between the doctrines of Sabæism and Christianity, and in and near Armenia a sect of Sun-worshippers have lasted on into modern times under the profession of Jacobite Christians;[1] a parallel case within the limits of Mohammedanism being that of Beduin Arabs who still continue the old adoration of the rising sun, in spite of the Prophet's expressed command not to bow before the sun or moon, and in spite of the good Moslem's dictum, that 'the sun rises between the devil's horns.'[2] Actual worship of the sun in Christendom soon shrank to the stage of survival. In Lucian's time the Greeks kissed their hands as an act of worship to the rising sun; and Tertullian had still to complain of many Christians that with an affectation of adoring the heavenly bodies they would move their lips toward the sunrise (Sed et plerique vestrum affectatione aliquando et cœlestia adorandi ad solis ortum labia vibratis).[3] In the 5th century, Leo the Great complains of certain Christians who, before entering the Basilica of St. Peter, or from the top of a hill, would turn and bow to the rising sun; this comes, he says, partly of ignorance and partly of the spirit of paganism.[4] To this day, in the Upper Palatinate, the peasant takes off his hat to the rising sun; and in Pomerania, the fever-stricken patient is to pray thrice turning toward the sun at sunrise, 'Dear Sun, come soon down, and take the seventy-seven fevers from me. In the name of God the Father, &c.'[5]
For the most part, the ancient rites of solar worship are represented in modern Christendom in two ways; by the ceremonies connected with turning to the east, of which an account is given in an ensuing chapter under the heading of Orientation; and in the continuance of the great sun-
- ↑ Neander, 'Church History,' vol. vi. p. 341. Carsten Niebuhr, 'Reisebeschr.' vol. ii. p. 396.
- ↑ Palgrave, 'Arabia,' vol. i. p. 9; vol. ii. p. 258. See Koran, xli. 37.
- ↑ Tertullian. Apolog. adv. Gentes, xvi. See Lucian. de Saltat. xvii.; compare Job. xxxi. 26.
- ↑ Leo. I. Serm. viii. in Natal. Dom.
- ↑ 'Wuttke, 'Volksaberglaube,' p. 150.
