the transfer to the-land of the Captivity of the custom that had originated in the schools of the prophets. One remarkable passage may possibly contain a more distinct reference to them. Those who still remained in Jerusalem taunted the prophet and his companions with their exile, as outcasts from the blessings of the sanctuary. "Get ye far from the Lord; unto us is this land; given in a possession." The prophet's answer is that it was not so. Jehovah was as truly with them in their "little sanctuary" as he had been in the Temple at Jerusalem. His presence, not the outward glory, was itself the sanctuary (11, 15, 16). The whole history of Ezra presupposes the habit of solemn, probably of periodic, meetings (Ezr 8:15; Ne 8:2; Ne 9:1; Zec 7:5). To that period, accordingly, we may attribute the revival, if not the institution, of synagogues, or at least of the systematic meetings on fasts for devotion and instruction (Zec 8:19). Religious meetings were also held on Sabbaths and fasts to instruct the exiles in the divine law, and to admonish them to obey the divine precepts (Ezr 10:1-9; Ne 8:1,3; Ne 9:1-3; Ne 13:1-3). These meetings, held near the Temple and in other localities, were the origin of the synagogue, and the place in which the people assembled was denominated בית הכנסת, the house of assembly; hence, also, the synagogue in the Temple, itself. The elders of this synagogue handed the law to the high-priest (Mishna, Yoma, 7:1; Sotah, 7:7, 8), aided in the sacrifices (Tamid, 5, 5), took charge of the palms used at the Feast of Tabernacles (Sukkah, 4:4), accompanied the pilgrims who brought their first-fruits (Tosiphta Bikkurim, 2), officiated as judges (Makkloth, 3, 12), and superintended the infantschools (Sabbath, 1, 3). Assuming Ewald's theory as to the date and occasion of Psalm 124, there must, at some subsequent period, have been a great destruction of the buildings, and a consequent suspension of the services. It is, at any rate, striking that they are not in any way prominent in the Maccabean history, either as objects of attack or rallying-points of defense, unless we are to see in the gathering of the persecuted Jews at Maspha (Mizpal), as at a "place where they prayed aforetime in Israel" (1 Macc. 3, 46), not only a reminiscence of its old glory as a holy place, but the continuance of a more recent custom. When that struggle was over, there appears to have been a freer development of what may be called the synagogue parochial system among the Jews of Palestine and other countries. The influence of John Hyrcanus, the growing power of the Pharisees, the authority of the Scribes, the example, probably, of the Jews of the "dispersion" (Vitringa, De Synag. p. 426), would all tend in the same direction. Well-nigh every town or village had its one or more synagogues. Where the Jews were not in sufficient numbers to be able to erect and fill a building, there was the προσευχή, or place of prayer, sometimes open, sometimes covered in, commonly by a running stream or on the sea-shore, in which devout Jews and proselytes met to worship, and, perhaps, to read (Ac 16:13; Josephus, Ant. 14:10, 23; Juvenal, Sat. 3,. 296). Sometimes the term προσευχή (= בֵּית תּפַלָּה) was applied even to an actual synagogue (Josephus, Life, § 54). Eventually we find the Jews possessing synagogues in the different cities of Syria, Asia Minor, Greece, Egypt, and wherever they resided. We hearof the apostles frequenting the synagogues in Damas-cus, Antioch, Iconium, Thessalonica, Berea, Athens, Corinth, Ephesus, etc. (Ac 9:2,20; Ac 13:14; Ac 14:1; Ac 17:1; Ac 10:17; Ac 18:4,19; Ac 19:8). There were numerous synagogues in Palestine: in Nazareth (Mt 13:54; Mr 6:2; Lu 4:16), Capernaum (Mt 12:9; Mr 1:21; Lu 7:5; Joh 6:59), etc.; and in Jerusalem alone there were 480 (Jerusalem Megillah,. 3, 1; Jerusalem Kethuboth, 13) to accommodate the Jews from foreign lands who visited the Temple. There were synagogues of the Libertines, Cyrenians, Alexandrians, Cilicians, and of the Asiatics (Ac 6:9; comp. Tosiphta Megillah, 2; Babylon Megillah, 26 a). When it is remembered that more than 2,500,000 Jewscame together to the metropolis from all countries§ to celebrate the Passover (Josephus, Ant. 6:9, 3; Pesachim, 64 a), this number of synagogues in Jerusalem. will not appear at all exaggerated. An idea may be formed of the large number of Jews at the time of Christ, when it is borne in mind that in Egypt alone, from the Mediterranean to the border of Ethiopia, there resided nearly a million of Jews (Philo, Against Flaccus, 2, 523), and that in Syria, especially in the metropolis, Antioch, the Jews constituted a large portion of the population (Gratz [2nd ed.] 3, 282).

III. Site, Structure, Internal Arrangement, Use, and Sanctity of the Synagogue. —

1. Taking the Temple as the prototype, and following the traditional explanation of the passages in Pr 1:21 and Ezr 9:9, which were taken to mean that the voice of prayer is to be raised on heights (בראש תקרא), and that the sanctuary was therefore erected on a summit (בית אלהיכ לרומם את), the Jewish canons decreed that synagogues are to be built upon the most elevated ground in the neighborhood, and that no house is to be allowed to overtop them (Tosiphta Megillah,3; Maimonides, lad Ha-Chezaka Hilchoth Tephila, 11:2). So essential was this law deemed, and so strictly was it observed in Persia, even after the destruction of the Temple, that Rab (A.D. 165-247) prophesied a speedy ruin of those cities in which houses were permitted to tower above the synagogue, while rabbi Ashi declared that the protection of Sora was owing to the elevated site of its synagogues (Sabbath, 11 a). Lieut. Kitchener, however, states (Quar. Statement of the "Pal. Explor. Fund," July, 1878, p. 123 sq.) that the ruins of the fourteen specimens of ancient synagogues extant in Palestine (all in Galilee) do not correspond to these Talamudical requirements as to location, nor yet to those below as to position; for they are frequently in rather a low site, and face the south if possible. Failing of a commanding site, a tall pole rose from the roof to render it conspicuous (Leyrer, in Herzog's Real-Encyklop. s.v.).

The riverside outside the city was also deemed a suitable spot for building the synagogue, because, being removed from the noise of the city, the people could worship God without distraction, and, at the same time, have the use of pure water for immersions and other religious exercises (Ac 16:13; Josephus, Ant. 14:10, 23; Juvenal, Sat. 3, 12, etc.; see also the Chaldee versions on Ge 24:62). SEE PROSEUOHA.

The building was commonly erected at the cost of the district, whether by a church-rate levied for the purpose, or by free gifts, must remain uncertain (Vitringa, De Synagog. p. 229). Sometimes it was built by a rich Jew, or even, as in Lu 7:5; by a friendly proselyte. In the later stages of Eastern Judaism it was often erected, like the mosques of Mohammedans, in the tombs of famous rabbins or holy men.

2. The size of a synagogue, like that of a church or chapel, varied with the population. We have no reason for believing that there were any fixed laws of proportion for its dimensions, like those, which are traced in the tabernacle and the Temple. The building itself was generally in the form of a theatre; the door was usually on: the west, so that, on entering, the worshippers might at once face the front, which was turned towards Jerusalem, since the law is that "all the worshippers in Israel are to have their faces turned to that part of the world where Jerusalem, the Temple, and the Holy of Holies are" (Berakoth, 30 a). This law, which is deduced from 1Ki 8:29; Ps 28:2, and the allegorical interpretation of Song 4:4, also obtained among the early Christians (Origen, Hom. 5. 1 Nurn. in Opp. 2, 284) and the Mohammedans (Koran, c. 2). SEE KEBLAH. Hence all the windows are said to have been generally in the eastern wall, so that the worshippers might look towards the holy city, in accordance with Da 6:10.

Like the Temple, the synagogue was frequently without a roof, as may be seen from the following remark of Epiphanius: "There were anciently places of prayer without the city, both among the Jews and the Samaritatas; there was a place of prayer at Sichem, now called Neapolis, without the city in the fields, in the form of a theater, open to the air, and without covering, built by the Samaritans, who in all things imitated the Jews" (Contr. Hceres. lib. 3, Haer. 80). It was this, coupled with the fact that the Jews had no images, which gave rise to the satirical remark of Juvenal —

"Nil prseter nubes et cceli nume adorant." (Sat. 14:98.)

