48. (1) The date when the Church on Golgotha (called the Martyrium) was consecrated to God is called Encaenia, and on the same day the holy church of the Anastasis was also consecrated, the place where the Lord rose again after his passion. The Encaenia of these holy churches is a feast of special magnificence, since it is on the very date when the cross of the Lord was discovered. (2) So they arranged that this day should be observed with all possible joy by making the original dedication of these holy churches coincide with the very day when the cross had been found. - - -
49. (1) At the time of Encaenia they keep festival for eight days, and for many days beforehand the crowds begin to assemble. Monks and apotactites come not only from the provinces having large numbers of them, such as Mesopotamia, Syria, Egypt, and the Thebaid, but from every region and province. Not one of them fails to make for Jerusalem to share the celebrations of this solemn feast. There are also lay men and women from every province gathering in Jerusalem at this time for the holy day. (2) And although bishops are few and far between, they never have less than forty or fifty in Jerusalem at this time, accompanied by many of their clergy. In fact I should say that people regard it as a grave sin to miss taking part in this solemn feast, unless anyone had been prevented from coming by an emergency. (3) The feast ranks with Easter or Epiphany, and during Encaenia they decorate the churches in the same way, and assemble each day in different holy places, as at Easter and Epiphany. On the first and second days they assemble in the Great Church, the Martyrium, on the third day in the Eleona Church on the Mount from which the Lord ascended into heaven after his passion (I mean the church which contains the cave where the Lord taught the apostles on the Mount of Olives). On the fourth day ... <Here the manuscript breaks off.>
(transl. Wilkinson)
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