Homiletics Warning: You are not logged in. Your IP address will be publicly visible if you make any edits. If you log in or create an account, your edits will be attributed to your username, along with other benefits.Anti-spam check. Do not fill this in! == Early Christian church == According to middle second-century writer Justin Martyr, the practice of the [[early church]] was for someone to read from the "Memoirs of the Apostles or the Writings of the Prophets", meaning readings from what was to become the [[Christian Bible]]. A discourse on the text followed the reading. This was the same practice as that of the [[synagogue]]s, but now with the [[New Testament]] writings added, except that in Christian churches the same person who read the scripture also explained it and there was no set [[lectionary]] of readings.<ref name="autogenerated64">{{cite book|last=Old|first=Hughes Oliphant|author-link=Hughes Oliphant Old|title=Worship|year=2002|publisher=[[Westminster John Knox Press]]|location=Louisville, KY|isbn=978-0664225797|page=64}}</ref> [[Origen]], a third-century theologian, preached through most books of the Old Testament and many of the New, which we have today. Origen's sermons on the scripture are expository and [[evangelistic]]. By the fourth century, a system had developed where a reading from the Law, Prophets, Epistles, and Gospels were read in that order, followed by a sermon.<ref name="autogenerated64"/> [[John Chrysostom]] is recognized as one of the greatest preachers of this age. His sermons begin with exegesis, followed by application to practical problems.<ref>{{cite book|last=Old|first=Hughes Oliphant|author-link=Hughes Oliphant Old|title=Worship|year=2002|publisher=[[Westminster John Knox Press]]|location=Louisville, KY|isbn=978-0664225797|page=64–65}}</ref> According to the Catholic Encyclopedia: {{Blockquote|text=The office of preaching belonged to bishops, and priests preached only with their permission. Even two such distinguished men as [[Augustine of Hippo]] and [[John Chrysostom]] preached, as priests, only when commissioned by their respective bishops. [[Origen]] as a layman expounded the scriptures, but it was by special permission. Felix, a priest and martyr, preached in the third century, under two bishops, Maximus and Quintus. Priests were forbidden to preach in Alexandria; but that was on account of the [[Arianism|Arian]] controversy. A custom springing from this had spread to the north of Africa; but Valerius, Bishop of Hippo, broke through it, and had St. Augustine, as yet a priest, to preach before him, because he himself was unable to do so with facility in the Latin language β "cum non satis expedite Latino sermone concionari posset". This was against the custom of the place, as Possidius relates; but Valerius justified his action by an appeal to the East β "in orientalibus ecclesiis id ex more fieri sciens". Even during the time of the prohibition in Alexandria, priests from Socrates and Sozomen, interpreted the Scriptures publicly in CΓ¦sarea, in Cappadocia, and in Cyprus, candles being lighted the while β ''accensis lucernis''. As soon as the Church received freedom under [[Constantine the Great|Constantine]], preaching developed very much, at least in external form. Then for the first time, if, perhaps, we except St. Cyprian, the art of oratory was applied to preaching, especially by St. [[Gregory of Nazianzus]], the most florid of Cappadocia's triumvirate of genius. He was already a trained orator, as were many of his hearers, and it is no wonder, as [[Otto Bardenhewer]]<ref>(''Patrology'', p. 290)</ref> expresses it, "he had to pay tribute to the taste of his own time which demanded a florid and grandiloquent style". But, at the same time, he condemned those preachers who used the eloquence and pronunciation of the theatre. The most notable preachers of the century, St. Basil and the two Gregories (the "Clover-leaf of Cappadocia"), Sts. Chrysostom, Ambrose, Augustine and Hilary, were all noted orators. Of the number the greatest was St. Chrysostom, the greatest since St. Paul, nor has he been since equalled. Even [[Edward Gibbon|Gibbon]], while not doing him justice, had to praise him; and his teacher of rhetoric, Libanius, is said to have intended John as his successor, "if the Christians had not taken him". It is a mistake, however, to imagine that they preached only oratorical sermons. Quite the contrary; St. Chrysostom's homilies were models of simplicity, and he frequently interrupted his discourse to put questions in order to make sure that he was understood; while St. Augustine's motto was that he humbled himself that Christ might be exalted. In passing we might refer to a strange feature of the time, the applause with which a preacher was greeted. St. Chrysostom especially had to make frequent appeals to his hearers to keep quiet. Bishops commonly preached outside their own dioceses, especially in the great cities; polished sermons were evidently in demand, and a stipend was given, for we read that two Asiatic bishops, Antiochus and Severianus, went to Constantinople to preach, being more desirous of money than of the spiritual welfare of their hearers.|author=Patrick A. Beecher|title=Homiletics|source=Catholic Encyclopedia 1913}}<ref name="CE" /><ref>(Thomassin, ibid., ix, 504)</ref> Summary: Please note that all contributions to Christianpedia may be edited, altered, or removed by other contributors. If you do not want your writing to be edited mercilessly, then do not submit it here. You are also promising us that you wrote this yourself, or copied it from a public domain or similar free resource (see Christianpedia:Copyrights for details). Do not submit copyrighted work without permission! Cancel Editing help (opens in new window) Discuss this page