In some places there were temporary summer and winter synagogues; they were pulled down and re-erected at the beginning of each season, so that the style of building might be according to the period of the year (Baba Bathra, 3 b).

3. In. the internal arrangement of the synagogue we trace an obvious analogy, mutatis mutandis, to the type of the tabernacle. At the wall opposite the entrance, or at the Jerusalem end, stood the wooden chest or ark (תֵּבָה) containing the scrolls of the law. It stood on a raised base with. several steps (בֵבסֵל = subsellium, דִּרגָּא, Jerusalem Megillah, 3, 1), which the priests mounted when they pronounced the benediction (Nu 6:24-26) upon the congregation. Hence the phrase עלה לדוכן, which was retained after the destruction of the Temple to describe the act of giving the benediction to the people by the priests (Raosh Ha- Shandh, 31 b; Sabbath, 118 b). It is necessary to bear in mind that the ancient name for this ark is תֵּבָה (comp. Mishna, Berakoth, 5, 3, 4; Taanith, 2, 1, 2; Megillah, 4:4, etc.), the name afterwards given to it (אָרוֹן) being reserved for the ark-of-the-covenant table, which was wanting in the second Temple. There was a canopy (כַּילָה) spread over the ark, under which were kept the vestments used during the service (Jerusalem fegillah, 3). In some places the ark or chest had two compartments, the upper one containing the scrolls of the law, and the lower the synagogical garments of the officers of the community. The ark was not fastened to the wall, but was free so that it might easily be taken outside the door of the synagogue in case a death occurred in the place of worship, in order that the priests should be able to attend the service; or be removed into the streets when fasts and lays of humiliation were kept (Mishna, Taanith, 2, 1). SEE FAST. In later times, however, a recess was made in the wall, and the ark was kept there. This recess was called the Sanctuary (קֹדשׁ הֵיכָל). The same thought was sometimes developed still further in the name of Kophereth, or Mercy-seat, given to the lid or door of the chest, and in the veil which hung before it (Vitringa, p. 181). On certain occasions the ark was removed from the recess and placed on the rostrum (בַּימָה = βῆμα) in the middle of the synagogue (Tosiphta MIegillah, 3; Mainsonides, lad Ha-Chezaka Hilchoth Lulab, 7:23). SEE TABERNACLES, FEAST OF. Within the ark, as above stated, were the rolls of the sacred books. The rollers round which they were wound were often elaborately decorated, the cases for them embroidered or enameled, according to their material. Such cases were customary offerings from the rich when they brought their infant children on the first anniversary of their birthday to be blessed by the rabbi of the synagogue.

In front of the ark was the desk of the leader of the divine worship; and as the place of the ark was amphitheatral, the desk was sometimes lower and sometimes higher than the level of the room. Hence the interchangeable phrases "he who descends before the ark" (היורד לפני התיבה) and "he who ascends before the ark" (העובר לפני התיבה) used to designate the leader of divine worship 3 the synagogue (Mishna, Taanith, 2, 2; Berakoth, 5, 4; Rosh Ha-Shanah, 4:7; Meaillah, 4:3, 5, 7, etc.).

The next important piece of furniture was the rostrum or platform (מַגדִּל עֵוֹ, בֵּימָה = βῆμα, בּוּרסיָא), capable of containing several persons (Ne 8:4; Ne 9:4; Josephus, Ait. 4:8,12)., On this platform the lessons from the law and the prophets were read, discourses delivered, etc. (Mishna, Sotah, 8:8; Babylon Sukkah, 51b; Megillah, 26 b). 8. EHAPHTARAH. There were no arrangements made at first for laying down the law while reading, and the one upon whom it devoted to read a portion of the pericope had to hold the roll in his hand till the second one came up to read, and relieved him of it. Afterwards, however, there was a reading-desk (אֲנַלַיגָין = ἀναλογεῖον) on this platform, and the roll of the law was laid down during pauses, or when the methurgeman (מתורגמן = bürterpreter) was reciting in the vernaciuiar of the country the portion read (Yoma, 68 b: Megillah, 26 b; Jerusalem Megillah, 3). The reading-desk was covered with a cloth (פַּרָסָא), which varied in costliness ac-cording to the circumstances of the congregation (Megillah, 26 b). When the edifice was large this platform was generally in the center, as was the case in the synagogue at Alexandria (Sukkah, 51 b).

There were also arm chairs (קָתֵדנרָאוֹת קָתֵדַרַין = καθέδραι, קלַטּוֹרַן= κλιντῆρες), or seats of honor (πρωτοκαθεδρίαι), for the elders of the synagogue, the doctors of the law, etc. (Mt 23:2,6; Mr 12:39; Lukexi, 43; Sukkah, 51 b; Maimonides, Ill choth Tephila, 10, 4), to which the wealthy and honored worshipper was invited (Jas 2:2-3). They were placed in front of the ark containing the law, or at the Jerusalem end, in the uppermost part of the synagogue, and these distinguished persons 'sat' with their faces to the people, while the congregation stood facing both these honorable ones and the ark (Tosiphta Megillah, 3). In the synagogue at Alexandria there were seventy-one golden chairs, according to the number of the members of the Great Sanhedrim (Sukkah, 51 b). SEE SANHEDRIM. In the synagogue of Bagdad "the ascent to the holy ark was composed of ten marble steps, on the upper-most of which were the stalls set apart for the prince of the Captivity and the other princes of the house of David" (Benjamin of Tudela, Itinerary, 1, 105, ed. Ascher, Lond. 1840).

There was, moreover, a perpetual light (ניר תמיד), which was evidently in imitation of the Temple light (Ex 28:20). This sacred light was religiously fed by the people, and in case of any special mercy vouchsafed to an individual, or of threatening danger, a certain quantity of oil was vowed for the perpetual lamp. This light was the symbol of the human soul (Pr 20:27), of the divine law (Pr 6:23), and of the manifestation of God (Eze 43:2). It must, however, be remarked that though the perpetual lamp forms an essential part of the synagogical furniture to the present day, and has obtained among the Indians, Greeks, Romans, arid other nations of antiquity (Rosenmüller, Mogenland, 2, 156), yet there is no mention made of it in the Talmud. Other lamps, brought by devout worshippers, were lighted at the beginning of the Sabbath, i.e. on Friday evening (Vitringa, p. 198).

As part of the fittings, we have also to note

(1) another chest for the Haphtaroth, or rolls of the prophets;

(2) Alms-boxes at or near the door, after the pattern of those at the Temple, one for the poor of Jerusalem, the other for local charities;

(3) Notice-boards, on which, were written the names of offenders who had been "put out of the synagogue;"

(4) A chest for trumpets and other musical instruments, used at the New-Years, Sabbaths, and other festivals (Vitringa, Leyrer, loc. cit.).

The congregation was divided, men on one side, women on the other, a low partition, five or six feet high, running between them (Philo, De Vit. Contempl. 2, 476). The arrangements of modern synagogues, for many centuries, have made the separation more complete by placing the women in low side-galleries, screened off by lattice-work (Leo of Modena, in Picart, Cerem. Relig. 1).

4. Besides meetings for worship, the synagogues, or, snore properly, the rooms connected with them, were also used as courts of justice for the local Sanhedrim (Targum Jonathan on Am 5:12,15; Jerusalem Sanhedrin, 1, 1; Jerusalem Baba Metsia, 2, 8; Babylon Kethuboth, 5 a; Sabbath, 150 a) and in it the beadle of the synagogue administered the forty stripes save one to those who were sentenced to be beaten (Mishna, Makkoth, 3, 12; comp. Mt 10:17; Mt 23:34). Travelers, too, found an asylum in the synagogue; meals were eaten in it (Pesachim, 101; Bereshith Rabba, 100. 45), and children were instructed therein (Kiddushin, 30 a; Baba Bathra, 21 a; Taanith, 24 b; Berakoth, 17 a; Yebamoth, 65 b). This, however, did not detract from its sanctity; for the synagogue once used for the divine worship was only allowed to be sold on certain conditions (Mishna, Megillah, 3, 1, 2). When the building was finished, it was set apart, as the Temple had been, by a special prayer of dedication. From that time it had a consecrated character. The common acts of life, such as reckoning up accounts, were forbidden in it. No one was to pass through it as a short cut. Even if it ceased to be used, the building was not to be applied to any base purpose — might not be turned, e.g., into a bath, a laundry, or a tannery. A scraper stood outside the door that men might rid themselves, before they entered, of anything that would be defiling (Leyrer, loc. cit., and Vitringa).

