25. (6) Every Sunday in the year except one they assemble in the Great Church which Constantine built on Golgotha Behind the Cross; the exception is Pentecost, the Fiftieth Day after Easter, when they assemble on Sion. You will find this mentioned below, but what they do is to go to Sion before nine o'clock after their dismissal in the Great Church ... <Here the manuscript breaks off.>
<Lent>
27. (2) Here is what is done on each day of these weeks. - - - (5) On Tuesday everything is done as on Monday, and on Wednesday they again go on to the Anastasis while it is still night, and follow the usual order till morning, and so at nine o'clock and at midday. But at three o'clock they assemble on Sion, because all through the year they regularly assemble on Sion at three o'clock on Wednesdays and Fridays. On those days there is fasting even for catechumens, unless they coincide with a martyrs' day, and this is their reason for assembling on Sion at three o'clock. But even on a martyrs' day they still assemble on Sion at three o'clock if it also happens to be a Wednesday or Friday in Lent. (6) On Wednesdays in Lent, then, they assemble, as during the rest of the year, at three o'clock on Sion, and have all the things usual for that hour, except the Offering. The bishop and the presbyter are at pains to preach, to ensure that the people will continue to learn God's Law. And after the dismissal the people conduct the bishop with singing to the Anastasis, starting out in time to arrive at the Anastasis for Lucernare. They have the hymns and antiphons, and the Lucernare dismissal takes place at the Anastasis and the Cross, (7) though during Lent it is later than at other times of the year. Thursday is exactly like Monday and Tuesday, and Friday like Wednesday since they again go to Sion at three o'clock and from there conduct the bishop with singing to the Anastasis. But from the time of their procession from Sion on Friday there is a vigil service in the Anastasis until the early morning.
<Good Friday>
37. (1) Before the sun is up, the dismissal takes place At the Cross, and those with the energy then go to Sion to pray at the column at which the Lord was scourged, before going on home for a short rest.
<Octave>
39. (4) On a Sunday at Easter time, after the people have been dismissed from Lucernare at the Anastasis, they all lead the bishop with singing to Sion. (5) When they get there, they have hymns suitable to the day and the place, a prayer, and the Gospel reading which describes the Lord coming to this place on this day, "when the doors were shut" <John 20:19-25>; for this happened in the very place where the church of Sion now stands. That was when one disciple, Thomas, was not present; and when he returned and the disciples told him that they had seen the Lord, he said, "Unless I see I do not believe." After this reading and another prayer, the catechumens are blessed, and the faithful, and everyone goes home late, at about eight at night.
40. (1) On the eighth day of Easter, the Sunday, all the people go up with the bishop immediately after midday to the Eleona. - - - Lucernare is held at the Anastasis and At the Cross, and from there all the people, every single one, conduct the bishop with singing to Sion. When they get there, they have hymns (also suitable to the place and day), and again read the Gospel passage about the Lord coming on the eighth day of Easter to the place where the disciples were, and rebuking Thomas for his unbelief. When they have had the whole passage, and a prayer, the catechumens and the faithful are blessed in the usual way, and everybody goes home, as on Easter Sunday, at eight at night.
<Pentecost>
43. (2) Straight after the dismissal in the Martyrium all the people, every smgle one, take the bishop with singing to Sion, where they arrive in time for nine o'clock. (3) When they arrive, they have a reading of the passage from the Acts of the Apostles about the descent of the Spirit, and how all the languages spoken were understood, after which the service proceeds as usual. The presbyters concern themselves with this reading because Sion (though it has now been altered into a church) is the very spot where what I have just mentioned was done by the multitude who were assembled with the apostles after the Lord's passion. They have the reading there from the Acts of the Apostles, and afterwards the service proceeds as usual, and they make the Offering there. Then as the people are dismissed the archdeacon. - - - <Night celebrations in the Church of Holy Sepulchre.> (8) Once more every single member of the Christian community conducts the bishop with singing to Sion. (9) On arrival they. have suitable readings, psalms and antiphons, a prayer, the blessmg of the catechumens, and then the faithful, and then the dismissal. After the dismissal everyone goes to kiss the bishop's hand, and at about midnight everybody goes home. Thus this is a. very hard day for them, for they have never stopped all day since they kept the vigil in the Anastasis, and the services have taken so long that it is midnight by the time they are dismissed on Sion, and all go home.
(transl. Wilkinson)
| Bibliography |
|---|