Proseuche
Hastings' Dictionary of the New Testament [1]
προσευχή, the name for the Jewish place of worship, originally meant ‘prayer,’ afterwards ‘place of prayer’ (τόπος τῆς προσευχῆς, 1 Maccabees 3:46). The word is found in 3 Maccabees 7:20; Philo, in Flacc. 6, 7, 14 (Mangey, ii. 523, 524, 535), Leg. ad Gaium, 20, 43, 46 (Mangey, ii. 565, 596, 600); Josephus, Vita, 54, where it is described as ‘a large edifice capable of receiving a great number of people.’ As a rule, however, the Proseuche was situated outside the city, near the river or the sea, where there was a supply of water for the ablutions required before prayer (see Acts 16:13 f. and Josephus, Ant. XIV. x. 23; cf. Tertullian, de Jejuniis, 16, ad Nationes, i. 13; and Epiphanius, Haer. lxxx. 1). Frequently these prayers seem to have been said in the open air (cf. also Josephus, c. Apion. II. ii. 2). This would best account for the strange opinion expressed by Juvenal (Sat. xiv. 97) and others that the Jews prayed to or worshipped the heavens. The name ‘Proseuche’ is frequently found in inscriptions. See E. Schürer, GJV_3 ii. [1898] 443, note 53, and 447, notes 64 and 65. See also art._ Synagogue.
K. Kohler.
Charles Buck Theological Dictionary [2]
Signifies prayer; but it is taken for the places of prayer of the Jews, and was pretty near the same as their synagogues. But the synagogues were originally in the cities, and were covered places; whereas, for the most part, the proseuches, were out of the cities, and on the banks of rivers, having no covering, except, perhaps, the shade of some trees or covered galeries, Acts 16:13 .