IV. The Officers and Government of the Synaggogue. The synagogues of the respective towns were governed by the elders (זקָנַם, πρεσβύτεροι, Lu 7:3), who constituted the local Sanhedrim, consisting either of the twenty-three senators or the three senators assisted by four principal members of the congregation (fegillah, 27; Josephus, Ant. 4:8,14; War, 2, 20, 5; Ac 7:5; Ac 21:8), as this depended upon the, size and population of the place. SEE SANHEDRIM. Hence these authorized administrators of the law were alternately denominated shepherds (פִּרנסַים = ποιμένες, Jerusalem Peah, 8; Babylon Chagigah, 60; Sabbath, 17 a; Ac 20:28; Eph 4:11), the rulers of the synagogue, and the chiefs (ראֹשֵׁי הִכּנֶסֶת = ἀρχισυνάγωγοι, ἄρχοντες, Mt 9:18,23; Mr 5:22; Lu 8:41; Ac 13:15) and overseers (ממונים =προεστῶτες, Mishna, Tamid, 5, 1).

The president of the Sanhedrim was ex officio the head or chief of the synagogue, and was therefore, κατ᾿ ἐξοχήν, the ruler of the synagogue (Mishna, Yoma, 7:1; Sofah, 7:7), while the other members of this body, according to their various gifts, discharged the different functions in the synagogue (1Ti 5:17), as will be seen from the following classification. SEE HIGH-PRIEST.

1. The Ruler of the Synagogue (ראֹשׁ הִכּנֶסֶת = ἀρχισυνάγωγος) and his two Associates. — Though the supreme official, like the two other members of the local court, had to be duly examined by delegates from the Great Sanhedrim, who certified that he possessed all the necessary qualifications for his office (Maimonides, lad Ha-Chezaka Hilchoth Sanhedrin, 2, 8), yet his election entirely depended upon the suffrages of the members of the synagogue. The Talmud distinctly declares that "no ruler (פִּרַנֵס=ποιμήν) is appointed over a congregation, unless the congregation is consulted" (Berakoth, 55 a). But, once elected, the ruler was the third in order of precedence in the Temple synagogue i.e. first came the high-priest, then the chief of the priests (סָגָן), and then the ruler of the synagogue (Mishna, Yoma, 7:1; Sotah, 7:7), while in the provincial synagogues the respective rulers were supreme, and had the principal voice in the decision and distribution of the other offices. His two judicial colleagues aided him in the administration of the law. SEE ARCH- SYNAGOGUES.

2. The Three Amoners (גּבָּאי צַדנקָה = διακόνοι; Php 1:1; 1Ti 3:8,12; 1Ti 4:6). The office of aflmoner was both very responsible and difficult; as the poor-taxes were of a double nature; and in periodically collecting and distributing the alms the almoner had to exercise great discretion from whom to demand them and to whom to give them. There were, first, the alms of the dish (תִּמחוּי), consisting of articles of food which had to be collected by the officials daily, and distributed every evening, and to which every one had to contribute who resided thirty days in one place; and there were, secondly, the alms of the box (קוּפָה), consisting of money which was collected every Friday, was distributed weekly, and to which every one had to contribute who resided, ninety days in one place. Two authorized persons had to collect the former and three the latter. They were obliged to keep together, and were not allowed, to put into their pockets any money thus received, but were to throw it into the poor-box. The almoners had the power of exempting from these poor rates such people as they believed to be unable to pay, and to enforce the tax on such as pretended not to be in a position to contribute. They had also the power to refuse alms to any whom they deemed unworthy of them. All the three almoners had to be present at the distribution of the alms. The greatest care was taken by the rulers of the synagogue and the congregation that those elected to this office should be "men of honesty, wisdom, justice, and have the confidence of the people" (Baba Bathra, 8; Aboda Sara, 18; Taanith, 24; Maimonides, lad Ha-Chezaka Hilchoth Mathenath Anyim, 9). Brothers were ineligible to this office; the almoners (פרנסין גכאי צדקה) were not allowed to be near relations, and had to be elected by the unanimous voice of the people (Jerusalem Peah, 8).

3. The Legate of the Congregation, or the Leader of Divine Worship (שָׁלַיחִ צַבּוּר = ἄγγελος ἐκκλησίας, ἀπόστολος). — To give unity and harmony to the worship, as well as to enable the congregation to take part in the responses, it was absolutely necessary to have one who should lead the worship. Hence, as soon as the legal number required for public worship had assembled (מנין), the ruler of the synagogue (פרנס = ποιμήν), or, in his absence, the elders (זקנים = πρεσβύτεροι), delegated one of the congregation to go up before the ark to conduct divine service. The function of the apostle of the ecclesia (שליח צבור) was not permanently vested in any single individual ordained for this purpose, but was alternately conferred upon any lay member who was supposed to possess the qualifications necessary for offering up prayer in the name of the congregation. This is evident from the reiterated declarations both in the Mishna and the Talmud. Thus we are told that any one who is not under thirteen years of age, and whose garments are not in rags, may officiate before the ark (Mishna, Megillah, 4:6); that "if one is before the ark = ministers for the congregation], and makes a mistake [in the prayer], another one is to minister in his stead, and he is not to decline it on such an occasion" (Mishna, Berakoth, 5, 3). "The sages have transmitted that he who is asked to conduct public worship is to delay a little at first, saying that he is unworthy of it; and if he does not delay, he is like unto a dish wherein is no salt; and if he delays more than is necessary, he is like unto a dish which the salt has spoiled. How is he to do it? The first time he is asked, he is to decline; the second time, he is to stir; and the third time, he is to move his legs and ascend before the ark" (Berakoth, 34 b). Even on the most solemn occasions, when the whole congregation fasted and assemble with the president and vice-president of the Siedrim for national humiliation and prayer, no stated minister is spoken of; but it is said that one of the aged men present is to deliver a penitential address, and another is to offer up the solemn prayers (Mishna, Taanith, 2, 1-4). SEE FAST. On ordinary occasions, however, the rabbins, who were the rulers of the synagogue, asked their disciples to act as officiating ministers before the ark (Berakoth, 34 a). But since the sages declared that "if the legate of the congregation (שלית צבור = ἄγγελος ἐκκλησίας, ἀπόστολος) commits a mistake while officiating, it is a bad omen for the congregation who delegated him, because a man's deputy is like the man himself" (Mishna, Berakoth, 5, 5); and, moreover, since it was felt that he who conducts public worship should both be able to sympathize with the wants of the people and possess all the moral qualifications befitting so holy a mission, it was afterwards ordained that "even if an elder (זקן = πρεσβύτερος) or sage is present in the congregation, he is not to be asked to officiate before the ark; but that man is to be delegated who is apt to officiate, who has children, whose family are free from vice, who has a proper beard, whose garments are decent, who is acceptable to the people, who has a good and amiable voice, who and understands how to read the law, the prophets, and the Hagiographa, who is versed in the homiletic, legal, and traditional exegesis, and who knows all the benedictions of the service" (Mishna., Taanith, 2, 2; Gemara, ibid. 16 a, b; Maimonides, fad Ha-Chezaka Hilchoth Tephila, 8:11, 12; comp. Timothy 3:1-7; Tit 1:1-9). As the legate of the people, the most sacred portions of the liturgy (e.g. עננו, ברכת כהניס, קדושה, קדיש), which could only be offered up in the presence of the legal number, were assigned to him (Berakoth, 21 b, and Rashi, ad loc.), and he was not only the mouthpiece of those who were present in the congregation on the most solemn feasts, as on the Great Day of Atonement and New Year, but he was the surrogate of those who, by illness or otherwise, were prevented from attending the place of worship (Rosh Ha-Shanah, 35; Maimonides, lad Ha-Chezaka Hilchoth Tephila, 8:10).

