<Lent>
27. (2) Here is what is done on each day of these weeks. On Sundays the bishop reads the Gospel of the Lord's resurrection at first cockcrow, as he does on every Sunday throughout the year. Then, till daybreak, they do everything as they would on an ordinary Sunday at the Anastasis and the Cross. (3) In the morning they assemble (as they do every Sunday) in the Great Church called the Martyrium on Golgotha Behind the Cross, and do what it is usual to do on a Sunday. After the dismissal in this church they go singing, as they do every Sunday, to the Anastasis, and it is after eleven o'clock by the time they have finished. Lucernare is at the normal time when it always takes place in the Anastasis and At the Cross and in all the other holy places; for on Sundays there is no service at three o'clock. (4) At first cock-crow on Monday people go to the Anastasis, and till morning they do what is normal during the rest of the year. Then at nine o'clock they go to the Anastasis and do what during the rest of the year would be done at noon, since this service at nine o'clock is added during Lent. The services at noon and three o'clock, and Lucernare, are held as is usual in the holy places all the year round. (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. - - - (6) On Wednesdays in Lent, then, they assemble, as during the rest of the year, at three o'clock on Sion, - - - and after the dismissal the people conduct the bishop with singing to the Anastasis, starting out in time the 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. It lasts from the time of Lucernare till the morning of the next day (Saturday) and they make the Offering in the Anastasis so early that the dismissal takes place before sunrise. (8) Throughout the night they have psalms with refrains or antiphons, or various readings, and this goes on till morning. So the Saturday service, the Offering, in the Anastasis is before sunrise, (9) by which I mean that at the time when the sun begins to rise the dismissal has already taken place in the Anastasis. That is how they keep each week of Lent. They have the Saturday service as early as this, before sunrise, so that the people here called hebdomadaries can break their fast as soon as possible. The Lenten fasting rule for these hebdomadaries (people who "keep a week") is that they may eat on a Sunday – when the dismissal is at eleven in the morning. And since their Sunday meal is the last they will have had, and they cannot eat till Saturday morning, they receive Communion early on the Saturday. So the Saturday service at the Anastasis takes place before sunrise for the sake of these people, so that they can break their fast all the sooner. But when I say that the service is early because of them, it is not that I mean that they are the only ones to receive Communion. Anyone who wishes may make his Communion in the Anastasis on Saturdays.
28. (1) These are their customs of fasting in Lent. There are some who eat nothing during the whole week between their meal after the Sunday service, and the one they have after the service on Saturday in the Anastasis. They are the ones who "keep a week". - - -
29. (1) During Lent they have a vigil service at the Anastasis from Lucernare on Friday (when they have come singing psalms from Sion) to the morning of Saturday when they make the Offering in the Anastasis, and they do this from the second to the sixth week as they do in the first. (2) But in the seventh week when, counting this week, there are two left before Easter, they do the same as in the other weeks, but the vigil service they have been holding in the Anastasis is, on the Friday of the seventh week, held on Sion, though they follow the same order as they did during the previous six weeks in the Anastasis. At each of these occasions the psalms and antiphons they have are appropriate to the place and the day.
<Lazarus Saturday>
29. (4) Just on one o'clock everyone arrives at the Lazarium, which is Bethany, at about two miles from the city. - - - (5) They have hymns and antiphons which — like all the readings — are suitable to the day and the place. Then at the dismissal a presbyter announces Easter. - - - (6) - - - Thus they all return to the Anastasis and have Lucernare in the usual way.
<Palm Sunday>
30. (1) The next day, Sunday, is the beginning of the Easter week or, as they call it here, "The Great Week". On this Sunday they do everything as usual at the Anastasis and the Cross from cock-crow to daybreak, and then as usual assemble in the Great Church known as the Martyrium because it is on Golgotha behind the Cross, where the Lord was put to death. - - - (3) After the dismissal in the Great Church, the Martyrium, the bishop is taken with singing to the Anastasis. They do in the Anastasis the things which usually follow the Sunday dismissal in the Martyrium, and then everyone goes home and eats a quick meal, so as to be ready by one o'clock at the Eleona church on the Mount of Olives, the place of the cave where the Lord used to teach. - - -
31. (4) They go on foot all down the Mount to the city, and all through the city to the Anastasis, but they have to go pretty gently on account of the older women and men among them who might get tired. So it is already late when they reach the Anastasis; but even though it is late they hold Lucernare when they get there, then have a prayer At the Cross, and the people are dismissed.
<Holy Monday>
32. (1) On Monday, the next day, they do the same as in the rest of Lent from cock-crow till morning at the Anastasis, at nine o'clock, and at midday. At three o'clock everyone meets in the Great Church, the Martyrium, and there they spend some time singing hymns and antiphons, with readings appropriate to the place and the day and prayers in between. (2) This goes on till seven in the evening, and at seven Lucernare is held there. The dismissal at the Martyrium thus takes place in the night, and then the bishop is taken with hymns to the Anastasis.
<Holy Tuesday>
33. (1) Tuesday is the same as Monday, but with one addition. Late at night, after the dismissal in the Martyrium, when they have gone to the Anastasis and had their second dismissal there, everyone goes out, late though it is, to the church which is on Mount Eleona.
