Walk into any church today and you will inevitably find the use of musical instruments. From traditional hymns being sung to the accompaniment of a piano or organ to a praise band, musical instruments abound. Yet, this was not the case more than a millennium ago. The kroupezion, drums, cymbals, bells, auslos/tibia, kithara, hydaulikon organon or hydrostatic organ were actually forbidden by the early church.

In those days, there were two main differences between pagan music and Christian chant: 1) pagan songs were usually accompanied by instruments whereas Christian chants were unaccompanied, and 2) pagan songs were metrical whereas Christian chants were un-metrical.

Most of the early church fathers were opposed to the use of musical instruments, not for theological reasons, but for moral reasons and because of their association with Hellenistic and Roman culture. Instrumental music was considered sensual and nerve-exciting and was associated with the circus, theater, amphitheater and orgies.¹

The early church forbade the use of the organ because it was used to accompany the Christian martyrs to their deaths. Also as a practical matter, since early Christians were persecuted for their faith, a loud and boisterous service, resounding with musical instruments, would have drawn the attention of their persecutors².

Contrarily, the early church fathers reasoned away the Old Testament Patriarchs' use of musical instruments by applying Platonic principles of allegory. There are numerous examples of such allegory among the writings of Theodoret, Niceta, Clement of Alexandria³, John Chrysostom, Ambrose, Jerome, Gregory of Nazianzus and Augustine. Examples of this type of allegory are revealed in Jerome's belief that the body of Christ (the church) represents a musical instrument. Gregory of Nazianzus believed that hymns replaced the tambourine while psalms replaced pagan songs.

Throughout the patristic age, the human voice was thought to be a living means by which God was glorified while musical instruments were lifeless man-made creations without a soul. John Chrysostom declared that instrumental music be banned from the church. Canon 74 from the Synod of Basil (c.400) disusses the responsibility of a Christian confessing the use of music instruments. Because of the pagan influence of instrumental music that permeated the ancient world, Jerome and his followers viewed instrumental music with immense cynicism. Chant in the church was to elevate the congregation toward God, not to entertain Him or the congregation. Canon 97 of the Synod of Basil (c.400) mentions that solo artistry was of no concern to God. John Chrysostom also believed that the use of musical instruments in Hebrew worship was a shadow of what was to be fulfilled by Christ. This is known as the historical covenential approach in which God allowed the Jews to use musical instruments to prevent them from being led into idolatry. Like Chrysostom, Theodoret of Cyrus and Niceta of Remesiana believed that instrumental music belonged to the childhood state of the Hebrew people. Unaccompanied singing was thought to be a higher form of praise that lifted the Christian closer to God.

Just when you would think opinions were clear, Synesius of Cyrne references the kithara in his hymn VII in such a way as to suggest that it was used in private devotionals. Epistle 94, also penned by him, quotes from a hymn about Nemesis to the effect that "we sing to the lyre⁴." Pachomius of Upper Egypt, the founder of coenobitic⁵ monasticism in this treatise Precepts, alludes to the use of the tuba (trumpet) in the monastery. Basil the Great considered all musical instruments analogous with the "passions of the flesh" except for the psaltery⁶.

In AD 570, Pope Vitalian introduced the organ into some of the western churches⁷. During the time of Charlemagne, Emperor Constantine Michael sent an organ as a gift to the church of Aix-la-Chapelle. There are accounts of organs being manufactured in Germany and England as early as the tenth century. Meanwhile, the eastern churches limited the use of the organ to the secular realm⁸. By the late tenth century, musical instruments saw limited use throughout the churches of France, Germany, Spain and the British Isles. Some of the musical instruments used by the western church were the psaltery, harp, crwth, viol, horn and organ.

Today, prominent television ministries have professional orchestras, sometimes paid at full television wage scale, and star instrumentalists like Phil Driscoll and others contribute to their successful outreach. It seems that church instrumentalists have come a long way.