<Daily liturgy>
(7) Then, singing hymns, they take the bishop from the Anastasis to the Cross, and everyone goes with him. On arrival he says one prayer and blesses the catechumens, then another and blesses the faithful. Then again the bishop and all the people go Behind the Cross, and do there what they did Before the Cross; and in both places they come to kiss the bishop's hand, as they did in the Anastasis. Great glass lanterns are burning everywhere, and there are many candles in front of the Anastasis, and also Before and Behind the Cross. By the end of all this it is dusk. So these are the services held every weekday at the Cross and at the Anastasis.
<Sunday service>
(9) Soon the first cock crows, and at that the bishop enters, and goes into the cave in the Anastasis. - - - (11) When the Gospel is finished, the bishop comes out, and is taken with singing to the Cross, and they all go with him. They have one psalm there and a prayer, then he blesses the people, and that is the dismissal. As the bishop goes out, everyone comes to kiss his hand.
(transl. Wilkinson)
| Bibliography | Pages |
|---|---|
63-64 | |
135 |
Two separate areas in the vicinity of the Cross are distinguishable in the text of Egeria: the first, "Before/At the Cross" (ante/ad Crucem), is the atrium containing the Rock of Crucifxion; the second, "Behind the Cross" (post Crucem, 24.7, 35.2, 37.1-3), is a small chapel whose exact location is disputed. Maraval, after Coüasnon, believes it was located to the south of Golgotha, while, most recently, Patrich (2020) maintains that it was "on the galleries level, on the western end the frst southern gallery of the Basilica of Constantine".