RELIGION, EDUCATION, FINE ARTS. 



497 



archs were of silver gilt. The dome of the 

 tabernacle was of pure gold, and was sur- 

 mounted by a gold cross weighing 75 pounds 

 and incrusted with precious stones. All the 

 sacred vessels and other apparatus were of 

 gold. The altar cloths were embroidered with j 

 gold and pearls ; and the altar itself was com- j 

 posed of a mass of molten gold, into which i 

 were thrown pearls, sapphires, diamonds, I 

 onyxes, and every other object which could | 

 raise its costliness to the highest imaginable ! 

 degree. The total cost of the structure is 

 stated by the ancient authorities at 320,000 

 pounds. Some regard this as pounds-weight 

 of silver, others as of gold. If the latter, 

 which is most generally adopted, the cost 

 reaches the enormous sum of $65,000,000. 

 On the'capture of Constantinople by the Turks 

 in 1453 St. Sophia was appropriated as a 

 mosque, and has since been put to that use. 



Easter. The festival of the Resurrection 

 of Christ probably derives its Teutonic name 

 from the festival of the goddess Ostara in 

 Anglo-Saxon, Eastre which the Saxons of old 

 were wont to celebrate about the same season 

 at which the Christian festival of Easter occurs. 

 In the second century a dispute arose as to the 

 proper time for celebrating Easter between the 

 Eastern and Western Churches. The great 

 mass of Eastern Christians celebrated Easter 

 on the 14th day of the first month or moon, 

 considering it to be equivalent to the Jewish 

 Passover, when Christ was crucified. The 

 Western Christians celebrated it on the Sun- 

 day after the 14th, holding that it was the 

 commemoration of the Resurrection of Jesus. 

 The Council of Nice, A. D. 325, decided in 

 favor of the Western usage. At the time of 

 the introduction of the Gregorian Calendar it 

 was debated whether Easter should continue a 

 movable feast or whether a fixed Sunday after 

 the 21st of March should not be adopted. In 

 deference to the ancient custom, the eccle- 

 siastical authorities decided to adhere to the 

 method of determining the day by the moon. 

 It must be understood, however, that it is not 

 the actual moon in the heavens, nor even the 

 mean moon of the astronomers, that regulates 

 the time of Easter, but an altogether imaginary 

 moon, whose periods are so contrived that the 

 new (calendar) moon always follows the real 

 new moon sometimes by two, or even three 

 days. The effect of this is that the 14th of 

 the calendar moon which had from the time 

 of Moses been considered full moon for eccle- 

 siastical purposes falls generally on the 15th 

 or 16th of the real moon, and thus after the 

 real full moon, which is generally on the 1 4th 

 or 15th day. With this explanation, then, of 

 what is meant by " full moon " viz., that it is 



the 14th day of the calendar moon, the rule 

 is that Easter day is always the first Sunday 

 after the Paschal full moon, i. e., the full moon 

 which happens upon or next after the 21st of 

 March ; and if the full moon happens on a 

 Sunday, Easter day is the Sunday after. 



Apostles, Deaths of. It is generally 

 believed that only one of Christ's Apostles, 

 John, escaped martyrdom. Matthew is sup- 

 posed to have been slain with a sword in 

 Ethiopia. James, son of Zebedee, was be- 

 headed at Jerusalem. James, the brother of 

 our Lord, was thrown from a pinnacle of the 

 Temple and then beaten to death with a ful- 

 ler's club. Philip was hanged up against a 

 pillar at Hieropolis, a city of Phrygia. Bar- 

 tholomew was flayed alive at Albanapolis, in 

 Armenia. Andrew suffered martyrdom on a 

 cross at Patrse, in Achaia. Thomas was run 

 through the body with a lance at Coromandel, 

 in the East Indies. Thaddeus was shot to 

 death with arrows. Simon Zelotes was cruci- 

 fied in Persia. Peter was crucified, head down- 

 ward it is said, during the Neronian perse- 

 cution. Matthias was first stoned and then 

 beheaded, and Paul was beheaded at Rome by 

 the tyrant Nero. Judas Iscariot, after the 

 betrayal of our Lord, hung himself. 



Bible, English Translations of. 

 Between the eighth and tenth centuries por- 

 tions of the Bible were translated into Anglo- 

 Saxon by Aldhelin, Egbert. Bede, and others. 

 In 1290 an English version of the Psalms was 

 made. "Wycliffe's version of the New Testa- 

 ment was finished in 1380, and a little later he 

 completed the Old. The seven penitential 

 Psalms were apparently printed in 1505. Be- 

 fore 1526 William Tyndale had completed an 

 English translation of the New Testament. 

 In the beginning of that year they were secretly 

 conveyed to England from the Continent, 

 where the translation had been made, where 

 they were bought up and burned. The ex- 

 cellence of his translation is evidenced by the 

 fact that in our present version a very large 

 portion of the New Testament is taken verba- 

 tim from Tyndale 's translation. In 1535 the 

 first English version of the whole Bible was 

 published by Miles Coverdale, a friend of Tyn- 

 dale 's, and was dedicated to Henry VIII. Be- 

 tween that year and 1557 several versions of 

 the Bible were printed, but they were in the 

 greater part revisions of Tyndale's previous 

 work. The Geneva Bible, or, as best known, 

 the Breeches Bible, appeared in 1557. It was 

 translated by several English divines who had 

 fled to Geneva to escape from the persecutions 

 of Bloody Mary, and received the name of 

 Breeches Bible on account of the rendering 

 of Genesis iii, 7 : " Then the eyes of both of 