4. The Interpreter, or Maethurgeman (תּוּרגּמָן, מתוּרגַּמָן). — After the Babylonian captivity, when the Hebrew language was rapidly disappearing from among the common people, it became the custom to have an interpreter at the reading-desk (בימה) by the side of those who were alternately called up to read the several sections of the lessons from the law and the prophets. SEE HAPHTARAH. This methurgeman had to interpret into Chaldee or into any other vernacular of the country a verse at a time when the lesson from the law was read, as the reader was obliged to pause as soon as he finished the reading of a verse in Hebrew, and was not allowed to begin the next verse till the methurgeman had translated it; while in the lesson from the prophets three verses were read and interpreted at a time (Mishna, Megillah, 4:4). The reader and the interpreter had to read in the same tone of voice, and the one was not allowed to be louder than the other (Berakoth, 45 a). The interpreter was not allowed to look at the law while interpreting, lest it should be thought that the paraphrase was written down. The office of interpreter, like that of conducting public worship, was not permanently vested in any single individual. Any one of the congregation who was capable of interpreting was asked to do so. Even a minor, i.e. one under thirteen years of age, or one whose garments were in such a ragged condition that he was disqualified for reading the lesson from the law, or a blind man, could be asked to go up to the reading-desk and explain the lesson (Mishna, Megillah, 4:5; Maimonides, lad HaChezaka Hilchoth Tephila, 12:10-14).

5. The Chazzan, or Attendant on the Synagogue (חִזִּן הִכּנֶסֶת = ὑπηρετής), was the lowest servant, and was more like the sexton or the beadle in our churches. He had the care of the furniture, to open the doors, to clean the synagogue, to light the lamps, to get the building ready for service, to summon the people to worship, to call out (יעמוד) the names of such persons as were selected by the ruler of the synagogue to come up to the platform to read a section from the law and the prophets, to hand the law to ordinary readers, or to the ruler of the synagogue when it had to be given to the high-priest, in which case the ἀρχισυνάγωγος took the law from the chazan, gave it to the chief priest, who handed it to the high- priest (Mishna, Yoma, 8:1; Sotah, 7:7); he had to take it back after reading (Lu 4:17-20), etc. Nothing, therefore, can be more clear than the position which this menial servant occupied in the synagogue in the time of Christ and a few centuries after. The Talmud distinctly declares that the chazan is the beadle or the sexton of the congregation, and not the legate or the angel of the church (חזן הוא שמש של הקהל ואינו שליח צבור; comp. Tosiphta Yoma, 68 b; and Mishna, Berakoth, 7:1, for the meaning of שמש). The notion that his office resembled that "of the Christian deacon," as well as the assertion that, "like the legatus and the elders, he was appointed by the imposition of hands," has evidently arisen from a confusion of the chazan in the days of. Christ with the chazan five centuries after Christ. Besides, not only was this menial servant not appointed by the imposition of hands, but the legatus himself, as we have seen, had no laying-on of hands. It was about A.D. 520, when the knowledge of the Hebrew language disappeared from among the people at large, that alterations had to be introduced into the synagogical service which involved a change in the office of the chazan. As the ancient practice of asking any member to step before the ark and conduct the divine service could not be continued, it was determined that the chazan, who was generally also the schoolmaster of the infant school, should be the regular reader of the liturgy, which he had to recite with intonation (Masecheth Sopherim, 10:7; 11:4; 14:9,14; Gratz, Gesch. der Juden, 5, 26). 6. The Ten Batlanin, or Men of Leisure (בִּטלָנַין). No place was denominated a town, and hence no synagogue would legally be built in it, which had not ten independent men who could be permanently in the synagogue to constitute the legal congregation whenever [required (Mishna, Megillah, 1, 3; Maimonides, lad Bachezaka Hilchoth Tephila, 11:1). These men of leisure were either independent of business because they had private means, or were stipendiaries of the congregation, if the place had not ten men who could entirely devote themselves to this purpose (Rashi, On Megillah, 5 a). They; had to be men of piety and integrity (Baba Bathra, 28 a; Jerusalem Megillah, 1, 4). By some (Lightfoot, Hor. Heb. in Matthew 4:23, and, in part, Vitringa, p. 532) they have been identified with the above officials, with the addition of the alms-collectors. Rhenferd, however (Ugolino, Thesaur. vol. 21), sees in them simply a body of men, permanently on duty, making up a congregation (ten being the minimum number), so that there might be no delay in beginning the service at the proper hours, and that no single worshipper might go away disappointed. The latter hypothesis is supported by the fact that there was a like body of men, the Stationarii or Viri Stationis of Jewish archaeologists, appointed to act as permanent representatives of the congregation in the services of the Temple (Jost, Gesch. des Judenth. 1, 168-172). It is of course possible that in many cases the same persons may have united both characters, and been, e.g., at once otiosi and alms-collectors. In the Middle Ages these ten Batlanin consisted of those who discharged the public duties of the synagogue, and were identical with the rulers of the synagogue described above. Thus Benjamin of Tudela tells us that the ten presidents of the ten colleges at Bagdad were called the Batlanin, the leisure men, because their occupation consisted in the discharge of public business. During every day of the week they, dispensed justice to all the Jewish inhabitants of the country, except on Monday, which was set aside for assemblies under the presidency of R. Samuel, master of the college denominated Gaon Jacob, who on that day dispensed justice to every applicant, and who was assisted therein by the said ten Batlanin, presidents of the colleges (Itinerary, 1, 101, ed. Ascher, Lond. 1840). This seems to favor the opinion of Herzfeld that the ten Batlanin are the same as the ten judges or rulers of the synagogue mentioned in Aboth, 3, 10, according to the reading of Bartenora (Haorayoth, 3 b, etc.; comp. Gesch. des Volkes Israel, 1, 392).

V. Worship. —

1. Its Time. — As the Bible prescribes no special hour for worship, but simply records that the Psalmist prayed three times a day (Psalm Iv, 18), and that: Daniel followed the same example (Da 7:11), the men of the Great Synagogue decreed that the worship of the synagogue should correspond to that of the Temple. To this end they ordained that every Israelite is to offer either public or private worship to his Creator at stated hours three times a day (a) in the morning (שחרית) at the third hour = 9 A.M., being the time when the daily morning sacrifice was offered; (b) in the afternoon or evening (מנחה) at the ninth hour and a half = 3:30 P.M., when the daily evening sacrifice was offered; and (c) in the evening (מעריב), or from the time that the pieces and the fat of the sacrifices, whose blood was sprinkled before sunset, began to be burned till this process of burning, was finished. As this process of burning, however, sometimes lasted nearly all night, the third prayer could be offered at any time between dark and dawn (Mishna, Berakoth, 4:1; Gemara, ibid. 26 b;

Pesachim, 58 a; Jerusalem Berakioth, 4:1; Josephus, Ant. 14:4, 3). It is this fixed time of worship which accounts for the disciples assembling together at the third hour of the day (i.e. 9 A.M.) for morning prayer (שחרית) on the Day of Pentecost (Ac 2:1-15), and for Peter and John's going up to the Temple at the ninth hour (i.e. 3 P.M.) for (מעריב) evening prayer (Ac 3:1), as well as for Cornelius's prayer at the same hour (10:30). The statement in Ac 10:9, that Peter went up upon the house-top to pray about the sixth hour (=12 M.), has led some of our best expositors to believe that the hour mentioned in Ac 3:11; Ac 10:30 is the time when the third prayer was offered. The two passages, however, and the two different hours refer to one and the same prayer, as may be seen from the following canon: "We have already stated that the time for the evening prayer (מנחה) was fixed according to that of the daily evening sacrifice, and since this daily evening sacrifice was offered at the ninth hour and a half (=3.30 P.M.), the time of prayer was also fixed for the ninth hour and a half (=3.30 P.M.), and this was called the Lesser Minchah (קטנה מנחה). But as the daily evening sacrifice was offered on the fourteenth of Nisan (ערב פסח) at the sixth hour and a half (=12.30 P.M.), when this day happened to be on a Friday (ערב שבת), SEE PASSOVER, it was enacted that he who offers his evening prayer after the sixth hour and a half (=12.30 P.M.) discharges his duty properly. Hence, as soon as this hour arrives, the time of obligation has come, and it is called the Great Minchah: (מנחה גדולה; Maimonides, lad HaChezaka Hilchoth Tephila, 3, 2; Berakoth, 26 b). This mistake is all the more to be regretted, since the accuracy in such minute- matters on the part of the sacred writers-shows how great is the trustworthiness of their records, and how closely and strictly the apostles conformed to the Jewish practices. The prayers three times a day were not absolutely required to be offered in public worship in the synagogue every day. The times of public worship were (a) Monday and Thursday, which were the two market-days in the week, when the villagers brought their produce into the neighboring town and their matters of dispute before the local Sanhedrim, which held its court in the synagogue (Jerusalem Megillaah, 5, 1, Baba Kama, 32 a), and on which the pious Jews fasted (Mr 2:18; Lu 5:33; Lu 18:12; Ac 10:30); (b) the weekly Sabbath; and (c) feasts and fasts. But though not obligatory, yet it was deemed specially acceptable if the prayers were offered even privately in the synagogue, since it was inferred from Mal 3:16 that the Shechinah is present where two or three are gathered together.

