The part of a church known as a foyer, vestibule, or lobby is sometimes called the narthex. This word appears to go back to the ancient Greek term for “fennel,” although beyond that, its etymology is unclear. This is part of a complete episode.
Transcript of “Church Narthex”
Hello, you have A Way with Words. Hi, Grant. Hi, Martha. This is Corey calling from Lexington, Kentucky.
Hey, Corey. Hi, Corey. How are you doing? How are things in the bluegrass?
We’re great. Thank you. Well, I’m a pastor, and so I have a question about words that are used to describe church architecture. So when I was studying church history in seminary, we learned about the building of the great cathedrals and the names for the different parts of the building, you know, the nave, the app, the transept, etc. And it seems like none of those words made it into the common vocabulary, or at least they haven’t survived in common use.
I mean, I don’t go to the hardware store looking for a hammer and get told, oh yeah, we keep those in the nave, you know.
Right. Well, nave itself goes back to Latin, correct, for ship, like navigate.
Okay. I guess that kind of gets at my question, is that these words almost seem peculiar to a particular type of religious architecture, but one of the descriptors I’ve noticed has survived, at least in the circles I run in. And I’m curious about its origin. It’s the word narthex. So the church I pastor, it’s not a cathedral by any means, but we still call the area leading into the sanctuary a narthex. And not all the congregations on board with that. When I tell someone that, you know, look in the narthex, they’ll scratch their head until I finally say, I mean the foyer, and then they’ll, you know, get what I’m talking about. But where do we get, I’m curious as to where we get the word narthex and why it has survived, at least to some extent, while other words that we have used to describe church architecture maybe have diminished more.
And is narthex still a commonly used term, or is that my own, you know, idiosyncrasy that I’m just refusing to let go of?
Oh, that’s really interesting. May I ask what denomination you pass?
Yes, we’re Christian Church Disciples of Christ, the mainline Protestant denomination.
Okay. Very interesting, because I grew up in a Baptist church just down the road from you in Louisville.
Okay, I was thinking you were from this part of the country.
Yes, yes, and we never use the term narthex.
Really?
Okay, interesting.
What did you use instead?
We used either lobby or sometimes if we wanted to be fancy, we would say vestibule. But usually it was lobby.
Interestingly enough, when I was 12, we moved to central Florida for a year. And so I attended a Baptist church there. And the first time I heard the pastor say, it’ll be out in the narthex, I thought, he’s mispronouncing north, northeast or something.
That’s the reaction I get a lot, too.
Really?
What are you talking about, narthex?
Yeah, and people think maybe it has something to do with north, right?
Or at least I did.
But yeah, it’s curious because narthex was a very specific term in the early Christian church for that area in the front of a church that was sort of separated by latticework. And it was where the penitents went, and they weren’t allowed to go into the regular part of the building. And now it’s lost that specificity, obviously.
I mean, you may have penitents in your narthex, but you also have penitents.
We probably need more than what we have.
Exactly.
You also have them in the sanctuary.
Right.
So it’s a term that used to be much more specific than it is now.
Okay.
And it’s interesting that you’re having this problem in your, I don’t know if it’s a problem, or would you call it a problem in your congregation?
No, I don’t think it’s a problem. More of just sort of a gap in communication and understanding.
I don’t know why I feel like I’m compelled to hold on to calling that area the narthex, the foyer, maybe because foyer doesn’t sound sacred enough. I mean, a foyer is a place where you wipe your feet, and that’s not what we want people doing in our narthex.
Yeah, you don’t want people wiping their feet in your narthex.
Right, exactly. There’s a sacredness to it, and that’s why I wondered if the words didn’t catch on as much in more common vocabulary, because there was sort of a sacredness or a set of partners to the words that meant that they should be reserved to talk about more religious or sacred architecture as opposed to, you know, someone’s house or a grocery store.
Well, that’s interesting, too, because as I said, we used lobby when I was growing up, and that’s sort of a generic kind of term. That could be at a movie theater or something.
Right, right.
Yeah.
So where does the word narthex come from? Does it have an origin that makes sense?
No.
Okay, good.
I mean, the Greek word narthex means giant fennel, which is…
Fennel, like the ingredient that tastes like anise.
Yeah, the ingredient, but the plant is this long-stemmed plant.
Yeah, we have some that here in California grows in the water.
Wild, actually. Yeah? Okay. Giant fennel. But there are different theories about why that might be connected with that. They’re long and hollow, the stems, so it could have something to do with that. In ancient Greek, it was also a reference to the schoolmaster’s cane that the schoolmaster might discipline people with. So maybe that has something to do with the penitents, but we’re not sure.
I see. So that’s where it would happen. And then another use of it is in making boxes. Like, I guess, weaving them or something, and the box shape there may have something to do with narthex. So that’s why I say we don’t really have a good explanation for that word.
Well, interesting that it’s connected, because I would connect it to sort of its spatial location within the church architecture, but you’re saying it could be more tied to the activity or the people that would inhabit that space as opposed to where it was located.
Yeah, that’s a good way to describe it.
Interesting.
Talking about centuries of change here as well, you’ve got a term of art that’s a very specific church architecture has its own jargon. Some of that occasionally leaks out to the general population. I’d keep using it, though, if I were you.
Would you?
Yeah, I think I would.
I want to.
And throw in a few more. Just Google terms.
Well, I still talk about the chancel, and people call it the stage, which, again, feels like almost a perversion of what it is, because, gosh, it’s a sanctuary. We don’t have stages, you know. But maybe I’ll do a building campaign to add an apps and a nave and see if we can get people to buy into that.
Well, whatever gets them in there, right?
I guess so.
That’s right. Whatever brings the penitents into the narthex, we’ll go for it.
Corey, thank you very much for your call.
Yeah, thanks for the help.
I really appreciate talking with you all and love the show.
Thanks so much.
Great.
Thank you, Corey.
Bye-bye.
Okay, bye-bye.
