THE CATHEDRAL SERVICES.

Lyttelton Times, Volume XCVIII, Issue 11462, 28 December 1897, Page 3

THE CATHEDRAL SERVICES.

TO THE EDITOR.

Sib,-— Your correspondent “ Reverence ” presumes to impute ignorance to those who differ from him, and when he quotes his charming little book of ritual he thinks that should settle the question of altar lights. But we must look further back to find the true significance of this candle burning. We have good history for believing that it is as old as the fifth century, when, according to Ricard, the institution of the feast of the purification of the Virgin Mary was originated by Gelasius the First, a.d. 496, and the procession of wax lights, to drive away evil spirits, by Sergius the First, a.d. 701. The pagans were accustomed at the beginning of February to celebrate the feast of Proserpine with burning tapers, and the vestal virgins were also accustomed to burn tapors before the altars of Venus, and when the pagans became Christians, so-called, the transition was made an easy one for them. So we seethat this practice, and some others that Holy Church indulges in, such as assuming the. eastward position, burning of incense and priestly processions, were all borrowed by the Romish Church from the heathen in the Dark Ages, and now in this nineteenth century the Anglican Church has, appropriated them. —I am, Ac.,

* PROTESTANT.