2. The Legal Congregation. — Though it was the duty of every Israelite to pray privately three times a day, yet, as we have already seen, it was only on stated occasions that the people: assembled for public worship in the legally constituted congregation, and recited those portions of the liturgy which could not be uttered is private devotion. Ten men, at least, who had passed the thirteenth year of their age (בר מצוה) were required to constitute a legitimate congregation (מנין) for the performance of public worship. This number, which evidently owes its origin to the completeness of the ten digits, is deduced from the expression עדה, in Nu 14:27, where it is said "how long shall I bear with this (עדה) congregation?" referring to the spies. As Joshua and Caleb are to be deducted from the twelve, hence the appellation congregation remains for the ten, and this number is therefore regarded as forming the legal quorum (Mishna, Sanhedrim, 1, 6; Maimonides, lad Haa-Chezaka 'Hilchoth Tephila, 11:1). "The Shema (שמע) must not be solemnly recited, nor must one go before the ark to conduct public worship, nor must the priests raise their hands to pronounce the benediction, nor must the lessons from the law or the prophets be read... unless there are ten persons present" (Mishna, Megillah, 4:3).

3. Ritual. — The most important features in the institutions of the synagogue are the liturgy, the reading of the law and the prophets, and the homilies. To know the exact words of-the prayers which our Savior and his apostles recited when they frequented the synagogue is to us of the utmost interest. That the Jews in the time of Christ had a liturgical service is certain; but it is equally certain that the present liturgy of the synagogue embodies a large admixture of prayers, which were compiled after the destruction of the second Temple. Though the poetic genius of the psalmists had vanished and the Temple music was, hushed, yet numerous fervent and devout spirits were still unquenched in Israel. These earnest spirits made themselves audible in the synagogue in most devout and touching prayers, embodying the new anxieties, the novel modes of persecution and oppression which the Jews had to endure from the children of Christianity the religion newly born and brought up in the lap of Judaism who deemed it their sacred duty to heap unparalleled sufferings upon their elder brothers. These prayers, formed after the model of the Psalms, not only ask the God of Israel to pity the sufferers, to give them patience to endure, and in his own time to confound their enemies and free them from all their troubles, but embody the teachings of the sages and the sentiments propounded by the Haggadists in the Sabbatic homilies. Hence, in describing the ritual of the synagogue, it is most essential to separate the later element from the earlier portions. As it is beyond the limits of this article to trace the rise, progress, and development of all the component parts of the liturgy in its present order, we shall simply detail those portions which are, undoubtedly, the ancient nucleus, which, beyond a question, were used by our Savior and his disciples, and around which the new pieces- were grouped in the course of time.

(1.) The Hymnal Group (פּסוּקֵי זמַירוֹת). — Just as the Temple building was the prototype for the synagogue edifice, so the Temple service was the model for the ritual of the synagogue. Hence, just as the Temple service consisted of the priests reciting the ten commandments, pronouncing the benediction upon the people (Nu 6:24-27), the offering of the daily morning and evening sacrifice, the Levites chanting Ps 115; Ps 116; 1Ch 16:8-22 (הוֹדוּ) during the morning sacrifice, and Ps 116; 1Ch 16:23-36 (שַׁירוּ) during the evening sacrifice, so the ritual of the synagogue consisted of the same benediction, the chanting of the sacrificial psalms-as the sacrifices themselves could not be offered except in the Temple — and sundry additions made by Ezra and the men of the Great Synagogue. It is for this reason that the ritual began with the Temple psalms. These were followed by the group consisting of Psalm 100 — [19, 34, 91, 135, 136, 33, 92], 93, 145-150 — those enclosed in brackets being: omitted on the Sabbath — 1Ch 29:10-13; Ne 9:6-12; Ex 14:15-30,18, and sundry sentences not found in the Bible, denominated the order of the Hymnal Sentences or musical periods. The use of this hymnal group as part of both the Temple and the synagogue service is of great antiquity, as is attested by the Seder Olam, 14 and Masecheth Sopherim; see also Sabbath, 118 b, where we are told that הודו was ordained by David, and שירו by the Sopherim, or scribes.

(2.) The Shema, or Keriath Shema (קַרַיאִת שׁמִע). This celebrated part of the service was preceded by two benedictions, respectively denominated "the Creator of Light" (יוצר אור) and "Great Love" (אהבה רבה), and followed by one called "Truth" (אמת, now expanded into אמת ויציב). The two introductory benedictions were as follows:

(a.) "Blessed art thou, O Lord our God, King of the universe, who createst light and formest darkness, who makest peace and createst all things! He in mercy causes the light to shine upon the earth and the inhabitants thereof, and in goodness renews every day the work of creation. Blessed art thou, the Creator of light!"

(b.) "With great love hast thou loved us, O Lord our God; thou hast shown us great and abundant mercy, O our Father and King, for the sake of our forefathers who trusted in thee! Thou who didst teach them the love of life, have mercy upon us, and teach us also to praise and to acknowledge thy unity in love. Blessed art thou, O Lord, who in love hast chosen thy people!" (Mishna, Tamid, 5, 1; Berakoth, 11 b). Thereupon the ten commandments were recited, which, however, ceased at a very early period, because the Sadducees declared that this was done to show that this was the most essential portion of the revealed law (Mishna, Tamid, 5, 1, with Berakoth, 14 b). Then came the Shema proper, consisting of De 6:4-9; De 11:13-21; Nu 15:411; which was concluded with benediction

(c), entitled "True and Established" (אמת ויציב), as follows: "It is true and firmly established that thou art the Lord our God and the God of our forefathers; there is no God besides thee. Blessed art thou, O Lord, the redeemer of Israel!" (Mishna, Berakoth, 1, 4; Gemara, ibid. 13 a; Mishna, Tamid, 5, 1. Gemara, ibid. 32 b). There is evidently an allusion to the reading of the Shema in the reply which our Savior gave to the lawyer who asked him, "Master, what must I do to inherit eternal life?" when the lawyer forthwith recited the first sentence of the Shema (Lu 10:26). SEE SHEMA.

(3.) The third portion which constituted the ancient liturgy embraces the "Eighteen". Benedictions (עשרה שמונה), called, κατ᾿ ἐξοχήν, the Prayer (תפלה). They are as follows:

a. (ִברו) "Blessed art thou, O Lord our God, the God of our fathers Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob; great, omnipotent, fearful, and most high God, who bountifully showest mercy, who art the possessor of all things, who rememberest the pious deeds of our fathers, and sendest the Redeemer to their children's children, for his mercy's sake is love, O our King, Defender, Savior, and Shield! Blessed art thou, O Lord, the shield of Abraham!"

b. (אתה גבור) "Thou art powerful, O Lord, world without end; thou bringest the dead to life in great compassion, thou holdest up the falling, healest the sick, loosest the chained, and showest thy faithfulness to those that sleep in the dust. Who is like unto thee, Lord of might, and who resembles thee (a Sovereign killing and bringing to life again, and causing salvation to flourish)? Arid thou art sure to raise the dead. Blessed art thou, O Lord, who raisest the dead!"

c. (אתה קדוש) "Thou art holy, and thy name is holy, and' the holy ones praise thee every day continually. Blessed art thou, 0 Lord, the holy God!"

d. (אתה חונן) "Thou mercifully bestowest knowledge upon men and teachest the mortal prudence. Mercifully bestow upon us, from thyself, knowledge, wisdom, and understanding. Blessed art thou, O Lord, who mercifully bestowest knowledge!"