<Holy Wednesday>
34. Wednesday is exactly like Monday and Tuesday from cockcrow and through the day,Atbut at night, after the dismissal in the Martyrium, the bishop, when he is taken with singing to the Anastasis, goes straight into the cave of the Anastasis and stands inside the screen. A presbyter stands in front of the screen, and he takes the Gospel book, and reads the passage about Judas Iscariot going to the Jews and fixing what they must pay him to betray the Lord. The people groan and lament at this reading in a way that would make you weep to hear them. After a prayer the catechumens are blessed, then the faithful, and they have the dismissal.
<Holy Thursday>
35. (1) Thursday is like the other days from cock-crow till morning in the Anastasis, at nine o'clock, and at midday. - - - (2) - - - On this one day the Offering is made Behind the Cross, but on no other day in the whole year. After the dismissal there they go to the Anastasis, where they have a prayer, the usual blessings of catechumens and faithful, and the dismissal.
<Good Friday>
37. (8) After the dismissal Before the Cross, they go directly into the Great Church, the Martyrium, and do what is usual during this week between three o'clock and evening. After the dismissal they leave the Martyrium for the Anastasis where, once inside, they read the Gospel passage about Joseph asking Pilate for the Lord's body and placing it in a new tomb. After the reading there is a prayer, the blessings of the catechumens and faithful, and the dismissal. (9) On this day there is no announcement that people are to keep vigil in the Anastasis. Obviously they are tired. But none the less it is the custom to watch there, and all who wish — I should have said, all who can — keep the vigil there. Some cannot watch till morning, and they do not stay, but the vigil is kept by the clergy, or at any rate by the ones young enough to have the energy. All the night through they sing hymns and antiphons till morning comes. Most of the people watch, but some only come later on, and some at midnight, doing whatever they can manage.
<Holy Saturday>
38. (1) The following day is the Saturday, and they have normal services at nine o'clock and midday. But at three they stop keeping Saturday because they are preparing for the paschal vigil in the Great Church, the Martyrium. They keep their paschal vigil like us, but there is one addition. As soon as the "infants" have been baptized and clothed, and left the font, they are led with the bishop straight to the Anastasis. (2) The bishop goes inside the screen and after one hymn says a prayer for them. Then he returns with them to the church, where all the people are keeping the vigil in the usual way. They do all the things to which we are accustomed, and, when the Offering has been made, they have the dismissal. After their dismissal in the Great Church they at once go with singing to the Anastasis, where the resurrection Gospel is read, and once more the bishop makes the Offering. They waste no time during these services, so as not to detain the people too long; in fact they are dismissed from their vigil at the same time as us.
<Octave>
39. (1) The eight days of Easter they celebrate till a late hour, like us, and up to the eighth day of Easter they follow the same order as people do everywhere else. The arrangements and decorations for the eight days of Easter are like those for the season of Epiphany in the Great Church, and also in the Anastasis, At the Cross, on the Eleona, at Bethlehem, the Lazarium, and elsewhere. (2) On the first Sunday, Easter Day itself, they assemble in the Great Church, the Martyrium, and similarly on the Monday and Tuesday; and when they have had the dismissal, there they always go with singing from the Martyrium to the Anastasis. But on the Wednesday they assemble on the Eleona, on the Thursday in the Anastasis, on the Friday on Sion, on the Saturday Before the Cross, and on the eighth day, the Sunday, they assemble once more in the Great Church, the Martyrium. - - - (4) When the psalms and prayer are finished, they go down with singing to the Anastasis in time for Lucernare. And this happens on each of the eight days; but 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.
40. (1) On the eighth day of Easter, the Sunday, all the people go up with the bishop immediately after midday to the Eleona. - - - Then they go up to the Imbomon and do as on the Eleona. Then the time comes for all the people and apotactites to take the bishop with singing to the Anastasis, and they arrive there for Lucernare at the usual time. (2) 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. - - -
<Eastertide>
41. From Easter till Pentecost (the Fiftieth Day after) not a single person fasts, n even if he is an a potactite. Throughout the season they have the usual services from cock-crow to morning at the Anastasis, and also at midday and Lucernare, assembling on Sundays in the Great Church, the Martyrium, and afterwards going with singing to the Anastasis. No one is fasting on Wednesdays or Fridays, so on those days they assemble on Sion, but in the morning, and the service takes place in the usual way.
<Pentecost>
43. (1) The Fiftieth Day is a Sunday, and a great effort for the people. At cock-crow they have the usual service, a vigil at the Anastasis with the bishop reading the regular Sunday Gospel about the Lord's resurrection, and what follows in the Anastasis is what they do during the rest of the year. - - - (7) - - - Then (after night service at the Great Church) they set off once more with singing to the Anastasis. (8) Again in the Anastasis they have hymns and antiphons and a prayer, and the catechumens are blessed, and then the faithful. Then the same is done again At the Cross, and once more every single member of the Christian community conducts the bishop with singing to Sion. (9) - - - 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)
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