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- [Footnote: bridal chamber." Usener (in Dieterich: Ibid., p. 126) refers to a series of
quotations from the patristic literature, of which I mention merely one sentence from the speeches of Proclus of Constantinople: [Greek: hê pastas en hê ho logos enympheusato tên sakra] (The bridal chamber in which the Logos has espoused the flesh). The church is also to some extent the bridal chamber, where the spirit unites with the flesh, really the Cömeterium. Irenaeus mentions some more of the initiatory customs of certain gnostic sects, which were undoubtedly nothing but spiritual weddings. (Compare Dieterich: Ibid., p. 127 ff.) In the Catholic church, even yet, a Hierosgamos is celebrated on the installation of a priest. A young maiden there represents the church as bride.]*