e. (השיבנו) "Our Father, lead us back to thy law; bring us very near, O our King, to thy service, and cause us to return in sincere penitence into thy presence! Blessed art thou, O Lord, who delightest in repentance!"

f. (סלח) "Our Father, forgive us, for we have sinned; our King, pardon us, for we have transgressed; for thou art forgiving and pardoning. Blessed art thou, O Lord, merciful and plenteous in forgiveness!"

g. (ראה) "Look at our misery, contend our cause, and deliver us speedily, for thy name's sake, for thou art a mighty deliverer, blessed art thou, O Lord, the deliverer of Israel!"

h. (רפאנו) "Heal us, O Lord, and we shall be healed; save us, and we shall be saved; for thou art our boast. Grant us a perfect cure for all our wounds; for thou, O Lord our King, art a faithful and merciful Physician. Blessed art thou, O Lord, who healest the sick of thy people Israel!"

i. (ברו ִעלינו) "Bless to us, O Lord our God, for good this year, and all its kinds of produce; send thy blessing upon the face of the earth; satisfy us with thy goodness, and bless this year as the years bygone. Blessed art thou, O Lord, who'blessest the seasons!"

j. (תקע) "Cause the great trumpet to proclaim our liberty; raise the standard for the gathering of our captives, and bring us together from the four corners of the earth. Blessed art thou, O Lord, who gatherest together the dispersed of Israel!"

k. (השיבה) "Reinstate our judges as of old, and our councillors as of yore; remove from us sorrow and sighing; and do thou alone, O Lord, reign over us in mercy and love, and judge us in righteousness and justice. Blessed art thou, O Lord the King, who lovest righteousness and justice!"

l. (ולמלשינים) "Let the apostates have no hope, and let those who perpetrate wickedness speedily perish; let them all be suddenly cut off; let the proud speedily be uprooted, broken, crushed, and humbled speedily in our days. Blessed art thou, O Lord, who breakest down the enemy and humblest the proud!"

m. (על הצדיקים) "On the righteous, on the pious, on the elders of thy people, the house of Israel, on the remnant of the scribes, on the pious: proselytes, and on us, bestow, O Lord our God, thy mercy; give ample: reward to all who trust in thy name in sincerity, make our portion with them forever, and let us not be ashamed, for we trust in thee! Blessed art thou, O Lord, the support and refuge of the righteous!"

n. (ולירושלים) "To Jerusalem thy city in mercy return, and dwell in it according to thy promise; make it speedily in our day an everlasting building, and soon establish therein the throne of David. Blessed art thou, O Lord, who buildest Jerusalem!" (צמח את) "The branch of David, thy servant, speedily cause to flourish, and exalt his horn with thy help, for we look to thy help all day." Blessed art thou O Lord, who causest to flourish the horn of David!"

o. (קולנו שמע) "Hear our voice, O Lord our God; have pity and compassion on us, and receive with mercy and acceptance our prayers, for thou art a God hearing prayer and supplications. Our King, do not send us empty away from thy presence, for thou hearest the prayers of thy people Israel in mercy! Blessed art thou, O Lord, who hearest prayer!"

p. (רצה) "Be favorable, O Lord our God, to thy people Israel, and to their prayer; restore the worship to thy sanctuary, receive lovingly the burnt- sacrifice of Israel and their prayer, and let the service of Israel thy people be always well-pleasing to thee. May our eyes see thee return to Zion in love. Blessed art thou, O Lord, who restorest thy Shechinah to Zion!"

q. (מודים) "We thankfully confess before thee that thou art-the Lord our God, and the God of our fathers, world without end, and that thou art the shepherd of our life and the rock of our salvation from generation to generation; we render thanks unto thee and celebrate thy praises. Blessed art thou, O Lord, whose name is goodness, and whom it becomes to praise!"

r. (שים שלום) "Bestow peace, happiness, blessing, grace, mercy, and compassion upon us and upon the whole of Israel, thy people. Our Father, bless us all unitedly with the light of thy countenance, for in the light of thy countenance didst thou give to us, O Lord bur God, the law of life, loving- kindness, justice, blessing, compassion, life, and peace. May it please thee to bless thy people Israel at all times, and in every moment, with peace. Blessed art thou, O Lord, who blessest thy people Israel with peace!" These eighteen (really nineteen) benedictions are mentioned in the Mishna, Rosh Hashanah, 4; Berakoth, 4:3; Tosiptta Berakoth, 3; Jerusalem Berakoth, 2; Meillah, 17 a. We are distinctly told that they were orlained by the one hundred and twenty elders of the Great Synagogue (Megillah, 17 b; Berakoth, 33 a; Siphre on De 33:2), and we know that the representatives of the people (אנשי מעמד) recited them in the Temple every day (Sabbath, 24 b), that the priests pronounced three of them upon the people every morning in the Hall of Squares (לשכת הגזית) in the Temple-court, and that the high-priest prayed the sixteenth (רצה) and the seventeenth (מודים) sections of this litany on the Great Day of Atonement (Yoma, 68 b). There can therefore be no doubt that our Savior and his apostles joined in these prayers when they resorted to the synagogue, and that when the apostles went on the top of the house to pray at the stated hour (Ac 1:13; Ac 10:9) these benedictions formed part of their devotions. It must, however, be remarked that the first three and the last three benedictions are the oldest; that benedictions d. to m. were compiled during the Maccabean struggles and the Roman ascendency in Palestine; and benediction n. was most probably compiled after the destruction of the second Temple.

But though these three groups (viz. the hymnal group, the Shema, and the eighteen benedictions) constituted the liturgy of the Jews when engaged in public or private devotion during the period of the second Temple, yet there were other prayers which could only be recited at public worship when the legal number (מנין) were properly assembled.

4. The order of the public worship in the synagogue was as follows:

(1.) Morning Service. — The congregation having washed their hands outside the synagogue, and being properly assembled, delegated one of their number to go before the ark and conduct public worship. This legate of the congregation (צַבּוֹר), who, like the rest of the congregation, was arrayed in his fringed garment, and with the phylacteries on his head and left arm, SEE FRINGE; SEE PHYLACTERY, began with reciting the Kadish (קָדַישׁ), the people responding to certain parts, as follows: "Exalted and hallowed be his great name in the world which he created according to his will; let his kingdom come in your lifetime and in the lifetime of the whole house of Israel very speedily. [Legate and congregation] Amen. Blessed be his great name, world without end. [Legate alone] Blessed and praised, celebrated and exalted, extolled and adorned, magnified and worshipped, be thy holy name blessed be he far above all benedictions, hymns, thanks, praises, and consolations which have been uttered in the world. [Legate and congregation] Amen. [Legate alone] May the prayers and supplications of all Israel be graciously received before their Father in heaven. [Legate and congregation] Amen. [Legate alone] May perfect peace descend from heaven, and life upon us and all Israel. [Legate and congregation] Amen. [Legate alone] May he who makes peace in his heaven confer peace upon us and all Israel. [Legate and congregation] Amen." The similarity between this very ancient Kadish and the Lord's Prayer needs hardly to be pointed out. After this the legate recited in a loud voice the first sentence of the Shema, the rest being recited quietly by him and the congregation. Then followed the eighteen benedictions, for the third of which the Kedushah (קדושה) was substituted in public worship. It is as follows: "Hallowed be thy name on earth as it is hallowed in heaven above, as it is written by the prophet, and one calls to the other and says [Congregation], Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord God of Sebaoth; the whole earth is filled with his glory! [Legate] Those who are opposite them respond: [Congregation] Blessed be the glory of the Eternal, each one in his station. [Legate] And in thy Holy Word it is written, thus saying: [Congregation] The Lord shall reign forever, thy God, O Zion, from generation to generation. Halleluiah! [Legate] From generation to generation we will disclose thy greatness, and forever and ever celebrate thy holiness; and thy praise shall not cease in our mouth, world without end, for thou, O Lord, art a great and holy King. Blessed art thou, holy God and King!" On Monday, Thursday, Sabbath, feasts and fasts, lessons from the law and prophets were read, and (with the exception of Monday and Thursday) discourses delivered by the rabbins. The service concluded with the priests pronouncing the benediction (Nu 6:24-27).

