2 Stopposcd Iiijimncc of the Eastern Glmrch on English Ecclesiastical 



l^rofusely adorned with sacred pictures, and have three doors, in 

 place of a single central door, with hagioscopes north and south. 



I must own to a deep interest in this particular question, because 

 I not only had the opportunity of forming a somewhat close ac- 

 quaintance with Eastern Churches during a residence of thirteen 

 years in Moscow, but also, at the request of the late Dean Stanley, 

 who was greatly interested in everything relating to the Eastern 

 Church, I translated for him, from the Kussian, a book which is, 

 unfortunately, inaccessible to the majority of English readers. I 

 allude to a standard work by Philimonoff on "The Original Eorni of 

 thelconostasis in Kussian Churches," which is, to the best of my belief, 

 the only book which has ever been published on this special subject. 



Now Dr. Baron, on the strength of the likeness between the 

 Iconostasis, as we know it, and the solid screen in Stockton Church, 

 assumes that this latter is of Eastern origin, and would assign its 

 probable erection to the 8th century. For this reason. At the 

 beginning of that century, viz., from A.D. 705 to A.D. 709, Aldhelm 

 was Bishop of Sherborne, in which diocese Stockton then would 

 be. Aldhelm, he says, had studied much at Canterbury, under 

 Adrian, who was a companion and adviser of Archbishop Theodore 

 of Tarsus. From him Dr. Baron considers it highly probable that 

 he would imljibe many Eastern ideas, and, consequently, would be 

 more than likely to introduce a Greek arrangement such as we 

 find at Stockton, whence it may easily have spread, through his 

 influence, into the neighbouring diocese of Winchester, where 

 somewhat similar examples are to be met with at Ashley and 

 Otterbourne, the latter, however, exhibiting distinct 13th century 

 ornament. 



But the point for our consideration is this. Is Dr. Baron right 

 in assuming an Eastern origin for the Stockton screen, and is it as 

 old as he supposes ? Now Mr. Pouting, in his admirable " Notes 

 on the Churches in tlie Neighbourhood of Warminster," in this 

 Magazine, says of the Stockton screen : — 



" 80 far as there is any evidence to show, this wall was erected in the 15th 

 century " ; 



and again : — 



" I conclude that this wall, erected in the 15th century, when screens were 



