Disir
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This is from Ramsey Macmullen’s Christianity and Paganism in the Fourth to Eighth Centuries.
In Cappadocia, Gregory describes those who attended church festivals as dancers as well as feasters, and in the 370s he appealed to Basil for help in dealing with a deacon in his bishopric, Glycerius, who was adding holy dances to the services and festivals. Glycerius headed a group of young men and women who looked to him rather than to the chorepiscopus for direction, and was not easily corrected, since, it has been suggested, all he and they were doing was native to their oldest local traditions. Basil himself complained about Easter dancing in the congregation he spoke to directly; the Council of Ladocidea complained about dancing at weddings; Ephraem, about wreated dance groups in Edessa; there was general disapprobation of hand clapping with the rhythm; but in Iskauria, there was approved dancing at the Saint Thecla festivals; a similar report from Evagrius with apparent approval as he watched the crowds of pilgrims gathered around the shrine of Saint Symeon near Antioch in the later fifth century; the same again from Choricius of Gaza toward the mid-sixth century, in connection with the festivals of Saints Sergius and Stephen. Still later mentions of dance within the practice of religion can be deferred for a page or two.
For the so-called Messalians in Syria and Meletians in Egypt, dance was a daily practice in the church, though the two groups were at odds with the majority of their fellow Christians on other grounds.
…In the western provinces toward the turn of the fifth century, the bishop of a French city is heard preaching over relics on the occasion of a nighttime “Joyful,” a laetitia as such festivals were often called, in which groups of monks were present whom he singles out for mention, along with a boys’ chorus and a young women’s chorus, too, to carry the cross—the latter urged to “Sing out, holy untouched virgins! Sing out! And in your chorus strike with your feet the path which leads to heaven!” Ambrose had a difficult time explaining to his congregation why they shouldn’t dance unless it was a “Spiritual dance”. (P103-106)
Dancing was very much a part of worshipping the pagan deities but it occurred at all of the festivals and the weddings, etc. In fact, I just finished another book that discussed an area where the congregation was unwilling to give up dancing at weddings. It was very difficult to get rid of. In North Africa, a bishop asked the congregation how to celebrate a martyr. The response was to dance in their usual way. The dancing was the offering. Dancing was absorbed into the church. Also, catcalling appears to have been an issue back then. There was an objection by some bishops in North Africa that women might be “the target of sexy remarks”.
Does your church have a problem with dancing? Did you attend a church that you were not allowed to dance at?
In Cappadocia, Gregory describes those who attended church festivals as dancers as well as feasters, and in the 370s he appealed to Basil for help in dealing with a deacon in his bishopric, Glycerius, who was adding holy dances to the services and festivals. Glycerius headed a group of young men and women who looked to him rather than to the chorepiscopus for direction, and was not easily corrected, since, it has been suggested, all he and they were doing was native to their oldest local traditions. Basil himself complained about Easter dancing in the congregation he spoke to directly; the Council of Ladocidea complained about dancing at weddings; Ephraem, about wreated dance groups in Edessa; there was general disapprobation of hand clapping with the rhythm; but in Iskauria, there was approved dancing at the Saint Thecla festivals; a similar report from Evagrius with apparent approval as he watched the crowds of pilgrims gathered around the shrine of Saint Symeon near Antioch in the later fifth century; the same again from Choricius of Gaza toward the mid-sixth century, in connection with the festivals of Saints Sergius and Stephen. Still later mentions of dance within the practice of religion can be deferred for a page or two.
For the so-called Messalians in Syria and Meletians in Egypt, dance was a daily practice in the church, though the two groups were at odds with the majority of their fellow Christians on other grounds.
…In the western provinces toward the turn of the fifth century, the bishop of a French city is heard preaching over relics on the occasion of a nighttime “Joyful,” a laetitia as such festivals were often called, in which groups of monks were present whom he singles out for mention, along with a boys’ chorus and a young women’s chorus, too, to carry the cross—the latter urged to “Sing out, holy untouched virgins! Sing out! And in your chorus strike with your feet the path which leads to heaven!” Ambrose had a difficult time explaining to his congregation why they shouldn’t dance unless it was a “Spiritual dance”. (P103-106)
Dancing was very much a part of worshipping the pagan deities but it occurred at all of the festivals and the weddings, etc. In fact, I just finished another book that discussed an area where the congregation was unwilling to give up dancing at weddings. It was very difficult to get rid of. In North Africa, a bishop asked the congregation how to celebrate a martyr. The response was to dance in their usual way. The dancing was the offering. Dancing was absorbed into the church. Also, catcalling appears to have been an issue back then. There was an objection by some bishops in North Africa that women might be “the target of sexy remarks”.
Does your church have a problem with dancing? Did you attend a church that you were not allowed to dance at?
