Architcct»re, with spccinl reference to the Screen in Stockton Church. 3 



becoming more general, was probably intended to take the place of the more 

 usual kind of stone or wood screen, and a loft (whether for readmg the Gospel 

 from, or, as would seem more probable in small Churches, merely to give 

 access to the rood) erected against the blank wall over, supported by corbels, 

 and approached by wooden steps." 



Here we observe that while Dr. Baron regards this solid wall 

 as very ancient, and an example of the importation of Eastern 

 ideas, Mr. Ponting pronounces it to date from the 15th century 

 only, and is silent as regards its supposed Eastern origin .^ 



Now let us refer to the researches of M. Philimonoff. If the 

 solid screen was not the usual type prevailing in primitive times 

 in the Churches of the East, I am afraid Dr. Baron's suggestion as 

 to the origin of the Stockton screen falls to the ground. No one 

 has pursued the subject with such painstaking devotion as the 

 Eussian writer, so that his testimony is especially valuable. 



" On investigation," he says, " the present form of the Eussian Iconostasis 

 is found to he far from primitive." 



He points out that the remains of ancient frescoes found behind 



the Iconostasis show that this was not the original form of screen. 



" Not a single Eussian Church," he adds, "has survived down to our day 



with the original form of Iconostasis, nor have I ev«r met with one which 



dates so far back as the xivth century." 



He concludes (deriving his data from frescoes, etc.,) that we may 

 assume the approximate date of the introduction of the present 

 form of Iconostasis to be at the end of the 14th or the beginning 

 of the 15th century. 



And if we attempt to trace the development of the screen in 

 Eastern Churches, it appears, roughly speaking, to be this. Bearing 

 in mind the intense conservatism of the Oriental mind, we may 

 assume that the Churches of primitive times preserved, as far as 

 might be, the broad features of the arrangement which had existed 



» Various theories have been hazarded to account for the Stockton screen. 

 One is, that it was erected in order to strengthen the building. This, however, 

 can hardly be regarded, I think, as satisfactory. Another is, that it originally 

 formed the eastern wall of the Church. But this is disposed of by Mr. Touting, 

 who finds that the Church cannot have been lengthened at the time of the 

 erection of this solid screen, as there is earlier work observable both east and 



west of it. ^ 



]J 2 