(2.) The Afternoon and Evening Prayer. — Some of the psalms in the hymnal group were omitted, otherwise the service was similar to that of the morning. The public worship of the feasts and fasts is described in the articles on the respective festivals, and in the article HAPHTARAH SEE HAPHTARAH . The other prayers which precede and follow the three ancient groups in the present liturgy of the synagogue are not described in this article because they are of later origin. SEE LITURGY.

VI. Judicial Authority. —

1. As the officers of the synagogue were also the administrators of justice, the authority which each assembly possessed extended to both civil and religious questions. The rabbi's, or the heads of the synagogue, as it is to the present day, were both the teachers of religion and the judges of their communities. Hence the tribunals were held in the synagogue (Lu 12:11; Lu 21:12), and the chazzan, or beadle, who attended to the divine service had also to administer the stripes to offenders (Lu 4:17-20; comp. Mishna, Makkoth, 3, 12; and Mt 10:17; Mt 23:34; Mr 13:9; Ac 22:19; Ac 26:11). The rabbins who had diplomas from the Sanhedrim, and, after the Sanhedrim ceased, from the Gaonim of the respective colleges at Sora and Pumbaditha (q.v.), and who were chosen by the different congregations to be their spiritual heads with the consent of the assembly, selected such of the members as were best qualified to aid them in the administration of the communal affairs. These constituted a local self-governing and independent college; they issued all the legal instruments, such as marriage contracts, letters of divorce, bills of exchange, business contracts, receipts, etc. They had the power of inflicting corporal punishment on any offender, or to put him out of the synagogues (=excommunicate) altogether (Mt 18:15-17; Joh 9:22; Joh 12:42; Joh 16:2). The punishment of excommunication, however, was very seldom resorted to, as may be seen from the fact that though Christ arid his apostles opposed and contradicted the heads of the synagogue, yet they were not put out of the synagogue. In some cases they exercised the right even outside the limits of Palestine, of seizing the persons of the accused and sending them in chains to take their trial before the Supreme Council at Jerusalem (Ac 1:2; Ac 22:5).

2. It is not quite so easy, however, to define the nature of the tribunal and the precise limits of its jurisdiction. In two of the passages referred to (Mt 10:17; Mr 13:9) they are carefully distinguished from the συνέδρια, or councils, yet both appear as instruments by which the spirit- of religious persecution might fasten on its victims. The explanation commonly given that the council sat in the synagogue, and was thus identified with it, is hardly satisfactory (Leyrer, in Herzog's Real-Encyklop s.v. "Synedrien"). It seems more probable that the council was the larger tribunal of twenty-three, which sat in every city, SEE COUNCIL, identical with that of the seven, with two Levites: as assessors to each, which Josephus describes as acting in the smaller provincial towns (Ant. 4:8,14; War, 2, 20, 5); and that under the term synagogue we are to understand a smaller court, probably that of the ten judges mentioned in the Talmud C. (Gem. Hieros. Sanhedr. loc. cit.), consisting either of the elders, the chazzan, and the legate, or otherwise (as Herzfeld conjectures, 1, 392) of the ten Batlanin, or otiosi (see above, IV, 6).

VII. Relations of the Jewish Synagogue to the Christian Church. — It is hardly possible to overestimate the influence of the system thus developed. To it we may ascribe the tenacity with which, after the Maccabean struggle, the Jews adhered to the religion of their fathers, and never again relapsed into idolatry. The people were now in no danger of forgetting the law, and the external ordinances that hedged it round. If pilgrimages were still made to Jerusalem at the great feasts, the habitual religion of the Jews in, and yet more out of, Palestine was connected much more intimately with the synagogue than with the Temple. Its simple, edifying devotion, in which mind and heart could alike enter, attracted the heathen proselytes who might have been repelled by the bloody sacrifices of the Temple, or would certainly have been driven from it unless they could make up their minds to submit to circumcision (Ac 21:28). SEE PROSELYTE. Here, too, as in the cognate order of the scribes, there was an influence tending to diminish and ultimately almost to destroy the authority of the hereditary priesthood. The services of the synagogue required no sons of Aaron; gave them nothing more than a complimentary precedence.

SEE PRIEST; SEE SCRIBE. The way was silently prepared for a new and higher order, which should rise in "the fullness of time" out of the decay and abolition of both the priesthood aid the Temple. In another way, too, the synagogues everywhere prepared the way for that order. Not "Moses" only, but "the prophets" were read in them every Sabbath day; and thus the Messianic hopes of Israel, the expectation of a kingdom of heaven, were universally diffused.

1. It will be seen at once how closely the organization of the synagogue was reproduced in that of the Ecclesia. Here also there was the single presbyter bishop, SEE BISHOP, in small towns, a council of presbyters under one head'in large cities. The legatus of the synagogue appears in the ἄγγελος (Re 1:20; Re 2:1), perhaps also in the ἀπόστολος, of the Christian Church. To the elders as such is given the name of Shepherds (Eph 4:11; 1Pe 5:1). They are known also as ἡγούμενοι (Heb 13:7). Even the transfer to the Christian proselytes of the once distinctively sacerdotal name of ἱερεύς, foreign as it was to the feelings of the Christians of the apostolic age, was not without its parallel in the history, of the synagogue; Sceva, the exorcist Jew of Ephesus, was probably a "chief priest" in this sense (Acts 19,.14). In the edicts of the later Roman emperors, the terms ἀρχιερεύς and ἱερεύς are repeatedly applied to the rulers of synagogues (Cod. Theodos. De Jud., quoted by Vitringa, De Decem Otiosis, in Ugolino, Thes. 21). Possibly, however, this may have been, in part, owing to the presence of the scattered priests, after the destruction of the Temple, as the rabbins or elders of what was now left to them as their only sanctuary. To them, at any rate, a certain precedence was given in the synagogue services. They were invited first to read the lessons for the day. The benediction of Nu 6:22 was reserved for them alone.

2. In the magisterial functions of the synagogue also, we may trace the outline of a Christian institution. The ἐκκλησία, either by itself or by appointed delegates, was to act as a court of arbitration in all disputes among its members. The elders of the Church were not, however, to descend to the trivial disputes of daily life (τὰ βιωτικά). For these any men of common sense and fairness, however destitute of official honor and position (οἱ ἐξουθενημένοι), would be enough (1Co 6:1-8). For the elders, as for those of the synagogue, were reserved the graver offences against religion and morals. In such cases they had power to excommunicate, to "put out of" the Ecclesia, which had taken the place of the synagogue, sometimes by their own authority, sometimes with the consent of the whole society (1Co 5:4). It is worth mentioning that Hammond and other commentators have seen a reference to these judicial functions in Jas 2:2-4. The special sin of those who fawned upon the rich was, on this view, that they were "judges of evil thoughts," carrying respect of persons into their administration of justice. The interpretation, however, though ingenious, is hardly sufficiently supported.

3. The ritual of the synagogue was to a large extent the reproduction (here also, as with the fabric, with many inevitable changes) of the statelier liturgy of the Temple. It will be enough, in this place, to notice in what way the ritual, no less than the organization, was connected with the facts of the New Test, history, and with the life and order of the Christian Church. Here too, we meet with multiplied coincidences. It would hardly be an. exaggeration to say that the worship of the Church was identical with that of the synagogue, modified

(a) by the new truths, (b) by the news institution of the supper of the Lord, (c) by the spiritual charismata.

(1.) From the synagogue came the use of fixed forms of prayer. To that the first disciples had been accustomed from their youth. They had asked their Master to give them a distinctive one, and he had complied with their request (Lu 11:1), as the Baptist had done before for his disciples, as every rabbi did for his. The forms might be, and were, abused. The Pharisee might in synagogues, or, when the synagogues were c1osed, in the open street, recite aloud the devotions appointed for hours of prayer, might gabble through the Shema ("Hear, O Israel," etc., from De 6:4), his Kadish, his Shenmneh Esreh, the eighteen Berakoth, or blessings, with the "vain repetition" which has reappeared in Christian worship. But for the disciples this was, as yet, the true pattern of devotion, and their Master sanctioned it. To their minds there would seem nothing inconsistent with true heart-worship in the recurrence of a fixed order (κατὰ τάξιν, 1Co 14:40), of the same prayers, hymns, doxologies, such as all liturgical study leads us to think of as existing in the apostolic age. If the gifts of utterance which characterized the first period of that age led for a time to greater freedom, to unpremeditated prayer if that was in its turn succeeded by the renewed predominance of a formal fixed order, the alternation and the struggle which have reappeared in so many periods of the history of the Church were not without their parallel in that of Judaism. There also was a protest against the rigidity of an unbending form. Eliezer of Lydda, a contemporary of the second Gamaliel (cir. A.D. 80-115), taught that the legate of the synagogue should discard even the Shemoneh Esreh, the eighteen fixed prayers and benedictions of the daily and Sabbath services, and should pray as his heart prompted him. The offense against the formalism into which Judaism stiffened was apparently too great to be forgiven. He was excommunicated (not, indeed, avowedly on this ground), and died at Caesarea (Jost, Gesch. des Judenth. 2. 36,45).

(2.) The large admixture of a didactic element in Christian worship, that by which it was distinguished from all Gentile forms of adoration, was derived from the older order. "Moses" was read in the synagogues every Sabbath day" (Ac 15:21), the whole law being read consecutively, so as to be completed, according to one cycle, in three years, according to that which ultimately prevailed and determined the existing divisions of the Hebrew text (Leyrer, loc. cit.), 2 the fifty-two weeks of a single year. SEE BIBLE. The writings of the prophets were read as second lessons in a corresponding order. They were followed by the Lerash, the λόγος παρακλήσεως (Ac 13:15), the exposition, the sermon of the synagogue. The first Christian synagogues, we must believe, followed this order with but little deviation. It remained for them before long to add "the other Scriptures" which they had learned to recognize as more precious even than the law itself, the "prophetic word" of the New Test., which, not less truly than that of the Old, came, in epistle or in narrative, from: the same Spirit. SEE SCRIPTURE.

(3.) To the ritual of the synagogue we may probably trace a practice, which has sometimes been a stumbling-block to the student of Christian antiquity, the subject-matter of fierce debate among Christian controversialists. Whatever account may be given of it, it is certain that Prayers for the Dead appear in the Church's worship as soon as we have any trace of it after the immediate records of the apostolic age. It has been well described by a writer whom no one can suspect of Romish tendencies as an "immemorial practice." Though "Scripture is silent, yet antiquity plainly speaks." The prayers "have found a place in every early liturgy of the world." (Ellicott, Destiny of the Creature, serm. 6). How, indeed, we may ask, could it have been otherwise? The strong feeling shown in the time of the Maccabees, that it was not "superfluous and vain" to pray for the dead (2 Macc. 12, 44), was sure, under the influence of the dominant Pharisaic scribes, to show itself in the devotions of the synagogue. So far as we trace back these devotions, we may say that there also the practice is "immemorial," as old, at least, as the traditions of the Rabbinic fathers (Buxtorf, De Synagog. p. 709, 710; M'Caul, Old Paths, ch. 38). The writer already quoted sees a probable reference to them in 2Ti 1:18 (Ellicott, Past. Epistles, ad loc.). But it is by no means certain that Onesiphorus was at that time dead. SEE DEAD, PRAYERS FOR THE.

(4.) The conformity extends, also, to the times of prayer. In the hours of service this was obviously the case. The third, sixth, and ninth hours were, in the times of the New Test. (Ac 3:1; Ac 10:3,9), and had been, probably, for some time before (Ps 55:17; Da 6:10), the fixed times of devotion, known then, and still known, respectively as the Shacharith, the Minchah, and the Arabith; they had not only the prestige of an authoritative tradition, but were connected respectively with: the names of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, to whom, as to the first originators, their institution was ascribed (Buxtorf; De Synagog. p.280). The same hours, it is well known, were recognized, in the Church of the second, probably also in that of the first century (Clem. A Strom. loc. cit.; Tertull. De Orat. c. 25). The sacred days belonging to the two systems seem, at first, to present a contrast rather than a resemblance; but here, too, there is a symmetry which points to an original connection. The solemn days of the synagogue were the second, the fifth, and the seventh; the last, or Sabbath, being the conclusion of the whole. In whatever way the change was brought about, the transfer of the sanctity of the Sabbath to the Lord's day involved a corresponding change in the order of the week, and the first; the fourth, and the sixth became to the Christian society what the other days had been to the Jewish.

The following suggestion as to the mode in which this transfer was effected involves, it is believed, fewer arbitrary assumptions than any other, SEE SABBATH, and connects itself with another interesting custom, common to the Church and the synagogue. It was a Jewish custom to end the Sabbath with a feast, in which they did honor to it as to a parting king. The feast was held in the synagogue. A cup of wine, over which a special blessing had been spoken, was handed rounds (Jost, Gesch. des Judenth. 1, 180). It is obvious that, so long as the apostles and their followers continued to use the Jewish mode of reckoning — so long, i.e., as they fraternized with their brethren of the stock of Abraham this would coincide in point of time with their δεῖπνον on the first day of the week. A supper on what we should call Sunday evening would have been to them on, the second. By degrees, SEE LORDS SUPPER the time became later, passed on to midnight, to the early dawn of the next day. So the Lord's sipper ceased to be a supper really. So, as the Church rose out of Judaism, the supper gave its holiness to the coming, instead of deriving it from the parting day. The day came to be κυριακή, because it began with the δεῖπνον κυριακόν. Gradually the Sabbath ceased as such to be observed at all. The practice of observing both, as in the Church of Rome up to the fifth century, gives us a trace of the transition period. SEE SUNDAY.

(5.) From the synagogue, lastly, came many less conspicuous practices, which meet us in the liturgical life of the first three centuries. Ablution, entire or partial, before entering the place of meeting (Heb 10:22; Joh 13:1-15; Tertull. De Orat. 100. 11); standing and not kneeling, as the attitude of prayer (Lu 18:11; Tertull. ibid. 100. 23); the arms stretched out (Tertull. ibid. c. 13); the face turned towards the Keblah of the east (Clem. Al. Strom. loc. cit.); the responsive Amen of the congregation to the prayers and benedictions of the elders (1Co 14:16). In one strange exception at custom of the Church of Alexandria we trace the wilder type of Jewish, of Oriental devotion. There, in the closing responsive chorus of the prayer, the worshippers not only stretched out their necks and lifted up their hands, but leaped with wild gestures (τούς τε πόδας ἐπεγείρομεν), as if they would fain rise with their prayers to heaven itself (Clem. —Ad. Strom. 7,40). This, too, reproduced a custom of the synagogue. — Three times did the whole body of worshippers leap up simultaneouslyas they repeated the greater sanctus hymn of Isaiah 6 (Vitringa, p. 1100 sq.; Buxtorf, ch. 10).

VIII. Literature. — Jerusalem Megillah, c. 3; Maimonides, lad Ha- Chezakailchoth Tephila; Vitringa,. De Syngoga Vetere (Weissenfels, 1726); Zulz, Diegottesdienstlichen Vortrdge der Juden (Berlin, 1832), p. 366 sq.; id. Die Ritus des synagogalen Gottesdienstes (ibid. 1859); Edelmann, Higajon Leb (Kinigsb. 1845); Herzfeld, Geschichte des Volces Israel (Nordhausen, 1855-1857), 1, 24-30, 127, 391-394; 2, 129-134, 183-

223; Jost,. Geschichte des Judenthums (Leipsic, 1857-58), 1, 38 sq., 168 sq., 262 sq.; Duschak, Illustrite Monatsschrift ü für die gesammten Intersessen des Judenthums (Lond. 1865), 1, 83 sq., 174 sq., 409 sq. See also Burmann, Exercitt. Acad. 2, 3 sq.; Reland, Anti. Sacr. 1, 10; Carpzov- Appar. p. 307 sq.; Hartmann, Verbind. des A.T. mit d. Neuen, p. 225 sq.; Brown, Antiquities of the Jews, 1, 590 sq.; Allen, Modern Judaism, ch. 19; the monographs of Bornitz, De Vet. Synagogis (Vitemb. 1650); Leovardic, De Synagoga et Ecclesia (s. 1. et an.); Rhenferd, De Otiosis Synagogce (Franec. 1686); id. Archisynagogus Otiosus (ibid. 1688); Tentzel, De Proseuchis Samar. (Vitemb. 1682); and the dissertations cited by Darling, Cyclop. Bibliog. col. 1811. SEE WORSHIP.